Category: Radio

Ode to the Underground

As I have mentioned more than a few times, I consider myself very fortunate to have followed Musicradio 77 WABC-AM in New York, and then WBCN-FM in Boston, at their respective best — 1963-68 in Connecticut, then after my family moved to Massachusetts, 1968-73. After I left for college in Western Massachusetts my ‘BCN listening was limited to home visits. I was influenced equally by both stations, despite their radically different formats, with ‘BCN being outright radical. I am finally watching WBCN And The American Revolution and, at the halfway point through the documentary, it has my unreserved recommendation.

"WBCN and The American Revolution" trailer from WBCN and The American Revolution on Vimeo.

Speaking of WABC, the big news is that COUSIN BRUCIE IS RETURNING TO WABC on September 5! He has left SiriusXM, where he was heard for 15 years, compared to his original 11-year run on WABC.

Back on August 16 I posted a shout-out from the King of Jingles, Jon Wolfert. Cousin Brucie will be joining Jon TOMORROW, 8/30, starting at 3 PM ET on Rewound Radio. The link is over on the left, as always, and you can be sure I’ll be tuning in!

To the Victor Go the Spools

With the passing of Dame Vera Lynn at 103, World War II slips a little bit further away from living memory. Thanks to magnetic tape recording — an invention perfected in Nazi Germany — this 1950’s re-recording of Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again” sounds as though it could have been made yesterday.

I should see if Vera Lynn ever commented on this use of her signature song.

Smarter Than the Av-er-age Songwriter

Before Bill Gates became famous, to me the name Gates meant not only David Gates of the group Bread, but the manufacturer of the broadcasting equipment at the radio station where I worked. Here’s a short air check of another guy at the station, with a bit of a song from, appropriately, David Gates.

David Gates had a string of super hits with Bread, and before that his song “Saturday’s Child” was recorded by the Monkees (and studio musicians) for their debut album. The earliest song by David Gates that I know of came on a record I played to death as a kid. Hey, it was a start!

Boston Says Goodbye to Gary LaPierre

Longtime WBZ radio personality Gary LaPierre has died. One of the best stories about Gary was towards the end of his career, when it came to light that he was reporting on snow cancellations from his home in Florida. This video was prepared for his retirement.

I remember when compared to the relatively young Gary, it was Dave Maynard who was the “senior statesman” of WBZ. Now they’re both gone!

Live From Tanglewood

This Sunday’s Boston Symphony Orchestra concert in the Music Shed at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA is one that I sorely wish I could attend, for both of the musical selections. But being here in Sun City West, AZ, I will have to settle for listening to the live stream from WCRB, with my little Oontz Angle speaker. Given the time difference, that means tuning it at 11:30 AM MST.

The Disc Jockey’s Disc Jockey

Dan Ingram, the greatest radio disc jockey of all time, has died. For anyone who loved Top 40 radio the way I did, the word “legendary” is inadequate to describe Big Dan’s career in the business. Getting home from school in Connecticut in the Sixties, I always looked forward to turning on the radio and hearing Ingram on Musicradio 77WABC in New York.

Dan Ingram, 1934-2018

Los Angeles had its big name jocks, but all of them aspired to working in television. Many succeeded, mostly hosting game shows, but in New York Ingram was all about radio. With his pitch-perfect voice and snappy patter, Dan was the master of medium.

This video has a classic Dan Ingram aircheck from 52 years ago today, in the summer of ’66, a time that was one of the happiest of my life.

https://youtu.be/j4bZnbfj5OY

Top 40 radio was over and done as the dominant format by the time I was working on-air at an AM station. Sometimes I can’t believe I actually did it, but I did, and it came easily to me, thanks to the inspiration of Dan Ingram and Bruce Morrow on WABC. Thankfully, Ingram’s old buddy and colleague Cousin Brucie is still here to entertain us on Sirius/XM radio.

P.S. This is a message I sent to my sisters:

Today’s extremely sad news is the passing of legendary DJ Dan Ingram, one of the big inspirations for me getting into the business. I still have dreams about sitting behind the mic and “working the board,” which was something Big Dan and Cousin Brucie didn’t have to do, because WABC had engineers taking care of that for them.

All of the songs played on WABC were on tape cartridges, by the way. They were transferred from 45’s immediately upon receipt, so the records wouldn’t develop “cue burn,” a phenomenon that I knew well myself from “slip cueing” records on the turntables at the station.

Here is an air check with Dan that, towards the end, features Ian Whitcomb’s big hit. Which reminds me, I need to do some audio editing of Ian wishing Liz well between songs a few months ago. I’m a sponsor of his online radio show.

P.P.S. Mark Evanier’s friend Ken Levine has an interesting Southern Californian take on Ingram at this link.