Steve LeVeille and Lovell Dyett to return to WBZ

Boston (WBZ Newsroom)  -- WBZ Newsradio 1030 released the news today that it is pleased to announce that the station has found a way to bring back a couple of WBZ's long-time broadcasters.

Steve LeVeille, who has been a talk show host on WBZ 1030 since 1991, returns to the airwaves in his old time slot next week. Although LeVeille has been off the air for a month following a round of budget cuts, things began to change in recent days when he got the call from WBZ News and Programming Director Peter Casey asking for him to return. "I never expected to get a call like that...it's not how the business works....totally out of left field" LeVeille tells wbz1030.com.

Casey says "we always knew that the radio audience in New England and beyond has held WBZ to a higher standard than any other radio station and the local overnight programming was a part of that. WBZ is just a very different radio station than any other. We're happy to bring back Steve to his overnight midnight to 5 a.m. time slot."

WBZ's Laurie Kirby talks to LeVeille about his return:

 

LeVeille gives credit to his listeners, as he says "power to the people." And LeVeille credits the power of the internet that helped the organized listener campaign that is credited with bringing him back. "I was flabbergasted" at the web sites set-up in his support. He says his own site received more than 8-thousand hits in the month he was gone. Normally his site gets 17-thousand hits in an entire year. Steve says it will be the same show because that's obviously what the people want. The Steve LeVeille Broadcast returns Monday at midnight on WBZ 1030 and online at wbz1030.com.

WBZ also announced it is pleased to be bringing back Lovell Dyett to do a Sunday morning public affairs program. He will be given the freedom to discuss the tough and important public issues of today and lend his voice to important national and local causes. This preserves his long association with WBZ 1030. His program will be on between 4:30 and 5:00 Sunday morning as a lead in to WBZ's Sunday morning news programming which begins at 5:00.

In a statement announcing the return of LeVeille and Dyett, Casey says "WBZ recognizes the current state of the economy and with that we still need a new way to create new revenue for the Saturday night programming hours". He says "the radio industry is not insulated from the ever changing winds of the economic climate." Casey says "we are still working on creating all of the new revenue programming for Saturday nights and that complete schedule is still coming together."