Author: DOuG pRATt

Bosstown radio

Over the past four years I’ve tracked some of the Boston radio scene events, including:

  • Classical music station WCRB switching frequencies
  • Steve LeVeille let go by WBZ, then brought back by listener demand
  • End of WBCN as on-air station
  • Departure of Barnes Newberry from WUMB
  • WGBH buying WCRB

Deaths:

  • WBZ talk show host Paul Sullivan
  • WBZ legend Larry Glick
  • WGBH Jazz Decades host Ray Smith

The Internet has had a huge effect on the radio industry, of course. Something I didn’t like for a long time was the Web player that the CBS network was using. I don’t know when CBS hooked up with Radio.com to update the player, but I think the results are excellent, despite a couple of pop-ups that have caused Firefox to crash.

The CBS station WODS — Oldies 103 in Boston — is still the best place to catch The Beatle Years and Beatle Brunch. You’ll find them on the WODS podcast page.

Peanotes

The 60th anniversary of Peanuts is only two months away. Here are some related items of note:

  • Rheta Grimsley Johnson has a new book called Enchanted Evening Barbie & the Second Coming: A Memoir. My copy arrived from Amazon a few days ago. When Rheta was married to cartoonist Jimmy Johnson, she wrote Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz, the first authorized biography of Sparky. Rheta recently spoke at the Sixth Annual Clarksville Writer’s Conference in Tennessee.

    • Battle of the babes singing for babies

    Ya know, back in the 80’s and 90’s, kid shows in America seemed to be missing something compared to children’s television in some other countries — something that might have made parents, dads in particular, more interested in watching TV with their kids. I wonder what that certain something could have been?

    Chantal – France

    http://youtu.be/N40uc4wBXrs
    http://youtu.be/fMWgZaZG_jU

    Dorothée – France

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=419Ur0FMoN4
    http://youtu.be/m5-PQmkETQI

    Xuxa – Brazil

    Douchka – France

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D04ReBGeRY

    Les dames de Sixties Française Pop

    Swinging London wasn’t the only place in Europe that was swinging in the Sixties. France had its own brand of Pop music, with a decidedly feminine fragrance. This collection of videos includes Sylvie Vartan, Francoise Hardy, Chantal Goya, and France Gall. It starts with — surprise! — Petula Clark, who was a Pop star in France before returning to recording in English with “Downtown”.