Denro pointed out this Boston radio tidbit:
This weekend, Mix is bringing you back to the 90’s with music that will make you say Oh Wow! You’ll hear some old favorites like Marky Mark, Hanson, Spice Girls and more! We can hear you saying “Oh Wow” to yourself right now! It’s all weekend on Mix 104.1!
This can’t be right. Having a weekend music mix celebrating a decade that’s only ten years ago, as if it were the distant past, would be ridiculous, like having a Doo-wop tribute band at Woodstock!
Over the past four years I’ve tracked some of the Boston radio scene events, including:
Deaths:
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.
Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
I’ve been trying to get back to Dave Dexter, Jr. and the Beatles, but I got distracted by a renewed interest in the fascinating history of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and Ron Grainer’s Doctor Who theme. This is Delia Derbyshire’s stunning, shimmering production, which includes the famous sound effects for the show.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JUL/DoctorWho1963.mp3]Snippets of sounds and music by Derbyshire and the workshop have been collected by the BBC into a Flash player that you’ll find at this link. It’s all too easy to make the sounds overlap, so be quick with the stop button, and watch out for the clips that loop. Here is Murray Gold’s fantastic, powerful arrangement and orchestration for the new Doctor series in 2005.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JUL/DoctorWho2005.mp3]If this subject is of any interest I’ll let you find the same sites I’ve been looking at, but one favor I should do for you is assemble the pieces of a 2003 BBC documentary on the Radiophonic Workshop, called The Alchemists of Sound.
More trouble in Boston radioland. Barnes Newberry has left “Highway 61 Revisited” on WUMB (UMass Boston), a Folk-Rock program that he created. I added a comment to the post at the link below:
http://keeppublicradiopublic.com/wumb/
DOuG pRATt, on May 31, 2010 at 4:32 pm Said:
WUMB reception is marginal where I live, so I was listening to “Highway 61 Revisited” on an Internet Wifi radio.
Feeling that I should pay for the privilege of listening to Barnes online every Saturday morning, I sent $100 to WUMB. Two weeks later he was gone. I won’t try to get my money back, but I won’t be giving any more money to WUMB.
Listening to Barnes was part of my Saturday morning routine, and I had wondered for a couple of weeks why former WBCN jock Albert O. was at the helm. I don’t know what led to Barnes Newberry leaving WUMB, but the show was his baby, I enjoyed it, and I miss him.
Follow-up: Lia Pamina comes through again! Thanks to Lia, I am a Facebook friend of Margo Guryan and, as it turns out, so is Barnes Newberry. I’ve written to Barnes and I’m hoping to find out what the heck happened.
Last weekend, I caught a few minutes of Beatles outtakes and studio chatter that was playing on one of the best Beatles radio stations on the Internet, Beatles-A-Rama.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/MAY/Beatles-A-Rama.mp3]There are several Beatles stations on the Net that I have set on the Logitech Squeezebox Radio in the bedroom. You’ll find a comprehensive list by clicking this link to SHOUTcast.
I’m very pleased that Logitech’s Squeezeplay software version 7.5.1 is working well on both my Dell Inspiron 530 desktop and Acer Aspire One netbook, with minor quirks that are easy to get around. Previous versions had definite problems, but now I can access my Squeezebox server in places besides the Logitech Squeezebox Radio in the bedroom.
