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Radio personality Anthony Famiglietti of WEHM's "Morning With Anthony" show.
Psychologists call it a parasocial relationship — the pseudo-intimate attachment formed between audience members and a media personality.
Such attachments are evident on social media this month in the wake of Anthony Famiglietti’s abrupt exodus from the airwaves.
The popular host of “The Morning Show with Anthony” on the Water Mill-based radio station WEHM helmed his last show on October 11. Neither Mr. Famiglietti nor WEHM officials have commented on the reason for his departure: Mr. Famiglietti, who lives in Manorville, has not responded to requests for comment, and station owner Lauren Stone replied to a query from The Press with: “Anthony is no longer with EHM. We appreciate his contributions over the years and wish him the very best!”
He began his tenure at WEHM in 2007.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does Robin Botta. An ardent “Anthony” fan, she created a Facebook group dubbed “Where’s Anthony?” Since its launch on November 5, it’s garnered 59 members.
It took listeners a little while to realize Mr. Famiglietti was actually gone, she explained; people thought he was on vacation or responding to a family emergency. Once the departure became obvious, listeners took to Facebook, posing questions on the WEHM community page and Mr. Famiglietti’s profile.
“They wouldn’t reply on their community page,” Ms. Botta said of station officials, noting that they responded privately, offering a vague answer. A few days later, they shut down the interactive attribute of the community page — readers can no longer post comments there.
“I thought that was a little hurtful,” Ms. Botta said. “We were all clamoring for information, and they cut us off.”
Listeners tried for answers with posts on Mr. Famiglietti’s personal page, as well as on Linkedin, to no avail.
“Listen,” Ms. Botta said, “if it’s something criminal or unethical, I’d want to know that, too. We don’t need the dirty details, but it’s a disservice to the listeners, to leave us wondering.” Radio silence can spur a lot of speculation, she said.
The group admin made it clear that she’s not “anti-EHM.” A Manorville resident, Ms. Botta said she’s listened to the station every morning as she was getting ready for work “for years.” Anthony, she said, “made me laugh every day.”
Ms. Botta started the page to provide a place for listeners to gather. Mr. Famiglietti, she said, was like a family member to her. “I remember him getting married, through the birth of his children,” she said.
Listeners have become friends on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
“This little community, we all got to know one another,” she said.
“I was surprised by how much it affected me,” she went on, likening the feeling the disappearance sparked to that of “a pet lover whose dog has died.”
Radio personalities can become a part of your life, Ms. Botta acknowledged. “I guess there are other people who feel the same way,” she said.
Bill Nofi does. Nicknamed Twitter Bill by the station host, the Lake Ronkonkoma resident began listening to WEHM when he started a new job on the East End back in 2009. A member of the Facebook group, he, too, chafes at the lack of information: “It’s like we all had a good friend who up and skipped town.”
Cindy Clifford says she understands the sentiment from both sides. A former radio personality who co-hosted the morning show on WALK radio, she said that when on-air personalities really connect with their audience, “they become part of your social circle, like a one-way best friend.”
She still connects with listeners through her podcast, “It’s Me, Cindy.” As a listener, if the departure is abrupt, “it’s like your best friend moved away in the middle of the night,” she said.
Mr. Nofi finds the station’s refusal to answer queries “a little disheartening. I expected a little bit more from them.”
So did Ms. Botta, who added, “To act as if nothing happened, I know that’s just business.”
Still, she said, “They could throw us a bone.”
