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Best Year?

C

cabradio

Guest
What was Boston's best year in Radio. How does this year compare, so far?

This is obviously a subjective question (READ: personal opinions...no rights or wrongs...)

<P ID="signature">______________



</P>
 
> What was Boston's best year in Radio. How does this year
> compare, so far?
>
> This is obviously a subjective question (READ: personal
> opinions...no rights or wrongs...)
>
1982-1983, and part of '84, here's why:

You had WHTT vs. Kiss108. It was a great 2 year period! Great music, and good radio.

WBZ: Dave Maynard, Larry Glick, need I say more?
WRKO: Jerry Williams, and the station billed as "TalkRadio 68, WRKO," even keeping the legendary jingles, almost in tact!

WHDH, what more do I have to say? They had a great race in the Full-Service category with WBZ. WBZ won, of course.

WEEI, good wall to wall news coverage, even if the signal had trouble in the back bay.

Plus, WCoz, WFNX, BCN, WAAF and ZLX were all duking it out with the Rock.
WROR was doing some kind of Top 40 or oldies mix format.
WSSH was "Wish" competing with Magic-WMJX, and, there was "Jib97," if you needed soundtrack for your Caddy or Lincoln.

IMO, there was a whole lot of choice in Boston radio. Today, its all very cluttered. Everyone is trying to do their own things, it sounds like a big mess!
But Boston is still one of the best radio markets I've sampled, IMO.
 
> > What was Boston's best year in Radio. How does this year
> > compare, so far?

> 1982-1983, and part of '84, here's why:
>
> WEEI, good wall to wall news coverage, even if the signal
> had trouble in the back bay.

The present WEZE signal seems loud and strong from the same site (especially for 5 kW) in the Back Bay. It doesn't fade until west of 128 (directional to protect Albany).

> Plus, WCoz, WFNX, BCN, WAAF and ZLX were all duking it out
> with the Rock.

WZLX didn't go rock until 1985. In '82-'83 100.7 was still "beautiful music" WHUE, competing with 'JIB.
 
I would say 1973-1974. During that time, Boston had TWO all-oldies stations! The original WROR/98.5 ("The Golden Great 98!") and WCOP-FM/100.7 ("Total Gold 101"). In April, 1974, WCCM-FM morphed into the stereo-fied WCGY/93.7 ("The Rock Garden"). WVBF/105.7 was still Top-40/Rock ("Stereo 105") with great announcers. FM was really coming on STRONG by then! And the Rock version of WCOZ/94.5 was still a year away!

73!



> What was Boston's best year in Radio. How does this year
> compare, so far?
>
> This is obviously a subjective question (READ: personal
> opinions...no rights or wrongs...)
> <P ID="signature">______________
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts</P>
 
I used to have trouble getting WEEI in Brighton, and it had trouble in some car radios I remmeber. But I guess those were isolated.

As for WZLX, I plead ignorant!
I never listened to WHUE. I do remember a commerical with a woman introducing the new "Coz" at it's new "less crowded" dial position.


> > > What was Boston's best year in Radio. How does this year
>
> > > compare, so far?
>
> > 1982-1983, and part of '84, here's why:
> >
> > WEEI, good wall to wall news coverage, even if the signal
> > had trouble in the back bay.
>
> The present WEZE signal seems loud and strong from the same
> site (especially for 5 kW) in the Back Bay. It doesn't fade
> until west of 128 (directional to protect Albany).
Is there a 590 in Albany? I didn't notice when I was there last month.
>
> > Plus, WCoz, WFNX, BCN, WAAF and ZLX were all duking it out
>
> > with the Rock.
>
> WZLX didn't go rock until 1985. In '82-'83 100.7 was still
> "beautiful music" WHUE, competing with 'JIB.
>
 
i can't pinpoint the year..but I can remember my boy marc clark on ZOU..JR in the morning...Dallas Kincaid..Al Levine on weekends, Lady D..i think i'm getting a little misty-eyed thinking of it...if i had to compare a current DJ to the talent of radio back in the day---hands down---shane blue---ooops, i mean Jackson on Kiss..brings me back to old radio (well, my version of old radio). oh yeah,,,who could forget Larry Glick on BZ..."Hi Larry, how are ya?" Let me check (insert whistle), not bad"..."hi Larry, I'm a first time caller" (insert round of applause)
 
> As for WZLX, I plead ignorant!
> I never listened to WHUE. I do remember a commerical with a
> woman introducing the new "Coz" at it's new "less crowded"
> dial position.

That was very late 1984 when 100.7 flipped from WHUE to WCOZ very briefly, then in a very short time became WKKT "The Cat" in early 1985, a very generic sounding CHR that had no chance against the competition in that format.

In September 1985, 100.7 flipped to the "Classic Hits" format that would slowly morph into "Classic Rock" within a couple of years, and changed the calls to WZLX. Currently, WZLX has recently been promoting their "20'th anniversary" on the air.
 
> I would say 1973-1974. During that time, Boston had TWO
> all-oldies stations! The original WROR/98.5 ("The Golden
> Great 98!") and WCOP-FM/100.7 ("Total Gold 101"). In
> April, 1974, WCCM-FM morphed into the stereo-fied WCGY/93.7
> ("The Rock Garden"). WVBF/105.7 was still Top-40/Rock
> ("Stereo 105") with great announcers. FM was really coming
> on STRONG by then! And the Rock version of WCOZ/94.5 was
> still a year away!

Yes, that was a pretty good period. WBCN was still doing their progressive AOR thing as was WAAF, which was slightly more mainstream album rock (but still incredibly deep by today's standards!).

Top 40 was also heard on the bare-bones WBZ-FM 106.7, and WEEI-FM 103.3 was pioneering "Soft Rock" at the time.

On the AM side, WNTN 1550 Newton was doing full blown free-form "underground" rock a-la WBCN's late 60's days! WRKO was still standard Top 40 with the Drake format and DJ's like Dale Dorman and J.J. Wright, and WMEX 1510 had given up on John H. Garabedian's semi-progressive Top 40/AOR hybrid and went Top 40 "bubblegum" with a playlist that sounded like Barry Scott's "Lost 45's" specialty show does now. Garabedian's own WGTR 1060 was cranking out Top 40 with some AOR cuts sprinkled in from Natick.

Also in that winter of '73-'74, pirate WOJX-AM 1210(d)/1200(n) Watertown broadcast fairly frequently (WKOX Framingham was a daytimer on 1190 then).
 
Wasn't the original plan for 100.7 when it got the WCOZ calls letters in 1984 would have been to flip it to a hard-rock format very much like was on 94.5 under those same call letters between 1980 and 1983??
 
I'll go back to 1968 - arguably The Pivotal year of the 2nd half of the 20th Century. Armed with a cheapie hand-me-down 1946 RCA desk radio, here are my favorites:

WEEI - CBS O/O - Moment-by-moment coverage of "The Incredible Year" (and title of the CBS -released 33rpm record recap of top stories from that year). Full CBS news and features package. Thought-provoking talk radio. I was only 10 years old, but became a news/talk junkie for life. Scored all A's in current events!

WRKO - Top 40 - a legend in the making. I always liked 'MEX better. The jocks on WMEX cinched it for me.

WHDH - Full-service radio at its best. Jess Cain in A.M. drive. Wasn't Norm Nathan in P.M. drive? Alan Dary in the afternoon. My dad's favorite station, always on in the kitchen.

WBZ - Top 40 - "The Spirit of New England". Sounded kind of sedate compared to 'MEX and "RKO IMHO.

WMEX - Arnie touting the Adventure Car Hop in my hometown of Saugus - tough to hear after sundown on the North Shore. A sound unlike any other - personality jocks - fast pace, more sound effects to hook kids like me - it worked!

FM? Whats FM? :)

Didn't get an FM radio 'til 1971!

Mike
 
Ooooh! In 1968, FM was rather interesting. In fact, 1966 (October 12 to be precise) was the pivital point for Rock and Roll on FM in Boston. WRKO-FM/98.5 started playing an automated ("ARKO-matic") Top-40/oldies format. It was fun to listen to. And YES, I had my FIRST FM radio in early 1966 (at the age of 6). I loved WRKO-FM. My brothers thought I was NUTS! But as soon as I let them hear WRKO-FM, they still thought I was NUTS, but they also loved "ARKO" nonetheless! :)!


73,

Pete



>
> FM? Whats FM? :)
>
> Didn't get an FM radio 'til 1971!
>
> Mike
> <P ID="signature">______________
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts</P>
 
> >
> > WEEI, good wall to wall news coverage, even if the signal
> > had trouble in the back bay.
>
> The present WEZE signal seems loud and strong from the same
> site (especially for 5 kW) in the Back Bay. It doesn't fade
> until west of 128 (directional to protect Albany).

Umm, that would be Worcester (WTAG). The old WEEI 590 (now WEZE) has had the same pattern since its move to Wellington Circle in (I believe) 1937. WROW didn't come along until 1947, taking advantage of WEEI's pattern and WARM's protection of WEEI to slip between the two. And what a signal WROW has up and down the Hudson Valley! Later, when the New York Thruway took the original its site in Glenmont, WROW replaced its original 300' towers with 500 footers. This further improved the day signal. When the new towers went in, however, the 1 kW night signal had to be throttled back to limit it to WROW's original night coverage to protect a station in Quebec.
 
> > > WEEI, good wall to wall news coverage, even if the signal
> > > had trouble in the back bay.
> >
> > The present WEZE signal seems loud and strong from the same
> > site (especially for 5 kW) in the Back Bay. It doesn't fade
> > until west of 128 (directional to protect Albany).
>
> Umm, that would be Worcester (WTAG). The old WEEI 590 (now
> WEZE) has had the same pattern since its move to Wellington
> Circle in (I believe) 1937. WROW didn't come along until
> 1947, taking advantage of WEEI's pattern and WARM's
> protection of WEEI to slip between the two.

I forgot about the adjacent channel. I was only thinking about co-channel.
 
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