In early May, SiriusXM Radio announced that “Lunch on the Deck,” a weekly program hosted by Bill Evans and Jessica Ambrose of WLNG in Sag Harbor, had begun airing on the Volume Channel 106 Sundays from noon to 2 PM. The show is broadcast live on WLNG each Saturday from 11 AM to 3 PM then aired on SiriusXM each Sunday.
When WLNG owners, Bill Evans and Sandra Foschi, first purchased the station in 2018, Evans was sitting at the counter at Estia’s Little Kitchen in Sag Harbor lamenting that there were only male DJ’s working at the station. So he asked Estia owner, Colin Ambrose, where he should look for some female radio talent. Colin directed him to his wife, Jessica, who had been a DJ for 20 years on the west coast right after graduating from Boston College.
In April of 2019 Evans hired Jessica; Colin sponsored her show delivering burritos to the station during the broadcast. Thus, the show, “Lunch on the Deck” was born. Ambrose wanted the show to be different from any other, so she asked her guests to pick the music for the show which turned out to be an intriguing format because it’s a great way to hear about someone’s life — through their music choices.
The guests tend to tell stories on a more personal level, many of which people have never heard before. 60 Minutes’ Steve Croft told stories from his time in Viet Nam; Julia Andrews spoke about being a child actress; former NYC police commissioner, Bill Braxton and lawyer Rikki Klieman discussed how they met and kept their relationship fresh.
Now known as “Lunch on the Deck with Bill Evans and Jessica Ambrose,” the show attracted the attention of Sirius Radio CEO, Scott Greenstein, who was intrigued by the format. On May 1 of this year, Sirius picked up the show.
“Honestly, how lucky am I? I’m having the best time while playing music and getting to know amazing local people all in our community. And then on top of it, to be recognized by SiriusXM, well, it’s more than I could have wished for!” said Ambrose.
Other notable guests have included Alec Baldwin, Mike Reilly, Peter Hermann, Bob Collacello, Tom Bezucha, David Michael Burtka, and Emma Walton Hamilton.