WBCN During the Early and Mid 1980's

[Retro]

Back in 1982, WBCN was the first to play a real lot of songs that later are regular staples on radio station playlists now. I remember hearing the following that were #1 requests from way back in 1982:

*Should I Stay or Should I Go?-The Clash
*White Wedding-Billy Idol
*Stray Cat Strut-Stray Cats


In 1985, they were also the first to play these songs as well:

*Don't You (Forget About Me)-Simple Minds
*Voices Carry-'til Tuesday

1987:

*I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For-U2

They had very innovative and interesting programming and DJ's back then also, however I am sure that I do not need to mention that at all.

What else did they also break?

 

[WBIMDJ]

This is when WBCN ruled the airwaves! Here's an interesting link for those wondering what they played in the 80's: http://www.geocities.com/WA1ION_Mark/wbcn-1041_1987-02-13.gif

 

[Retro]

Hey, thanks for the link!

I thought of another song that they played first as well:

Tainted Love-Soft Cell

 

[Neanderpaul]

As much as I consider WBCN to be the reason I got into this business, the past 22 years have proven that it was never about who played it first...It's about who gets credit from the masses for breaking the song.

College radio has always beaten commercial radio when it comes to playing new songs first. But, the station with the strongest brand will always win the perceptual battle. WBCN gets lots of credit for things they probably never did. It happens everywhere. If your station were as strong a brand as WBCN was back then, you'd get credit for everything.

That said...WBCN certainly did take far more chances back then. Everyone did. Because Lee Abrams hadn't snowed everyone into believing that his concept would eventually contribute to the disarray of radio as it stands today.

Stations had music people. Listening to music every day. They'd walk into the PD's office and play records for them. They'd actually consider a song based not upon spin counts, or chart position, but whether or not the song was good. Sometimes they missed. More often than not, they got it right. Bands like Led Zeppelin, or The Rolling Stones wouldn't stand a chance today.

WBCN was just plain better then. More entertaining. More adventurous.

Better.

The same can be said about a lot of stations. It will be interesting to see if that new Rock station in NY that claims they're going to let the personalities actually have some input into the musical content of their shows, really does. Or, if it's yet another lie we perpetuate.

I have always contended that if we're going to be held to Arbitron's silly ratings template in order to keep our jobs, we should be able to control the 85% of non "us" content of the show. A PD shuffles the tunes, sets 'em up, tells us to sell 'em, and then we get blamed when nobody listens to the music we had no control over.

Seems kinda silly. Like GM being held accountable for the driving habits of their consumers.

 

[Retro]

Yeah, one thing that was very known about 'BCN is that you didn't know what record would be next because they were winging it as it happened, in other words the DJ's had free reign for the most part.

And oh, while they may not have broke this particular song, they were the first local ones to play the Nails "88 Lines About 44 Women".

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Neanderpaul was correct, college stations such as WMBR and WZBC were actually the first to play most records that WBCN was known to have "broken" back in those days, often as much as half a year ahead.

In the late '70s/early '80s, WBCN was actually looking to college stations to determine which of the music they were playing seemed like it would be accessible and successful enough for them to "break" months later. Those days are long gone.

 

[NHRadio]

Wasn't WBCN one of the first rock stations in New England (and possibly in the country) to play Prince? I remember thinking that I disagreed with playing him but glad BCN was pushing the envelope. BCN and AAF were killer stations back then.

Yeah, one thing that was very known about 'BCN is that you didn't know what record would be next because they were winging it as it happened, in other words the DJ's had free reign for the most part.

 

[ZRXOA 5248]

There were songs we were spinning at WJUL that we were months ahead of WBCN on, and once BCN started adding them, we had to stop because the management at the time (JoAnne Doody among others) said we couldn't play anything that was played on WBCN

 

[Eli Polonsky]

There were songs we were spinning at WJUL that we were months ahead of WBCN on, and once BCN started adding them, we had to stop because the management at the time (JoAnne Doody among others) said we couldn't play anything that was played on WBCN

I don't like it when college stations become that snooty and elitist. I agree that college stations should provide an alternative to what's available on commercial radio, but occasionally mixing in a more popular tune once in a while, especially something that had roots on college radio before commercial, won't kill them.

 

[Neanderpaul]

When I was at WDJM, we took pride in being first on a bunch of stuff. I recall getting a demo tape from a band called "Guns n' Roses" in either late 1985 & early 1986 with a funny cover of "Heartbreak Hotel" and we played Beastie Boys, Living Colour and a bunch of stuff way early. We slammed Rap/Rock before it had a name in 1987 (Anthrax & UTFO) before the Aerosmith/Run DMC thing took hold on the grand scale, and long before they did their cover of Public Enemy's "Bring Tha Noise"

But...yes...there was that unspoken "Once BCN/AAF/GIR/HJY/any commercial station was on it, we're off it" mentality.

I think that was more to make sure we sounded different. Not so much an elitism. We knew if it was on 'AAF/BCN....then we weren't really "cutting edge."

And we were right

 

[Retro]

Wasn't WBCN one of the first rock stations in New England (and possibly in the country) to play Prince? I remember thinking that I disagreed with playing him but glad BCN was pushing the envelope. BCN and AAF were killer stations back then.

Yeah, one thing that was very known about 'BCN is that you didn't know what record would be next because they were winging it as it happened, in other words the DJ's had free reign for the most part.

Very well could be. I just remember Ken Shelton doing his usual Top 10 countdown on Fridays and him playing Prince at #10 with Purple Rain, and then him again at #1 with Lets Go Crazy also.

 

[NSPUNX]

Wasnt 'BCN the first station in the united states to spin a U2 record? I know that whenever U2 comes to Boston they go out of thier way to visit 'BCN as a way to "Thank" them for helping to break them in the United States.

 

[Watt]

Wasn't WBCN one of the first rock stations in New England (and possibly in the country) to play Prince? I remember thinking that I disagreed with playing him but glad BCN was pushing the envelope. BCN and AAF were killer stations back then.

Yeah, one thing that was very known about 'BCN is that you didn't know what record would be next because they were winging it as it happened, in other words the DJ's had free reign for the most part.

Very well could be. I just remember Ken Shelton doing his usual Top 10 countdown on Fridays and him playing Prince at #10 with Purple Rain, and then him again at #1 with Lets Go Crazy also.

"Purple Rain" was Prince's 6th record, and the previous release, "1999" had a few hit singles ("1999", "Little Red Corvette", "Delirious"), so it's not like they were breaking a new artist. Prince also toured with the Rolling Stones earlier in his career. But kudos to 'BCN for playing tracks like "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy"...calling them rock songs is not a stretch.

 

[Neanderpaul]

Prince...was the next logical step from Sly Stone.

Both tangential versions of Little Richard & James Brown.

And all of them...Definatively Rock n' Roll in every sense.

Kudos to WBCN for always being colorblind...

 

[radiorama1]

I remember hearing WBCN play Prince as well.

I also remember them playing:

Let's Dance (yes, the long album cut) by David Bowie

and

Hungry Like The Wolf by Duran Duran 8)

 

[infrequency]

I listened during that time mostly to WLYN which then became WFNX. I avoided BCN because it was too long hair, old-school - Zep, etc. That was my perception. WLYN/WFNX was a non-college station way ahead of BCN on some great songs that are now considered punk/alternative classics.

 

[Retro]

Prince...was the next logical step from Sly Stone.

Both tangential versions of Little Richard & James Brown.

And all of them...Definatively Rock n' Roll in every sense.

Kudos to WBCN for always being colorblind...

Not to mention Jimi Hendrix also.

 

[Retro]

I listened during that time mostly to WLYN which then became WFNX. I avoided BCN because it was too long hair, old-school - Zep, etc. That was my perception. WLYN/WFNX was a non-college station way ahead of BCN on some great songs that are now considered punk/alternative classics.

Well yeah, they broke many more artists, however my point about 'BCN is that they were the first to play songs that are "always" played on the radio now. The same songs that most stations avoided back then instead.

 

[ActionJax]

A PD shuffles the tunes, sets 'em up, tells us to sell 'em, and then we get blamed when nobody listens to the music we had no control over.

NO truer statement has ever been uttered about this little buisness we all love so much.

IN the real world thats equvilent to a guy at best buy getting fired for selling someone a CD that sucks.

Dont get me wrong, I LOOVE pretending to like the new Linkin Park. Seriously I do.

 

[Lucylu]

I first heard Michael Bolton on BCN. His cover of 'Dock of The Bay'. Sometimes too much freedom can be a bad thing.