RIP Al Perry - former GM of WBCN

[Scott Fybush]

You're correct in your recollections - WCRX 102.1 in Springfield came on 
the air 3/15/67, according to the FCC history cards. The studio (such as 
it was) was at the Sheraton Motor Inn on Chestnut Street, and the 
transmitter was (and has always remained) at the WWLP-TV site on Provin 
Mountain.

WCRB only ran WCRX for five years. It was sold to the owners of WTYM 
1600 in 1972.

The 101.5 Providence saga is longer and more interesting. T. Mitchell 
Hastings put it on the air in 1955 with 20 kW from Jerimoth Hill near 
the CT state line. It was WTMH then, before becoming WXCN in 1957 (and 
apparently WPCN for a few weeks before changing back to WXCN). It moved 
to Neutaconkanut Hill in Johnston in 1962.

Mitch lost the station in bankruptcy in 1963, with the bankruptcy 
trustees selling it to WCRB in 1964. It was WCRQ for four years, then 
was sold to WLKW(AM) in 1968, becoming WLKW-FM.

s

On 11/25/2021 11:25 PM, A Joseph Ross wrote:
> 1953?  That doesn't sound right.  I first became aware of WCRX classical 
> around 1966.  If it existed sooner, I think I would have known of it. 
> Besides, WCRB wasn't networking its classical programming until some 
> time in the early 1960s.  Copying WQXR in New York, they first called 
> their chain "the CRB Network," then called it "Concert Radio, the CR 
> network."  WCRB-FM wasn't even on the air in 1953.
> 
> On 11/25/2021 2:33 PM, Rob Landry wrote:
>>
>> You are right; WCRB's Providence station was 101.5 not 94.1. They 
>> never owned any AMs other than 1330 in Waltham.
>>
>> I seem to recall that the Providence station was acquited from Mitch 
>> Hastings (WXCN?) when Concert Network fell on hard times, only to be 
>> sole some years later when CRB fell on hard times. It was largely 
>> pointless as a WCRB simulcast because 102.5 covered Providence quite 
>> well.
>>
>>> And WAQY was licensed to Springfield (as 102.1 remains today) and 
>>> would have
>>> competed with Hartford's Concert Netwirk station, 105.9 WHCN.
>>
>> According to Wikipedia, Charles River was WAQY's original owner, the 
>> station signing on as WCRX in 1953. So, it would have been a direct 
>> competitor to Mitch Hastings' WHCN in Hartford.
>>
>>
>> Rob
>