Remembering Chris DiPaola
• Chris DiPaola, a passionate lifelong radio fan and the co-owner of WBLQ-AM/Westerly, RI and Classic Rock WWRI-AM 1450 (I105.5)/West Warwick, RI, affectionately known as “The Voice Of Westerly,” died Thursday evening, Oct. 13 of an apparent heart attack. He was only 49 years old.
DiPaola caught the radio bug when he was growing up, listening to the late, legendary WNBC/New York. Like many fellow radio geeks, DiPaola also built a home radio station as a teen. His lifelong friend Caswell Cooke, now a Westerly town councilman, told WJAR-TV (NBC 10 News), “When we were teenagers and we all ordered food, and Chris ordered a glass of water, and we were like, ‘What’s going on, Chris?’ He said, ‘I’m saving every dime, I have to buy a radio station.'”
WBLQ is Westerly’s only local radio station, with a mix of music, sports, and super-local programming, like carrying the Westerly Town Council meetings. As The Boston Globe described the colorful, multi-tasking DiPaola, “Behind the microphone, he was known as ‘Crazy’ Chris DiPaola, filling up hours of airtime every week with his signature radio-friendly timbre and high-energy patter.”
DiPaola’s business partner, Steve Conti, half of the duo’s DiPonti Communications, noted, “Today in 2022, having an AM station that is successful, profitable, he was able to do that. Not many people can do that.”
WBLQ recently sought to extend the lease for its tower in Westerly. The Globe says WBLQ’s tower is located in an area that the town is seeking to redevelop. DiPaola and the station’s supporters have attended recent Town Council meetings requesting a 20-year lease extension for the site; the town had considered a five-year lease with extensions. DiPaola likened a five-year lease extension to telling your spouse you’ll love them forever, but you only want to commit for five years at a time. The tower, which has been there for decades even before DiPaola owned it, would be too expensive to move.
“Westerly loves him,” Cooke said. “[Chris] He was synonymous with Westerly. He was the voice of Westerly. His radio station, which was him, was part of the glue that keeps the community together.”
In addition to his parents, DiPaola leaves his wife, Laina, son Haidan, son Stevie (pictured), his stepson, Adrian, his sister Jaime and brother-in-law, Tristan Wager, their daughter, Sadie, and a large, close-knit circle of aunts, uncles and cousins.
A memorial fund has been established to help support DiPaola’s family during this difficult time. Checks can be made to payable to Laina DiPaola (please put “Chris DiPaola Memorial Fund” in the memo line) and can be dropped off at either the Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce, 1 Chamber Way, Westerly, RI 02891 or at the WBLQ studios at 58B High Street, Westerly RI. [Family photo from Facebook]
The Westerly Sun has more details about DiPaola’s career and all-too-short life.
