Alan Pergament: JP starts on WECK Monday after all; Jennifer Stanonis rejoins WGRZ-TV

JP will be hosting a seven-hour program from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. remotely from home on WECK (1230 AM, 1001.1, 100.5, 102.9 FM) so he can take care of his elderly parents.

That had been a sticking point with his former employer, 97 Rock (WGRF-FM), before he took a medical family leave and later left the station he had been at since 1995. He had been midday host since 1998.

He announced three weeks ago he was joining WECK and working for Shula, who received his first radio job from JP when Shula was an intern at WPHD almost 40 years ago.

He called that off a week later, saying “it just didn’t work out.”

But it has since been worked out with JP joining the station as a programming consultant and on-air personality. 

“We took a little timeout and it was all about negotiating a final decision where everybody was happy and we’re going forward,” said JP in a brief telephone interview Tuesday afternoon.

He added that he will be bringing back “Breakfast with the Beatles” on the weekends and another time to be determined.

He said it is the second longest-running “Breakfast with the Beatles” program in the country, with only a station in Los Angeles airing it longer.

And he may have a new wrinkle before that program starts.

“We’re working to get a welcome from one of the Beatles,” he said of surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

The hiring of JP has led to some changes in WECK’s lineup but Shula notes not one job was sacrificed.

Roger Christian, who had been working middays, now will have the 7 to 10 p.m. shift.

Tom Donahue works mornings from 6 to 9 a.m., Dan Rinelli from 4 to 7 p.m. and Bobby Rosati from 10 p.m. to midnight. Joe Chille is working weekends.

Speaking of on-again, off-again, Jennifer Stanonis has rejoined WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) as a meteorologist.

Stanonis left her Channel 2 role as weekend meteorologist late in 2019 after seven years to "focus more time on my family, three young kids!" Before joining WGRZ, she was a meteorologist at WKBW-TV (Channel 7).

General Manager Mark Manders said she will be working full time for an opening that hasn’t been filled since Heather Waldman left in September of 2021.

Manders added it hasn’t yet been determined what newscasts Stanonis will work.

Karen Graci, a Western New York native and a Buffalo Bills super fan who graduated from the Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, is the story editor of Disney's upcoming animated comedy-adventure "Hailey's On It," which will premiere soon on  Disney+ and Disney Channel.

According to the show’s publicist, “the series follows Hailey, a risk-averse but resourceful teenager on a mission to complete every item on her long list of challenging – and sometimes impractical – tasks in order to save the world.”

He added as story editor, Graci oversees writers who are responsible for writing 26 episodes and specials.

Graci, who is from the Cheektowaga/Depew area, has a long list of writing credits that include "Tuca & Bertie," "The Harper House," "Girlboss," "Work/Friends," "New Looney Tunes" and "Blue."

Her biography includes having toured with Chicago's famed Second City National Touring Company and performing 10 shows a week as a resident cast member in "The Best of The Second City" in Las Vegas.

After high school, she was an honors graduate of the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C.