WBCN's Final Hours

[Dan.Strassberg]

Joe: Weren't you living in Albany in the fall of 1953? If so, you
should remember the big stereo demo broadcast of WHAZ's 30th
anniversary--one year late (WHAZ signed on in 1922). The program was
thought of and masterminded by Frank Gicca (RPI '55). It was an early
chapter in his ultimately successful attempt to be named to Who's Who
in American Colleges and Universities. Gicca was a year ahead of me at
RPI, and I believe he was named to Who's Who in his junior year--which
was unusual.

The program was all on AM and required two AM radios to hear in
stereo. Four AM stations broadcast the left channel and four broadcast
the right. I can't remember which stations were on which sides, but
the program, which originated live before an audience at RPI's '87
Gym, was carried by WROW, WGY, WXKW, WTRY, WHAZ, WOKO, WPTR, and I
think, WABY. Those were all of the AMs in the Capital district at the
time, except for WSNY Schenectady. The program must have aired in the
fall of 1953, most likely in early November, because WXKW signed off
forever shortly afterward. That's another story and was unrelated to
the big stereo broadcast.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross.com>
To: "John Mullaney" <john@minutemancomm.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 1:28 AM
Subject: Re: WBCN's Final Hours


> On 12 Aug 2009 at 21:45, John Mullaney wrote:
>
>> What I think Mark means is that the story goes that before there
>> was
>> stereo WBCN and WGBH broadcasted some concerts where WBCN carried
>> one
>> channel and WGBH carried the other. The listener set up two radios
>> and
>> they had stereo. I was not born so I don't know the authenticity of
>> these stories.
>
> That's quite true, though I can't remember whether it was WBCN and
> WGBH or WBCN and WBUR. There was also "The New England Stereo Hour"
> on WBZ, with one channel on WBZ-AM and one on WBZ-FM.  Before FM
> multiplex stereo, WCRB regularly broadcast in AM-FM stereo.
>
> -- 
> A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
> 92 State Street, Suite 700                   Fax 617.507.7856
> Boston, MA 02109-2004                    http://www.attorneyross.com
>
>