WTAO

[Dan Strassberg]

For all I know, Len Zola did weekends at WTAO, but for sure, the Len who was
working the morning I was there was Len Libman. I was brought to WTAO at 439
Concord Ave (same place is now 443) by an MIT acquaintance, Jason Fox, who
had been a high school classmate of Libman's. As for your remembrance of
WORL at 90 State St in the early 50s, that must have been before my time. I
arrived in Boston in June '56 and WORL then had its studios on Beacon St in
Kenmore Sq--in a building that was later taken by the Commonwealth when the
Mass Turnpike Extension was built. The number 719 Beacon St sticks in my
mind, but someone on this list once pointed out to me that my recollection
of the street number had to be wrong. Still, I'm quite sure that the number
was in the 700s. When the building disappeared, the station (which by then
might have been WRYT or even WROL) moved to (I think) 330 Stuart St. (Was
that the Salada Tea Building?)

By the time I arrived in Boston, Norm Prescott had left WORL for WBZ, which
had just flipped to a music-and-news format. A minute ago, I almost
remembered the name of the guy who did AM drive on WORL. He had an Irish
surname, but I can't think of it. (Finally thought of it--Gregg Finn.)
Others in the lineup were Norm Tulin (who was later on 1050 in New York as
Norm Stevens), Stan Richards, and Dave Maynard. (Maynard did not depart WORL
for WBZ until maybe a year after I arrived in  Boston.) During the summer
months when the daytimer's broadcast day extended past 6:00 PM, Len Libman
did a music show from 6:00 PM to signoff.

As a class III-D station, WORL could sign on year-round at 5:00 AM local
time. (They COULD have signed on at 4:00 AM when Daylight Savings Time was
not in effect.) If I recall, however, the station didn't sign on until 6:00
AM. And at either 6:15 or 6:30, they interrupted the music format for 15
minutes for a broadcast of the Rosary recited by the Cardinal directly from
his residence in Brighton. (Or was it on tape?) Many years later, when what
by then must have been WROL dropped the daily Rosary, the broadcast moved
tio WPLM-FM, which may still carry it.

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: RBB <oldradio@earthlink.net>
To: Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@att.net>;
<boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Cc: <oldradio@earthlink.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 6:17 PM
Subject: WTAO


> Wasn't it Len "Zola" who did the shift on weekends at WTAO?  And...don't
> forget Boston's first UHF television station, Channel 56 WTAO-TV from high
> atop Mt-Zion in Woburn (that 400-foot high mound) the b/w shows, the
nightly
> movie, some Dumont network shows and football games on kinescope, the UHF
> adaptor, the bow-tie antenna for your tv set's reception.