2025 LIU Post & WCWP Homecoming Weekend September 21, 2025

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Education, Football, History, Internet, Interviews, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Pop, Radio, Rock, Sports, Technology, Travel, Video, Weather.
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NOTE: Two of the alumni hosts, Alana and Tom, do not use their last names on the air. So, I have omitted their last names from this post.

This year, Homecoming Weekend on WCWP (simulcast on WXBA) and at LIU Post was the earliest it’s ever been: September 12 to 14. The date was made public during the WCWP-FM 60th anniversary broadcast on March 16. (Read about that celebratory weekend here.) Homecoming Weekend coordinator Ted David assembled quite the lineup, which began with me at noon (well, noon-ish) on Friday, September 12, and ended at midnight on the 14th/15th as Grandfather Rock Chris MacIntosh closed Rock ‘N’ Soul Gospel with “Red Hot and Cooking” by Garth Hewitt.

The centerpiece of the weekend was the LIU Sharks football team‘s Homecoming game (and home opener) against the Sacred Heart Pioneers. (That was the LIU Post team name before the Post and Brooklyn athletic programs merged and moved from NCAA Division II to Division I.)

Once again, as unofficial station historian, I documented as much as I could of the entire weekend – on campus Friday and Saturday, and from home on Sunday.

I airchecked off the FM web stream on PCs in my bedroom and guest room via Audacity, where I would export as individual files, and then edit in Adobe Audition. Unfortunately, my internet betrayed me on Saturday. I recorded nearly nine hours of silence. I’m grateful to WCWP station manager Dan Cox for filling the gaps with his official airchecks and to Bernie Bernard via her show files.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

I arrived at the Abrams Communications Center at 11:30 AM. While Project Independence and You (one week shy of its 14th anniversary) finished up in studio 3, I prepped for my live Instrumental Invasion. It was the first time I led off Homecoming Weekend since 2017.

I made a separate recap of that show here, but I’ll at least share Pat Kroll’s photo of me during one of my sets…

…and the aircheck video (with an edited open):

Pat and Jeff Kroll had the next show at 2PM. Since their show and Strictly Jazz at 4PM would be rerun from 2AM to 7AM, Jeff had to be prompt, fading out my last song with 1:40 remaining.

Herb Alpert fans that we are, we both began our shows with Tijuana Brass tracks. My lead was “Spanish Flea” while Jeff used “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (covered on S.R.O.) as the intro bed.

Out in the lobby, Neil Marks talked to Strictly Jazz hosts John LiBretto and Hank Neimark about his long trip to LIU Post earlier Friday.

Hank had the honor of signing on WCWP-FM on March 16, 1965.

The Krolls with fellow alumni (and fiancés) Sami Jo Negron and Pete Sacoulas:

A partial video of Jeff and Pat’s show:

…and a full scoped aircheck:

John LiBretto and Hank Neimark hosted Strictly Jazz, the third show of the weekend, Friday at 4PM.

A partial video of Strictly Jazz:

…and the full scoped aircheck:

From jazz to rock, John Zoni was next at 7PM:

We went from rock to dance just after 9PM with Jay Mirabile and a special edition of The DFK Show.

If you’re wondering, I took a rideshare home around 6:30 PM.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

We jump ahead to 7AM and a prerecorded show hosted by John Commins:

David Friedland was live in studio 2 at 9AM, leading into the Sharks’ Homecoming game:

After editing what I’d airchecked so far, my mom drove me up to LIU Post half an hour later than Friday. We had to clear a security checkpoint before reaching the parking lot by WCWP. I unpacked and walked toward Shark Stadium (no naming rights this year) for photos around and above the field.

The bulk of my Shark Stadium photos were taken on the roof where Travis Demers, Neil Marks, and Jeff Kroll called the LIU Sharks Homecoming football game. Pat Kroll was the coordinating producer.

Just for fun, I took a short video on my iPhone that I later synced to the relevant portion of Dan Cox’s game aircheck:

Travis and my fellow alumni were impressed when I posted that video to the WCWP Alumni Association Facebook group.

Before we return to WCWP, let’s look at photos on the field, sidelines, and bleachers.

I made it back to WCWP just before halftime where co-hosts John Zoni and Jeannie Moon narrated highlights and analyzed the first half. At the board was Andrew Scarpaci.

The studio portion of the halftime report:

You saw how Zetta looked at halftime. This image after the game tells a different, but predictable story:

For the second year in a row, the Sharks squandered a lead. They gave up 17 unanswered points to the SHU Pioneers, losing 24-21 on a field goal as time expired.

In spite of another down ending, it was another exciting game for Jeff Kroll, Neil Marks, and Travis Demers to call on Long Island’s 88.1 FM.

I kept my camcorders and tripods in studio 3 to cover John Zoni and Jeannie Moon’s portion of the postgame show.

This YouTube video compiles the studio 3 halftime and postgame reports:

I’ll spare you the details of what happened in the Sharks’ next game.

On a happier note, programming moved back to studio 2 after the Sharks postgame show. At 3:30 PM, Homecoming Weekend coordinator Ted David hosted the 2025 WCWP Hall of Fame inductee announcement special.

The lucky quartet of 2025 inductees was Cande Roth, Ellyn Solis-Maurer, Tony Traguardo, and Chris Maffei.

(Full disclosure: This was my fourth year on the Hall of Fame Committee.)

Below is the announcement, featuring a cameo from me, here:

…and listen here (without the video’s cutaways):

Bernie Bernard’s prerecorded show ran at 4PM:

As Bernie’s show ran in automation, I joined my fellow alumni outside for the Homecoming barbecue. We’ll use this time for a photographic interlude.

First, Ted’s selfie with me:

Live programming returned to studio 2 at 6PM with Bobby G. and Mike Riccio. The dynamic duo counted down most of the 50 songs in the “First Annual WCWP Beatle Spectacular Hit-List.” Published in December 1969, the list represented the most popular Beatles songs as voted by WCWP listeners.

You can watch those first three talk breaks here:

…and here is the full scoped aircheck:

Incidentally, this is my scan of a copy of the First Annual WCWP Beatle Spectacular Hit-List:

Vincent Randazzo and a host of others were on hand for a special edition of The Alternative Jukebox at 9PM:

Vince’s show was three hours, but half the time was spent chatting with current and recently-graduated staff. It was quite informative. (Shoutout to Post-Party Depression.)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14

The prerecorded Instrumental Invasion ran at midnight. Click here for a full recap, then come back for the rest of this recap.

I will again share the aircheck scope, though:

9/23 UPDATE: And why not include a 65x speed montage of the two Twitch streams that served as recording sessions?

All other info is in the show recap. If you’re returning from that post, welcome back.

Tom was up bright and early at 6AM for the Homecoming Weekend edition of The Dad Rock Show:

Jay LaPrise followed at 8AM with a playlist featuring songs by artists he saw live in concert:

Alana’s The Rockin’ Sunday Show normally airs at noon, but aired in its original 10AM slot on Homecoming Weekend.

Jumping ahead to 1PM, Ted David and Jeff Kroll co-hosted The Joe Show, a remembrance of the late Joseph P. “Joe” Honerkamp.

Joe was a fixture at WCWP for over 50 years, and had a long professional career which included radio stints at WYNY and WHN, and TV production on the weekend Today show.

Among those to reflect on the life and times of Joseph P. were his widow Kathy Honerkamp and their daughters Melanie and Diana. Kathy and Melanie are seen here in studio 2. Diana spoke by phone.

Bruce Leonard and Joel Feltman were also among those to call in.

The scoped aircheck (there were a few songs played) can be heard here:

Ted David shifted to the board at 2PM, playing a wide variety of music over the next hours:

Billy the Kid (Billy Houst) and Joey C. (Joe Conte) had the last two-hour show at 4PM: Masters of Metal.

The penultimate show of Homecoming Weekend began at 6PM: The Ladies of Prison Break Radio, Jamie Mazzo and Sara Dorchak.

And putting a bow on the weekend, my children, was Grandfather Rock Chris MacIntosh and Rock ‘N’ Soul Gospel. Check it out.

Post-production, no pun intended, began as Homecoming Weekend was in progress on September 13 and concluded on the evening of the 21st with publication of this post and the Instrumental Invasion posts.

Thank you very much for reading all the way to the end. It bears repeating: documenting events like this is a labor of love. The next time I step on the campus of LIU Post will be March 25, 2026, for a twice-in-a-lifetime experience thanks to Bobby Guthenberg. My mom and I will get to see Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and Other Delights again for their Tilles Center set. (Read about their April 1 Jazz at the Lincoln Center show here.)

This post is not only dedicated to the memory of Joe Honerkamp, but also Jett Lightning. Jett (Julio) fell ill in the days leading up to Homecoming Weekend and passed away on the morning of September 13. He will be sorely missed at WCWP. I’ll leave you with a photo of Jett taken last year…

…and a scope of his 2022 Homecoming Weekend show featuring Jay Elzweig, who is also no longer with us.