Some Thoughts on WODS/AmpRadio

[James Duffy]

I want to thank any one who reads this in advance for a few minutes of
indulgence.  What I have to say comes from a very personal point of view,
but I feel the need to openly process what happened today among other radio
people and people who love radio.

When I really started to become aware of what I was listening to on the
radio and developed musical tastes other than those of my parents or the
"grown ups" in my life, one of my very first favorite radio stations was the
old HitRadio 103 WHTT.  Something about that tight format with its jingles,
reverb and other elements just caught my attention and kept me fascinated.
While I could listen to all of the best stations from both Providence and
Boston, and they all had their unique characteristics, I always defaulted to
103.3 for the predictability and familiarity that sort of became like a good
old friend.  So you can probably imagine how completely lost I was when I
came home after being at summer camp in Vt for two weeks in 1986 and found
my radio station and the familiar DJ's had been replace by this new station
called Q103 with its new DJ's and strange music.  

Strangely enough, I found some comfort when I landed on 103.3 15 short
months later to find different DJ's and new elements yet again., this new
station, however, had a few familiar things about it.  Along with the return
of jingles and reverb was music that my parents and the grown ups had played
before and now there was a radio station that played it every day as opposed
to Saturday night or weekends only.  By the time "oldies 103" came on the
air, my tastes were branching out all over the musical map.  Yet as BCN
changed, ZOU became Jam'n and Kiss became void of uniqueness and character,
103.3 became more dependable, familiar and  constant.

Over the years, my mom would switch to 103.3 every weekend when she needed
to hear the Oldies.  The top 500 countdown became a must listen every
memorial day for I don't know how many years.  I'll never forget how it
served as the sound track of sanity during at least two ruff moves for my
family.  I came to appreciate the oldies as the "feel good" music and more
importantly, I grew to realize that 103.3 was the "happy place" for a lot of
us, regardless of age or where ever we lived in The greater Boston area.
During the last few years, this really came full circle for me as WODS
started adding many of the same 80's songs I first heard on WHTT.  My own
personal term for WODS was the "happy music" and over the last few years, I
developed the attitude that when the "happy music" was on, things would be
OK, no matter how ruff life was getting.

Today, that dependable constant was replaced by of all things, a
contemporary hit radio station.  Despite the many dreams and fantacies I've
had where "hit radio" returned to 103.3 on the dial, I realize now that I
was dreaming about an old concept that really doesn't exist any more.
Despite the cut backs over the years, the subtle changes in the playlist and
PPM with all of its imperfections, WODS/"Oldies 103" remained somewhat true
to itself with the programming elements and dynamic personalities.  It
became and that "old Friend" or default for so many people and all I could
think about today as I sat at work a few minutes after noon was how crewel a
joke life has truly become.  While I should have felt some excitement or
sence of history one feels when something evolves full circle, I felt just
as lost as I did that day I returned home from summer camp.  I thought of
the average listener who doesn't regularly read Boston Radio Watch, NERW and
Radio Insite, or subscribe to an interest list like this one.  Perhaps there
are children as young as I was who's parents brought them up on WODS and
have come to depend on it like a friend, the same way I depended on WHTT.
Then there are the many others who went away on vacation or business as late
as yesterday morning.  When they come back and turn on there favorite
station in the car or at home, they'll find this strange new music on this
strange new station with no live voices.  Today, I feel like many of us lost
a friend yet again.