Re: FW: Oops 7/4 and no respect for history

[mwaters@wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>On Thu, 10 Jul 1997, I wrote:
>
>>         The story idea to try to float to the Globe and/or Herald is WRKO
>> ignoring its anniversary.

A little later, Rob Landry wrote:
>
>We're planning a big celebration when WCRB (the call letters and the
>company, Charles River Broadcasting) turns fifty next year.  One of our
>original employees (Dave MacNeill) is still with us.
>
>By contrast, what does WRKO have to celebrate? The call letters WRKO were
>not there seventy-five years ago, nor was the talk format, nor was
>American Radio Systems or any of its employees.  What, exactly, is
>celebrating its anniversary? The transmitter site?
>
        No, actually. They had a different transmitter site as recently as
1953 on a different frequency. No station that old is likely to have any of
its original employees left, or even any left alive in retirement. The fact
that it's owned by a different company now also, IMO, misses the point. It
is a heritage station, although it changed its call letters once, 30 years
ago. The point of being interested in its anniversary is that the station's
history, as you usually find with any station that old, encompasses some
significant history of broadcasting. In the case of this station, it
involved  the Yankee Network, pioneering with FM, the farsighted owner John
Shepard, the first "chain" broadcast in 1923, and a bunch of other things.

        I think celebrating good moments in broadcasting is something to do
more of. Thriving with a classical music format for 50 years (or most of
it?) is cause for a big celebration and calling the attention of the Boston
area community to that and the continuing local ownership also will be
worthwhile. I'm partial to fireworks shows myself.

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