WCOZ/WCAS DJ and "FM underground" pioneer Larry Miller returns tothe air!

[Eli Polonsky]

--- Steve West <stevewest106@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I'm totally blown away at the depth of your knowledge of
> FM Progressive Rock radio.  You could teach us all a lot!

I did a show emulating that style on non-commercial radio for 22
years, so it's definitely one of my interests. However, being a
native Bostonian, any history I mentioned about other areas was
all stuff I had read, researched, or heard about. I've listened
to radio continuously since 1966, but have never spent much time
outside the Boston/New England area.

> I think once I'm fully moved in up in Mass next month, we
> programmer types need to get together (Steve's thinking:
> Wonder if Eli would like to do some history for airchexx.com?..)

Perhaps, let me know. I hope to finally get some of my own
airchecks organized this fall/winter as well.

> I hate to move in a slightly different direction, but I don't
> remember WBZ when they did anything but talk.
> What did Dick Summer do on WBZ and when did he do it?  I
> know in the mid-70s Summer was on WNBC New York, then on it's
> sister WYNY, but I'm kinda unfamiliar with his schtick on WBZ.

When I began listening in 1966, WBZ was a true "full service"
station. Music, news, sports, public affairs, the whole gamut.
The music in the daytime was a somewhat more adult version of
Top 40 with a more relaxed delivery than AM Top 40 competitor
WMEX, known for it's manic delivery and wacky jingles and DJ's.

Within a year or so after WNAC 680 AM flipped to WRKO in early
1967 and stole the Boston Top 40 audience with the slick Drake
Top 40 format, WBZ continued to remain "full-service", but had
switched their music to a more MOR sound (similar to "Soft AC"
nowadays), though still "hipper" than MOR WHDH 850 (now WEEI),
which was playing what would now be called adult standards.

(WMEX kept plugging away with variations of Top 40 until the mid
1970's, but was hampered by a poor signal in the west suburbs).

The percentage of music on WBZ slowly dwindled in the 1980's, and
the amount of news, talk and public affairs grew until music was
completely discontinued at the start of the first Gulf War in
1991 (also the time when WBUR eliminated practically all music).

Dick Summer was on WBZ evenings from 1963 to 1968. I didn't hear
his first programs, but by the mid-60's his show was called
"Subway", an exploration of early mellower album rock, folk, and
some of the "hipper" pop of the day. (Bear in mind that rock
music was still mainly concentrating on singles then. Album rock
was just beginning to start with the "psychedelic" movement).
This was innovative in it's time, as there was still no other
commercial album rock radio in the area.

Toward the end of his WBZ stint (before moving to New York's
progressive WNEW-FM), Summer changed the show to "The Lovin'
Touch", mellow album rock with a romantic focus, complete with
poetry and story readings.

> >When WCOZ switched to a brief flash-in-the-pan hard rock format
> >in 1979 (it's now urban "Jammin' 94.5" WJMN), Larry moved to the
> >wonderful but short lived folk/folk-rock station WCAS 740 AM in
> >Cambridge.
> 
> I was just getting into FM 'progressive' stuff in the late 70s
> after hangin' with AM top 40s like WLS and KB for years when I
> discovered the hard rock version of WCOZ.  I *thought* that that
> was the way FM rock stations were supposed to be.  It wasn't until
> I heard some WPLJ airchecks, that I realized AOR was such a  most
> diverse and rich format. That said, has anyone heard some of the
> 'new' AOR stations out there?  Down here in Memphis, 98.1 WXMX
> 'The Maxx' is as close as I have heard in years to an old AOR
> format, where they play album cuts from past and present along
> with Rock hits.  It's not really taking off, but it's interesting.
> AOR was dead as a proverbial doornail for 15 years, but it's
> possible radio has become so stale that now is a good time to
> revive a great format.

Well, AOR was actually a 70's evolution of the "FM underground"
stations of the 60's and early 70's. "Underground" was more "free-
form", and at most of those stations the DJ's selected all the
music. Though album rock was the focus, DJ's could throw things of
practically any eclectic genre at you as well during a program.

AOR was a more formatted version with an increasing amount of
playlisting, and the weird eclectic stuff of other genres was
dropped. It was still a very deep range of progressive album rock,
but with less freedom of selection by the DJ's.

Times have changed greatly, and I'd venture to say that "free-form"
could never make it on a commercial station today. Perhaps a version
of AOR could in some areas, I don't know. Some AAA stations are sort
of like today's version of that, but I've seen commercial stations
try going more deeply into album rock in recent years, and it's
always tanked them in the ratings, the experiments never lasted.

Whatever you call it, "Free-form", "underground", "progressive",
AOR, etc... it came around at a time when FM endeavored to be an
alternative to AM, which was then the music mainstream. Now AM has
(almost) no music, FM is the music mainstream, and stations that
don't play to the mainstream fail to make it financially in major
markets today.

I know of one commercial station in New England that musically fits
your description above of an AOR station, that's Dennis Jackson's
WCLX-FM 102.9, which serves the Burlington, VT market from across
the Champlain in Westport, NY. It's run and hosted by a husband
and wife team, I believe the studios are actually in their house.
When they're not hosting live, it's automated. It's a wide variety
of album rock from the 60's through today. The Burlington ratings
are not published to the public, so I can't say how they're doing,
but they seem to be hanging in there with sponsors in the area.

Eli Polonsky