If you run the Boston radio dial, what would it be like?

[Oldie919]

Gus Saunders might have "missed the mark" with his Kitchen Show.....but he DID have a pretty good NEWS voice:
Think: "News while it IS news......the Yankee Network News Service --- on the air......."
For any newcomers......this was when it was "WNAC 680 AM.....plus 98.5, WRKO-FM".....
We could always bring back "ARKO", the automation system, playing Top 40 in the mid-'60s on 98.5.....
(Synthesizer voice): "Only Arco plays 12 in a row......."

 

[nowradioguy]

Gus Saunders might have "missed the mark" with his Kitchen Show.....but he DID have a pretty good NEWS voice:
Think: "News while it IS news......the Yankee Network News Service --- on the air......."
For any newcomers......this was when it was "WNAC 680 AM.....plus 98.5, WRKO-FM".....
We could always bring back "ARKO", the automation system, playing Top 40 in the mid-'60s on 98.5.....
(Synthesizer voice): "Only Arco plays 12 in a row......."

Actually, “ARKO, the shy but friendly robot”, played 18 in a row, while with “drab gab AM station X or drab gab AM station Z….your luck runs out at 13 an hour.”

Of course, drab gab AM station X was WMEX, and drab gab AM station Z was WBZ.

 

[CTListener]

Actually, “ARKO, the shy but friendly robot”, played 18 in a row, while with “drab gab AM station X or drab gab AM station Z….your luck runs out at 13 an hour.”

Of course, drab gab AM station X was WMEX, and drab gab AM station Z was WBZ.

Arko would also play the No. 1 song that week at the top of one hour, the No. 2 song that week at the top of the next hour, all day long -- and cycle through the remainder of the top 10 over the course of the two hours topped by those songs, with other songs from that week's survey, a few recent adds, a couple of recurrents and a couple of "FM Flashbacks" to fill out the clock. We didn't mind the repetition then because we loved most of the music. Run the same clock on a Boston FM today, with today's hits, recurrents and gold occupying the slots, and we'd be hearing the same old moaning about how radio, music, life, and America were so much better back in the day.

 

[nowradioguy]

When RKO-General owned and operated WRKO AM-FM in 1967-68, and Bill Drake was consulting, I was living in RI and loved the simulcast of "68 WRKO" on 98.5 FM between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm. The automated format on FM during the nighttime hours was a huge letdown compared to what was being aired on The Big 68 itself. However, this was the rule of the day per the FCC.

 

[CTListener]

When RKO-General owned and operated WRKO AM-FM in 1967-68, and Bill Drake was consulting, I was living in RI and loved the simulcast of "68 WRKO" on 98.5 FM between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm. The automated format on FM during the nighttime hours was a huge letdown compared to what was being aired on The Big 68 itself. However, this was the rule of the day per the FCC.

But before March 1967, WRKO(AM) was still WNAC, with a talk lineup. The Top 40s were WBZ and WMEX. In 1966 and early 1967, WRKO-FM, with its crude but endearing automation, was playing all the hits those AMs were playing, with no commercials! For those of us the right age to appreciate it (I was 11), it was the best radio station we'd ever heard. But again, its appeal would have been a lot less if it weren't playing songs we loved. The Big 68 was an amazing-sounding station, and I soon forgot about Arko once the shy but friendly robot become only a nighttime thing.

 

[Oldie919]

Trivia question: Monday, March 13, 1967 at 6:00 AM.....the "new" WRKO ("The Big 68") officially signs on......
What was the VERY FIRST SONG they played?
Yes....I was tuned in.....75 miles away in central NH!!
No fair Google-ing!!
Oh....and....no prize for correct answers....just a smile from one radio "junkie" to another!!!

 

[nowradioguy]

Trivia question: Monday, March 13, 1967 at 6:00 AM.....the "new" WRKO ("The Big 68") officially signs on......
What was the VERY FIRST SONG they played?
Yes....I was tuned in.....75 miles away in central NH!!
No fair Google-ing!!
Oh....and....no prize for correct answers....just a smile from one radio "junkie" to another!!!

Don't recall the song, but I believe the new morning DJ was Al Gates, recently from WIXY, Cleveland, and before that, WPRO, Providence.

Those were the days!

 

[Oldie919]

Let's not forget Al Gates' famous sidekick, Feathers!!!!
IIRC, we never heard a lot from Feathers on-air....but when we DID, it was a hoot!
BTW.....the very first song played on the new WRKO was "Something Stupid" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra ---
It was the #1 song on the Top 40 chart that week.....

 

[CTListener]

Let's not forget Al Gates' famous sidekick, Feathers!!!!
IIRC, we never heard a lot from Feathers on-air....but when we DID, it was a hoot!
BTW.....the very first song played on the new WRKO was "Something Stupid" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra ---
It was the #1 song on the Top 40 chart that week.....

Did 680 simulcast during the day on 98.5 starting on March 13 or was Arko still doing its automated thing while Gates was playing Frank and Nancy?

Al Gates, Joel Cash and Chuck ("I'm your leader, baby!") Knapp are the jocks I remember from that opening day lineup. Who were the rest?

 

[nowradioguy]

Trivia question: Monday, March 13, 1967 at 6:00 AM.....the "new" WRKO ("The Big 68") officially signs on......
What was the VERY FIRST SONG they played?
Yes....I was tuned in.....75 miles away in central NH!!
No fair Google-ing!!
Oh....and....no prize for correct answers....just a smile from one radio "junkie" to another!!!

Don't recall the song, but I believe the new morning DJ was Al Gates, recently from WIXY, Cleveland, and before that, WPRO, Providence.

Those were the days!

Did 680 simulcast during the day on 98.5 starting on March 13 or was Arko still doing its automated thing while Gates was playing Frank and Nancy?

Al Gates, Joel Cash and Chuck ("I'm your leader, baby!") Knapp are the jocks I remember from that opening day lineup. Who were the rest?

Did 680 simulcast during the day on 98.5 starting on March 13 or was Arko still doing its automated thing while Gates was playing Frank and Nancy?

Al Gates, Joel Cash and Chuck ("I'm your leader, baby!") Knapp are the jocks I remember from that opening day lineup. Who were the rest?

Al Gates (6-9 am), John Rode (9-noon), Joel Cash (noon-3), JJ Jeffrey (3-6), Chuck Knapp (9-midnight).

If you recall, Arnie Ginsburg was supposed to be the host between 6 and 9 pm, but legal problems forbade him to be on the air, so they ran jockless for those three hours, but still had a musical jingle "ARNIE GINSBURG - WRKO!"

The Big 68 simulcast on 98.5 WRKO-FM from 7:00 am till 6:00 pm, when "ARKO, the shy but friendly robot" was in charge. 'RKO's audio simulcast on 98.5 was SUPERB; ARKO's was from a 60s automation system, with the top hits on a cartridge carousel and oldies on reel-to-reel; the audio more or less sucked from the automation system.

 

[Retro]

Right now, hear is a partial idea of what I would do.

Tweak or change WBOS to an active rock station, and play nothing older than from the past 21 years or so.

Dump the format on Jam'n 94.5 and and put either WRKO or WBZ (AM) on there instead.

Dump "The Bull" and introduce a straight forward "in your face" 80's style format. The station would have over the top, larger than life air personalities to boot! One liner could be "The only station in Boston that plays all of the best 80's music!" The station would make no qualms about making fun of both WROR and Magic 106.7. "These stations are not really "All 80's music stations, at our station, we kick A**"

WEEI gets their plug pulled also. 2 new format possibilities, kinda do a mid-tempo type format.

The sound would be a Millennial type sound, with artists such as Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Jason Mraz.

Last and perhaps least, put a forgotten 70's pop rock format on the station, with the station having like "What the 70's really sounded like!", or something to that effect.

In the end, way too many stations try to stick with the old tried and safe formats. My idea is to think outside of box, take a chance and see what happens?

 

[MassMusicMan]

Right now, hear is a partial idea of what I would do.

Tweak or change WBOS to an active rock station, and play nothing older than from the past 21 years or so.

This isn't Scranton.

Dump the format on Jam'n 94.5 and and put either WRKO or WBZ (AM) on there instead.

Drop rhythmic music for fossil talk radio in 2021? Do you need for me to furnish you with a wall calendar?

Simulcasting WBZ-AM carries some water...but you don't blow up a good heritage rhythmic station for that.

Dump "The Bull" and introduce a straight forward "in your face" 80's style format. The station would have over the top, larger than life air personalities to boot! One liner could be "The only station in Boston that plays all of the best 80's music!" The station would make no qualms about making fun of both WROR and Magic 106.7. "These stations are not really "All 80's music stations, at our station, we kick A**"

Larger than life personalities? With what money?

Also, you wouldn't attack WROR or Magic. They're good stations which people like.

WEEI gets their plug pulled also. 2 new format possibilities, kinda do a mid-tempo type format.

The sound would be a Millennial type sound, with artists such as Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Jason Mraz.

We have that. It's called The River.

Last and perhaps least, put a forgotten 70's pop rock format on the station, with the station having like "What the 70's really sounded like!", or something to that effect.

We have that. It's called Easy 99.1.

In the end, way too many stations try to stick with the old tried and safe formats. My idea is to think outside of box, take a chance and see what happens?

With what money?

 

[Retro]

(Insult edited) ...these are my personal ideas an opinions. Boston has Hot 96.9. Jam'n in my opinion. Is a has been station, and their ratings prove it!

The Jack Johnson format, while similar in theory with WXRV, this rather would be more of a station that plays music that used to be played during the 2000's, but do not get played now.

WPLM is a rimshot, it does not come in well North of Boston.

And let us pretend that money was not an issue. I am talking about good radio. Maybe it could be profitable, or maybe it wouldn't. That is not really the point here.

 

[MassMusicMan]

LOL @ "Insult edited"

 

[MassMusicMan]

(Insult edited) Boston has Hot 96.9. Jam'n in my opinion. Is a has been station, and their ratings prove it!

Saying that HOT makes Jam'n redundant is like saying that WROR makes Kiss redundant.

 

[Retro]

Saying that HOT makes Jam'n redundant is like saying that WROR makes Kiss redundant.

Nope, Apples and Oranges here.

 

[MassMusicMan]

Go read their music logs and try again.

 

[Retro]

Go read their music logs and try again.

Oh yeah, now I get it, I get the allure of the mood of the music, and know that they are one and the same merely because of their playlist. But I will go look at The River's playlist now, and point out what sings fall outside of my proposed format.

 

[Retro]

Twenty One Pilots, Florence & The Machine, Pink Floyrd, Counting Crows, Sublime, The Pixies, etc. fall outside of my proposed format. I rest my case!

 

[raccoonradio]

WEEI has Red Sox contract a few more years.
Audacy committed to sports in many cities tho
ratings have suffered for awhile--but yes if Sox stay hot that can help.
Music plus Sox?
Are there baseball flagship stations that are music or is talk or sports more likely? Baseball has many more games and the play by play etc
takes up quite a bit of time, pre empting music.
Here we have Sox on EEI and all the rest on Sports Hub. What if Audacy put Sox on one
of their music FMs like 103.3, 104.1, or 106.7?
Because that is what you'd get on a "Music Format 93.7"...a big interruption of the music.
162 games plus pre and post season.

With Beasley some sports play by play got bumped onto a 92.9 or 105.7 but the other sports seasons are much shorter. (Very few conflicts anyway.)And again...
"Big 103.3.We're going to cut off the music
for the next 4 hours to bring you the Sox."
A music 93.7 would have same thing.
Nope.