[BC] Underground = Classic

[DANA PUOPOLO]

If I recall, WBCN was a classical station owned by T. Mitchell Hastings. 
He sold the evenings to the people who owned the Boston Tea Party nightclub -
they were the ones that began playing rock on WBCN. It was so successful that
WBCN went rock 24/7.
I had an FM radio at the time (I was in seventh grade). Compared to AM, FM was
a teen's dream. We had WBCN, WRKO-FM (Arko, the automated top 40 robot with
zero commercials), and even WLLH AM/FM from Lowell was a decent top 40 station
at the time.

Later, WBZ-FM, WVBF (WKOX-FM), WEEI-FM. WHDH-FM, WCOP-FM and WCGY all went
rock in one form or another. 

-D



------ Original Message ------
Received: Sun, 08 Jan 2006 08:06:20 AM PST
From: Rich Wood <richwood at pobox.com>
To: Broadcast Radio Mailing List <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Subject: Re: [BC] Underground = Classic

------ At 12:08 AM 1/8/2006, Jeff Johnson wrote: -------

>Ah, but no longer avant-garde! #1 of what? - a shrinking, sinking 
>medium? 'Underground' is now 'classic'. What a revolting 
>development! Bellbottoms and bongs have been replaced by slacks, 
>Cadillacs and country clubs. Ewww ...

I can't accept Classic Rock as Underground. The "Classic" underground 
station on the East Coast was WBCN, Boston. Absolutely free form. 
What I hear on "contemporary" classic rock is rigid. WBCN would play 
an acid rock cut followed by something Classical. It was done so well 
that it actually worked. During my college days WBCN was a cult. Tom 
Donohue's name has recently come up. His stations were the West Coast 
versions of true "Free Form" radio.

I'm afraid those who claim "Free Form Radio" in contemporary radio 
don't know what they're talking about. It's empty hype. Gargantua 
International and "Free Form" are mutually exclusive. Can't be done.

Rich


Rich Wood
Rich Wood Multimedia
Phone: 413-303-9084
FAX: 413-480-0010


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