But that changed the And with that cheerful tone, the corporate machine is axing 104.1 WBCN: The Rock of Boston, leaving most of New England without a dedicated modern rock and roll radio station. From the birth of rock 'n' roll in the 1950s through just about the end of the 20th Century, Cleveland was a great town for radio. A classical music station in its first ten years on the air, beginning in 1968, WBCN featured a rock format for 41 years. The union produced one son. WBMX moved all of its subchannels with it from 98.5 to 104.1: "Mix" on analog and HD-1, "The '80s Channel" on HD-2, and "The Sky" on HD-3. Popular legend holds that WBCN was sent a promotional copy of The Beatles' unreleased Get Back album and played it on the air before the release of the album was cancelled. I was the last full-time DJ that Oedipus hired. [2] Although he initially believed astrology to be "stupid" and asinine", he later became hooked. Along the way, WBCN both pioneered and defined progressive rock radio, the dominant format for a generation of listeners. From February 26, 1991, to December 3, 2017, the "Mix" format in Boston used the callsign WBMX. Former WBCN disc jockey Mark Parenteau, who was a force on the Boston airwaves for more than 20 years but saw his career and life go off the rails after he was arrested for having sex with a 14-year-old boy, died early this morning after a long illness. Ken Shelton would participate in a near-dismantling of Camelot, a surprise attack from across the radio dial that WBCN's denizens . The station slowly began to change to an "underground" progressive rock format on the night of March 15, 1968. It was like I was one of them. His radio . Oedipus was orange. In December 1968, Peter Wolf left to take the J. Geils Band full-time and, introduced to the station by Jim Parry, Charles Laquidara was hired to take over the 10:00p.m. to 2:00a.m. air shift. The hitch: the station is on HD. Steve Lushbaugh 1978-79 Production Director at WMMR,Phila. [4] When same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts, Martinie and Boesel married. Active rock accounts for all regular programming on the HD2 digital subchannel. So we said, How about the car we give away, its suspended from a crane tied into the Strawberries Records on Memorial Drive and hanging over the Charles River? WBCN was an over-the-air radio station in Boston, Massachusetts. Before switching to 98.5 HD-2 on August 12, 2009, WBCN featured its rock format for 41 years as an analog radio station on 104.1 MHz (now WBMX ). J.J. Jackson 1968-71 Radio Consultant,LA Bradley Jay 1984-Present Air Talent Madge Kaplan 1986-1988 News,WGBH-FM Boston . Parenteau, who claimed he did not know the boy he was charged with molesting was under age, agreed to plead guilty to one count of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to three years in prison. There was a time when we first played them, it was like, Oh my God! This audio stream includes the archives shared for The American Revolution documentary film, coming . On March 15, 1968, a failing classical music station, WBCN-FM, was reinvented as Boston's first voice in radical underground radio, and its influence quickly spread nationally. You were BCN. When WBCN went off the air in 2009, Parenteau was not invited to the stations farewell broadcast. There was a very strong sense of history being made at the time. Once upon a time, in order to create content that could reach a massive audience, you needed expensive equipment, like a printing press, a television studio, or a radio tower. WBCN was always in a state of perpetual brokenness. WBCN started as a classical music station in 1958, but a decade later reformatted as an "underground" or free-form, progressive rock station. None of the Alligators. How Boston radio station WBCN became the hub of the rock-and-roll, antiwar, psychedelic solar system. After five years at MTV, Jackson returned to Los Angeles radio, JJ's first gig after MTV was 106 KWST then at KROQ-FM in 1987, then as program director of modern rock/alternative station KEDG ("The Edge") until May 1989. In late summer of 1969, WBCN somehow obtained a reel-to-reel tape of a reference acetate of a potential album song lineup prepared by Beatles' engineer Glyn Johns on March 10, 1969. Usually, wed be going to see bands that nobody wanted to see, when they were brand-new. He then moved to the legendary WBCN-FM/Boston where he won three Boston Achievement in Radio Awards and was the Executive Producer of New England Patriots Radio Network. The Listener Line had positioned itself almost as the Google of its time. Now they can actually afford to put out a halfway decent independent record which gets noticed by the major label, and now they get signed by the major label and become stars. Since then:DJ at WZLX and KISS; editor in chief at Citysearch; marketing director at Ticketmaster Online. So he persuaded station owner T. Mitchell Hastings to give DJs free rein to play album cuts on an overnight graveyard shift to determine if there was an audience and ad dollars to float the new format. 3. For the first time, the owners of the station began to make a profit. It was about everybody. After arriving in the city he began performing horoscope readings to employees of the state welfare department in exchange for them keeping him on the welfare rolls. B96 - WBBM 96.3 FM. Syndicated shock jock Howard Stern turned mornings into all-talk radio. Charles Laquidara played Superman by The Kinks back to back for an entire show in celebration. There are 3 small gaps where I flipped/changed cassettes. Its studios are located in Brighton, and its transmitter is on the upper FM mast of the Prudential Tower. This is a great audio history of radio formats, music, local commercials, news and broadcast personalities at the time. We were as important as the Boston Globe and the Boston Red Sox. WBCN and the American Revolution - Bill Lichtenstein 2021-11-30 How Boston radio station WBCN became the hub of the rock-and-roll, antiwar, psychedelic solar system. His guidance counselor said he should pursue an exciting career in retail, but he took a chance on radio instead. Suddenly, you can own multiple stations in one market. Classical music, jazz, or anything else might be played, as long as the skillful DJs could make it work. In the period around 1975, John Garabedian, now recognized for the nationally syndicated "Open House Party" (which was once heard locally on WXKS-FM), was an afternoon DJ on WBCN. web pages The entire musical landscape of America, and maybe the entire world, would have been different. We always tried for an element of humor and drama. Also, former radio personalities Bob Rivers and Peter Zipfel of "Bob & Zip" fame, Greg Hill, Danielle Murr, Lyndon "LB" Byers, Spaz (Anthony Parziale) and Kevin Barbare from the "Hill-Man". Elektra Records said, Hey, why dont we give away a car? Okay: Thats easy, thats ordinary. A bunch of us were sitting around, possibly experimenting with drugs. Im thinking about retiring, and just managing this group and trying to get them going on tour. He puts this cassette in. In that final week, CBS said to the staff, Do anything you want. Laquidara would then give Martinie his start in radio as well as his nickname "The Cosmic Muffin", which was taken from a National Lampoon Radio Dinner parody "Deteriorata". ADAM ADAM 12 CHAPMANAt WBCN:DJ, 200309. He was one of the few African Americans to DJ an "album rock" radio station. Mark Parenteau died after a long illness at the age of 66 in 2016. Oedipus's radio career began in 1975 as a D.J. Every night, these same jocks rode in vans plastered with the BCN logo, straight to the towns hottest gigs to greet packs of fans. ** = Audacy operates pursuant to a local marketing agreement with Martz Communications Group. It gave people points of parity with one another. After he left WBCN, Parenteau hosted shows on XM Radio and Q104, until the arrest in 2004, reports the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. November 29, 2020. The Charlotte station was a semi-satellite of WFNZ 610 AM, known then as "The Franchise", an all sports talk station. Unknown names like Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, the Cars, U2 and the Clash were made household words while the station actively supported local music through its annual Rock n Roll Rumble and the burgeoning comedy scene with the Comedy Riot competition. Can you imagine a world with just the Eagles? WBCN 104.1 FM went off the air on Aug. 11 after broadcasting in Boston for more than 40 years. I loved this station (it's been gone for many years now). PAUL TANK SFERRUZZAAt WBCN:Listener Line operator, van driver, producer, sports reporter, 197895. WBCN holds a special place in history." Jon Abbott, President and CEO, WGBH "A team of young heroes, women and men, black and white, straight and gay, passionate, fearless and revolutionary, broadcast the music and ideas that shaped how every college kid thought, felt, and acted for the rest of our lives." 1. Worcester personality and deejay LB Worm paid tribute on his . This is what happened: WBCN started on Newbury Street, 171 Newbury Street. I was a kid then. In 2016 Oedipus was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame (Massachusetts Broadcasters Association). The protest got local media coverage and the attention of several well-known Boston-based music acts, including The Cars, Aerosmith, and Boston, who got behind the protest. During the stations heyday, its DJs, the music scene, and listeners were all intensely interconnected. Jackson first gained prominence while working at WBCN in Boston in the late 1960s, then at KLOS in Los Angeles for ten years. WBCN's Toucher and Rich morning show began broadcasting on WBZ-FM on August 14, 2009. Music is a passion. In order to keep the intellectual property of WBCN intact, without another station in Boston making claim to it, CBS Radio parked the WBCN call letters on WFNA, a station located at 1660 AM in Charlotte, North Carolina. CARTER ALANAt WBCN:DJ and music director, 197998. When I took over as program director, we were getting our ass kicked by WCOZ, Kickass Rock n Roll. We needed to turn it around, and we were able to turn it around. People really related to that. The 104.1MHz facility went on the air in 1958 as WBCN. I remember the owners telling me, Youre gonna make mistakes, and youre gonna learn from your mistakes. During his time on Loveline, Carolla gradually drew an increasing fan base to the program. Died shortly after 10am today. WWBX (104.1 FM, Mix 104.1) is a radio station with a hot adult contemporary format in Boston, Massachusetts. Unlike most rock stations of the era, WBCN still allowed a degree of individual DJ control of the music. Exec at RAB in NYC Tom Couch 1976-82 Production Manager at WXRT,Chicago Peter Choyce 1978-88 Air Talent,Las Vegas Carolyn Fox 1991-93 Air Talent,Providence RI Jerry "The Duke of Madness" Goodwin 1977-81 Air Talent,WCGY,Lawrence MA Eddie Gordetsky 1978-82 Comedy Writer in NYC and LA Kenny Greenblatt 1968-1979 deceased Tommy Hadges 1968-78 President of Pollack Media Group in LA Tami Heidi 1977-79 1984-91 Air Talent,KROQ in LA John "Hoch" Hoccheimer 1972 Professor at Ithaca College in Itaca,NY Kate Ingram 1979-81 Harmonic Converge,San Francisco Eric Jackson 1973-75 Air Talent,WGBH-FM Boston J.J. Jackson 1968-71 Radio Consultant,LA Bradley Jay 1984-Present Air Talent Madge Kaplan 1986-1988 News,WGBH-FM Boston Lisa Carlin 1980-82 TV commentator in NYC Charlie Kendall 1978-79 Radio Station Owner in Mississippi Sam Kooper 1968-73 National Media Relations 1987-90 Spokeperson in Boston, Bob Kranes 1982-86 A&R,Polygram in NYC Charles Laquidara 1969-76 1977-Present Air Talent,6-10am Kathryn Lauren 1985-87 Air Talent,WHFS,Annapolis,MD Maurice Lewis 1989-91 Boston Food Bank Larry "Cha-Chi" Loprete 1982-Present Air Talent,Host of WBCN's "Get Back to The Beatles" heard on Sundays. I was turquoise. It felt more like a bank. That was part of its charm. Its characteristic blend of cultural chaos, including rock, folk, blues, and jazz, interspersed with news . For those who lived in the listening area, which. All the records are still in there, a lot of the old reel-to-reel machines, a lot of the old tapes and commercials and their reel-to-reel boxes. I was put in charge of getting that up and running. The call letters stood for the " Boston Concert Network ". Air Talent,WMYF Exeter,NH Leslie Patten 1977-80 Screenplay writer,N, by mikekelly.. Mon, 25 Mar 2013 23:58:04, 3. After leaving BCN he did fill-in work on WRKO and WTKK in Boston and a stint at Q104 in New York. At BCNs peak, its top DJ raked in more than a million bucks a year. This is awful! in Boston Albert O 1983-Present Air Talent,midnight-6am Oedipus 1976-Present Program Director Mark Parentau 1978-Present Air Talent,3-7pm Jim Parry 1968-79 Anthroplogy student at Harvard U. The idea of the radio, and crafting it, and being a person on the other end, that will never die. ", On July 14, 2009, CBS Radio announced that WBMX would move from 98.5 FM to 104.1 FM, replacing WBCN; these moves were made to launch a sports talk station, WBZ-FM, at the 98.5 frequency. We had a grid that we taped in front of the albums, and everybody had their own color pen. Boston, Massachusetts, United States. I like to think we made the city and the people listening to it, we enhanced their lives. Just dont lose us the license. Suddenly for a week, it was amazing radio. [8] During the following months, industry insiders, local media, and even WBCN's on air staff speculated that, in a matter of time, WBCN could see a format change, especially after the Boston Herald ran an article in the March 30, 2009, issue about WBCN's future, and the station airing a Top 40 format for a few hours the following day (April Fool's Day). February 28th 5pm Hour: Packers ready to move on? Over the years he interviewed major rock and comedy legends including John Lennon, Frank Zappa, Little Richard and comedian/Blues Brother John Belushi and Jerry Seinfeld. and Cooper. Arbitron got a lot of bags of shit. There is comedy, news, information about peace marches ('BCN was the "internet" for the young crowd (me at the time!!). He is on the Board of Advisors for Community Servings, an organization that feeds Boston-area families with acute life-threatening illnesses, and a former member of the Board of Overseers for the Huntington Theatre Company,[6] advisory member of The Center for Arts at the Armory in Somerville and the Boston Music Awards. )[19][18] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17. August 1948: The first antenna is erected a 595-foot tower. Johnson remained with the station until 1967, just prior to the changeover from classical to easy-listening, and then to rock. There was the Rock n Roll Rumble. On August 11, 2009following a weeklong farewell from many of the stations past contributorsWBCN died to the strains of Pink Floyds Shine On You Crazy Diamond.. . Suddenly all of my decisions were vetted. When he started doing it, nobody was doing that. Hes got a 13, the highest rating ever in the history of ratings. It was never a one-way experience. 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