Hannity and Colmes

[The Seacoast]

I try not to reminisce too much anymore with respect to how lucky I was to
grow up in Boston during a time when Boston Radio had incredible TOP 40 and
MOR formats run on radio stations with talented jocks. 

However, as I watched Alan Colmes and Sean Hannity say so long to "Hannity
and Colmes", because Alan exits the highly rated show they both have made
very successful tonight for good, I thought of Boston Radio.  

WEZE came to mind, circa 1973-75, an era when Boston Morning Radio had so
many great morning shows; it was difficult to know who to listen to.  Alan
Colmes, the then morning man at 1260 WEZE was such a funny and talented
morning man.  (Oh yea, those were the days before it took a "zoo" crew to
fake their laughs and claps and..talent.)  During the mid-seventies the
choices were plentiful in Boston for good radio.

Note the choices:  Stereo 105 had Greg Austin in Boston, WCOZ had George
Taylor Morris, (and others), WAAF had Tom Doyle, (and others), WBZ  had Carl
(never liked him on the air personally), WHDH had Jess Cain, WMEX had Jim
Connors (and others), BCN had "Chuck", and my favorite..Dale Dorman with
Bill Rossi (news) on "The Big 68".  Our selection in Boston and the
surrounding area was endless.

Let's not forget the LOCAL and LIVE overnights stations all had:  WEZE had
Bob Stuart with Music/Talk (I would drive by and wave to him at the Statler
Hotel studio window), Leslie Palmiter (sp?) on WCOZ, and my all time
favorite overnight host: the one and only Larry Glick!  

In those days, New York radio did nothing for me.  Boston had incredible
talent on so many "pop" radio stations, some 5KW, others 50KW, it just
didn't seem to matter.  It was a time when many Bostonians turned to radio,
not only for the music, but as a friend, providing fun all-day-long (not
just AM Drive), favorite tunes, information, contests, and jocks with
personality.

Anyway, before several respond back to inform me that times have changed,
that type of radio is "old", and we have to contend with IPODS, MP3 Players
FM, HD, XM and blah,,,,,blah,,,,,blah, I can remember having to contend with
AM, FM, reel to reel, Cassettes, 8-Tracks, and AM-DX'ing of other great
radio stations across half of the US and Canada.  Yet, I still stuck to the
transistor radio because it was fun and offered something a kid could relate
to.  

Radio stations worked very hard back then to BEAT the Competition.  Today,
they throw in the towel and blame IPODS, as they (radio stations) lie down
and play dead.  

Well, before they got greedy and died off, maybe AM/FM radio should have
worked even harder in spite of the IPODS and MP3 players, but no, it was
all about saving money, corporate conglomerate greed, satellites, re-wounds
of shows, syndicated news, and eventually even I wondered, what is there on
radio for me to even power it on?