Ryan Cote has been selected a 2026 Maine Terrific Ten Broadcaster in honor of his community service by Spirit of America Foundation’s Maine Chapter.
The popular BIG 104 FM radio personality is heard in Maine on 104.3,104.7 and 107.7. In the late 1970s he recognized growing hunger in Maine and cofounded the Love Fund, winner of the NAB Crystal Award! It’s raised millions to start food banks, soup kitchens and other charitable agencies in Central Maine.
Thought to have been Maine’s youngest program director of a commercial radio station while attending USM, Cote went on to program stations in Portland and did TV weather while starting his own Ear Candy Production company and producing TV commercials and voice overs for stations in Maine, New Hampshire and New York to California. He was promotions creative consultant and afternoon drive personality on WROR-FM Boston before being asked to come back to WABK as operations director.
Married for 45 years to his beloved Rusty and now a widower, Cote spends his time on audio and concert production and their other businesses. In 2009, he was elected to the Maine Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and has served on the Red Cross and Family Violence Boards of Directors, and was a member of Rotary Club and instrumental to the success of its Student of the Month program. He’s the recipient of Presidential and Senate citations and the Grange Community Citizen Award.
A Dresden resident, Cote was chosen keynote speaker at the Travis Mills 9-11 commemoration, The Maine Sheriff’s Association Awards and Emcee at countless Spirit of America ceremonies over the years. This year, he was humbled to be made an honorary member of the Kora Shrine for his decades of fundraising for the Shriners Hospital.
Maine Spirit of America is a chapter of Spirit of America Foundation, an organization promoting community service.
