Farewell, WBCN

[midnight armadillo]

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/07/final_chord_for.html

The WFNX morning show today went well out of their way to praise and appreciate WBCN's rich history. Very cool of them. I switched over to WFNX a long time ago, since WBCN started sucking in the late 90's, but it's still a shame to see an iconic station get shit-canned because its owners drove away its audience.

[MADem]

1. I remember WBCN when all they did was play music with no DJ babble.

Hours of music, worthy of reel-to-reel taping!

[midnight armadillo]

2. They also really, really supported local musicians

They had some segment years ago where callers would vote on a song by a local band on Monday night or something, and then the song would go into regular rotation for the week.

[Bombtrack]

14. I hope you don't consider Charles Laquidera and Howard Stern to be 'DJ babble"

I know alot of DUers don't respect Howard in particular but Oedipis himself with tell you how great for the station BOTH of them were, and this would not be happening if Howard was still on there in the morning.

After he left, the station did go to $hit with unlistenable assclowns like "Hardy" and "Toucher and Rich".

[inthebrain]

3. Ohhh Fucking Crap!!!!

BCN is a fucking awesome station.

My favorite of any area that I've lived in including New York.

This is such a horrible blow. I't just wrong on so many levels.

I'm still pissed at the loss of Tower Records. I used to love that store on the corner of Newbury St and Mass ave. When I lived in the Fens it was such a great place to rent movies and find obscure music you couldn't find anywhere else. I useed to fish that store and Newbury Comics.

Now Boston is losing BCN.

Since I've lived here this city has completely lost it's soul.

[cleveramerican]

4. its been doomed for years

it became personality driven.
Oedipus built the station, and then wrecked it.
Once he moved to that 30 room mansion with the airstrip in the backyard,
You just knew it was over.
It just took 20 years to claim the body.

[Kat45]

7. The station was great long before Oedipus came along.

But yes, it has been heading downhill for a long, long time. Still sad to see it go, if only because of what it used to be. Also sad to lose a rock station and have even more sports on the airwaves.

[Bombtrack]

15. Oedipus DID NOT wreck the station. He left years ago because the CBS brass were ruining it

and immediately after Oedipus had enough of their tinkering the station took a nosedive, losing quality people like Howard and Nik Carter and getting Hardy, Opie and Anthony, and Toucher and Rich to fill their void, when they just should have played good music with ocasional low key DJs to introduce or recap the artists and songs.

[bluescribbler]

5. BCN hasn't been a great station since the days of Charles, Ken and Mark

I basically stopped listening to them when they started playing Howard stern on Saturday mornings.

On edit: RIP, Duane Ingalls Glasscock.

[brucea]

6. Yeah, totally agree.

I listened to little else in the early '80s.

We can hope that some time in the wilderness of the WWW will allow for some soul-searching, and maybe even a return to the air as a 2010s version of its older self. (More music (classic and newer) - fewer "personalities" (not less personality))

Viva 'BCN!

[JenniferJuniper]

8. Hello, Rangoon!

Anyone else remember the time that Duane played the Kinks' "Superman" over and over again during his entire show to protest the firings of station employees when some big broadcasting company bought them?

Thems was the days.

[Kat45]

9. I don't remember that one, though I can imagine him doing it.

I do remember him playing "The Rodeo Song" quite a bit. I probably would have never heard that song if it wasn't for him.

[JenniferJuniper]

10. Have you ever been phoned in Upton, Mass

for being a lucky wise guy?

Radio is truly dead. Let Rush et al have it's stinking corpse.

[JayMusgrove]

12. Oh I remember those days. N/t

[Bombtrack]

16. They played Howard weekday nights 93-96, weekday mornings 96-05

when did they play him Saturday mornings?

[janet118]

11. I remember when it only aired from midnight to 5 AM . . .

and Peter Wolf was a dj. It started out by buying off-hours from a classical music station. The disc jockeys would play anything back then - country, folk, rock, blues, classical, jazz - whatever struck their fancy. Or they would do long stoner talks. My favorite sets were "themes" - when each song linked to the next in some way. It was like the dj was taking you for ride.

[midnight armadillo]

13. Those days are LOOOOOONG gone

DJs have zero control over set lists anymore, in typical radio stations. The program manager handles all that. Worse, program managers often work for multiple stations and music genres, meaning they lack any depth of knowledge.