Walter "Salty" Brine's 85th Birthday

WALTER "SALTY" BRINE'S 85TH BIRTHDAY

Mr. REED. Mr. President, on August 5, 2003, an icon in my home State of Rhode Island celebrated his 85th birthday.
Walter "Salty" Brine was hired by WPRO-AM in 1942 and took over as morning host in 1943 where he stayed for 50 years.

Salty entertained Rhode Islanders on radio and television with his enthusiasm, family friendly programming and his love for Rhode Island and its coastline. In fact, it is his love for the water which earned him the nickname "Salty." But, Salty's contribution to Rhode Island has been more than just entertainment. He has been a consistent supporter of charitable organizations and an inspiration for the disabled.

Brine has been a role model for Rhode Islanders and has been named a member of the National Commission for the March of Dimes, National Commission on Muscular Dystrophy, and both the President's and Rhode Island's committees on the employment of the handicapped. He has been a supporter of the Meeting Street School for Crippled Children and the Rhode Island Association for Retarded Children. Brine was named the recipient of the 1999 Nellie A. Greenwood Humanitarian Award and numerous other honors have been bestowed on Salty by organizations such as the Cranston Jaycees, Rhode Island Big Brother, Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion.

Brine lent his support to the Lt. Governor's Rhode Island Fights Back Program that asked the public to help support local businesses that suffered after September 11.

Brine's love for the water has led to his involvement in the preservation of State beaches and waterways. He is on the Board of Trustees of Save the Bay and in 1990, a State beach was named in his honor.

As an on air personality it was Salty's folksy, contagious enthusiasm that endeared him to the Rhode Island public. Almost every lifelong Rhode Islander, young and old, can remember Brine's winter storm school closings announcements, highlighted by a line that has become a unique part of Rhode Island culture, "No school Foster-Glocester!"

Brine dominated morning radio on WPRO for decades and he remained a ratings winner until he left WPRO in 1993, though he continued to make the famous school closing announcements from home during snowy Rhode Island winters. WPRO's broadcast center is now named after him.

I first glimpsed Salty back in the 1950s when he came to visit his son, Wally, at St. Matthew's School in Cranston. Wally and I were grade school classmates. Salty was the first "celebrity" I ever saw in person. Almost 50 years later, he's still the best as well as the first.

In the early days of television Brine developed "Salty Brine's Shack," a children's show that ran on Channel 12 from 1958 to 1968. Many still remember Brine closing the show telling kids to "Brush your teeth and say your prayers."

Rhode Island has certainly been lucky to have Salty Brine and in an interview with the Providence Journal Brine expressed a mutual love, "I've been very lucky," he said. "I've had the most wonderful association with the State of Rhode Island anyone could ever have."