Favorite Boston FM stations of the past........

[pqgeorge]

I was probably one of the first kids on the block to ever own an FM radio. It was just by accident back in 1966 that I inadvertently pressed the "Band Selector" switch on my older brother's GE AM/FM portable. I had never heard FM radio before. Eventually, I would be the proud owner of that GE radio (by default)! Out of all of the FM stations I heard, my favorite 5 stations would have to be......

(of course) 98.5 WRKO-FM ("with R-KO, the shy but friendly robot"). In 1966, I had never heard such hi-fidelity sound with rock and roll on the FM band before. Practically no commercials and those unique sonovox bumpers between the songs. It was unique and still memorable to this day (at least to me). It was Boston FIRST FM rock and roll station. It was the right idea at the right time. It was the beginning of the FM revolution. College students especially loved it. As a little 7 year old kid, I did too!

106.7 WBZ-FM. It was fantastic. "Rockin' Stereo 106.7" Sure, it was all automated. Other than the simulcast news on the hour, there were no commercials at all. After many years of cheap pre-recorded classical and jazz tapes in mono, WBZ-FM changed on 12/30/71 at 5:00 PM to Stereo Rock. Clark Smidt was the first voice, and the only voice, for a while. FM was new to the younger set and teens loved it. So much in fact, Clark added some new voices to the FM side namely "Captain Ken" Shelton and others. The 'BZ Top-30 was actually voiced by phone callers who had the opportunity to get their voices on the radio (I was one of them!). It was getting ratings. But, it was not what WBZ/1030 wanted to happen. No doubt it was supposed to be a "loss leader" for Group W. Slowly but surely, Clark, Ken and the crew disappeared and it became nothing but a jukebox. Most of the 'BZ crew eventually moved down the dial in '75 to WCOZ (94.5, now-WJMN) with "Modified Progressive Rock", later to be called "AOR" (album oriented rock).

105.7 WVBF. The very first live personality Top-40/rock in the market in 1970. Started as WKOX-FM with Top-40/oldies in the late 60's in Stereo but with a less-than-adequate signal to cover the entire Boston market. It was basically a Metro West station. Eventually, the transmitter moved to Needham and the rest was history. "The EEEEEEEEE-lectronic Mama!" was loud, ballsy and rather fun to listen to. The jocks were classic like the late Bud Ballou, Ron Robin, Charlie Kendall and others. The "Stereo 105" Heller jingles were the best!!!

98.5 WROR. "The Golden Great 98!", a well respected all-oldies station, programmed by John Long in 1973. It was the right time to put oldies on the FM side. "American Graffiti" came out and people loved the music! 'ROR was in the midst of being sold to Cecil Heftel and was about to go to beautiful music. WCOP-FM (100.7) grabbed the Drake/Chenault oldies package and was ready to take over the oldies market. BUT......, the FCC said "uh, uh... you don't even have the right to sell" WROR due to the issues with RKO General's license. So, RKO General had to re-fortify the FM side to make it eventually saleable. So John Long made an in-house version of oldies. A very well done format. Bringing in Wolfman Jack was a coup. After one year, WCOP-FM went to country and 'ROR had the oldies market all to itself. Surprisingly, 'COP-FM with their Drake/Chenault oldies format did quite well, at times even better than 'ROR during that year old long oldies war. But people still remember the days of "The Golden Great 98!".

107.3 WAAF. Yes, it was a Worcester station. But that itself made it rather unique. The signal was quite adequate from Paxton. It was a unique blend of album rock with some oldies mixed in for good measure. The jocks were really low-key and didn't sound like the typical "everybody likes me" type of jock. The music was similar to WBCN, but the station wasn't as "weird" as 'BCN was (for the lack of a better term).


So, there's my thoughts about Boston FM stations from the past. Oh yes..... can't forget WCGY (93.7) "The Rock Garden". Automated, yes. But it had a great playlist with oldies and currents, 24/7. The nice thing about 'CGY, you could drive from south of Boston to the lakes region of New Hampshire and never lose it.

Any thoughts about other former favorite stations in your past?

 

[mgpt6]

WBCN 104.1 1971-80 Charles,and etal. Great Radio
WEEI-FM 103.3 1970-1973 Great Music from CBS-FM on tape.Dick Provo voice-over.
And a station that should have been on FM, WCAS 740AM 1972-1978,
Rick Starr, Mo Shore, Frank Dundgon

 

[CTListener]

106.7 WBZ-FM. It was fantastic. "Rockin' Stereo 106.7" Sure, it was all automated. Other than the simulcast news on the hour, there were no commercials at all. After many years of cheap pre-recorded classical and jazz tapes in mono, WBZ-FM changed on 12/30/71 at 5:00 PM to Stereo Rock. Clark Smidt was the first voice, and the only voice, for a while. FM was new to the younger set and teens loved it. So much in fact, Clark added some new voices to the FM side namely "Captain Ken" Shelton and others. The 'BZ Top-30 was actually voiced by phone callers who had the opportunity to get their voices on the radio (I was one of them!). It was getting ratings. But, it was not what WBZ/1030 wanted to happen. No doubt it was supposed to be a "loss leader" for Group W. Slowly but surely, Clark, Ken and the crew disappeared and it became nothing but a jukebox. Most of the 'BZ crew eventually moved down the dial in '75 to WCOZ (94.5, now-WJMN) with "Modified Progressive Rock", later to be called "AOR" (album oriented rock).

I'll put in a few kind words here for WCOZ. Its first year or two -- before positioning itself as "Kick-Ass Rock 'n' Roll -- were terrific listening. George Taylor Morris, with those great pipes and ultra-cool delivery, did mornings. I believe Lisa Karlin (ex-WCAS) was on in the afternoon. And Robert Desiderio did a really interesting all-night show, with eclectic music and even a dramatic reading or two. If AOR had stayed like this, I would have been a very happy listener. Unfortunately, the consultants kept tinkering and the format eventually grew nearly as restrictive as Top 40.

A station I really wanted to like was WTTK. No, not the FM talker of today that often is misidentified with those call letters, but Plough's attempt at progressive country at 100.7. Unfortunately, TK-101 was an automated, cheaply done, glitch-ridden mess. You'd hear a Marshall Tucker Band song start and, about 30 seconds in, Crystal Gayle would come in and start singing over it. Or a station ID would run. Or all three things would be going on at once. Even a great variety of music loses a certain something when two or three songs are playing at once.

 

[leegart]

WCGY when they played oldies. They had one of the widest playlists including "Evil Woman" by Crow, "Will You Be Staying After Sunday" by Peppermint Rainbow, "When The Band Was Playing Shaking All Over" by the Guess Who, "Sky pilot" by the Animals and other more obscure oldies. I kept hearing "wow! songs" that you would hardly ever hear on most oldies stations.

 

[Time Traveler]

92.9-WBOS 1983...
94.5-WHDH-FM 1967-1969
94.5-WCOZ 1975-1980
98.5 WRKO-FM 1966-1967
103.3 WEEI-FM 1969-1972
104.1 WBCN 1976-1981
105.7 WKOX-FM 1969-1971
105.7 WVBF 1971-1973
106.7 WBZ-FM 1972....
107.3-WAAF 1971-1974

I left the area in the early 1980s...so I don't want to really comment further...

 

[radiorama1]

Hit Radio 103.3 WHTT (best CHR Boston ever had, in my opinion... imaging, processing, music... that station COOKED)

94.5 WZOU (The Sunny Joe era, circa 1991-1992... imagine: a NINA SIMONE record played on a CHR in afternoon drive!!! Yep, Sunny Joe did it.... nowadays that would be instant termination)

Kiss 108 (Mid 90's: Matty 6-10, JJ Wright 10-2, Uncle Dale 2-6, Ed McMann 6-10... best lineup EVER)

 

[4CX1000A]

92.9-WBOS 1983...

Which one?

From January to March, WBOS was an album rock station with no PD; the jocks were told they could play whatever they wanted but would be held accountable if the station didn't meet its ratings goal.

From April to July, it was a "new wave" station programmed by Maxanne Satori and managed by Barry Skidelsky.

And on July 14, at three o'clock in the afternoon, it went country, with Dean James, formerly of WDLW, in the PD's chair.

 

[Time Traveler]

The New Wave version with Maxanne. Sorry not to be clearer...but I figured that it would be obvious from the other stations that I mentioned that it certainly wasn't the Country station! Prior to Maxanne...I seem to recall that WBOS was consulted by Clark Schmidt for a while with Jerry Goodwin as PD and doing the morning show too....

 

[pqgeorge]

I must say that WCOZ has to get some credit where credit is due. During the early days with WCOZ as a rock station, it sounded really good. The first few weeks, of course, were automated as Clark was putting together an excellent airstaff and getting the record library in order. It was beginning to get a following, at WBCN's expense. But as soon as Sebastian came in, a few years later, out went the personality and in came the cue card days. No backsell and nothing but the liners such as..... "94 and a half, C-O-Z with fewer commercials and NO disco....." or "don't forget the new 'COZ belt buckle, available at Strawberries or give us a call here at 'COZ" and so on...... The "Kick Ass Rock and Roll" moniker was quite cute but it got pretty stale after a while. In 1980, 'COZ was basically a station on steroids with the highest ratings in the country for a book or two. Eventually it got pretty old, pretty quick. It was like the station taking a "Five Hour Energy" drink and eventually crashing at the end.

I did like the next incarnation of 'COZ as a AC/oldies hybrid in the summer of '84. It was "The Best Show in Boston" complete with jingles and personality. It was beginning to have a following. But with very little warning, they switched to WZOU and Top-40 around Labor Day '84. (Bleah....)

"Blue Swede Radio", WCGY (93.7) was also a great sounding oldies station. The jocks were fun and really sounded like they were having fun. I loved some of the shows like "Little Dougie's Time Warp", "Little Walter's Time Machine" and also they ran AT40 with Casey Kasem which fit quite well with the format, even though it was the current tunes of the day. That was alright, though. And "Dick Clark's Rock Roll and Remember" was also on the roster.

I do recall WHDH-FM (94.5) from '68-'70 with their automated Progressive Rock format. It sounded really good. It could have lasted a few more years. The FM side was basically "below the radar" of Harold J. Clancy (CEO of WHDH Inc.) who really didn't know it "existed" and frankly really didn't care. The AM and the TV (Channel 5) were the king pins of the corporation. But as soon as someone got wind of the FM getting some actual ratings and told Clancy about the decadent rock and roll on the FM side, he put an abrupt stop to that. In came the dentist music once again. I was told that Clancy said that "NO FM station of mine is going to play that type of MUSIC!".

I knew in '68 when my Dad put 94.5 on the car Stereo and I heard "Incense And Peppermints" from the Strawberry Alarm Clock, we "weren't in Kansas anymore". WHDH-FM was playing rock. It was great. Slowly my Dad's choices for his type of music were dwindling. First WBCN in March went rock and now WHDH-FM went rock. He didn't like it. So he went to WJIB (96.9) and stayed there.

Like I said, I was an early "convert" to FM at a ripe old age of 7. When I was a patient at MGH in early '68, my FM radio came with me. The nurses heard what I was listening to (WRKO-FM 98.5) and asked if they could use my radio at the nurse's station at Burnham 5 on the overnight. I said "sure"! I became one of the most popular patients in the children's floor! AH, to be a kid again!!!!

 

[raccoonradio]

WCGY was Blue Suede Radio--Blue Swede was the group that covered Hooked On A Feeling...

WCGY used to be pumped into the sound system at Building 19 in Lynn where I worked in the early 80s. I remember it morphing into more current rock, etc.
I think recently I was listening to an AT40 rebroadcast via XM 60s on 6 and they listed, as an
affiliate, "WCGY, Lawrence Massachusetts"

>>on July 14, at three o'clock in the afternoon, it went country, with Dean James, formerly of WDLW, in the PD's chair.

I remember Boston Rock magazine mentioning that, as "the day The Boss became The Hoss"

In its pre-Boston Phoenix days, what was then WLYN-FM 101.7 had Rich Anzalone and others
playing alternative rock/new wave/local bands. It would be simulcast on AM 1360, and it was odd
to hear stuff like Mission of Burma's "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" on the AM dial. (Though that sort of stuff did happen on occasion, like one time when I was in the VT/NH Upper Valley and heard alternative on Dartmouth's station on 1340)
M.O.B.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8piMHsOya4

 

[pqgeorge]

WCGY was Blue Suede Radio--Blue Swede was the group that covered Hooked On A Feeling...

So true.

 

[DG02816]

My two faves would be WCOZ pre liner-card, and WEEI-FM 103.3 for its softer, more folkish tone. WCAS 740 should have been on FM, though its 250 watts could be heard in Providence during the day. Another favorite of mine on the same frequency was Bob's Earth Radio, WWEA. You never knew what was coming!

 

[Laurence Glavin]

In its last year or so as a full-time classical outlet, WBCN had great sound, Robert J. Lurtsema was one of their announcers (there was a female announciatrix from India named Nirmal Daniere...not sure of the spelling) and apparently like moi owner T. Mitchell Hastings had a major jones for Beethoven. They scheduled some of LvB's most significant pieces every day (except for "Ring Cycle Sunday" when they played the four Wagner Ring Cycle opera in full from dawn to late evening). Fun fact: when Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc went public on the NYSE, instead of choosing letters like 'STW' as their stock symbol, they chose 'LVB' because he was deemed even more, um, instrumental in the development of the modern piano than even Chopin or Liszt. I seriously believe that Beethoven figures significantly in economic growth. When times are tough, musical organizations squeeze in as much of Ludwig's oeuvre as they can to boost ticket sales.

 

[Chuckigo]

the period between WHDH-FM and the Labor Day weekend 1975 "Concert From Fantasy Park" that kicked off the Clark Schmidt-led WCOZ, 94.5 was still WCOZ... elevator musak, playing it "coz - y"

and thank goodness for that FM dial helping many of us to discover the genius of The Duke of Madness and even the ever-patient-with-pain-in-the-a**-kids-who-wanted-to-be-in-radio Harvey Warfield.

 

[MR. JAROME_CALVIN]

Sunny Joe White was also on KISS 108 in the 80s until early 90s. "Morning WorkOut" at 11am-11:20am was BANGING!!!! I used to skip class just to listen to them. Then around 1990-1995 J J Wright took over that timeslot. I also used to skip class just to listen to that. I was in highschool by then

 

[davect]

Late 1970's was WVBF in their "F-105" incarnation. Early 80's I liked "Power 103 WHTT". When in the mood for soft rock WSSH hit the spot early/mid 80's. My parents were huge fans of the original WJIB (how could you forget those ship's bells in the ID? "ding-ding. Ding-ding").

 

[CTListener]

Two from the left side of the dial in the '70s:

WTBS 88.1 -- I loved the insanity of the weekend request show, "Night Owl." Lots of great music and funny bits like the "WTBS Waveform of the Week."
WERS 88.9 -- Around the same time I was listening to "Night Owl" on 'TBS, 'ERS had a similar show called "The Great American Disaster," not as much comedy but an interesting music mix, some of it by request.

 

[pqgeorge]

Two from the left side of the dial in the '70s:

WTBS 88.1 -- I loved the insanity of the weekend request show, "Night Owl." Lots of great music and funny bits like the "WTBS Waveform of the Week."
WERS 88.9 -- Around the same time I was listening to "Night Owl" on 'TBS, 'ERS had a similar show called "The Great American Disaster," not as much comedy but an interesting music mix, some of it by request.

Ah, yes! WTBS 88.1 - The ten watt giant of MIT. Can't forget that telephone number..... "TNT-WTBS" (868-9827). When the phone system at MIT changed (494-8810), the folks at WTBS got Dick Provo (yes, that one from WEEI-FM) to do a parody of his own commercial voicer he did for New England Telephone.

WERS 88.9. When they were still transmitting 18,000 watts in mono from the short stick at the college, you could hear it on any type of electrical device, including...toasters! Otherwise, they had a hard time making it outside of Boston. Most buildings around the WERS tower were TALLER than the stick. In '74, they moved to the Pru with 895 watts in Stereo. Excellent coverage in most of Suburban Boston.

 

[4CX1000A]

Prior to Maxanne...I seem to recall that WBOS was consulted by Clark Schmidt for a while with Jerry Goodwin as PD and doing the morning show too....

That was July - December 1982. I don't recall Jerry Goodwin holding the PD title but he certainly did mornings.

In retrospect, Clark was ten years ahead of his time. That may have been the first AAA format ever. Unfortunately the ownership of WBOS at the time had very little patience; they seem to have expected instant success from any new format, and none of them lasted more than a few months. That changed only with the sale of WBOS to Sconnix in 1984.

 

[radiorama1]

Sunny Joe White was also on KISS 108 in the 80s until early 90s. "Morning WorkOut" at 11am-11:20am was BANGING!!!! I used to skip class just to listen to them. Then around 1990-1995 J J Wright took over that timeslot. I also used to skip class just to listen to that. I was in highschool by then

Yeah The Morning Workout was great, I remember every Friday they would do the "club classics" edition... 8)