WTAO / WJIB tower

[Dan Strassberg]

Well, I arrived in Cambridge in June of 1956. As far as I know, since that
time, the tower has been just where it stands today. Did the traffic circle
move? I doubt it, but it isn't impossible. At some point, the National Guard
Armory went up on the opposite side of Concord Ave. I have no idea whether
that was before or after June '56. The Armory building's appearance does not
give me a clue. Maybe if I looked more closely I could find a cornerstone
with a year engraved in it. Porter Chevrolet/Honda is not far away from WJIB
(or it wasn't the last time I looked), but it's on Route 16 (Alewife Brook
Parkway, I think), not on Concord Ave. Believe it or not, the appliance
dealer, Sozio, was still on Concord Ave, right AT the circle, the last time
I looked. I have not heard a Sozio commercial in years, but maybe I just
don't listen to the right stations. Sozio...Sozio...gives you so much
MORE...Sozio!

BTW, I COULD believe that there have been major renovations to what was the
Harvey Radio Labs building back in WTAO days. It is now a self-storage
warehouse. Bob Bittner could probably give you a better picture of how the
building has changed.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Russ Butler" <songbook2@comcast.net>
To: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>; "Russ Butler"
<songbook2@comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 9:12 AM
Subject: WTAO / WJIB tower


> I do not live in Boston anymore, but I grew up there - 1933 to 1952. (I
> used to chase radio towers for fun, and would visit the studios!) The
> original WTAO 740AM tower in Cambridge in 1949 was at the Fresh Pond
> rotary circle site right on Concord Avenue, perhaps 150 feet from the
> curb. The little studio was in Frank Lyman's Harvey Radio labs, below
> the tower. (I can still visualize Billy Dale spinning those white label
> vinyl, promo 78rpm discs on "Dunkin' Donuts with Dale" in the morning!!
> Maybe that's where the donut chain got it's name?)  There was a
> Chevrolet car dealership nearby the rotary circle on Concord Avenue
> (forgot the name, maybe it was Porter Chevrolet??)  Anyway, I digress,
> now to the point of this post:
>
> Looking at the Google and MapQuest maps of the Fern and Field Streets to
> coordinate that tower location of WJIB today, it seems to me that the
> tower right on Concord Avenue was moved a block or so from the rotary
> circle  that I remember in 1949?  Is that the case, does anyone know?
> Or has that area in Cambridge just been over-developed and the roads
> have been changed or the land has new buildings with the tower remaining
> in the same spot built around them? It doesn't seem likely that the
> tower would be moved just a few hundred feet.  Just asking.
>
> Thanks for the reply.  =Russ Butler  songbook2@comcast.net