Clem LaBree has always been interested in the medical profession.
So when he and Dale Duff lost their sports talk radio show and their jobs because of cost-cutting measures at Bangor’s WZON-AM four years ago, that served as LaBree’s impetus to return to school.
He earned a degree in medical administration in June 2015 from the University of Phoenix and has left 92.9 FM The Ticket and the 6-8 a.m. morning sports talk show to accept a job at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.
LaBree is an operations specialist in the transfer center at EMMC, and he began his job Monday.
In addition to co-hosting the morning show with Duff, LaBree also served as a play-by-play announcer and had several other responsibilities, such as producing commercials and running the board.
“A good opportunity came up, and I had to jump at it,” said the 44-year-old LaBree, an Old Town native and New England School of Communications graduate.
“It was a hard decision. I still love the job, so it was kind of a bittersweet thing,” LaBree, the 1999 Maine Sportscaster of the Year, said. “On one hand, I would have loved to have done this a lot longer.
“On the other hand, having spent time and money to get my degree, I didn’t want to let it just sit there, either,” LaBree said.
He also admitted he wanted job security.
When he lost his job at WZON, it was the third time it had occurred while working in broadcasting.
He had a job at a radio station in Lincoln only to have it go out of business, and then he was at the radio stations under the WABI-TV Channel 5 umbrella in Bangor before it was sold and his position was cut from full time to part time.
“I decided that I wanted to have options so I went back to school,” said LaBree, who began working toward his degree online at the University of Phoenix in the fall of 2012, just before he went with Duff to Bangor radio station The Sports Ticket, 92.9 FM.
LaBree said he still intends to do some play-by-play for The Ticket when his schedule allows and is glad he will be keeping his hand in broadcasting.
He will be working an overnight shift at EMMC.
He noted that the money will be better at EMMC, “but that certainly isn’t why I did this.”
“I’ve never had an issue with pay or anything like that. It’s more of a career decision,” he said.
“It’s a good move for him,” said Duff, the brand manager at The Ticket.
LaBree had been the assistant brand manager and had worked with Duff for 22 years between WZON and The Ticket.
“He’ll be tough to replace,” Duff added. “He has intimate knowledge about everything concerning broadcast sports, on and off the air. You need to be able to do a little bit of everything, and he could certainly do anything you asked of him.”
LaBree, who intends to eventually seek a master’s degree in medical administration, developed a love of sports medicine before he got into broadcasting.
He said he struck up a friendship with the late Wes Jordan, the former longtime trainer at the University of Maine, and attended Jordan’s summer clinics.
LaBree did some athletic training when he was at Old Town High School.
“But then I got bitten by the broadcasting bug,” he said.
Duff said he is hoping to name a replacement for LaBree “sooner than later.”