[BC] WBIX ... and the market

[hykker@grolen.com]

Rich Wood wrote....
> I might take issue with the need for WBIX, at least in it early days.
> John Garabedian is a little like Jim Gabbert of San Francisco where
> they experimented with new ideas. I believe the original call was
> WNTN. I recall John wanting to do a TV format everyone laughed at.
> Imagine doing music videos on TV. It'll never work was what I was
> told by nearly everyone when I worked in Boston. My cable system is
> full of them today. My days in Talk Radio made me impervious to huge
> egos. In fact, the bigger the better if the talent backs it up.
>

When John G. put the station on the air the calls were WGTR.  WNTN was
(and still is) 1550.  I think 1060 was a daytimer until sometime in the
80s.

Actually the music video format was a good idea...at the time (mid 80s)
neither Boston nor Cambridge had cable service (mostly for political
reasons, not technical).  Also, many cable systems did not carry
MTV...older systems' capacity was maxed out.  Not sure if John was even
able to cover the electric bill with that format, but he sure made out
when he sold it to Home Shopping Network a couple years later.