By Paul Post
WCKM-FM Morning Club co-hosts Dan Miner and Pete Cloutier have been named to the New York State Broadcasters Association’s Hall of Fame. Previous inductees include Walter Cronkite, Barbara Walters and Al Roker.
Induction ceremonies are scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Rainbow Room, 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York.
“I still can’t put my head around it,” Miner said. “I don’t think it’s going to hit me until we’re up on stage. It’s just really blowing my mind right now, when you look at the people who are going in.”
“And the people who already are,” Cloutier said.
“The thing I’m really proud of is that we’re representing small-market radio,” Miner said. “Big stations have a huge impact, but do they have the same impact that we do in a small market? I don’t think so. It’s about taking care of people on a one-one-one level. That’s what we do.”
Miner, 61, a Whitehall High School alum, and the 81-year-old Cloutier, of Glens Falls, have worked together on the air for 29 years. Both had extensive broadcast backgrounds before joining forces.
Miner remembers their first meeting, when they set ground rules for The Morning Club.
“We got together in a room and I said, ‘We’re going to be stuck together. This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to have fun, we aren’t going to preach, we’re going to have a good time and rag on each other’,” he said. “Are you in?”
“Yeah!” Cloutier said. “And we aren’t going to touch politics.”
WCKM’s signal covers a population of about 160,000 from Saratoga Springs to North Hudson (Exit 30) and Great Sacandaga Lake to Rutland, Vermont.
“We’re in people’s ears,” Cloutier said. “If they’re looking for a new car, a lawn tractor or a great place to eat it gives us an opportunity to put things in their head.”
The hosts discuss contests for restaurant gift cards and promote charitable events such as Operation Santa Claus from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday. Some listeners set their morning routines by recurring show elements.
“We try to keep the same elements at the same time,” Miner said. “They know they should be out of the shower by the time we’re doing ‘Dirty Deeds.’ If not, they know they’re already running late.”
The pair’s age difference and backgrounds are reflected in their on-air roles, with Cloutier the more energetic of the two.
“You’d think he’d be the wise old one and I’d be the wise-cracker,” Miner said, smiling. “We actually did the reverse.”
Cloutier attributes his energy to racing go-karts and “hanging out with this guy (Miner).” At 78, he earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records by donning a Glens Falls Greenjackets uniform and becoming the oldest person ever to play in an official football game.
Both men start their days about 2 a.m. Miner is Regional Radio Group’s station manager, responsible for the Queensbury-based company’s four stations.
“I’m here at 3:25 (a.m.) and put together all the weather, sports and show prep stuff,” he said. “On top of that, I do all the social media every day, Facebook and Instagram, so people have an idea what we have coming up. Being on the air is the easy part of the day.”
The Morning Club requires advance preparation for each show.
“It can’t all be ad lib,” Miner said. “It’s tough to be witty every time you turn on a microphone. It’s a lot of work.”
Cloutier is the station’s senior account executive for ads and promotions.
“A lot of clients that I work with were folks that were in high school with me and are now business owners,” he said. “In another life I owned two photography studios in Hudson Falls and Glens Falls, so I did a lot of yearbook photography. That’s how I got to meet a lot of people, too.”
In the early 1960s, while still in high school, Cloutier and a few friends started an unlicensed radio station that caught the FCC’s attention.
“When you’re 17 it’s pretty scary,” he said. “The fine was $100,000 and a year in federal prison if we even attempted to do anything like that again.”
In 1966, Cloutier’s career began with “Saturday Night a Go-Go” on WWSC-AM. That year, he also brought a pop show with Gary Lewis & the Playboys to the old Rialto Theater in Glens Falls. He later promoted other concerts, including “Summer Jam,” which he and Miner co-produced for almost three decades.
In addition to radio work, Miner is the Adirondack Thunder’s well-known public address announcer, is in the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame and is host and owner of the podcast Talkin’ Smack.
“Anything we can do to help out or make a difference,” Cloutier said.
“It’s who we are,” Miner said.
For more information about this year’s inductees, go to https://www.nysbroadcasters.org/hall-of-fame.
Provided by NYS Hall of Fame CKM; edited for style and length.