bhessel (88.64)

WBCN 104.1, Boston…RIP

November 04, 2009 – Comments (2)

WBCN 104.1 Boston was one of the first radio stations in the USA to adopt a progressive rock format in 1968. While apparently never a great profit center—the station has changed ownership many times over the decades and infamously met one new owner who fired a bunch of staffers with a mass strike that succeeded in forcing the rehiring of everyone—they had a cadre of highly creative DJs who loved the music—one of the originals was Peter Wolf who on the side was in the process of becoming lead vocalist for the J. Geils Band—and were given free reign to play and talk about whatever music worked, which occasionally might be a classical piece or jazz, in addition to lots of music from new bands. The station also had a show geared toward prison inmates, a lost pet finding service, wrote their own ads for their sponsors which were often hilarious, and a provocative news director (Danny Schechter, the News Dissector) who generally complemented his reporting with an appropriate tune constituting an arch editorial comment.

I was an avid listener during my time living around Boston (1969-75). Apparently in recent years the station went “corporate” and declined in quality, so its demise earlier this year (which I just learned of) is no great loss…but if you are interested in rock/radio history, have a gander at the comments that follow this article.