Radio Commercial: "The DCU Hatch Shell" ????????

[Casablance]

I hear a radio commercial for some concert to be held on the Esplanade in Boston on "The DCU Hatch Shell". Oh, really? When did the MDC sell this public property to "DCU" - Digital Credit Union and if the MDC sold naming rights to this public property how much are we getting?

Its a good thing Arthur Fielder is no longer among the living because this travesty would probably kill him...

 

[Varulven]

You are kidding, right? The property run by the DCR is now DCU? Are you sure they didn't say the
"DCR Hatch Shell" instead of DCU? as they used to call it "the MDC Hatch Shell" since the MDC most likely morphed into the DCR?

Department of Conservation & Recreation vs DCU???

http://www.harvardstudentagencies.com/ug/listing/default.asp?ListingID=1088
Information on the states parks, beaches, picnic areas, and campgrounds available. A great resource to learn about community events as well as to pick up tips on nature trails and sporting activities.

DCR
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/forparks.htm


Did you know that the DCR is cutting back on the shows scheduled for the Esplanade by about 40 % next year because of the "environmental impact" ???

O & A at the DCU Center Worcester

http://www.ballparks.com/tickets/concerts/opie___anthony_traveling_virus_tickets_boston.htm

DCU, Dunkin Donuts Center, BankbostonTDBankNorthFleetCenterGardenPavilion...all too confusing for me

 

[Casablance]

Hope you are correct and I am wrong.
Thanks

 

[Garrett]

Why do you let all these things bother you? The hatch shell, WBZ, WRKO, WCVB... Geez man, don't you like anything?

 

[Varulven]

Hey Garrett,

Don't know if that was directed at Casablance or myself BUT - yeah, TDBanknorth & Fleet and naming
rights do take away from the beauty of a city. At a certain point commercialism reaches critical mass
and people will just get bored with it. For us activists, it is worth criticizing. In this case I think it is
the DCR not DCU, so in that case, it is somewhat acceptable. Casablance might have a different point of view, and that's what makes for good discussion. When did I criticize BZ? Thank God for traffic on the 3's. Helps me navigate this city.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

When did I criticize BZ? Thank God for traffic on the 3's. Helps me navigate this city.

Yes! It's invaluable when I'm driving taxicab (that's my other job besides part-time overnights at WBUR). It's even better with my police scanner tuned directly to the traffic reporter frequencies. I hear what Joe Morgan says directly from his copter and information/banter from Metro Traffic before it even makes it onto the regular airwaves.

 

[Garrett]

Nah, it was directed at Casablance. I agree naming rights are a detraction. The trouble is Casablance seems to complain about everything. Everyday, is a new post about something wrong with Boston media no matter how minute or trivial. Some of what Casablance's complainig about are just routine industry wide problems, and not that big a deal. Yeah, some of it is unforutnate. But geez man, there must be something more positive to talk about than "did you hear that aweful guy on RKO today? or "WBZ is no good...." etc). I mean if Casablance hates Boston media so much, he should move already. I'm just tired of his nit-picks...

That said, I agree, naming rights are a pain. But hey, being someone who remembers shuffling into the old over crowded, crumbling, heat protruding, ancient Boston Garden, I'd rather have the thing called "TD Bank North Garden," then not having it (or the Boston Celtics) at all. So if that's what it takes to keep the Hatch Shell, I'm willing to put up with it. And anyway, this is really a political topic for the Boston City council, which has no place on a board about Radio and TV anyway.

Besides, without the Hatch Shell, what would I take pictures of on my trips back to Boston?

Hey Garrett,

Don't know if that was directed at Casablance or myself BUT - yeah, TDBanknorth & Fleet and naming
rights do take away from the beauty of a city. At a certain point commercialism reaches critical mass
and people will just get bored with it. For us activists, it is worth criticizing. In this case I think it is
the DCR not DCU, so in that case, it is somewhat acceptable. Casablance might have a different point of view, and that's what makes for good discussion. When did I criticize BZ? Thank God for traffic on the 3's. Helps me navigate this city.

 

[Casablance]

Last time I looked this was a "discussion board" not a knitting circle. A). If my posts bother you so much why do you read them
B). Why did you waste so much of your precious time writing nearly a full page to complain.

Suggestion: Next time you see my name do something else like sort out your sock drawer. :

 

[Garrett]

To answer your question, with the number of topics you post, it's difficult to see anything else around here these days. You complain about my posts being a page long, yet you seem to act like the message board is your own person web blog, with your endless list of topic entries (nit-picks), and then you complain that this is not a "knitting circle?" And here you are getting all heated up because you don't get to set the agenda. It seems to me you are someone who can't take what you dish out.

 

[Varulven]

Casablance has made some excellent contributions to the board. I wish we still had his lengthy post about his days with Jerry Williams but it was yanked (by the previous moderators before they were ousted) before I had a chance to cut and paste.

Paul has also made many positive comments about Boston personalities and stations. My personal opinion is that the corporations have really taken away something we used to love. Those of us complaining are actually longing for the time when radio was just plain bad, not horrible and awful like it is today.

Radio never reached its potential and the corporations want to insure it doesn't. That's why the internet looms large. Can you imagine the internet on the car radio? That way ANYONE can buy XM or SIRIUS without buying their equipment to go with it; anyone can tune in to ParadiseRadio or The Kat or cool internet broadcasters.

You would also see a lot of positive posts about great radio. As it is right now we are limited in what we can discuss. A Boston board gives us Boston radio. I will say that whoever was on 88.1 FM this afternoon at around 4 PM was playing some very cosmic, very cool driving material. Really enjoyed it. Don't know what it was or who was playing it, but it was a true oasis on a hot day.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

I will say that whoever was on 88.1 FM this afternoon at around 4 PM was playing some very cosmic, very cool driving material. Really enjoyed it. Don't know what it was or who was playing it, but it was a true oasis on a hot day.

Cool music coming from an air studio that was probably well over 80 degrees inside today! The A/C system that they had to pay MIT $80,000 to install in 2004 is a real P.O.S. All four units really only worked properly at full capacity for that one season when it was installed two years ago. It's been a crapshoot since then, despite many frequent service visits with MIT facilities HVAC repairmen scratching their heads at a loss to figure it out. It's a real lemon.

Well, without it the station would've been around 100 degrees today. That's what the DJ's and staff (and guests!) always endured in weather like this for over four decades before 2004. So, 80 degrees is definitely better than 100, but the system is certainly not functioning $80,000 worth. (That's approximately one entire years' average of their fundraising pledges).

 

[mcamp]

I can totally understand why people get pissed about naming rights.
Everywhere you go: Tweeter Centers, US Air Arena, etc...
Just a way of people who make tons of money, to make a few pounds more.
Then you have Mayor Menino, with a fleeting moment of integrity, outraged by a possible naming rights deal of the Opera House, a theatre that wasn't even originally called that (B F Keith Theatre).

Regarding the "Garden", yeh, the old Garden was a dump, but it was an original dump.
Now we have a squeeky clean TD Bank North Garden (formally know as...)
The place has about as much character as a food court at the mall.
This is the world my kids will grow up in....their wedding sponsered by Bud Light.
While were at it, there are so many more money making ventures...there still is a Fenway Park, Orpheum, Symphony Hall. Everyone, everything has a price!

 

[jdrct]

"While were at it, there are so many more money making ventures...there still is a Fenway Park, Orpheum, Symphony Hall. Everyone, everything has a price!

Many people don't realize this, but the first coroporately named sports facility in professional sports.....was/is Fenway Park.

The then owner of the Red Sox was looking to develop land in the area surrounding the Fens. He called his company the Fenway Realty Company and when he opened his new ballpark in 1912 for his baseball team, he named it Fenway Park to spread publicity for his company.

There have been other examples in baseball...Wrigley Field, Busch Stadium...In some cases, team owners just named the parks after themselves.....Ebbets Field, Shibe Park

I guess I'm in the crowd that doesn't get all that excited about naming rights. For one thing, the new Garden and Gillette Stadium were privately financed. The naming rights sales were key element to raising the money to build those facilities. And in other cases, the naming rights have made the building more well known. I mean..who really called the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey the Brendan Byrne Arena before it became Continental Airlines Arena?
I think this is also one of those areas where people tend to look at the past rhough rosed colored glasses. If you look at pictures of the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 40s, 50s....whether they be cities, ballparks, roadways.....we plastered advertisements on everything. billboards were put on top of buildings, including the old Garden, without any rhyme or reason. And remember, before the late 1940s...the Green Monster wasn't green. It was completedly plastered with multi-faceted and multi-colored advertising billboards.

 

[Casablance]

While We Are At It Add Symphony Hall and The Boston Pops

If you attended a Boston Pops concert this year at Symphony Hall you were hit with what should have been an utter embarassment for the Boston Pops organization.

On the back wall of the famed Symphony Hall stage was projected an ad for Fidelity Investments.We can't even go to the famed Boston Pops without being insulted with advertisements on the wall of the hall.

Keith Lockhart even had the gall to call attention to it. Well, we know whose back pocket this faux conductor is in.

 

[Varulven]

how about Felix Cavaliere and Orleans last night (where the Hoppen Brothers, Lance & Larry, joined Cavaliere onstage)...Jordan's Furniture, Comcast, tons of sponsorship flanking each side of the stage

 

[Smoke]

Last time I looked this was a "discussion board" not a knitting circle.

This could be the greatest post in Radio-Info's existance.

Corperate names are insulting, especially when the host MUST use the long name every time. TD Banknorth Garden, never Banknorth Garden, never just the Garden (or whatever other facility).

 

[johnster]

I guess I'm in the crowd that doesn't get all that excited about naming rights. For one thing, the new Garden and Gillette Stadium were privately financed. The naming rights sales were key element to raising the money to build those facilities.

Wouldn't that be the Shawmut Center and CMGI Field?

 

[jdrct]

Corperate names are insulting, especially when the host MUST use the long name every time. TD Banknorth Garden, never Banknorth Garden, never just the Garden (or whatever other facility).
[/quote]

Well, truthfully the only time you ever hear it referred to as TD Banknorth Garden is at the beginning of the game when the PA announcer says "Welcome to TD..."
For all other purposes...sports talk radio, radio DJ's talking up upcoming concerts, fans, sports broadcasters...it's referred to casually as the Garden.

And I have to admit, I'm having a hard time with the whole idea of being "insulted' by an advertisement. It's not like somebody from Fidelity snuck into Symphony Hall and plastered their logo on the wall. The company paid money and in exhange, they get their logo and a thank you from the conductor. Lord knows if I was a marketer, I wouldn't spend any money unless I was being publicly acknowledged for it. Does the logo really affect the sound of the music. So the pops gets some extra money to play with and Fidelity gets their rear projected logo. So what?

And what exactly is the objection to Keith Lockhart?

how about Felix Cavaliere and Orleans last night (where the Hoppen Brothers, Lance & Larry, joined Cavaliere onstage)...Jordan's Furniture, Comcast, tons of sponsorship flanking each side of the stage

And who provided the funds to pay for the concert setup, promotion and acts? Shouldn't they be acknowleged, they are the sponsors.

 

[Garrett]

Re: While We Are At It Add Symphony Hall and The Boston Pops

If you attended a Boston Pops concert this year at Symphony Hall you were hit with what should have been an utter embarassment for the Boston Pops organization.

But it wasn't an embarassment to me, since I don't agree with you...
Boston's very own Steven Tyler from Aerosmith? Boston has much to be proud of, it was classic.

 

[mcamp]

Anyone in attendance for the Rolling Stones at the "Garden" in January couldn't help notice it was sponsered by Ameritrade (banners on both side of the stage and a blimp flying around inside before the show).
Why does a band, who charges over $300 for a ticket need sponsership.
What is the need to generate more money, when tons are already being made? ???