Re: WMEX to end all-local talk

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

The only thing that would have come as a real shock is 
if my posting hadn't elicited the sort of posting from 
you that it did. Say what you will about WMEX--it is a 
bold experiment in this age of cookie-cutter radio. The 
only personality in their lineup that I can fault is  
Upton Bell, who has sounded for weeks as if he's been 
just going through the motions--even when he records 
spots for major advertisers.

Gene Burns _has_ to be the _most_ talented talk host on 
US commercial radio--period. No exceptions. And the 
morning news/business block, which you and others who 
probably never even listened have derided as lame, is as 
good as that sort of programming gets on US commercial 
radio.

Moreover, WMEX has done whatever it has done without 
stooping to the kind of off-color, double-entendre (on a 
good day) nonsense that has become a staple of WRKO. 
Other major-market talkers, such as WOR and even WABC, 
don't find it necessary to reach that low.

If decent, thoughtful, talk can't survive on a powerful 
commercial signal in Boston, it probably can't survive 
on any commercial station anywhere in the US. And that 
says an _awful_ lot (and I do mean awful) about the 
state of US education. Your generation's complete lack 
of interest in anything of any consequence is nothing 
short of scary!

> Hopefully, this doesn't come as too much of a shock.  I'm actually suprised
> Langer lasted this long with his rag-tag lineup of has-been hosts.  It's obvious
> Jerry won't be back and Upton will be phased out by the time we set the clocks
> back.  This station simply did not work, and the fact that they barely garnered
> enough ratings to make the Boston book pretty much sealed it's fate.  My guess
> is that more and more birdfeed will be added and eventually, brokered time will
> be the programming of choice.  The last time I heard the station Upton was on
> the air with the first selectman of Upton, MA, begging to have an "Upton Bell"
> day named in the town in his honor.  Pitiful.  The satellite feed will be a
> major improvement over this gosh-awful lineup.  Of course, I won't be listening,
> along with the other 99.6 percent of the Boston radio listening audience.
> 
> Mike Thomas
>