~ Jon James
On Thursday, July 2nd, 2026, Mac Dickson walked away from the mic for the very last time doing afternoons at 107.9, The Mix.. At least that’s the plan.
This article is coming for one man’s persepective and I feel it’s a pretty good one as I know Mac as well, and likely better, than anyone in radio. I’ve worked with him for many years.
Let me tell you about the man before I talk radio.
He is a true friend. He is an honest person. He never takes life too seriously. He cares for people around him, especially his loving wife Jeana and their children, who are all grown. He loves to eat Mexican.
All these things are the truth. But there’s so much more to Mac Dickson.
This isn’t about me, but I cannot write an honest piece about Mac without inserting my personal experiences and perspective into it because these stories are the best way to convey all he does and and has done.
I met Mac on November 24th, 1990 at approximately 9am. I called 92 Moose (WMME) from Cumby’s on State Street in Augusta, which was across from the Casco Bank Building (now Preti, Flaherty attornies). Mac (then Bruce Mainerd). He met me at the door as the building was, obviously, secure. This was to be my first show.
As I started my first break talking about the birth of Michelle, Mac was in the production room for hours working on things for MY show, which would be mornings starting the following Monday.
Mac has always been a perfectionist and put in tireless hours into making sure that the radio station sounded exceptional, like it belonged in a major market. It always did, thanks mostly to all the work Mac did behind the scenes and off the air. Listening, tweaking, critiquing, constantly. He is his own biggest critic, which is why his is regarded as such a pro.
I was hired by Mac (and then General Manager Jim Mann). They both became friends of mine but Mac became a close friend who I enjoyed hanging out with on days that we were both free (which in radio didn’t happen very often).
My first experience with how committed to the job he was came in the mid nineties. He took a bullet for me, so to speak.
The GM called him into his office, unhappy with something I had done on the show, telling him it wasn’t funny. I’m not sure if Mac agreed or not but he tried to explain that humor is subjective, which is the truth, but the manager wasn’t listening. Mac, the Program Director (PD), pulled rank as a good programmer does but the GM wouldn’t back down. Mac put in his notice.
When he left 2 weeks later, I was lost without my friend. My morning co-host, Renee Nelson, was too.
Mac did well..going first to WKRH (a rock station in Bath, formerly WIGY 106) and then to WKZS in Auburn where he worked with mutual friend, Donna Steele, another broadcaster who was well recpected thoughout southern Maine, offering a great voice and smooth delivery. They worked very well together and were a team for several years on Kiss 99.9 which later became Mix 96.9 and 99.9.
While all this had been going on in Mac’s life, we were going through a couple of ownership changes. We landed with Citadel Communications and General Manager Al Perry, a legend in is own right who worked in Boston, most notably at WBCN with Peter Wolfe (J. Geils Band) and Charles Laquidara plus other people you may have heard of.
On a side not, a source of pride for dear Al was being mentioned in a book written by his friend, Muddy Waters. I always loved the smile on Al’s face when he told that story.
Al was wonderful. The first thing he did was call me into his office (circa 2002) and asked little old me what we could do to make the radio station better.
Without hesitation I said, “hire Mac Dickson back.”
I told him where Mac was, I contacted him and an interview was set up. Next thing you know, Mac was back.
After going through several progam directors, who were all nice people but NOT Mac, Renee and I walked into the lobby on what was to be his first day, assuming his old role, and there he was. It was like Christmas.
The first thing he did was to redirect the programming, from what had become a deciedely alternative rock sound, back to it’s heritage top 40 lean. Not long after that, Mac, the consumate hard worker, asked if I’d like him to join the morning show (in addition to his afternoon duties and program director duties) to do sports.
I told him I would love that. We became a three person show and Mac became so much more than a sports guy. He was the ying to my yang. Renee, who did news and was a co-host, mostly just watch us go off on stories and recollections of growing up in central Maine, as we both did. He in Lewiston/Auburn and me in Randolph/Gardiner.
I can’t recall everything we talked about but we laughed. We laughed a lot. And listeners did too as we always invited them to participate in our memory sharing.
Mac was always hilarious as a co-host. He likened himself to “the kid in the back of the class who would make the other kids laugh and then play innocent.”
That was a great analogy. We were exactly alike in that way.
We were also alike in that we grew up with radio stations in our bedroom. Pretending to be big time DJs from a very young age, collecting records, making up countdowns and learning to love the role before we even knew what it was like. Turns out, it’s not that much different!
Mac loves baseball. He’s a diehard Sox fan.
Here’s a photo he an I had taken at Fenway many years ago during a station trip:
In 1994, Mac and I decided to go to Montreal to see the Expos play. We had a great road trip planned, then the strike happened.
We planned to go to Cooperstown, New York, to he Hall of Fame. Something came up and we never went.
Regrets, we’ve had a few…..
Most of our fun as friends has revolved around eating, traveling and meeting new friends.
One of the most fun and unique excursions was to…wait for it…Milo!
Mac had some childhood roots there. It’s where his Nanny lived and where she is buried so one morning, on a whim, I decided to call around in Milo (on the show) to see if we could set up a parade (because Mac USED to live there).
The late Murrell Harris (then Recreation Director for Milo) and Valerie Robertson (the Postmaster) thought that a parade with Mac and the station vehicle would be a good idea. They organized it and we showed up. Mac didn’t want to walk and assume the role as grand marshall as he doesn’t like bringing attention to himself. Not a rare trait for those of us in radio.
He and I lead the parade in the van, though, followed by a reception at The Restaurant which was, coincidentally, across the road from where his Nanny is buried.
Here’s a video of the parade captured online by Mac’s wife, Jeana. The music is my poor attempt at a parody of Neil Diamond’s, Shilo. Sorry Neil.
When I left WMME in 2016 on my own, Mac continued on doing the morning show with Renee until well after I had moved onto Mix Maine Media, owned by Jay Hanson, a true radio pro.
Jay is a good, solid and honest local radio man who cares a lot about those who work for him. When he heard Mac had been part of a “blood letting” of sorts by Townsquare media (which owns WMME), it was a very reminiscent experiene. He asked me, “do you think Mac would be a good fit?”
Without hesitation, I said, “yes, and you won’t find anybody who works harder or is more loyal than him.”
“That’s what I thought,” he said.
Then Mac joined the team in September of 2019.
The station(s) that were once our competitors were now our bread and butter. That’s how it goes.
Though Mac and I haven’t see a lot of each other for several years (he works at the Augusta studios and I work mostly remotely), we’ve stayed in close touch but the recurring trips we use to take to Milo, Brownville, Millinocket, Bangor (Pepino’s Mexican Restaurant) and the like haven’t happened.
Here’s a little known fact: though Mac and I love doing things together, we don’t like groups. In fact, this is another part of our parallel lives. We both enjoy solitude. Ya know, the “two’s company three’s a crowd” kind of guys.
There’s a snapshot of my friend, Mac. Central Maine will miss him. I’m lucky. I’ll get to see him when we get the opportunity to get together. We’ll have plenty to talk about but, be assured, it will be mostly about radio.
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