A Swansea/Fall River station covering that area of Bristol County in Massachusetts and
Rhode Island.
Bristol County, MA and Bristol County, RI are the only two adjacent counties with the same name located in different states. Although both counties share the same name, and also have the distinction of being the only two counties in the United States with a Portuguese-
American majority, both have separate governments.
However, both counties share the same Bristol County Accent, which is "paaaahpu-LA" with WSAR listeners and even talk show hosts.
Located at 1480 ("faahteen-ate-TAY") on the AM Dial or over the
Internet. The web site can easily be obtained by searching for WSAR through your favored search engine.
The Bristol County accent, especially as spoken in the Fall River-Somerset-Swansea-Warren area, is known for it's very "haash" pronunciation of certain words containing the letters "
r" and/or "o" and an emphasis on pronouncing the final syllable in a word.
Known for combining the most peculiar aspects of the Boston Accent (especially the dropped
r's and "
British" pronunciation of words such as ask ("aahsk"), bath ("baath"), and can't ("caahnt") and New York Accent, i.e. the pronunciation of
orange and coral very strong 'aah' on the first syllable and coffee (first syllable, cawww-) and hot dog ("haaaat dawwwwg").
Just as many southerners (esp Texans) will say IN-surance, SEE-ment, and RE-ceipt, many Bristol County residents will say "guvva-MENT" (
government), "aahran-GEZ" (oranges), "kaww-
FAY" (coffee), and "baath-ROAM" (bathroom).
"I gahhda go to da baath-ROAM. I just drank too much kaww-
FAY and aahrang CHOES!" ("Choes =" juice)
This distinctive accent is best "hudd," outside of a "caww-
FAY shaaahp" in "Foe Rivuh" or "Swaaahnzay," ovuh the airwaves of WSAR.
Although the WSAR signal reaches Fall River's arch-rival on the South Coast, New Bedford, the accent in the latter city is very different than that heard 7-10
miles to the west. To hear the "
Brooklyn meets Bar Harbor" accent unique to Fall River, you either have to go to Fall River and hang out at a "
Dunk-YAYS" or listen to WSAR. Either way, "yaaah" in "faah" a "trait!" (treat)
