WMBR spoof of WJIB 740!

[raccoonradio]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCKqwLKhEWU

Spoofing that other Cambridge station....at the start etc

 

[efgoldman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCKqwLKhEWU

Spoofing that other Cambridge station....at the start etc

Hell, I'm old enough to remember when WXHR FM gave up classical to become the original WJIB.

 

[jimmo]

Hell, I'm old enough to remember when WXHR FM gave up classical to become the original WJIB.

Yes, I would like to have an audio file of the old WJIB-FM (96.9 FM). I remember its distinctive ship's bell and seagulls cue for station i.d. checks, and the announcer saying "JIB , WJIB , a service of Kaiser Broadcasting and The Boston Globe ."

My mother loved that station, the format of which was, effectively, broadcast Muzak® , or what some used to call "elevator music," also the style of instrumental music one would hear in some retail establishments (such as banks and department stores), as well dentists' and doctors' offices' waiting rooms of that era (the mid-1960s to early '70s).

I guess, sometimes, offices probably subscribed to the actual Muzak® service itself. But sometimes I suspect the offices were just playing WJIB or JIB -like stations to calm their waiting patients. I have also read sometimes workplaces piped-in Muzak® , increasing the pace of the music to increase workers' productivity throughout the day. Of course that amounted to subliminal brainwashing.

My mom listened to the old WJIB-FM on her then-new Magnavox console stereo/radio nearly all morning while doing housework, until her "stories" (the CBS-TV soap operas) began airing each weekday afternoon. My dad listened to Bruins games (on WBZ-AM ) on the old MagVox, and we kids used the stereo turntable to better blast our Beatles, Herman's Hermits and Monkees' records. Of course our parents enjoyed their Al Martino, Perry Como, and Andy Williams records too.

But I also recall the days before we had the MagVox, when we primarily listened to radio (AM only) in our kitchen on a tan Bakelite (or some such plastic) Westinghouse tube radio, replaced by a Westinghouse table transistor, then by a Realistic Patrolman AM/FM with police scanner. I can also still remember my mom doing her ironing in the kitchen, listening to the radio edit broadcast of Art Linkletter's "House Party" and "Arthur Godfrey Time," which both aired on the old WEEI-AM (590 AM, then Boston's CBS flagship station), and were the last vestiges of what today is known as Old-Time Radio (OTR).

 

[raccoonradio]

Here's some WJIB 96.9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK3OVIKEits

A reproduction of the sign on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umf186Eds6Y

Ship's bells: In addition to WJIB, my dad had a ship's clock that would ring out the hours in ship's bells. 12, 4, or 8 o'clock would be
8 bells. 12:30, 4:30, and 8:30, one bell, then a bell added for each half hour. 2 pm? 4 bells.
Some (very few) beautiful music stations still around--not sure but one may be KAHM in Arizona. SiriusXM has a channel called
Escape with beautiful music I believe.

Muzak eventually became a word describing music sources that weren't necessarily by Muzak corporation. Just as you may have a G.E. refrigerator, some would call it a "Fridgidaire" or "Fridge"; you might ask for a Coke at a restaurant and get Pepsi (though usually the server will say, 'We have Pepsi, is that OK?'). So Muzak at one point put out an ad pointing out that while other people may refer
to another service as Muzak, they were the REAL Muzak--the ad showed a woman holding an index finger up to her lips as if to say, "Shh". The tag line: "Muzak: Don't Say It If You Don't Mean It".

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

But I also recall the days before we had the MagVox, when we primarily listened to radio (AM only) in our kitchen on a tan Bakelite (or some such plastic) Westinghouse tube radio, replaced by a Westinghouse table transistor, then by a Realistic Patrolman AM/FM with police scanner.

Ahhhh, the good ole Realistic - Patrolman 4 (Model 12-753)! We had one of them, way back when!!!