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Another Boston station bites the dust

By adamg on Wed, 06/27/2012 - 9:19pm

Jennifer Eagan reports that Oldies 103 dies at noon tomorrow, to make way for a "high energy" top-40 station (music enhanced with gamma rays?).

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Topics: 
Entertainment
Free tagging: 
Oldies 103


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Comments

By cybah on Wed, 06/27/2012 - 9:40pm.

omg could boston finally be getting a dance station? Or will the powers that be fuck it up and make it a dance-y, more annoying Kiss 108 where they play the same 10 songs all day...

By Honus Wagner on Wed, 06/27/2012 - 10:59pm.

So what's happening in Boston, and I'm sure most cities in America, is that radio stations with real
People and rich histories are being closed and replaced by some billionaire's pandora station.

By Will LaTulippe on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 2:51am.

When is a Top 40 station not "high energy?"

By rsybuchanan on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 10:27am.

You know the ones: mopey, dopey ballads in which "love" make up >25% of both nouns and verbs in the lyrics ("baby" and "please" may be substituted for up to 5% of those), and the general tenor of which is nobody could ever understand our love because clearly we horny teenagers are the first people ever to be really horny, I want to show my looooorve to yoooooooooooou, baybeeeeeeee oooooooooooh.

Just thinking about dreck like that makes me want to spin a bunch of Nitzer Ebb and Coil at top volume in my office, driving the people in abutting office to higher ground (or Meadhall).

By BikerGeek on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 10:58am.

Throw in some Combichrist and VNV Nation while you're at it? Thanks.

/my office isn't far from Mead Hall....

By rsybuchanan on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 12:14pm.

May I interest sir in some Wumpscut with his pint?

By BikerGeek on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 9:00pm.

Absolutely!

By anon on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 6:40am.

No more Christmas music at Halloween?

I'm actually sad about the change. I get very tired of the "current" music and enjoy the music of the past when I need to relax.

By Ron Newman on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 8:36am.

AM 740, The Memories Station. You won't get it at night unless you live within a couple of miles from the transmitter at Fresh Pond in Cambridge.

By anon on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 8:48am.

I happen to love WJIB on Sundays from noon to midnight they do the old crooners - Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, etc... I have the radio on in the house and in the yard, it's so relaxing. Obviously much to the embarrassement of my child and laughter from friends since we all remember making fun of our parents listening to WJIB.

By Ron Newman on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 10:35am.

That one (on FM) played 'beautiful music' (aka elevator music or dentist office music) -- almost all instrumentals.

By rsybuchanan on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 10:49am.

Who can forget that flute-heavy easy listening cover of "Wang Dang, Sweet Poontang"?

By Suldog on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 12:33pm.

... it pretty much makes a reappearance during the overnight hours of midnight to 6am. During that time, mostly instrumentals, many of the "easy listening" variety (although not all, and occasionally Bob Bittner throws in something off-the-wall.) Of course, as Ron notes, the signal drops off precipitously after dark (down from 250 watts to 5 watts) so reception is sketchy. I get it clear in one room in Watertown, for instance, but it is mostly scratchy static in all other rooms.

(I get a great kick out of some of Bittner's programming. He has actually played Black Sabbath on 'JIB, although an instrumental entitled "Fluff" that nobody but a Sabbath fan would know was actually by Black Sabbath.)

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

By anon on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 8:55am.

It's nothing like an "oldies" station like 103.3. WJIB plays lite favorites from mostly 50's and early 60's, sometimes older stuff, sometimes lite stuff from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Totally different listening experience. 103.3 was the best of the "modern oldies" stations in that they mixed in disco, pop, and funk occasionally with the rock and roll stuff. I'm especially going to miss Lost 45s on Sundays, and the Top 40 with Casey Casum after that from whatever week from whatever year in the past. Top 45s was probably the best raddio show in Boston even after the station made Barry play more hits mixed in with the obscure stuff.

By cdevers on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 10:45am.

I remember in the 80s when 103.3 would play a lot of 50s & 60s Motown, doo-wop, etc, and WZLX would play the 60s & 70s classic rock stuff. I liked that combination.

I hadn't listened much until recently, and was disappointed that they played so much disco now, and didn't seem to be playing much if any Motown. Booooo. Good riddance.

At this point, I'm happy with WBUR or, if they're having a pledge week, WMBR. Other than that, if I I want to hear music, that's what iPods & iPhones are for now.

By anon on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 10:57am.

Much of disco is just an extention of Motown and Philly funk and soul. There are a lot of similarities and many soul singers and groups did very good disco records in the late 70's and early 80's.

While I also understand why you may not 100% like the current format of WROR I can't really understand why you'd be happy to see a station like that go. They still played Motown occasionally, moreso than many other stations. The station taking over will never EVER play Motown style soul.

If you want doo-wop and older style oldies they still play them on 95.9 WATD, whose signal strength may not be the best within Boston, but it makes up for it by playing all sorts of great stuff from the 50's and 60's.

By anon on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 11:21am.

Even I can't tell them apart. I meant to write WODS up there...

By Suldog on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 12:45pm.

WZBC (90.3) can sometimes be an alternative for interesting old rock 'n roll, blues, punk, 60's garage rock, etc.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

By cdevers on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 1:12pm.

Yes, I forgot about them (the signal isn't always great in Somerville), but WZBC & WMBR are the last two music stations I have any interest in, for the examples you mention.

By Some guy on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 8:21am.

And this crazy,
but I'm on every
Boston station, baby.

By Hunter on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 8:57am.

Actually, I like the oldies stations at 103.3 and 105.7. But as I've ranted over and over again, why don't these oldies stations or any commercial radio stations, like the aforementioned and WZLX, play B-sides or album cuts? How many amazing songs by Wilson Pickett or James Brown, Roberta Flack, Otis Redding, Buddy Holly, Elton John, The Who etc. are more obscure but no less wonderful and fun? We used to buy whole albums and listen to every song, many of us still remember those songs and some, like me, still have those records. I challenge Boston radio station managers and owners to step up and be the ABSOLUTE BEST they can be!

By Darryl on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 9:12am.

...on the radio? I bet you WAAF is the next to fall. They play the same stuff every day.

By Will LaTulippe on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 12:01pm.

Just gave Greg Hill a 5 year deal today.

By anon on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 9:40am.

I'll date myself and admit when Elvis Costello's "Radio Radio" was released, I thought it truly represented the state of radio: Corporate DJ's spinning "hits" (and oldies are nothing but the hits of yesterday), endlessly, never introducing anything new or exciting. Well, I guess I was wrong then, because at least a few bands and forms of music made their way to the airwaves without multi-platinum hits. Today, that isn't the case, and radio is as dull as dirt for the most part. Sure,88.9 WERS is likable, as is 92.5 WXRV, but after that the pickins aren't slim, they're non-existent. Satellite and the internet options don't offer anything to the local flavor, although you certainly can dial in your tastes. It's a much more direct market study, for sure, but it isn't good listening.

By john on Fri, 06/29/2012 - 2:41am.

Yeh, dialing in your exact tastes is not good listening, because we want to be sharing a moment on the radio, together with other people, singing along at the same time. It's like American Grafiti, we all want to be cruising around listening to Wolfman Jack playing the hit song all the cool kids are listening to. It loses something to just be downloading a playlist that plays just for you, and no one else is listening to at the same moment. That's boring, radio is exciting.

By bostnkid on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 9:51am.

mix 104.1
kiss 108
92.9 wbos
94.5 jamn

not a rock station among them. do we really need 4-5 staions playing the same crap music all day everyday? wfnx is the only one left and not for long. wers is pretty good if you want some newer, more eclectic music but sometimes its just weird too.

I wouldn't worry about it though, it's not a big college town.

By Will LaTulippe on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 12:02pm.

WBOS is a rock station.

By bostnkid on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 12:26pm.

wbos is mainstream top 40 rock. i want to HEAR new music, not the same friggin green day and STP songs ive been hearing for 20 years.

By Nancy on Fri, 06/29/2012 - 12:59am.

No, WBCN was a rock station.

WBOS is not a rock station. Just because they play Metallica's Enter Sandman once a month doesn't make them a rock station.

By Lanny Budd on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 10:16am.

Remember when we were going to have 500 channels coming into the house via cable, so there could be specialized channels dedicated to knitting or volleyball or cats or whatever? Over time, channels all started to chase the same demographic, and with reality shows to eliminate that pesky paying the writers expense. Now there might as well be just two channels: local news and the cooking/sports/home repair channel, which shows competition programs 24/7.

By Hunter on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 10:51am.

I agree with Lanny. Those of us who seek out the things in life that we find different and interesting are in the minority. It's true that most people are sheep who just go the way of the crowd and music is only background noise to them. That's why radio stations pander to surveys and corporate suits. It's the same with movies. Why do you think they are making remake after remake after sequel and prequel? Most of the audience doesn't want to be challenged intellectually.

By JohnAKeith on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 12:31pm.

So, let's review 103.3

1970's: soft rock(?)
1980's: pop (remember when it switched over?)
1990's-2000's: oldies
2010's: pop

Am I remembering correctly? I seem to remember senior year when it switched formats, but I can't remember what it played before it went Top 40.

By anon on Thu, 06/28/2012 - 2:37pm.

Is when it changed to Oldies 103.

Also, as much as I like Barry Scott I wish they kept the Little Walter Time Machine on there too. Its better than the fake Wolfman Jack show they have now.

By anon on Sun, 09/23/2012 - 8:19pm.

www.wbcnboston.com
Destiny Curtis may be the only hope for Boston radio. 2 AMs a week and Sam Kopper on (usually) 5 days a week. Its awesome and it needs to take off and get on the air, and the stream.

By anon on Mon, 09/24/2012 - 1:25am.

I've been listening for years. New format during the day is great and there are some great shows:

"Rockers" for reggae weeknights 7-10 and "Secret Spot" for slow jams Sat 7 sun 8pm-12mid are my favorites.

Also shows dedicated to kids music, a capella, and show tunes on Sundays.

From the website, here's their take on their new format:

"WERS Daytime is an eclectic mix of indie, folk, rock, and vintage sounds, as well as singer-songwriters, blues and a little soul."