Saturday Nights 8:00pm to 12:00am
Born at Horton hospital in Middletown NY and raised in Westchester County, New York, Joe Cortese developed a love for radio early on. He grew up listening to legendary New York radio stations like WABC and WPLJ. And while spending his summers in Middletown at his grandparents also grew up listening to WALL Radio, it wasn’t long before radio and music were his passions.
After graduating from Dean College in Franklin and attending Temple University in Philadelphia where he worked at WIOQ Philadelphia, he got his first professional radio job at WPRO-FM, Providence, Rhode Island in November 1982.
Consistency has marked Joe’s entire career. For the past 32 years, Joe has showcased his talents at CBS radio WBMX/WODS Boston. He joined the station in 1983 for nights when it was WROR and has held middays since the station became Mix 98.5 in 1991, he is also the host of one of Boston’s most popular specialty shows “Back to the 80’s Friday night”.
In 2001 he added management and production at WODS in the CBS Boston cluster. As station ironman and one of Boston’s longest running radio hosts, Joe jokes, “On the frequency 98.5, I’ve played everything from Patsy Cline to Pearl Jam
In December 1998 Joe signed on with Super Radio to host and produce the worldwide syndicated “Retro Pop Reunion…the Biggest hits of the video music era” Heard weekends on WALL Radio, this one of America’s most popular syndicated programs for 80’s & 90’s music.
“To be on a station you grew up on like WALL Radio in Middletown is thrill. Having played these songs when they were hits the first time”, Joe brings a wealth of musical knowledge to the show each week.
Joe resides in the Boston area with his lovely family and comes to visit his relatives in Middletown often!