WATD, Ed & George, oldies

[markwa1ion@aol.com]

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From: stuff@struff.com

I catch WATD on Scan on I-93 in Andover...loud and clear!
>>

I wish I could get WATD reliably here in Billerica just north of the 
Burlington line near the 3A/62 junction.

NH on 95.7 and Worcester on 96.1 provide major grief.  I used to be on 
the South Shore quite regularly commuting to/from my parents' home in 
West Yarmouth.  They've since passed on and I'm not doing all that much 
driving down in that area anymore.

Anyway I was a big fan of Ed & George's Saturday night oldies-fest.  
They actually would play two of my all-time favorite tunes from 1961: 
"Temptation" by the Everly Bros. (which sounds like the progenitor of 
R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe") and "Louisiana Mama" by Gene Pitney.  
Those tunes could make me break the speed limit (or sound barrier?) on 
Route 3.  I could add Bobby Blue Bland's "Turn On Your Lovelight" from 
late '61 to that list too.  Bland's original tight soul version blows 
away some of the later highly-bloated jam-band-noodling renditions of 
"Lovelight" (versions that only sound good if you're wasted).

Ed & George would trot out some of the mid-'60s (pre "Bosstown Sound") 
Boston band garage goodies from Teddy & the Pandas, Myles & the Wild 
Ones, Barbarians, Ramrods, Lost, etc.  Who else is playing this stuff ? 
  WCRN (when it was a not-too-bad satellite oldies station) missed most 
of these due to its non-local focus.  I'd think XM/Sirius would miss 
'em too.  Little Walter was more about doo-wop, that's fine but it's 
not my prime interest.  WJIB throws me some pleasant surprises at 
times, but it's generally too mellow.  I'm basically a guitar guy.  
WODS Oldies 103 ?  Totally flaming useless !  Little evidence of being 
a station for Boston '60s kids.  OK for '70s light-pop.  In the '70s I 
was into Aerosmith, not "Afternoon Delight" type mush.

Other than shows like Ed & George, the only way my rarer '60s desires 
are being covered is by my own CD's.  Some tunes are downright hard to 
purchase on CD's or iTunes.  Thank goodness for some labels like Rhino, 
Ace, Collectibles, and Collector's Choice.  I graduated high school in 
the class of '67.  It seems that people who graduated around then are a 
fairly sizeable portion of the population and, in some cases, do a lot 
of the spending.  So why do we get so many crazy ethnic and talk 
programs on the radio and such feeble excuses for oldies stations ?  
Radio used to be cool: Jonathan Richman wrote "Roadrunner" as a love 
song to it.  Now if you drive around at night, you'd better have your 
own CD's.  Somebody spin me up "Live" by the Merry-Go-Round right now 
please !

I guess this message is turning into a protracted ramble about tunes I 
can't hear anywhere.  WESX and WJDA now doing Spanish religion, well 
"whoop-dee-doo" as Archie Bunker would say.  In any event, something 
like Ed & George's show on a station north of Boston would be a treat.  
Maybe there is something and I just don't know about it.

By the way, does anybody remember Eddy Mitchell's afternoon show on 
WCOP-1150 circa summer/autumn 1961 ?  He used comedy clips and sound 
effects to great effect, especially when dubbed over the duller songs 
that he (and most of his 10 - 15 year old audience) thought were lame.  
ROTFLMAO - Wicked funny !  Also great was early '60s Chuck Stevens from 
550 in RI: his schtick of mentioning (/ bashing) other stations and 
DJ's was priceless.  Seems to me he used the term "Carl DeSnooze".  Any 
airchecks (or just reminiscences) of Mitchell and Stevens would be 
appreciated.

Mark Connelly - Billerica, MA

How I Got Started in Radio and Electronics: 
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Boston Radio and Popular Music Page: 
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