Danny Schechter and others would create a similarly inspired liberal attitude in the news department, connecting WBCNs community with what they needed to know in a national and local environment that remained openly hostile to the American counterculture. tried to bring back freeform rock radio spirit for 21st Century. Oh, the stories you heard. The arrival of shock-jock Howard Sterns syndicated show to mornings that same year created a schizophrenic entity of WBCN, with community-based concern and music vs. callous commercialism and coarse talk. Because the station got involved in giving these bands a higher profile, people could see them in clubs. His words "over and out" were the last to be heard on WBCN on August 12, 2009 when the station went off the air. The idea of the radio, and crafting it, and being a person on the other end, that will never die. If you're a human and see this, please ignore it. Former program director Greg Strassell was named "Hot AC Program Director of The Year" nine times. WBCN Free Form Rock was formatted essentially the same as WBCN's 104.1 FM's 1968-88 incarnation (a great deal of rock, rock's related genres, and new music), different from the modern rock format that was carried on 98.5-HD2. So we said, How about the car we give away, its suspended from a crane tied into the Strawberries Records on Memorial Drive and hanging over the Charles River? The women at WBCN, we had to carve out a place for ourselves. Now they can actually afford to put out a halfway decent independent record which gets noticed by the major label, and now they get signed by the major label and become stars. WBCN's last four days on analog radio were celebration and retrospective shows highlighting WBCN's history. While the existence of the promotional album is apocryphal, the truth behind the broadcast, though less dramatic, is equally as fascinating. Alan, who does middays on WZLX, played Segers Famous Final Scene in honor of Parenteau this morning. Since then:DJ at WZLX; inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2009; retired and living in Maui, currently working on an autobiography titled Daze in the Life. There was a very strong sense of history being made at the time. in Boston Albert O 1983-Present Air Talent,midnight-6am Oedipus 1976-Present Program Director Mark Parentau 1978-Present Air Talent,3-7pm Jim Parry 1968-79 Anthroplogy student at Harvard U. Since then:President of Lichtenstein Creative Media; director of The American Revolution, a forthcoming documentary on the early days of WBCN. For a brief period during that transition, Charles Laquidara, who was acting program director hired Robert "Bo" Burlingham as news director. It was about everybody. He said, Charles Laquidara is a professional. On March 15th the station celebrated 25 years on the air. On March 15th the station celebrated 25 years on the air. This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 14:42. CARTER ALANAt WBCN:DJ and music director, 197998. Known as "The Rock of Boston", WBCN became a legend in the rock music industry for breaking many bands, most notably U2. ", On July 14, 2009, CBS Radio announced that WBMX would move from 98.5 FM to 104.1 FM, replacing WBCN; these moves were made to launch a sports talk station, WBZ-FM, at the 98.5 frequency. During the autumn months, WBCN became more focused on sports as the station broadcast the games of the NFL's New England Patriots beginning in 1995. Hes got a 13, the highest rating ever in the history of ratings. This is a great audio history of radio formats, music, local commercials, news and broadcast personalities at the time. We needed someone who could do Bugs Bunny. It was not just your talentyou had to be able to hang with the boys and you had to take a certain number of lumps that the boys didnt have to. Jukebox stations are not radio; they are jukeboxes. Parenteau was working at the former XM satellite radio in Washington, D.C. when prosecutors alleged that he enticed teenage boys to come to his D.C. apartment to drink, smoke marijuana and have sex. The Cosmic Muffin (April 10, 1943 July 26, 2006) was a Boston-based professional astrologer and radio personality. I made this tape, because in the early 80s I moved to the West Coast and I wanted to take a bit of Boston Radio with me. Im absolutely positive of WBCNs legacy. Since then:DJ at WZLX and KISS; editor in chief at Citysearch; marketing director at Ticketmaster Online. It was a club for everyone. Fred (Toucher) Toettcher (born 1975) is a Marconi-winning sports radio talk show host on WBZ-FM in Boston, co-hosting "Toucher and Rich" with Rich Shertenlieb.. A Worcester native, Parenteau began his career at 15 on WORC-AM in his hometown. Most of my listeners knew more about the music than I did. Worcester personality and deejay LB Worm paid tribute on his . "J. They put us in the basement in a building with ZLX and Oldies, and then Mix 98.5 moved in there. For those who lived in the listening area, which. Take the Clash. Radio is in her blood: she is the daughter of the late Doris and Joe Quill, owner and general manager of WRLM in Taunton, Massachusetts. He was replaced by WPRO-AM nighttime host David Simpson, who began his 11-year run on the shift on February 16, 1981. Since then:Program director, DJ of WBCN Free Form Rock on wbcn.com and 100.7HD3. There isnt a museum yet, but Boston archivist David Bieberwho, as a grad student, profiled the nascent WBCN for this magazine in 1970, and later worked at the stationhas leased key artifacts to the Verb Hotel, a boutique hotel opening this month next door to WBCNs former studios. WBCN holds a special place in history." Jon Abbott, President and CEO, WGBH "A team of young heroes, women and men, black and white, straight and gay, passionate, fearless and revolutionary, broadcast the music and ideas that shaped how every college kid thought, felt, and acted for the rest of our lives." The hitch: the station is on HD. Oedipus was orange. Tommy Charles. CBS Radio will launch 98.5 The Sports Hub in the other slot. Youve seen the movie Almost Famous. Added Parenteaus longtime attorney Frank Cimler: Mark was a terrific radio personality who, at the height of his career, was must listen-to radio.. It was never a one-way experience. Mark Parenteau died after a long illness at the age of 66 in 2016. Maxanne Sartori - WBCN DJ. Parenteau died at around 1 this morning at Mass. #WBCN #wbcnfreeform. By the 80s, after winning a union strike, the station went on to achieve its greatest success, which placed The Rock of Boston on top of the Boston ratings heap through the entire decade. Van Morrison would come by a lot. I loved this station (it's been gone for many years now). There are no reviews yet. Please say a prayer for Mark.. [3] Laquidara would then give Martinie his start in radio as well as his nickname "The Cosmic Muffin", which was taken from a National Lampoon Radio Dinner parody "Deteriorata". Parenteau had one of the most successful radio careers in Boston history, with a 20-year run, first on the former WCOZ then spending 19 years as the afternoon-drive talent on WBCN. The whole idea of it being a parody of a Top 40 thing with humor, but poignant humor that made you think. On February 2, 2017, CBS announced that they would be selling their radio division to Entercom, whose existing properties in the Boston area included WBCN's long-time rival, WAAF. Emerging acts like Led Zeppelin and the Who segued into jazz, classical, and trippy sound montages. The music meant something to the DJ, and to the moment in which it was being played. Memorable radio personalities from Cleveland's past. In 2010, morning team Karson & Kennedy were named "Hot AC Morning Show of The Year" of 2009 by FMQB magazine. [2][3], In 1965, Martinie graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in political science. With its audience aging, it risked becoming a classic rock-focused station and losing its currency as an outlet for new music. After graduating, he landed a job at a small radio station in Cumming, Georgia.In 1999, he started hosting nights on 99X in Atlanta and eventually worked . For a long time, WBCN successfully balanced new and old music (featuring the slogan "Classic to Cutting Edge"). He was 66. Johnson then left WBCN to assume a new position at WGBH.[6]. Im thinking about retiring, and just managing this group and trying to get them going on tour. He puts this cassette in. Radio Ink. It returned to sports programming in 2013 as a full-time satellite of CBS Sports Radio. Chicago Radio Personalities - Where are they now, 8. Copyright 2023 Music Museum of New England, by Henry Santoro as told to Al Davis of WGBH and Tyler Alderson of WCRB. WBCN and the American Revolution: Directed by Bill Lichtenstein. Eddie Gorodetsky, who went on to do The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men, he was our head writer. People are losing interest in radio, Im talking twentysomethings, because theres nothing compelling there. I know many of you might have been offended or even angered at things Mark did in his life; but he also was a legendary talent; the best DJ I ever heard behind a mic and one from whom I learned so much of what I do on the radio, Alan, who visited with Parenteau regularly in his final days, wrote in a Facebook post on May 30. So many of the best stories would get me or somebody else in trouble, which is probably why theyre great stories. In that final week, CBS said to the staff, Do anything you want. But the call-letters of WBCN, through its 40+ years of rich history, will remain a legendary part of Americas radio story forever. She also hosted pre-recorded broadcasts for the Armed Forces Radio Network in the 1970s and 1980s. After leaving BCN he did fill-in work on WRKO and WTKK in Boston and a stint at Q104 in New York. [25] WBMX, WODS, and WAAF were retained by Entercom, while sister stations WBZ and WZLX, as well as WKAF and WRKO, were spun off to iHeartMedia (WBZ-FM would be traded to Beasley Broadcast Group in exchange for WMJX, making WBMX and WMJX sister stations. fostered since 1968. But I remember my parents changing the station. [1] He also hosted Westwood One Radio Network's nationally syndicated radio show The Beatle Years from 1995 until his death. King, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy. Are you kidding me? 3 Cosmic Dancer (K.Day Radio, Los Angeles, 15th Feb 1972) 4 Main Man (K.Day Radio, Los Angeles, 15th Feb 1972) 5 Ballrooms of Mars (K.Day Radio, Los Angeles, 15th Feb 1972) 6 Mystic Lady. For the first time, the owners of the station began to make a profit. How Boston radio station WBCN became the hub of the rock-and-roll, antiwar, psychedelic solar system. Play anything you want, say what you want. Yes, in the years that followed, we had competition. Bradley Jay (later, he became host of the weekday overnight talk show, "Jay Talking", on AM sister station WBZ[12]) was the last DJ. Laquidara had Billy West on the show on a daily basis, as well as Karlos, the first computer-generated (using Digital Equipment's DECtalk) on-air personality in radio history. The station served as a kind of conduit between the station and its listeners. Mark Hamilton Radio Host / Event Producer Los Angeles, California, United States 266 followers 266 connections Join to view profile SiriusXM Experience Radio Host SiriusXM Mar 2020 - Present3. You can own multiple stations across the country. That was part of its charm. Like the biggest rock bands, it began as an underground revolution, thenin a haze of sex- and drug-fueled mayhem transformed radio, went mainstream, enjoyed unimaginable financial prosperity, and was ultimately undone by that success, as its corporate masters foisted upon the Rock of Boston a series of edicts so stringent that it ended up as boring and pre-programmed as the AM-radio dinosaurs it had so creatively displaced. People really related to that. Howard Stern went to BU listening to Charles. Oedipus's radio career began in 1975 as a D.J. From 1995 to 2008, WBCN was the flagship station of the Patriots Rock Radio Network, which broadcast games of the New England Patriots. June 18, 1996. When WBCN went off the air in 2009, Parenteau was not invited to the stations farewell broadcast. [5] In May 2001 Boston Magazine named Oedipus the third most influential person in the arts in Boston. The old Boylston Street studios were all beat up. Literally. They are the Hall of Famers, those broadcasters who are the top of their profession and who carry the spirit of the great older generation of radio professionals who put Boston on the map as a great radio town -- Jess Cain, Dave Maynard, Larry Justice, Norm Nathan and of course, the great late David Brudnoy, to name a few. He took me under his wing. Charles deserves every bit of respect he gets in the radio community. I had never been to college for anything. The company let me take chances. WBCN switched to digital only on August 12, 2009, with two digital-only automated streams, one on the HD2 channel of WBZ-FM continuing the modern rock format, the other Free Form BCN, airing an eclectic mix of rock, related genres, and a lot of new music - essentially the WBCN of 1968 to 1988, brought into the 21st century. I do not own the copyright on this material but present this historic audio exhibit as an auditory museum piece. Now the clubs are making some more money, so they keep booking the bands. Note that clicking the link below will block access to this site for 24 hours. That played the clubs. "WBCN's Free Form 104", moved from 104.1 HD-2 to 100.7 (WZLX) HD-3 and was renamed "Free Form BCN". In the summer of 1968, Kopper was made the station's first program director. WBCN and the American Revolution - Bill Lichtenstein 2021-11-30 How Boston radio station WBCN became the hub of the rock-and-roll, antiwar, psychedelic solar system. Jackson was one of the first DJs to introduce Americans to The Who and Led Zeppelin. Also, back in 1981, people didnt have station vans driving around and going to events. WBCN's 104.1 analog and HD-1 moved to 98.5 (WBZ-FM) HD-2. If you want good ratings, then you gotta have bad radio. Declining ratings and belt-tightening at the former Rock of Boston led to Parenteau being let go in 1997. What about the Raiders? (Peter Simon) The station launched the careers of artists like Aerosmith and arguably played a role in ending the war in Vietnam. Do you understand me? I said, Klee, you cant fire Duane. Eventually, Wolf had a crucial . Last fall, former music director Carter Alan published a history of the station, Radio Free Boston: The Rise and Fall of WBCN (Northeastern University Press), and a documentary film is in the works. You went in there, you got your tires checked, they washed your windshield, put the gas in, and you didnt even have to get out of your car. I took the late-night shift, from 12 to 7 in the morning. The fellow who put it together, WBCN founder Ray Riepen, who was sleeping on my couch, asked me to buy into the station. WBCN was an over-the-air radio station in Boston, Massachusetts. He gained notoriety as the pink-haired DJ who created the first Punk rock radio show in America, introducing Punk and New Wave to Boston and to the country. ", In 1993 Martinie was named "Official Astrologer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" by Governor of Massachusetts Bill Weld. (It was also rumored that Hemisphere's FCC lawyers had vetoed the course of action advised by Hemisphere's labor lawyers). By the mid-1980s, WBCN had successfully fended off a number of challengers (the hard rocking but tightly formatted WCOZ, Top 40 Hitradio WHTT, classic rock WZLX, among others) to become/remain the region's top rock station. We reflected the culture of the city. WBCN also launched The Toucher and Rich Show, a new locally produced comedy-based afternoon drive time show starring Fred Toettcher and Rich Shertenlieb. WBNS radio had been a CBS affiliate for almost 20 years, so Channel 10 immediately joins the CBS television network. In his appearances on MTV, Jackson often went by and introduced himself as "Triple J". As a VJ, Jackson hosted the long-awaited and much anticipated "unmasking" of KISS. He pioneered live remote broadcasting techniques and became The Honorary Dean of Boston Comedy, spotlighting dozens of up-and-coming comedians on his show. He gets in the history of ratings Big Bang Theory and Two and Half! 2010, morning team Karson & Kennedy were named `` Hot AC program director area. The early days of WBCN, through its 40+ years of Rich history, will remain a part! Joins the CBS television Network on WZLX, played Segers Famous Final Scene in honor of this. 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