Re: WBOS Formats

["Paul R Hopfgarten" <hopfgapr@sprynet.com>]

- ----------
> From: Rob Landry <umar@wcrb.com>
> To: Paul R Hopfgarten <hopfgapr@sprynet.com>
> Cc: boston-radio-interest@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu
> Subject: Re: WBOS Formats
> Date: Wednesday, May 28, 1997 9:13 AM
> 
> > Vinny Peruzzi (sp?) had WBOS dancing to disco in the fall of '78,
> > but they dumped the format just as KISS (WXKS-FM) went on the air.
> 
> No, "Disco 93" was the brainchild of Ron Robin.  It started in February
> 1978 as a Sunday night time-brokered show (he was working at WVBF at the
> time).  The success of the Sunday show attracted the attention of WBOS
> general manager Alan Temple, who offered Ron the job of program director.

> 
> I joined the WBOS staff in 1980 just a few months after Temple's
> departure and the end of disco.  What I was told was that Kiss hired
> away Peruzzi and WBOS morning host J.J. Wright, and that Kiss spent
> millions of dollars on promotion in 1979 to lure away WBOS listeners.
> Wright's replacement in morning drive was John Kosian.  WBOS continued as
> a disco station until the end of 1979 when Alan Temple was fired.
> Temple's successor, Allan Johnson, changed the format to adult
> contemporary but kept Ron Robin as PD.  The new format wasn't very
> successful. 
>  
> > WBOS went to an AOR format in Jan 1982 as "92.9FM" not mentioning the
> > calls except for legal ID's
> 
> In the fall of 1981, Ron Robin left WBOS to join WBZ.  Johnson decided to
> dump the format and hired Jack O'Brien from WPRO-FM to do AOR.  The
result
> was a virtual clone of number-one ranked WCOZ.  O'Brien canned most of
the
> programming staff and hired, among others, Mike DiMambro, Terrence
"Tyler" 
> Reinsmith, and Dan Justin. 
> 
> > Then they morphed to a "soft-rock" format,
> 
> On July 14, 1982 station owner Herbert Hoffman fired both Johnson and
> O'Brien for causes not clear to me.  He made Jane Duncklee (station
> manager of WUNR) also general manager of WBOS, and hired Clark Smidt to
> program the station. Clark Smidt's new format sounded a lot like what
> would now be called adult album alternative, but he was ten years before
> his time. 
> 
> > and then actually went "Modern Rock" up against the then new 'FNX in
> > spring of 1983. 
> 
> In the spring of 1983, Mr. Hoffman hired Barry Skidelsky as station
> manager of WBOS.  Maxanne Satori, formerly of WBCN, was hired as PD.  It
> was she who launched the modern rock format.
> 
> My assessment of Ms. Satori was that she was excellent in her choice of
> music but her choice of people left a lot to be desired.  Except for Bob
> Slavin, who had come to WBOS after having been let go by the now
imploding
> WCOZ, most of them acted, dressed, and sounded like college kids.  Their
> microphone skills were abysmal.
> 
> > Then on 7/14/83 (don't ask me why, but I remember) the swiched to
> > country without ANY warning, where they would stay until April 1989
> 
> Well, at the time I thought it was because Mr. Hoffman was unimpressed by
> the lack of professionalism displayed by too many of Ms. Satori's staff
> members.  I also got the impression that Jane Duncklee, who was still
> running WUNR, wanted to reclaim the job of general mansger of WBOS. 
> 
> Dean James, who was program director of WDLW (now WRCA), was brought in
as
> morning man and PD for "America's Country" WBOS.  He and his staff showed
> up unannounced on the morning of Thursday, July 14, 1983.  All hell broke
> loose.
> 
> The air studio had a huge picture window that looked out into the sales
> offices.  One can only imagine what "Rockin' Bob" Slavin must have
thought
> during his last midday show. Panicked staffers were running about,
pulling
> their hear and bursting into tears as Mr. Hoffman tore the punk rock
> posters off the walls.  An army of strange people belonging to Dean James
> emerged from the freight elevator behind the WUNR master control room
> bearing armfuls of country albums.  Skidelsky and Ms. Satori were nowhere
> to be seen; they had already been given the bad news.  The remaining
staff
> were told to get themselves and their rock records off station property
by
> the end of the day.
> 
> At 3pm Dean James entered the air studio, relieved Bob Slavin, and put on
> the first country record ("Ghost Riders in the Sky", as I recall).  The
> phones lit up as irate listeners called in to complain.  Mr. Hoffman took
> many of the calls himself.
> 
> > (Remeber they played "Take this job and shove it" by Johnny Paycheck
> > over and over the last day (to purge listeners, I guess))went they went
> > to soft-rock. 
> 
> Ah, but that was after my time.  I left WBOS/WUNR in December, 1983,
> and moved to California. The decision had been made to sell WBOS, budgets
> were being cut, and I thought it was time to move on.  In 1984 WBOS was
> bought by Sconnix.  It was eventually sold to Ackerley Communications,
who
> did the Johnny Paycheck thing, and they sold it at a great loss to
Granum,
> which became part of Infinity, which became part of CBStingfinity, or CBS
> as they like to call themselves.  And they've just sold the station to
> Greater Media, although I'm not sure whether the transfer of ownership
has
> actually happened yet.
> 
> > My guess if it wasn't for the "BOS" calls, each switch would have been
done
> > with a Call switch as well (I'd assume the "WBOS" calls will be on 92.9
no
> > matter what format they play)
> 
> When Jane Duncklee told me about the forthcoming switch to country a
> couple of weeks before the Bastille Day massacre, I suggested she switch
> the WBOS call letters to the AM and get something new for 92.9. I'd heard
> stories from some of the salespeople that the call letters had become
> something of a joke among advertisers, and suggested that new calls would
> give us the opportunity to present ourselves as a brand new station
> instead of just another incarnation of WBOS. 
> 
> Among the programming people I knew at WBOS there was one survivor of the
> Jack O'Brien era who lasted all the way to Granum: Bruce Werner, alias
> "Captain Zemo", alias "Ed Wood", alias "Ed Zemo Wood", alias "Ed Zemo."
He
> was also the "Stompin' Zemo" who did the Saturday night doo-wop show on
> WHRB for several years. 
> 
> 
> Rob Landry


Ron, thanks for the fill-in (I remeber those names, and was a BIG fan on
Maxanne's format...The last 'BOS song in '83, I recall was a Lou Reed tune
(name of song escapes me,??)

I had heard that Hoffman was one for switching formats as soon as the
station started getting ratings (tax writeoff?)


Paul Hopfgarten
Derry NH

------------------------------