55+ (was: Boxford pirate's coax cable cut)

[markwa1ion@aol.com]

Gary, I used to be one of those Cape listeners of WCAP even before 2002 
when I'd stay at my parents' place in West Yarmouth or at my 
brother-in-law's at East Harwich.  I phoned in a couple of times with 
requests for stuff like "Temptation" by the Everlys,  "Louisiana Mama" 
by Gene Pitney, and a general range of other things never heard on 
'Oldies 103.3' even then.  With the right skip WCAP came in as well in 
the Yarmouth area at 100+ miles as it did at home in the Pinehurst 
section of Billerica, about 12 miles south of the towers.  I've also 
listened out in Rockport on Cape Ann but that's not far enough for a 
good first skip and a bit too far for solid groundwave.  Worst problem 
there is actually an Algerian station (!) sometimes in with a 
barn-burner signal on 981 to make a big fat 1 kHz beat note.

Your show had more of the rarer stuff than what WCAP does on the 
overnights now.  Some of us still remember songs that, during their 
peak week, got up to something like #35 on WCOP in 1961 or WMEX in 
1963.  That didn't make them worse than whatever was #1, indeed some 
were better and should still get some exposure today.  Some of these 
were crossovers into Top-40-land from jazz or country or R&B where they 
were a much bigger deal.

Mark Connelly - Billerica, MA

<<
>From gary@garysicecream.com  Wed Sep 23 14:36:14 2009
From: gary@garysicecream.com (Gary's Ice Cream)
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:36:14 -0400
Subject: 55+ (was: Boxford pirate's coax cable cut)
In-Reply-To: <c2c.667f71de.37ebc281@aol.com>
Message-ID: <200909231836.n8NIaU7m066891@tsornin.bostonradio.org>

  When I was programming the overnight show "Music & Memories" on WCAP 
from
2002 thru Nov 2007 we would regularly get calls and letters from 
listeners
 from Lowell to Cape Cod (station aims that direction at night) saying 
how
much they enjoyed the music. I was programming a very eclectic mix from 
the
late 40's thru the 70's...everything from Glenn Miller to Barry 
Manilow.  We
seemed to have a lot of listeners in the Arlington area.  Ages ranged 
from
the early 30's through the 70's.  We were working off of an active 
library
of over 5,000 songs.

Gary Francis
>>