When did FM become mainstream in Boston - Re: RIP Al Perry - former GM of WBCN

[A Joseph Ross]

Yes, but FM was probably more popular on college campuses than elsewhere 
in the mid-1960s.  Having matriculated at UMass (Amherst) in 1963, I 
thought the popularity of FM had to do with the fact that we had a 
student-operated station.  While many dorms had some sort of 
carrier-current transmission of WMUA, many students had FM radios by 
then.  I think that another reason for students having FM radios at that 
time and place was because other than WBZ, there was no good station in 
the area playing rock or rock & roll & roll music, and WBZ's signal 
wasn't always easy to receive at night.  But WHYN-FM in Springfield, 
simulcasting an AM station whose signal didn't reach us, came in very well.

I got an FM converter for my car sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, 
sometime after WCRB stopped simulcasting with its AM station.  The AM 
station was called WHET, but it remained owned by Charles River 
Broadcasting at first and simulcasted WCRB some of the time.  At some 
point I saw a car converter on sale at Radio Shack and bought it.  
Following the instructions, I installed it myself, using double-sided 
tape to attach it just below the AM radio.  The only difficult part was 
connecting it to my car's power supply.  I considered asking the people 
who serviced my car to do it, but instead, I parked the car illegally in 
front of the apartment building where I lived, then hung a long 
extension cord out my 3rd-floor livingroom window , connected my 
soldering iron, and made the connection to the car's fusebox.  Finally, 
the connection made, I took the soldering iron upstairs, reeled in the 
extension cord, and then rushed back down and moved the car before any 
police came to give me a ticket.

On 11/25/2021 4:36 AM, Kevin Vahey wrote:
> Joe - FM in the mid-'60s was niche radio.
>
> I had a cousin that became a top-tier banker in Boston who spent a
> fortune on a home system to listen to WKOX-FM 105.7 and would become a
> major sponsor on WJIB.
>
> We had the pure college stations WERS, WBUR, WTBS, and commercial WHRB.
>
> WBOS 92.9 found a niche playing Broadway albums,  WHIL-FM 107.9 had a
> loyal country audience.
>
> WXHR 96.9, WGBH 89.7, WCRB 102.5, WBCN 104.1, and WBZ 106.7 tried
> combinations of classical and jazz.
>
> WHDH 94.5, WCOP 100.7, and WEEI 103.3 didn't do much of anything until
> the FCC ordered at least 12 hours a day separate from AM. WHDH did air
> Bruins or Celtics games when there was a conflict with AM.
>
> WLLH at 99.5 also attracted a Boston audience simulcasting AM Top-40.
> and then there was the sleeping giant in Plymouth at 99.1 WPLM. That
> became important in the '70s.
>
> I pinpoint the mainstream shift to FM to1976 when the Red Sox moved to
> WMEX ( later WITS ) 1510. WMEX then leased time on WWEL 107.9 for
> night games and fans rushed to get FM converters for their cars.
>
>   I became aware of the power of FM when I was a boarding student at a
> prep school in Woonsocket, RI in the mid-'60s.
>
> I knew AM signals were directional but I was dumbfounded that WICE1290
> in Providence was not audible 14 miles away day or night.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 24, 2021 at 11:54 PM A Joseph Ross<joe@attorneyross.com>  wrote:
>> College students never listened to classical?  I often did.  I also did classical music programs at WMUA when I was at UMass.  Around that time a radio station in Springfield or Hartford became a WCRB affiliate under the callsign WCRX.  And it was someone else on my corridor in the dorm who told me about it, so that I started listening.
>>
>> I'm not sure, but I think WCRX may have formerly been WHCN, the Hartford affiliate of the Concert Network.
>>
>> I've thought for a long time that WBCN and WXHR as classical music stations had a major problem in that they depended on advertising revenue, but with only an FM signal, they didn't have an audience for ad revenue.  WCRB had an AM signal, which gave them a big edge in the classical music market, including a  regular drive-time audience.  At some point very late in the 1960s Harvey Labs blew up WTAO and made it an AM signal for WXHR, but it was too late, and with a daytime only signal, didn't have an afternoon drivetime audience year round.
>>
>> On 11/24/2021 1:13 AM, Kevin Vahey wrote:
>>
>> WBCN was struggling in 1968. Not having any affiliation with the BSO
>> crippled them and they had overhead paying rent for studio and
>> transmitter in the Back Bay while WCRB and WGBH had less overhead.
>>
>> WBCN as a rock station was spawned by the success a year earlier of
>> WTBS-FM ( now WMBR)
>>
>> FM was entering the mainstream as WJIB became a rating powerhouse
>> almost overnight, WKOX-FM flipped from easy listening to Top 40 and
>> would become WVBF and WRKO-FM became WROR.
>>
>> WBCN did upgrade to stereo in 1967 but most classical recordings were
>> in mono but flipping to rock opened the door to college students who
>> had bought FM tuners for their dorm rooms.
>>
>> FM was still facing an uphill climb as most car radios only had AM and
>> that continued into the late '70s.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 24, 2021 at 12:16 AM A Joseph Ross<joe@attorneyross.com>  wrote:
>>
>> I wonder if anyone is left who ran the original WBCN and the Concert
>> Network.  I wonder how many people are left, besides me,  who were
>> listeners in those days.
>>
>> On 11/23/2021 12:01 PM, Scott Fybush wrote:
>>
>> I had a fairly lengthy obit in my column this week.
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 23, 2021, 11:52 AM Donna Halper<dlh@donnahalper.com>   wrote:
>>
>> On 11/23/2021 11:01 AM, Kevin Vahey wrote:
>>
>> Al Perry passed away on November 5th
>>
>> https://devitofuneralhomes.com/obituaries/alfred-r-perry/
>>
>> I read this in the Boston Globe this morning, and I was surprised-- I
>> don't recall anyone mentioning it before.  As a music director, and
>> later as a radio consultant, I spent many years working with him and the
>> late great Jerry Brenner.
>>
>> --
>> Donna L. Halper, PhD
>> Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies
>> Lesley University, Cambridge MA
>>
>>
>> --
>> A. Joseph Ross, J.D. · 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 · Newton, MA 02459
>> 617.367.0468 ·http://www.attorneyross.com
>>
>>
>> --
>> A. Joseph Ross, J.D. · 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 · Newton, MA 02459
>> 617.367.0468 ·http://www.attorneyross.com

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D. · 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 · Newton, MA 02459
617.367.0468 · http://www.attorneyross.com