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What was your first radio gig in Massachusetts?

C

cheapman

I started doing overnights at WFGL Fitchburg in 1979. My shift was running board for Larry King who had an all night talk show on the Mutual Network (long before becoming a star at CNN.) When Larry's show ended at 5:30 AM I actually had a 30 minute airshift before the morning man took over. I think I could play maybe five or six records in that half hour block (let's see... Andy Gibb... Roger Miller... what a combination!) That and I got to babysit the FM automation which consisted of four reel to reel decks in a totally different part of the building. (The FM was mono!)

What's your story?
 
If you include volunteer non-commercial on-air work, I joined WMBR at MIT in early 1982. As I was being trained over the next few months by a longtime friend who had a show, my first on-air experience was reading headline news and weather during a weekday morning 1960's music show block called "Sleepwalk" that was on from 7 to 9 AM. Yes, WMBR acutally had an AP news machine, and did headlines in the mornings back then!

Some openings appeared on the "Sleepwalk" block in June 1982 as some student hosts left for summer, and I joined as the Tuesday host. That was my first music programming. The "Sleepwalk" weekday 1960's/early 70's music block was moved to noontime in summer 1983, and after a couple of other short-lived monikers was renamed "Lost and Found".

I remained the Tuesday host until 1995 when I left the station due to illness and then a few years working full-time at other paid (non-radio) work. I rejoined "Lost and Found" as the Thursday host in 1998 until September 2004, when it finally became impossible for me to continue to devote the time at an all-volunteer station in today's economy. I continue to stay on the staff as a promotions assistant and a very occasional fill-in.

My first paying radio work was in 1986 at Greater Media's short-lived AM Oldies station 1150 WMEX. I was hired as a weekend overnight and weeknight fill-in board-op for the Transtar (now Westwood One) "Oldies Channel" satellite feed, which they were then running at all times except for drive-time shifts (and Little Walter on Saturday evenings). I did that off and on for the next couple of years.

When WMEX dropped the satellite and went full-time live Oldies in 1988 (a courageous but ultimately ill-fated "David against Goliath" attempt at WODS by Program Director Gary James), the board-ops were offered the opportunity to make demos for live airshifts, and some got lucky. I got weekend overnights and other fill-ins as "Eric Parker" for summer and fall of 1988.

For someone who grew up listening to the original WMEX in the 60's, it was a blast for me to play that music and host in that style, with reverb and a mix of the original and recreated WMEX jingles (but in AM stereo!). A Program Director change blew me and a number of others out the door in fall 1988, and the station only lasted as oldies for another year.


> I started doing overnights at WFGL Fitchburg in 1979. My
> shift was running board for Larry King who had an all night
> talk show on the Mutual Network (long before becoming a star
> at CNN.) When Larry's show ended at 5:30 AM I actually had
> a 30 minute airshift before the morning man took over. I
> think I could play maybe five or six records in that half
> hour block (let's see... Andy Gibb... Roger Miller... what a
> combination!) That and I got to babysit the FM automation
> which consisted of four reel to reel decks in a totally
> different part of the building. (The FM was mono!)
>
> What's your story?
>
 
> What's your story?
>

I interviewed for an internship at WZLX...got the gig working with Annalisa In The Morning...James Doohan was a scheduled guest, and she wasn't prepared/didn't really know a lot about Star Trek...I walked in to the studio and goofed on him while wearing rubber Spock ears...Shomby laughed, and I was put on the payroll.
 
> > What's your story?
> >
>
> I interviewed for an internship at WZLX...got the gig
> working with Annalisa In The Morning...James Doohan was a
> scheduled guest, and she wasn't prepared/didn't really know
> a lot about Star Trek...I walked in to the studio and goofed
> on him while wearing rubber Spock ears...Shomby laughed, and
> I was put on the payroll.

I was asked to intern at WZLX once back in fall 1987, and I did a guest sidekick host hour with Bill Smith one morning. I turned the internship down because I was young and impatient, and I wanted paid work right away. I figured I was already doing enough volunteer work at WMBR. I gave WZLX PD Cliff Blake a T/R, but nothing happened with that. I should've taken the internship to see where it might've led. I was such a non-conformist hippie kid in those days that I probably would've shot myself in the foot somehow once I was in there, though.
 
Production Director at WZOU

Sept 1984 was hired from middays at KC101 to do middays at the brand new 94.5 WZOU. The day I arrived the WZOU PD told me they had a problem: I had my contract with WZOU from the PD but the GM had simultaneously hired another midday guy, too. So he asked if I wanted to be Production Director. I'm still basically with the same place: ZOU to HDH (same company at the time) which later became EEI on 850 with a bunch of work for RKO in the early 90's lauching Howie and Claprood and Whitley and finally the Big Show with the Big O. Left to go on my own in 1996 and STILL doing EEI everyday. So still at my FIRST Massachusetts gig! What a long strange trip. Someday I'd love to write a Boston magazine article about the station stories and the people. There are soooo many. :)

Jim
 
1st paid gig was overnight board-op for WHAV Haverhill running Talknet when there wasn't a late sports game. Part of the job included programming the old (even for 1983) Schaefer automation unit for the FM (then WLYT) and changing the tapes when they ran out, and endless cart and reel head cleaning!
Since Talknet ended at 5am, I actually got a 5-6am airshift...and yes, we played 45's then. I must've been through 5 PD's in 18 months. Started at $3.50 and hour and got bumped to 3.75 6 months later (minimum wage then was $3.35) Full-time, and no benefits. GM at the time, if memory serves, was John Frawley, now a bigshot at Metro Traffic. Mother always said if you can't say something nice about someone...but worked with some great people like Paul Belfay (still at WFEA/ZID??), Liz Solar,(who I had a massive crush on to be honest) and Michael B (Still overnights at MJX).
I remember we got our Red Sox feed from a boombox tuned to then-flagship WPLM-FM. You learned to be fast to cover their spots and ID's!


> If you include volunteer non-commercial on-air work, I
> joined WMBR at MIT in early 1982. As I was being trained
> over the next few months by a longtime friend who had a
> show, my first on-air experience was reading headline news
> and weather during a weekday morning 1960's music show block
> called "Sleepwalk" that was on from 7 to 9 AM. Yes, WMBR
> acutally had an AP news machine, and did headlines in the
> mornings back then!
>
> Some openings appeared on the "Sleepwalk" block in June 1982
> as some student hosts left for summer, and I joined as the
> Tuesday host. That was my first music programming. The
> "Sleepwalk" weekday 1960's/early 70's music block was moved
> to noontime in summer 1983, and after a couple of other
> short-lived monikers was renamed "Lost and Found".
>
> I remained the Tuesday host until 1995 when I left the
> station due to illness and then a few years working
> full-time at other paid (non-radio) work. I rejoined "Lost
> and Found" as the Thursday host in 1998 until September
> 2004, when it finally became impossible for me to continue
> to devote the time at an all-volunteer station in today's
> economy. I continue to stay on the staff as a promotions
> assistant and a very occasional fill-in.
>
> My first paying radio work was in 1986 at Greater Media's
> short-lived AM Oldies station 1150 WMEX. I was hired as a
> weekend overnight and weeknight fill-in board-op for the
> Transtar (now Westwood One) "Oldies Channel" satellite feed,
> which they were then running at all times except for
> drive-time shifts (and Little Walter on Saturday evenings).
> I did that off and on for the next couple of years.
>
> When WMEX dropped the satellite and went full-time live
> Oldies in 1988 (a courageous but ultimately ill-fated "David
> against Goliath" attempt at WODS by Program Director Gary
> James), the board-ops were offered the opportunity to make
> demos for live airshifts, and some got lucky. I got weekend
> overnights and other fill-ins as "Eric Parker" for summer
> and fall of 1988.
>
> For someone who grew up listening to the original WMEX in
> the 60's, it was a blast for me to play that music and host
> in that style, with reverb and a mix of the original and
> recreated WMEX jingles (but in AM stereo!). A Program
> Director change blew me and a number of others out the door
> in fall 1988, and the station only lasted as oldies for
> another year.
>
>
> > I started doing overnights at WFGL Fitchburg in 1979. My
> > shift was running board for Larry King who had an all
> night
> > talk show on the Mutual Network (long before becoming a
> star
> > at CNN.) When Larry's show ended at 5:30 AM I actually
> had
> > a 30 minute airshift before the morning man took over. I
> > think I could play maybe five or six records in that half
> > hour block (let's see... Andy Gibb... Roger Miller... what
> a
> > combination!) That and I got to babysit the FM automation
>
> > which consisted of four reel to reel decks in a totally
> > different part of the building. (The FM was mono!)
> >
> > What's your story?
> >
>
 
> I remember we got our Red Sox feed from a boombox tuned to
> then-flagship WPLM-FM. You learned to be fast to cover their
> spots and ID's!
>

Ah, the old Campbell Sports network...one of the most bush-league outfits in the world. In the mid-80s I worked for a station that carried the Bruins (WPLM was their flagship for a while too)...the most horrendous audio you could imagine. Audio would break up badly during the games....I'd often have to call WPLM & get a phone feed much to the chagrin of our (really cheap) GM, but otherwise the game was totally unlistenable. You had to be really alert board-opping those games..the announcers rarely gave any cue phrases to alert affiliates of local breaks.
 
I started back in 1984 at WUPE/WUHN Pittsfield, MA. napping...er..uh..running Dick Clark's Countdown America on Sunday Mornings and my airshift was weekenights 9pm - Midnight, whenever we weren't running Red Sox or Bruins Games. Most nights I'd get about a half hour show. Ahhhh. that was the good ole days!

Radioman
 
My first Mass. gig was doing weekends/swing at WHMP AM&FM in Northampton back in 1988 while I was finishing up my degree at UMass. I was fresh off an internship at a CT station and despite my lousy aircheck I got a job there anyway. I did Saturday mornings on the AM, which was full-service, then returned that evening to do the night show on the FM, then a CHR. (now it's active rock WLZX.)

The station was a complete toilet. They were still running all vinyl at that point--even the currents! They didn't even have CD players, which were becoming standard equipment at most stations by then. The PD used to hand-schedule all the songs for the FM, and that meant literally writing them down on sheets of paper! The only other memorable thing that happened there was that I was board teching the Celtics on the AM the night Johnny Most dropped cigarette ashes on his pants and set them on fire. Once I graduated, I couldn't get out of that place fast enough!

-Mike "not the WZLX guy" Thomas



> I started doing overnights at WFGL Fitchburg in 1979. My
> shift was running board for Larry King who had an all night
> talk show on the Mutual Network (long before becoming a star
> at CNN.) When Larry's show ended at 5:30 AM I actually had
> a 30 minute airshift before the morning man took over. I
> think I could play maybe five or six records in that half
> hour block (let's see... Andy Gibb... Roger Miller... what a
> combination!) That and I got to babysit the FM automation
> which consisted of four reel to reel decks in a totally
> different part of the building. (The FM was mono!)
>
> What's your story?
>
 
> I started doing overnights at WFGL Fitchburg in 1979. My
> shift was running board for Larry King who had an all night
> talk show on the Mutual Network (long before becoming a star
> at CNN.) When Larry's show ended at 5:30 AM I actually had
> a 30 minute airshift before the morning man took over. I
> think I could play maybe five or six records in that half
> hour block (let's see... Andy Gibb... Roger Miller... what a
> combination!) That and I got to babysit the FM automation
> which consisted of four reel to reel decks in a totally
> different part of the building. (The FM was mono!)
>
> What's your story?

I got to work for "LOWELL'S NUMBER ONE STATION---980AM/WCAP"---for a (thankfully) brief 4 months. The owner at the time (a fellow named Ike) would break into whatever programming was on the air and deliver an editorial about any subject that he felt like talking about! "The Swap Shop" (weekdays at 9) was the station's most profitable show!

This all happened during 1973. During that time, WCAP was a 1000 watt daytimer! So in December, the station would sign-off for the day at 4pm in the afternoon!

argytunes
>
 
> Ah, the old Campbell Sports network...one of the most
> bush-league outfits in the world. In the mid-80s I worked
> for a station that carried the Bruins (WPLM was their
> flagship for a while too)...the most horrendous audio you
> could imagine. Audio would break up badly during the
> games....I'd often have to call WPLM & get a phone feed much
> to the chagrin of our (really cheap) GM, but otherwise the
> game was totally unlistenable. You had to be really alert
> board-opping those games..the announcers rarely gave any cue
> phrases to alert affiliates of local breaks.
>

If a phone feed would improve your audio clarity then it sounds like you feed problems had more to due with your satellite reception than Campbell's origination problems. Your phone feed would originate from the same spot (their studios) and just be constrained by the poor audio response of the voice quality telephone line. I think in your inexperience you might have been blaming the wrong folks. As for the out cues the announcer for Bruins Hockey back then was Bob Wilson and former Bruin Johnny Bucyk both hall of fame-rs. Bob was quite a seasoned pro before Jack Campbell got the rights so it seems hard to believe that the out cues weren't there.
 
I started Sept. 1999 on overnight once a week, Wednesdays at WATD in MarshVegas, 2-5 am. Drank alot of coffee and had lots of fun , unpaid gig.I am so happy I had the chance.There is no other time of the day like it. Interesting phoners, get the night owls, then switch to early risers, all very nice people.<P ID="signature">______________
It's not the size of the tower.....
It's how you use it.
www.djpaulvan.com</P>
 
> I started doing overnights at WFGL Fitchburg in 1979. My
> shift was running board for Larry King who had an all night
> talk show on the Mutual Network (long before becoming a star
> at CNN.) When Larry's show ended at 5:30 AM I actually had
> a 30 minute airshift before the morning man took over. I
> think I could play maybe five or six records in that half
> hour block (let's see... Andy Gibb... Roger Miller... what a
> combination!) That and I got to babysit the FM automation
> which consisted of four reel to reel decks in a totally
> different part of the building. (The FM was mono!)
>
> What's your story?
>


'ARRRRRR! - Radio Free Cambridge :p

Knew the guy was going to get canned by the FCC, but I was on a few shows on that station from time to time - basically just trying to promote my band that was playing in the area.

Roach
 
The Campbell Sports Network (was Re: What was your first radio gig in Massachusetts?)

Bush-league to say the least! It took almost 3 months to get our TELCO line connected properly at WBET/Brockton when WPLM took the rights for the Bruins and the Red Sox in 1982. Being the evening board-op person, I had to improvise a jury rigged set up on the night of the FIRST Bruins game of the '82 season, taking the off-air feed from WPLM-FM. So, I got a beat-up boombox in "master control". Patched it into the patch bay to the AM side and was able to make game time with a few minutes to spare using WPLM-FM as a feed. I was waiting for the "closed circuit" that should have come down at about an hour (on the TELCO line) before game time. It NEVER came. I was not impressed. So, I had to watch the spot breaks religiously via 'PLM-FM and had to wait for the 10 second ID spot (every HALF hour). We did not get a usable TELCO feed from 'PLM until January, 1983. Those hokey Campbell Sports Network spots were ALWAYS plastered with WPLM (big band and dixieland) type music. And of course they ALWAYS intro'ed and out'roed the games with "....from FLAGSHIP WPLM from America's Hometown, to you......".

I'll NEVER forget board-op'ing those Campbell Sports Network feeds. What a time!


> > I remember we got our Red Sox feed from a boombox tuned to
>
> > then-flagship WPLM-FM. You learned to be fast to cover
> their
> > spots and ID's!
> >
>
> Ah, the old Campbell Sports network...one of the most
> bush-league outfits in the world. In the mid-80s I worked
> for a station that carried the Bruins (WPLM was their
> flagship for a while too)...the most horrendous audio you
> could imagine. Audio would break up badly during the
> games....I'd often have to call WPLM & get a phone feed much
> to the chagrin of our (really cheap) GM, but otherwise the
> game was totally unlistenable. You had to be really alert
> board-opping those games..the announcers rarely gave any cue
> phrases to alert affiliates of local breaks.
> <P ID="signature">______________
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts</P>
 
1959, WALE, 1400, Fall River 250-Watt fulltimer with tower atop a theater building and studios in the basement, right next to a pool hall on one side and the theater men's room on the other. Watch out for open mics at intermission (in the days of double features) when the rush to flush stalked the land.

Yankee Network.
Mutual Broadcasting System.
Red Sox Baseball Network.

Off-air (FM) pickup of Boston Celtics rebroadcast...Johnny Most...who was actually the Least.

Toughest part:

Station was too cheap to pay for the pre-game show. Had to monitor the FM in earphones and repeat, in my own voice, the 15-minute PG show, word for word but
being careful to jump to local commercials when they did theirs instead of repeating them word for word.

Next toughest part:

During sunday evening taped religion, going up through the theater, up through the projection booth, climb a vertical ladder up the booth wall, to take an antenna base current reading then get back in time to start the next recorded program. 9-hour shift, initially at 75-cents/hour.

Radio! A wonderful hobby!
<P ID="signature">______________
When you're done impeaching the prez, keep on going; recall every member of congress and lock 'em up! Let's try NO govt. for a while.</P>
 
Late bloomer here... I was in my late 30s when I co-hosted a show on the Masconomet High station for about a year from '98 to '99... a kid that went to school there had a punk show and asked me to guest host and it went well so I was there until he graduated. The station advisor was a state cop and when he suspected we played songs with profanity, he showed up one night in his stormtrooper-looking outfit.

my first solo show was on Allston-Brighton Free Radio. A punk/hardcore/garage etc.. show called Sonic Overload and I was there from '00 to '05 when the station folded. What I loved about it was I had complete autonomy over my show and was able to play what I wanted... I've been webcasting since mid '03 and when the station folded, I started recording at home and made it 'net-only. It's been a great success. I hear from people all over the world who listen.
 
Technically, I've never had a gig *in* Massachusetts proper, though the first professional on-air appearance I ever made was either Nov or Dec 1999, doing a ski report for WROR. IIRC, the jock that aided and abetted my first-ever live ski report was Chuck Igo, now across town from me here in Portland! In my years as a ski reporter I was a regular at different times on WBCN, WBOS, WEEI, and Sundays on WBZ.

Of course I did spend my college radio days at Boston U's WTBU (WMVY's Gary Trust was the GM my freshman year) and I spent a short time as a newsroom assistant at WBUR (in 1995, when they were still in the stuffy old 640 Comm Ave studio), along with a year's stint as a NECN intern in '98-'99.

Great topic!

> I started doing overnights at WFGL Fitchburg in 1979. My
> shift was running board for Larry King who had an all night
> talk show on the Mutual Network (long before becoming a star
> at CNN.) When Larry's show ended at 5:30 AM I actually had
> a 30 minute airshift before the morning man took over. I
> think I could play maybe five or six records in that half
> hour block (let's see... Andy Gibb... Roger Miller... what a
> combination!) That and I got to babysit the FM automation
> which consisted of four reel to reel decks in a totally
> different part of the building. (The FM was mono!)
>
> What's your story?
>
<P ID="signature">______________
"You need your head."

--Todd Rundgren</P>
 
> Mother always said if you can't say something nice about
> someone...but worked with some great people like Paul Belfay
> (still at WFEA/ZID??)

Paul Belfay is still the overnight host on WZID, and doing morning news on co-owned WMLL 96.5 "The Mill" (Classic Rock). WFEA has eliminated all live music hosts for satellite jocks, but I don't know whether he's doing any morning news inserts for them.

Since last summer, Paul is also commuting down here a few afternoons a week to work as a part-time production assistant and occasional on-air fill-in host at professional public radio folk music station WUMB 91.9 at U. Mass. Boston.
 
> 'ARRRRRR! - Radio Free Cambridge :p
>
> Knew the guy was going to get canned by the FCC, but I was
> on a few shows on that station from time to time - basically
> just trying to promote my band that was playing in the area.

Do pirate stations count??

I could've said that my first radio gig was in 1970 when I was in junior high school and I ran a Radio Shack Part 15 FM transmitter with an amplifier and an antenna on the roof from my folks house in Newtonville. I had a Radio Shack mixer made from a kit, two cheezy old turntables, an old Revere reel-to-reel tape recorder, and used the the mic from the tape deck for my DJ mic.

It covered about a half-mile radius, and entertained some of my school friends.

Then, a few years later, I was on the closed circuit "station" at Newton North High School, which was just a tape player that fed into the cafeteria during lunch hour. I pre-recorded shows at home using the same setup I used for my low-power pirate station a few years before.

After that I did no other radio of any sort until joining WMBR eight years later, unless you count dispatching at a taxi company.
 
> I started doing overnights at WFGL Fitchburg in 1979. My
> shift was running board for Larry King who had an all night
> talk show on the Mutual Network (long before becoming a star
> at CNN.) When Larry's show ended at 5:30 AM I actually had
> a 30 minute airshift before the morning man took over. I
> think I could play maybe five or six records in that half
> hour block (let's see... Andy Gibb... Roger Miller... what a
> combination!) That and I got to babysit the FM automation
> which consisted of four reel to reel decks in a totally
> different part of the building. (The FM was mono!)
>
> What's your story?
>

I love this topic.

My first gig in MA was as the afternoon news anchor of WTAG in Worcester.

I took a massive pay cut from being an executive producer of talk in Atlanta and Philadelphia ... but everyone told me if I wanted to be a talk show host full time someday ... I should do some time in a newsroom and out with a microphone. And I wanted to come home because my family is all from Boston, where I grew up. I was scared out of my mind, but I loved every minute of it ... freezing in the cold during house fires in the dead of winter ... capturing breaking news ... working on stories picked up by the network ... really gave me a solid foundation. That station will always hold a very special place in my heart. Owned by Clear Channel, but still had that local feel -- a real commitment to the community -- fantastic people all around! I miss them terribly to this day. :)
 
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