Some Thoughts on WODS/AmpRadio

[Mike G]

i read your e-mail with interest because, like you, WHTT was one of the first stations that I too became a fan of.  I can remember going out to dinner at a 99 restaurant with my family and they had it blaring over the loudspeakers.  I was only 12 or 13 at the time and I was hooked from there on out.  Between me and my sister, we never even considered KISS because as far as we were concerned, it was still the " disco station ".  I've followed the progression of 103.3 and in a sense for me it came full circle as far as the songs they played new on WHTT were now the oldies on WODS.  I haven't listened to this AMP103.3 yet, but I can't possibly see how they can differentiate themselves from KISS or 94.5 with such a tight playlist radio now uses for their programming.  I mean all day today, I've been asking myself what constitutes top-40 radio anymore.  Does Boston really need another station playing Justin Bieber ??  Maybe, I'll be wrong, but I honestly can't see this lasting more than 2-3 years max.  
 > From: jimduffy75@gmail.com
> To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org
> Subject: Some Thoughts on WODS/AmpRadio
> Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2012 22:31:08 -0400
> 
> 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.
>