The Mount Rushmore of Boston Radio

[Alan Tolz]

Hi everyone,

I haven’t replied to any messages for a while but I’d like to chime in on this Mount Rushmore of Boston Radio premise.  

1) Arnie Ginsberg - As an influencer and night-time DJ in an era when there were limited entertainment options, he was king among the “transistor radio under the pillow” demo.  

2) Jerry Williams - I have a personal bias here (I co-authored his bio with Steve Elman) but even if I didn’t, I’d step back and see that he created the telephone - talk format in the early ‘50s, brought it to Boston in 1957 and immediately had 50+ shares of audience when there was NO late-night TV.  
He was an activist, using radio to generate political change in varying degrees for 40+ years off and on in Massachusetts from Boston radio stations.  

3) Mac Richmond - He’s how and why the “top two” got their start in Boston radio as co-owner of WMEX.  

4) Charles Laquidara - as a creative genius and DJ during the early and salad years of WBCN, the Boston radio station that defined a generation.  All things BCN flowed from Charles on down, including Oedipus, who was originally an intern on Charles’ “Big Mattress”.  

There are others worthy of the “4” spot...Gary LaPierre, Matt Seigel, Dan Griffin, Clark Smidt, Alan Dary, Larry Glick...but it seems that when radio in a post-TV world was king, these four either defined it, created its content, and/or owned and operated it better than anyone else in Boston.  




Sent from an I-thing

> On Mar 31, 2020, at 9:42 AM, Ben Levy <LostCluster@lostcluster.me> wrote:
> 
> Uh, Brudnoy doesn’t deserve any honors. Remember how that show shut down.
> 
> Sent from Mail for Windows 10
> 
> From: Doug Drown
> Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2020 2:47 AM
> To: Boston Radio Group
> Subject: The Mount Rushmore of Boston Radio
> 
> A coronavirus diversion with which to have a little reflective fun:
>       One of the regular respondents to the New York Radio Message Board
> challenged his fellow respondents this past weekend to each come up with
> four nominees for a Mount Rushmore of New York Radio Personalities.  He
> laid down two requirements:  the nominees have to have been part of New
> York radio between 1960 and the present; each of the four has to represent
> a specific genre (DJ, newscaster, sportscaster, meteorologist, talk host,
> et al.), with no overlapping --- one can't be nominated to represent two
> categories.
>       His main criterion is that persons nominated be *influential --- *not
> necessarily in terms of popularity or longevity of service (though those
> can be factors), but overall excellence such that they were, or are,
> "cutting edge" --- ground breakers whose presence on the air in some way
> significantly influenced the broadcasting industry and/or the wider culture
> of the city or region: people whose singular gifts will long be remembered.
>       Let's give this a try with Boston radio personalities.  Participants
> may name a nominee and a runner-up in each category.
>       I haven't lived in eastern Massachusetts in many years, but here's
> my list:
>       DJ:  Arnie Ginsburg, Jess Cain
>       News:  Gary LaPierre
>       Sports:  Bob Lobel, Gil Santos
>       Weather:  Don Kent
>       Talk:  Jerry Williams, David Brudnoy
> 
>        Your turn.
> 
>        Doug Drown
>