WHMP/Northampton Renames Studio in Honor of Kuschka

RADIO ONLINE | Friday, July 19, 2019

Barbara Kuschka

News/Talk WHMP-AM/Northampton, MA, which also puts a signal into Springfield, has renamed its studio in honor of Traffic Manager Barbara Kuschka, who recently celebrated 50 years at the station, reports the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "We are now, and in the future will be, broadcasting live from the Barbara J. Kuschka WHMP studio," proclaimed host Bill Newman during his show this week.

Since she began work in 1969, Kuschka has been a behind the scenes figure who one person described to the Gazette as "the glue that holds the station together in her work as traffic manager."

"Making sure that the right commercial gets on at the right time," was how Kuschka nonchalantly described her job. "It's like the hub; everything goes through traffic," said MJ Fowler.

Kuschka started working at WHMP, now a part of Saga's Northampton Radio Group, as senior at St. Michael's High School. "I remember listening to the radio when I was like 4," Kuschka said, noting that she used to carry a transistor radio, listening just about everywhere, wrote the Gazette.

Hugh Massey, who arrived as a news reporter at the station in 1972, just three years after Kuschka told the newspaper that Kuschka ran a tight ship. "She was just amazing," he said. "If I had something missing that needed to get done, I'd get a phone call... She will remain a legend."

Looking back on 50 years, Kuschka said it is funny that all these years later, she's still working at the same place, listening to the same songs she did all those years ago when she first started. And she has no plans to quit any time soon.