Familiar radio voices to be inducted into state Hall of Fame

Two legendary East End broadcasting personalities with vastly different career paths will be inducted this fall into The New York State Broadcasters Association (NYSBA) Hall of Fame in Albany. Bill Evans and Gary Sapiane, co-hosts of the Morning Show on WLNG radio, 92.1 FM in Sag Harbor, are among six New York media personalities to be inducted on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. In a press release, the NYSBA said, “The hall of fame class of 2025 sets the ‘gold standard’ for broadcasters throughout New York state.  The inductees represent a lifetime of achievement serving their profession and communities throughout the empire state and our nation. We are honored to have them join the hall of fame.”  

Mr. Evans and Mr. Sapiane have lengthy careers in media and are being inducted separately for their accomplishments; Mr. Evans for his 30 years in radio and television as the senior meteorologist for WABC TV Channel 7 Eyewitness News, WPLJ radio 95.5 FM and 77 WABC radio with “Imus in the morning;” Mr. Sapiane is being inducted for five decades on the air at WLNG. The two teamed up in 2018 when Mr. Evans bought the station. 

“It came as a kind of surprise because I do what I do because I like doing it. I’m not in it for any other reason. I never looked for accolades,” Mr. Sapiane said. He was 16 when he first turned on a microphone. At the time, he was a junior at Westhampton Beach High School and did his homework while the records were playing on WAPC in Riverhead. In 1975, the Westhampton Beach native went on the air at WLNG; this December marks 50 years of Mr. Sapiane’s voice on the station. In 2008, after DJ Paul Sidney passed away, Mr. Sapiane became president of WLNG. Mr. Sidney was already an inductee; WLNG will now be home to three hall of famers, a rarity in the radio world.     

For Mr. Evans, the induction creates a feeling of gratitude, humility and accomplishment. “If you knew where I came from and how I got to New York City, you’d say there’s no way.” Mr. Evans caught the broadcasting bug when his grandfather, a Methodist preacher, delivered his devotion on the local radio station in a small town in Mississippi. “I was 7 or 8 and I wanted to be the guy behind the control board. I bugged the station for a job and they hired me to do pickup work and help at remotes.” 

Mr. Evans is now the owner, program director, chief meteorologist and Morning Show co-host at the vintage radio station. He’s well known for forecasting the weather from interesting locations around the world such as water skiing behind the Circle Line around Manhattan, atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire when it was hundred degrees below zero, under water at the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead and in the vineyards of the East End. Mr. Evans is also a 20-time Emmy Award winner and five-time NY Times best-selling author.

“It’s an honor to be inducted,” Mr. Evans said. “Radio has always been my greatest love along with television and I always look forward to entertaining the listeners, making sure they got the weather, a little laugh and then they go about their day with a little more sunshine in their step.”