story about Portland Maine Top 40 History

[SteveOrdinetz]

> One thing we will never see again is the explosion of WRKO in the Spring
>  of 67. Everybody knew they would hurt WMEX but it was stunning how
> quickly they toppled WBZ as well. 2 months into their launch they had
> the Casino Royale promotion at Midnight downtown expecting 200 people
> and 10000 showed up.


Yeah.  Within 6 months there were major changes at 'BZ and they were out
of the format in less than a year.  In retrospect, not as
surprising...WMEX, despite a lousy signal had an image that was a lot
hipper than WBZ, which was more of a full service MOR station that
happened to play rock & roll.  Was anyone on their airstaff under 35 or
so?  Even Bruce Bradley who was the closest they had to a rock & roll dj
sounded like a middle-aged guy trying to be hip.  Don't get me wrong...WBZ
was my favorite station in the mid 60s, and still brings back fond
memories, but they were an odd hybrid of MOR image & rock music.

Somehow, WMEX managed to hold on until the mid 70s.