Origins of call letters

[ssmyth@tiac.net (Sean P. Smyth)]

On 19 March 1998 at 9:46 a.m., you wrote:

>In fact, the "W" stood for nothing.  It was always Cambridge, Arlington,
>Somerville... the famous "Wiccas Island".  Was a good station.  Radio used
>to be good.

We have list members who used to be employees there. I casually know the
former sports director there, Rick Page. (Ironically, Rick also worked for
a time at WSMN, I believe.) From material which I had seen, the 'W' was
supposed to stand for Watertown... this would have been from a Boston Globe
press clipping (they owned the station at the time) around 1969 or 1970.
The Watertown border is about one mile from the station's tower, so is
Somerville; the Arlington-Cambridge border is about 3/4 of a mile or so
away. That was the reasoning for the station's calls.

- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sean Smyth
Smyth Sports Enterprises
10 Linley Terrace
South Boston, Mass. 02127
617/268-7012
ssmyth@tiac.net

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