enjoying the new Jerry Williams book

[kvahey@comcast.net]

Great picture of Jerry at the old WMEX Fenway Park studio in 1958
complete with Western Union clock.

After ballgames my Dad would bring me along as he sat in the audience.
Once I watched Arnie running his board and was captivated.

I think it is fair to say no one person changed Boston radio more than
Williams. He spawned talk formats at both WNAC and WEEI.
He most certainly influenced the 1959 election for Boston mayor as he
embraced John Collins who was a heavy underdog. On radio voters
couldn't see that Collins was disabled (polio victim?) and just heard
his vision for the city.

If we ever get a true radio hall of fame in Boston Williams should be
the first to be elected followed by Mac Richmond. Say what you want
about Mac but he took a station that had a marginal signal and made it
a powerhouse for 10 years. The only mistake he made was turning down
the opportunity to buy WBOS-FM for cheap money. He was convinced FM
had no future as he struggled with WPGC-FM in Washington.

On 3/8/08, Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com> wrote:
> Kevin Vahey wrote:
> > I picked up Burning Up the Air by Steve Elman and Alan Tolz yesterday
> > at Borders. So far it has been a wonderful read about the career of
> > Jerry Williams.
>
> Agreed! I'm reviewing that book, as well as another with more tangential
> NERW-land ties ("The Buzzard," by John Gorman, about WMMS in Cleveland),
> in Monday's NERW...
>
> s
>