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Who's who on WDFH's staffBoard of Directors
Department Coordinators
Operations Staff
[Photo] Marc Sophos founded WDFH through an effort that spanned decades. He is the Executive Director, Program Director, and Chief Engineer of WDFH. He is also the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hudson Valley Community Radio, Inc., the nonprofit corporation that owns and operates WDFH. In addition to his responsibilities at the station, he also served during WDFH's alliance with Mercy College as Assistant Professor of Radio. [Picture of Marc with rest of antenna crew, 1997 or in earlier days at WDFH] Marc was a 1976 honors graduate of Dobbs Ferry High School, where he led a trailblazing effort to establish a community radio station at the school. (This effort, which gained the enthusiastic support of the school administration and the Board of Education, ultimately did not succeed because of Dobbs Ferry's proximity to NYC and its crowded FM dial. However, it marked the beginning of Marc's 20 year quest for an FM license, which eventually succeeded in the mid 1990s, when WDFH's license was granted by the FCC — see history). He also played ice hockey, worked on the photography staffs of the yearbook and newspaper, was piano accompanist for the chorus and high school musicals, and appeared in numerous concerts and competitions in classical music performance. He was able to persuade the school system to provide three courses specifically for him: advanced physics, in which he studied Einstein's special theory of relativity for a year, and two additional years of advanced Spanish. Later, Marc earned a BA in Telecommunication from Michigan State University, one of the nation's leading institutions in telecommunication policy research. While in East Lansing, Marc studied broadcast management, programming theory, ratings, the federal structure of broadcast regulation, the politics of broadcast regulation, news and public affairs programming, journalism, linguistics, the science of sound (fascinating stuff — acoustical environments, acoustics of speech, acoustics of music, how we hear), electrical engineering, political science, the business structures and practices of commercial and noncommercial broadcast entities, and at a Ph.D. level, public broadcasting. He minored in Spanish, played ice hockey, went skydiving (once, and not necessarily with a good outcome), and was heavily involved as pianist and musical director in the rich college and regional musical theatre environment. He also gained tremendous experience at the university's WKAR-AM/FM, a major public radio station serving a large area of mid-Michigan. Marc holds a JD from the Pace University School of Law. Academic honors included Dean's List and Ranking Scholar. He was a Managing Editor of the Pace Law Review, and he wrote and published an article about the negative effects of broadcast deregulation: The Public Interest, Convenience, or Necessity: A Dead Standard in the Era of Broadcast Deregulation?, 10 Pace Law Review 661 (1990), available in law school libraries and on Westlaw. Other law school writing included explorations of the ethical and moral implications of end-of-life issues, animal welfare law, and the role of legislatively interested money in congressional elections. While he was in law school, Marc served as an extern with the legendary Judge John M. Manos (1922-2006 — see obituary and editorial tribute from the Cleveland Plain Dealer) of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, doing extensive research, analysis, and writing on a complex case involving parties from several states and involving areas of law including federal civil procedure, conflicts of laws, corporations, and products liability. He made several lengthy oral presentations to the judge on the issues presented, and thereafter drafted a Memorandum of Opinion for the court. Outside of an educational setting, Marc is an accomplished classical pianist. His father was Anthony Sophos, a gifted cellist who performed as a youth in the Cleveland Orchestra and later in the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Toscanini and then with the New York Philharmonic. He was also a staff musician for CBS. After leaving the Philharmonic, Anthony freelanced, touring and recording extensively with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Perry Como, and many others, and performing in the orchestras for many films, TV shows, and Broadway musicals. Later in his life, he taught cello privately. Marc started his piano studies with his mother, Marilyn Sophos, who continues to teach in private practice in Dobbs Ferry. Her students have included members of the singing King Family, a few of the Steinway children, and many others whose lives have been enriched by this tremendously elegant and gifted teacher (Marilyn's students consistently get top enthusiastic evaluations in competitions). Marc studied under the concert pianist Joel Rosen between 1969 and 1978 with continued coaching from both parents. His piano studies continued with Edith Kraft at Michigan State University and Benning Dexter at the University of Michigan. His personal Mount Everest, conquered in 1997: the third piano concerto in D minor by Rachmaninoff. He has served as musical director, conductor, and rehearsal and performance pianist for many theatrical musicals in school, college, community, regional, and professional theatre. He has also been a sound technician for a number of Off-Broadway shows in New York. In his spare time <what spare time?!>, he's an amateur astronomer, photographer, member of the Titanic Historical Society, member of the Broadway Show Bowling League in NYC, and member of the Board of Directors of the Price Performing Arts Company, Ltd. He's an attorney admitted to practice law in New York State and before the US Supreme Court. He's cited in Who's Who in the Media and Communications (First Edition 1998-1999). Marc has operated WDFH since 1968 (see station history). His other radio experience includes on-air work (program host/announcer), news, production, promotion, and engineering (including satellite uplink and downlink operations; location recording; live music recording (classical, rock, jazz, theater); studio design, construction, maintenance and repair; transmitter site design, construction, maintenance and repair) at: WDFH; National Public Radio (New York Bureau); NPR member station WKAR-AM/FM, East Lansing, Mich.; and commercial stations WALK-AM/FM, Patchogue, NY; WGLI, Babylon, NY; WGSM, Huntington, NY; WCTO, Smithtown, NY; WMCA, New York City; WVOX (AM) and WRTN (FM), New Rochelle, NY. Sorry 'bout the boring bio — but too much work and too little play has made Marc a boring boy. Maybe now that Marc has found a way to get a little balance in his life . . . who knows? One major point of balance: Marc happily lives in Manhattan with his partner, Doug Koch.
Program host. Single White Female looking for
love…uh oh, wrong bio! Let’s try this one more time. My name is Josephine Arce.
I started with WDFH in
the summer of 1993 and they have not been able to get rid of me yet. As I began my
quest to rule the world…sorry, wrong bio again. My training led to my first air
shift and then my own show. As I became more involved with the station my duties
grew. I became Training Coordinator shortly after the station made its In my other life, I work
for Greek101.Com, which is one of the leading fraternity/sorority sportswear and
paraphernalia companies. I am currently the Accounting Director but just like at
WDFH, I do more than crunch the numbers as I am very active in all aspects of the company
which includes sales, marketing and customer service.
I am also an amateur photographer still looking for that perfect shot. My
musical appetite is as varied as my brain will allow so you will never know what to expect
when I am on the air, but I hope you will enjoy the journey as much as I do. News Consultant. B.A., Mass Communication, Fordham University. Executive Director, Bronxnet/Bronx Community Cable Programming Corporation (1994-present); Director, Studio Operations and Local Programming (1992-1994); Manager/Senior Producer, Paragon Cable (Manhattan Division), 1986-1991; recipient of New York Emmy award for best community outreach program; local Ace awards (1987, 1990, 1991) and Ace award nomination (1992); Producer, Creative Services, Group W Cable Manhattan (1984-1986); Videographer/Editor Local Origination Department, TelePrompter Manhattan (1980-1984); Assistant Producer/Director, Instructional Television, Archdiocese of New York (1979-1980); Announcer/disc jockey, WRNW (FM), Briarcliff Manor; Master Control Operator, UA Columbia Cablevision of Westchester; Assistant Director, Bride's Eye View, Daytime Network magazine program; Assistant Director, Traveller's World, nationally distributed travel program. Involved with WDFH since 1993.
Program host (Friday
10pm-2am). I’m an information technology manager by day who craves musical
stimulation during most waking hours. Raised on New York FM radio in the late '60s
and '70s with heroes like Vin Scelsa and Dave Hermann, I was introduced to and dazzled by
artists such as John Prine, Richard Thompson and Phil Ochs. Radio revealed a wealth
of amazing music that helped me weather the '70s, and hardened my status as a music
junkie.
Yao Olushula Cunningham (aka Lawrence) Program host. Our own Brother from the 3rd stone. Graduate of Hampton Inst. (Univ.) degree in Marketing B.S. I have traveled thru life landing at various places and spaces. Started at WDFH Sept. 2003. All music is my favorite except C/W, On the show u will
hear jazz, blues, rock, especially New age jazz, be bop, avantgard, hip hop with a jazz
twist, etc.
Program host. Basic: created as a life-form, classified fauna, born an animal, presto — WDFH.
Program host. How can someone with a conservatory degree in voice from the Eastman School of Music end up spinning rock and other crazy stuff on the airwaves? Easy! Suppression never lasts too long…most of my radio listening was done on the sly and my obsession with the Beatles, the Roches, and jazz was looked down upon from on high while I continued to nurture my vocal talent by cutting it on opera (also a great love of mine) and, under threat of disinheritence, in a rock band along with some bass playing and songwriting. I make my living by singing some kind of music usually pigeonholed as early, which has some vague similarity to the band Dead Can Dance, and to be asked to provide a bio for the WDFH website is weird, since I always have to update my singing bio saying I’ve sung here, there, and everywhere, except with YOU, so could you just please hire me?! Here at WDFH I can share my love and knowledge of the other side of my musical life…and I didn’t learn any of it from the conservatory curriculum!
Program host (Tuesday 10pm-2am). My show comprises new music: the latest, disposable, skimming-on-the-surface-of-life, song-oriented fare by indie kids with GUITARS. I have a lot of fun exploring 'hep' new music and I hope you tune in to my show, or any of the excellent programs on WDFH. About me: I don't like girls, I don't like boys. I don't even like myself. I do like beer, sailboats, and independent record stores. Have a nice day.
Program host (on sabbatical). So, after communicating subliminally with Shirley, she informed me that my past life regressions included Sarah Bernhardt, mistress of a great French poet, London street waif and the only woman in a Moroccan prison circa 1823. That explains it! Of all the genres of self-expression, I believe that music has the greatest power to unite, heal and enlighten us lowly humans. Who cares what language a person sings in, after all it is the message being delivered through the conundrum of sound that touches and teaches us. I am on the radio playing music in order to paint a palette, author a soliloquy, choreograph sound waves, and most importantly to reach a higher place through the wonder of song. Please join me. Whatcha got to lose?
Program host. Apart from traveling to the far corners of the Earth on the hunt for better cheese, Treavor also juggles several jobs in addition to finishing a Business Administration degree at St. Thomas Aquinas College. With any left over minutes or sometimes seconds, he also has an endless appetite for all things musical. The insatiable appetite for music began he was a child. You could often find him singing along to anything he heard on the radio; which later led to explorations of musical instruments. Treavor began hosting an internet-based radio program in 2000 and continues to explore the world of 1's and 0's today. He was introduced to the world of possibilities at WDFH in 2004. Non-commercial, community radio is a very important part of our community. One might say that free-form radio is a dying art form and that is one of the prime motivations for getting involved. Music should be heard without interruption from corporate sponsors. Treavor couldn't resist the urge to be a part of WDFH and not only share music with people in his own backyard but also to help the station to grow and flourish.
Member, Board of Directors, Hudson Valley Community Radio, Inc. (corporation that owns and operates WDFH). Senior Broadcast Engineer, Cue Paging Corporation. Involved with WDFH since 1982.
Music Director. I did my first radio in 1968 at college in the wilds of West Virginia, and it's been in my blood ever since. I was blessed to have been able to make my living at it through the 70s, the halcyon days of free-form commercial radio. For a while I was the Duke of Darkness, the only all-night DJ in Westchester. After a few years at stations in there and in Connecticut, I got my big break at a New York FM rocker. The studios were high in a midtown skyscraper. Every night before I went on the air I would go out on the roof and look at the big city glittering around me. It was beautiful. It freaked me out. I made a career change. Since then I have worked at a residential school for adolescents with emotional and learning problems, which has been a mostly rewarding (though sometimes draining) experience. In my copious free time I've done a little college radio, co-founded a theater company, and spent the better part of a year as a fowl hazer, persuading geese and gulls to leave New York's water supply alone and do their business elsewhere. Is there a pattern here? If so, I am unable to discern it. But I'm sure glad to be back on the radio.
Host, Recovery Talk. Journalist and writer-producer Robyn Leary, who hosts and co-produces Recovery Talk, is president of Recovery Network Foundation. The foundation's mission is to create recovery-dedicated material in print, TV, radio, film and video formats. Ms. Leary is CEO of a new cable and satellite venture, The Recovery Channel, television's only 24/7 recovery-dedicated venue, coming to a TV near you. Recovery Talk is an electric mix of news, features and documentaries, historical and scientific profiles that distill the latest research and new thinking on treatment and recovery. Leary interviews national superstars in addiction medicine including leaders in the fields of prevention, intervention, research, treatment and recovery. The show is a salon of think-pieces on the arts and
philosophy as well as programs that probe the spiritual components of a sustained recovery
and a renewed life. Ms. Leary talks frequently to people in recovery from both
trauma and addiction, anonymous and otherwise, who, in intimate detail, open their
life-affirming recovery stories for all to hear. Occasional program host,
involved with WDFH since 1983. Anne Leighton has been called “the DaVinci of
media” because she's been involved with all forms of media — radio broadcasting,
writing, publicity, television, and more. Anne started in radio at SUNY Fredonia in 1976,
and soon found a job at the local country station doing everything from running the polka
party to writing up funeral announcements. Within three years she worked middays at a
progressive radio station — WZIR-Niagara Falls-Buffalo. And soon after, she moved to
the local Westchester area to jock the last year the WRNW-Briarcliff Manor played rock and
roll.
Operations Coordinator.
What’s there to say about a guy from the Lately, I’ve been really into the
band The Redwalls and have already caught them live a few times and expect them to really
take off in the near future. I’m new to
working at a radio station, but have wanted to do so for a while now and am really psyched
to be getting an opportunity at WDFH. Among
other interests in my life is a love of softball. Besides
playing on one to two teams per year, I also take trips to warm weather states in the Fall
— usually Florida, California or Arizona — and play 15 games of softball over
the course of three days in tournaments. Why? Just love to play the game. By the way, I’m an accountant by trade and have spent most of my working career at marketing and advertising companies. When you try to add it all up, it really just doesn’t compute.
News
Coordinator, co-host of In
Focus. I currently spend five days a week serving as a cog in the heartless
machine of a large corporation. This is my reward for having obtained a BS degree in
Engineering Chemistry back in 1989. Since earning my science degree, I’ve
discovered that I’m really a liberal arts person who loves the outdoors. It was
that discovery that led me to earn a MA in Environmental Education. I’ve
worked as an environmental educator for various nonprofit organizations and found those
experiences highly rewarding. However, society places little monetary worth on such
endeavors, hence the corporate gig. In addition to exploring the wilderness during
my time off, I dabble in writing poetry and short fiction.
Community
Affairs Coordinator. I'm a poet, a retired English and creative writing teacher who
lives on a creek in Rockland County with two spoiled half-Siamese kitties named Desmond
and Molly Jones, and one very patient husband named Ken. Ken's an organist, also a
retired schoolteacher.
Program host. I live in Port Chester, NY, and enjoy listening to many genres of music. But Spanish rock and reggae are my favorites. I am a clarinet player, and have also taken a couple of piano lessons. Music is one of my passions; I love buying CDs and going to live music events. I always wanted to work at a radio station, so I'm really happy to be a member of WDFH.
Member, Board of Directors, Hudson Valley Community Radio, Inc. (corporation that owns and operates WDFH) (click here for picture of Jonathan at WDFH in 1979). Theatre manager in NYC. Member of staff and Board of Directors, WESU-FM, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (1980-1982). Involved with WDFH since 1978.
Training
Coordinator. Cuper Vargas is an obsessive collector of recorded music, an
accordion player of limited ability (but great determination), and a friend to animals
large and small. He works with the Putnam County Humane Society and Little Orphan Animals
of Westchester County: cleaning, feeding, socializing, and attempting to find homes for
stray cats and dogs. Years ago, he learned the true potential of music upon hearing
Rhinebeck's native Lettuce Boy play a tiny little bar in upstate New York. Since then, he
has scoured the tri-state area's thrift stores, record shops, and live clubs seeking to
satiate his unbearable hunger for new tunes. Ska is his favorite, but examples of polka,
punk, folk, celtic, klezmer, and any number of other styles have found their way into his
collection. Now, thanks to the good people at WDFH, he has a whole new musical library to
explore.
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