AUBURN – Connie Cote is back on the air.
On Sunday morning, her all-French radio show, “La Revue Francaise,” will debut on CNN 1240.
“It’s like I’m getting married,” Cote said Tuesday while sitting beside her new boss, station owner Dick Gleason. “I’m excited to get back on the air.”
Cote signed off only nine days ago, after her last station, WLAM, went all-sports.
“People were so upset,” Cote said. “Some go to Mass on Saturday so they can stay home for my show.”
It’s a following that has been built over decades.
Cote is in her 40th year on Maine radio. The former Maine legislator has been playing French music for area Francos all that time, spending years at stations in Lewiston, Bath and Brunswick before landing at WLAM 10 years ago.
For the first few years at the station, she did her show from an Auburn studio. Then the station sold, sending her to downtown Portland.
“I play my music, read the PSAs and the commercials, all in French,” she said. “They told me I won my time slot. My ratings were good.”
Her last show was Nov. 27.
“Was I worried? Not really. I came here the next day,” Cote said, sitting in Gleason’s Auburn office.
“We’d been toying with the idea of her coming over for years,” he said.
The station accentuates its local ties. Rather than adhering strictly to news programs, as the CNN name suggests, he characterizes his station as having a community format.
“Of the five radio stations located in Lewiston, only one has a studio here,” he said. “This one.” Its window faces the Auburn Mall.
Cote plans to do the same show she has always done. On Tuesday, she was already selecting some of the Christmas music.
At 78, Cote brushes away any suggestion of slowing down. She is serving her 11th year on the Androscoggin County Commission.
“I’m good for a lot more,” she said.
Gleason figures he also had a responsibility to take on the show. When he bought the station in 1990, one of the shows he canceled was an all-French program hosted by Georgette Berube, the late Maine legislator.
“I feel like I’m righting a wrong,” he said.
What: “La Revue Francaise,” French music and talk
When: Sundays, 9 to 11 a.m.
Where: CNN 1240, AM radio
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