Re: GBH-FM90..... "frequency shorthand"

["David W. Harris" <dwh@totalnetnh.net>]

Bump Martin: "If I am correct......this [1980] also at the time when
WGBH-FM decided to
decimate their news department.....and hand over the news mantle to
WBUR?"

Quite right.  Which reminds me of the other odd aspect of WGBH-FM's
decision to become FM 90 after several decades of announcing the
frequency as 89.7...when your chief competitor for the
jazz/classical/NPR news audience has been calling itself "90.9 FM" why
would you want to become "FM 90"?

Sometime late in the summer of 1980 'GBH Journal with Louie Lyons got
the axe and local news on WGBH became a rip'n'read operation.  Before
September was out WBUR made the changes that set it on the path to
today's success.  This was not without controversy.  WBUR had been home
to numerous public affairs shows produced by community groups...Gay Way,
Elder Review, Herizon, Peacework...that were eliminated in favor of a
more polished news presence.  Then there were the jazz and classical
fans whose favorite music was displaced by morning and afternoon
newsblocks (intially 6-8 a.m. and 4:30-7 p.m., drawing largely from NPR
but featuring a lot of local material, too).  Since then WBUR could be
counted on every so often to drop another chunk of music programming in
favor of news, talk, or feature programming.  Jose Masso's bilingual Con
Salsa (Sunday 12-5 a.m.) is one of the last music shows on 'BUR's
schedule and one of only two programs surviving from before those
changes of September 1980--the other one being the Sunday morning
service from Marsh Chapel.

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