Maine Legend Bud Sawyer Passes
Long-time broadcaster and Maine Association of Broadcasters Hall of Famer Bud Sawyer has passed away at the age of 94.
Details on his death were not available initially, but radio listeners throughout Portland and Southern Maine remember Sawyer as the morning disc jockey on WPOR-FM for many years.
Among the highlights of his career, Sawyer began in the 1950’s on WPLM in Plymouth, MA-and also worked at WAAB in Worcester. He was the AM Drive DJ at WORL (950AM) in Boston in 1960. He was hired in the same capacity at 560AM WGAN in Portland in 1962 and remained there until August of 1976. From there, he went to WLOB along with Mike Audet, remaining there until December of 1977.
It was then that he joined WPOR-FM, where he remained until 1997. He enjoyed top ratings and a huge following, often in demand as an MC or commercial spokesperson for businesses such as Palmer Spring on Forest Avenue.
One of his most memorable moments on the air occurred on April Fools Day in 1991, when he switched radio stations for the Morning Show with arch-rival WBLM-FM. He and co-host Deborah Delaney played rock and roll on WBLM while Herb “The Captain” Ivy and Mark Persky travelled across town to play country music on WPOR. Both shows managed to play it straight, saying they had made career decisions to swap employers—until the audience caught on!
After WPOR, Sawyer worked at WLAM, WLOB again and in 2007 he was on 97.1 WJZF-FM in Standish.
Bud Sawyer was inducted into the MAB Hall of Fame in 1994.
Check out the tribute posted on WPOR-FM’s website: