Re: First in FM Rock in Boston......

[mamros@MIT.EDU]

Donna said:
>I have a very strong recollection of the old MIT station (which was called
>WTBS back in the 60s) playing album rock long before any of the professional
>stations.  Peter can tell me if it was ahead of Arko-matic... it had a
>really great air-staff, many of whom ended up on WBCN... whatever happened
>to "Uncle T" anyway??? He was one of the best college jocks I ever heard,
>and lightyears ahead of his time... (Tom Gamache, I believe his real name
>was.)  

You're right - WTBS did have album rock on in the mid 60s.  Exactly
when the start date was, I'm not sure - our archives from that era
are spotty at best.  But I might be able to find one of our "old-timers"
who might at least know the year...

But Peter is almost certainly correct in ARKO-matic being the first
*full-time* FM rock station in Boston.  (WTBS wasn't full-time anything...)

And, as far as rock-n-roll (as opposed to album rock) on FM in Boston
goes, WTBS may have been first with that as well - and, in this case,
I do know the start date: Saturday, April 15, 1961 (five days after
the station signed on at 88.1 FM).  The show was "Rock 'n' Roll Memory
Time" (yep, an "oldies" rock show - in 1961!), which first aired on
WTBS's AM carrier-current signal in the fall of 1960, and continued
all the way into the early 90s on WMBR (same MIT station, different calls).

If I remember right, Tom "Uncle T" Gamache moved on to WBUR (back when
it was still a college station, before John Silber took an axe to it)
after his WTBS days - don't know where he landed after that (but would
love to know...).

- -Shawn Mamros
Comptroller (and occasional station historian), WMBR (formerly WTBS)
E-mail to: mamros@mit.edu

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