WEZE "Window"

[Russ Butler]

Tim Coco mentioned the WEZE "window studio on the street level" - that 
would be on the first floor of The Statler Hotel, at the curved corner 
that had wrap around windows.

I believe they also had drapes that could be pulled together for some 
privacy or nighttime security.(Columbus Avenue and Stuart Street weren't 
that friendly at night in the 1950's). I don't think the windows were 
bullet-proof glass (like Lexan on the NYC "Today" show set, etc.) but 
there weren't many people walking past the window to stop and look 
anyway.  Drivers  would blow their car horns driving past that corner of 
what is now The Boston Park Plaza. (Everybody wants to be heard on the 
radio, I guess)

Interesting side note: The Statler in Boston was the first hotel in the 
world to offer in-room radio service when it opened in 1927. It was a 
two channel system with guests able to select the channel from a 
receiver and listen with either 2 headsets or radio loudspeaker. The 
cost of this installation in Boston was $50,000 (1927 dollars, by the 
way) and it cost another $750,000 to install radios in the chain's six 
older houses.  I wonder what two channels or stations they chose that 
guests would be able to hear in 1927?  WBZ, of course, the other?

(I'll bet these 2 channels worked better than those cheesy, little table 
alarm clock radios the hotels have now with no decent reception at all 
on AM or FM - buzzing yes, music no).

=Russ Butler  songbook2@comcast.net