[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 124 (Thursday, September 29, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING PAUL SIDNEY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. TIMOTHY H. BISHOP

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 29, 2005

  Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate a good friend, 
neighbor and constituent, Mr. Paul Sidney, for his extraordinary 
accomplishments, which are being celebrated and honored by winning this 
year's Long Island Lifetime Achievement Award.
  Everyone on Long Island knows Paul Sidney is the man behind the 
music. He is the president, general manager and program director of 
radio station WLNG, owned by the independent Main Street Broadcasting 
Company and based in Sag Harbor in my district on eastern Long Island.
  Paul Sidney's broadcasts can be heard from Mastic to Montauk. The 
signal even reaches parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Listeners 
tuning into 92.1 FM are almost always certain to hear sounds that were 
the standards when Paul was growing up in Brooklyn.
  After graduating from NYU with a communications degree, Paul launched 
his career playing oldies for WLIS-FM in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. 
While the radio industry nationwide and locally has witnessed 
considerable change in that time, WLNG established its signature style 
long ago with Paul leading the way and building a loyal, ever-growing 
fan base on Long Island that continues to feed off his charisma and his 
familiar, swift-talking voice.
  Paul and WLNG have been in business for 41 years. He has worked 
tirelessly to solidify ties to local businesses, including advertisers 
ranging from Lamplighter Wines in Southampton to Hildreth's Department 
Store in the East End to Suffolk County National Bank. The station 
hosts some 250 live remote broadcasts each year from local stores, 
street fairs, antique auctions, car shows, and sporting events. It even 
broadcast live from the Cole Brothers Circus, when it appeared in 
Southampton and Greenport.
  At most of these remote broadcasts, Paul works from the mobile 
control room, and one or two of the other D.J.'s host live on-the-air 
interviews in the crowd. When not broadcasting from a remote location, 
Mr. Sidney and his staff work out of their modest studio on Redwood 
Road, by the waterfront of Sag Harbor Cove.
  The station reflects Paul's style by still embracing old-fashioned 
radio favorites. Listeners also regularly receive a big dose of local 
news, weather and information, like birth announcements, birthday and 
anniversary wishes and reports of missing pets. Perhaps the spirit of 
his radio station was best summed up when Paul recently said, ``If 
someone loses their puppy, we treat it as a big deal. . . This is radio 
the way it used to be, being with the community, talking to them.''
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all of his devoted listeners on Long 
Island, it is with great pride that I recognize one of Long Island's 
trademark personalities and congratulate Paul Sidney for winning this 
year's Lifetime Achievement Award. We look forward to hearing him on 
the radio well into the future and wish him and his family well.

                          ____________________