Back when people still drove Ramblers and DeSotos and Oldsmobiles, the easy-listening music of Cambridge AM radio station WJIB was standard fare. These days, when you tune to AM 740 and Sinatra and Elvis and Nat King Cole come tumbling out of the car speakers, itâs an exotic treat.
Bob Bittner, who runs WJIB and three other New England radio stations from his home in West Bath, Maine, gets at least as much pleasure as his listeners from broadcasting the good old stuff. Bittner, 66, estimates he could sell his stations for about $4 million. Instead, he and his wife, Raisa, live on Social Security and about $15,000 a year earned by selling collectable license plates on eBay.
Advertisement
âIâd rather have the stations than the money,â Bittner said. âIâd rather do what I do. I just love music.â
Bittner grew up in Washington, D.C., listening to his parentsâ music â âshow tunes and soft stuff,â he said. âFor the first 12 years of my life I didnât know what contemporary music was.â And when he heard it, Bittner didnât like it. âJimi Hendrix butchered âThe Star Spangled Banner,â â he said. âIâve always had a sweet tooth for music. Iâd rather listen to The Carpenters than Richie Havens.â

Still, Bittner got his first radio job in 1970 playing âWoodstock-type hippie musicâ on a station in Rochester, N.Y. It was during his senior year at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he studied graphic arts and photography. He started broadcasting at a Boston disco station in 1979; in the late â80s he launched a free newspaper that featured personal ads. The success of that venture gave him the money to buy bankrupt Cambridge AM radio station WLVG for $277,115 when it came up for auction in 1991.
Advertisement
Since then, heâs added three Maine stations to the mix: WJTO-AM in Bath, W252BT-FM in Freeport, and WJYE-AM in Gardiner. All four stations play the old-school music Bittner loves â classic country, big band, show tunes, Motown, and early rock ânâ roll.
Bittner hates commercials, so he doesnât play them. He used to support the stations by selling âbrokered timeâ slots so businesses and churches could run their own shows. Now he scrapes up the stationsâ $98,000 annual budget entirely from listener contributions. He goes on the air every couple of hours and asks listeners to mail him a check.
Bittner said about 2,300 people came through last year, and heâs confident the 250-watt stationâs audience is many times larger than that. âI probably have more listeners per watt than any other station in America,â he said.

Know about an interesting job or workplace? Tell us about it at yourstoryhere@globe.com.