Your Master of Ceremonies DJ returns to Boss Radio 66 on TuneIn, one week from today.
Category: Music
No Static at All – 3
I think of the 1965 installation of the Master FM Antenna on the Empire State Building as another example of the 60’s being the most happening of decades.
“… for the first time multiple FM stations could operate at full power from a single shared antenna system…”
https://www.aes.org/blog/2019/7/empire-state-buildings-historic-alford
Three things happened in the 60’s that brought about the FM radio revolution. First, adding stereo sound.
https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/roots-of-radio/how-fm-stereo-came-to-life
Second, as covered in a 2019 post, transistorized Japanese stereo receivers of high quality were being brought home by returning Vietnam vets. Which quickly transformed the home audio market.
Third, on January 1, 1967 the FCC’s non-duplication rule, written in 1964, finally took effect. Stations in larger cities that were licensed to operate both AM and FM transmitters had to offer unique FM programming. The easiest, and by far the cheapest, way to do that was to let kids from college stations bring free-form programming to commercial radio.
Three days after the FCC edict, there was an event of cosmic serendipity. The Doors released their first album. “Light My Fire” had a single version for AM stations…
… and the hippies who would soon be at the mics of newly liberated FM stations played the album version. Underground Radio was born.
In a few months there was Jimi Hendrix, the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Underground Radio ushered in the Summer of Love.
In Boston, as I have mentioned numerous times, we had the legendary WBCN. I was fortunate to listen to BCN during its first five years, while it was truly revolutionary.
A couple of FM engineering nods:
- A colleague and friend of Boss Radio 66 founder Debbie Daughtry is Steve Shultis, CTO of New York Public Radio. When the Master FM Antenna was being decommissioned, Shultis was one of the people who claimed dibs on an array element before it went on the scrap heap.
https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/news-makers/shultis-helps-put-radios-best-face-forward
- Closer to home, Christopher Kelly is the transmitter engineer for Boston Public Radio station GBH.
A Girl Group of One
An hour of Sexy Pet, as she was called in France. It’s on Glynis GirlGroupGirl’s show ‘From Crayons to Perfume’ on WFMU.
Note to listener: This player may start automatically, depending on your browser. Especially if it’s Firefox.
Note to Glynis: It’s pronounced “Peh-too-lah.” Petulia is a 1968 movie with Julie Christie. Petula appreciates that “Pet” is a term of endearment, but she prefers being called by her full name. I know that because she told me herself. 🙂
Glynis played a later recording of “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love”. This is the original, one of her perfect 60’s Pop singles.
Stop, Look, and Listen to Lia
Look…
… listen…
… then look again!
Inside Out Vinyl
Optical media is played outwards from the inner tracks. Records can be made to play the same way. Doing this makes it easier for a cartridge to track the end of a recording that is especially loud and/or has a lot of bass.
Practical Matters
After computer graphics took over special effects in movies, the old way came to be called practical effects. Asteroid City has a cornucopia of wonderfully conceived and beautifully detailed models and miniatures.
“Freight Train” in the movie is a Skiffle record from 1957. It was released in England a few months before Paul McCartney joined John Lennon’s Skiffle group, the Quarrymen.
https://youtu.be/FRBRyl9XgrA