From Christmas Eve 1962 comes ABC Newsman Paul Harvey with his broadcast from the North Pole on the take off of Santa Claus! Here's the link to go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM4UeMABOCg
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
THE CHINESE IN SOUTH AFRICA!
Here's a link to a documentary on the Chinese in South Africa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SusHdgvqssU
This doc was produced by the South African Broadcasting Corporation sometime in 1977.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SusHdgvqssU
This doc was produced by the South African Broadcasting Corporation sometime in 1977.
THERE WERE GHOSTS!
Please check out the post below, where you'll find a report on the AIDS epidemic in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Friday, August 10, 2012
REMEMBER THOSE OLD "DAYTIME" RADIO STATIONS?
Do any of you remember the days when many radio stations used to sign-off when the sun went down? Yes. Here in Boston, we had a number of radio stations that went off at night-WCAS, WRYT, WGTR, WILD, WLYN, WHIL, WJDA and WNTN, among others? These stations were required by FCC law to leave the air, due to the fact that they shared the frequencies with "clear channel" frequencies.
These radio stations would offer local news and information, along with various kinds of music. From rock and pop to classical and sweet music, they offered small cities and towns good listening that big city radio stations could not give them. Of course, when the stations went off the air at night, out-of-town radio stations would blast into the areas.
I remember some of the best ones-WILD in Boston was a black contemporary music(up until 2005, when Radio One bought it and ran it into the ground) that would present the best in soul, rhythm and blues, disco and gospel music. At night during the late 1960s and early 1970s, they would end their broadcast day with the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice." In the mid-70s, they would end with a flat out declaration, "When We're Off The Air, You're Off The Air!" Later, it was switched to a more friendly statement, "Please join us tomorrow." Their sign-offs changed over the years, but they always were cordial in their saying goodbye to their listeners. For example, this was heard in the 80s.
"Until we join you tomorrow morning at sunrise, here's hoping you and your family have a very pleasant evening."
During the latter part of the 2000s and up until 2012, WILD was run to the ground with a brokered/talk format during the week and classic soul and gospel on the weekends. Earlier this year, the station leased out its broadcast day to news and propaganda programming in English from China Radio International. (It still must go off at sunset because it shares its AM 1090 frequency with WBAL in Baltimore.
WCAS in Cambridge was a pop/MOR station in the early 1970s until it switched to a folk and acoustic format in 1974. They would end their broadcasting with various stingers using everything from a rip off of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" to WCAS being a superhero being stripped of power at night.
"Oh, no! I'm losing all my powers! I can feel them fade..."
And just before the sign-off, there would be a news and arts show called "The Sundown Rundown," which reported on the arts and media.
In the 1980s, the station switched to a soul music format, and then to a gospel station under the call letters WLVG. The station went bankrupt and its signal was silenced until the early 1990s, when Bob Bittner bought the station and turned it into the easy listening/MOR format with the call letters WJIB. (Yes, it's a tribute to the old WJIB.) It operates 24 hours a day, but must reduce its power to protect the signal of Boomer Radio in Toronto.
WRYT in Boston started as WORL, a big band radio station at 950. It switched to a brokered time format(mostly religious programming during the week) in the 1960s, which continues today. In 1974, the call letters were changed to WROL(these call letters continue today). In 1982, it started expanded its broadcast time until it went 24 hours in the early 1990s. During the week, there is an overnight broadcast of Brazilian religious programming. And on the weekends, there's the Irish Hit Parade, a marathon 9 hour program of Irish and Celtic music, which was started by John Latchford in 1967. It airs from 10 a.. until 7 p.m, and is hosted by Paul Sullivan, Matt O'Donnell & Bill Bailey(his last part of the show is known as "The Bailey Ceili"). On Sundays, there's A Feast Of Irish Music with Seamus Mulligan, 4 hours from 1 to 5 p.m. By the way, in the 1980s, it was carried on satellite; today, it's heard on the internet.
http://www.wrolradio.com
In Quincy, WJDA was a local Quincy radio station that featured mostly local music and news for the South Shore, while its sister station in Salem, WESX, broadcast their programming towards the North Shore. I remember that I used to hear announcer Jerry Howar and his Downeast alter-ego Slim Pickens with the weather. And I also remember him doing "The Little White Church" on WROL and a morning show on WATD-FM in Marshfield. On weekends, WJDA would do a weekend festival of music while WESX would air Polish programming. In the 1990s, the two stations began to broadcast 24 hours a day, featuring satellite programming from "The Music Of Your Life" and CBS Radio sports. WJDA would also broadcast a Chinese program on Sunday evenings. The station was sold to an ethnic broadcaster, which now broadcasts Hispanic and Brazilian programming 24/7. By the way, WESX is squelched out in Boston is drowned out by WMKI-AM's HD Radio signal.
WLYN in Lynn broadcast news, music and local information for many years; it also had an FM frequency of 101.7 with ethnic programming during the day and rock music at night. In 1983, the FM side was sold to the Boston Phoenix with alternative rock until it was recently sold to Clear Channel. WLYN was bought out in the 1990s by the Multicultural Broadcasting chain in New York and broadcasts ethnic programming around the clock.
WHIL-AM in Haverhill, which broadcast on 1430 in the AM Band was a radio station that broadcast ethnic programming and progressive music. It also broadcast at 107.9 FM with more contemporary music and speicalty shows. In the mid-1970s, they ran a beautiful music format with the call letters WWEL, until it switched its call letters to WXKS and ran a disco format. In 1980, WXKS-AM dropped disco permanently for a standards format called "The Music Of Your Life." It went 24 hours in 1988 and continued to do so until it got bought out by Clear Channel and started playing Latino music.
Meanwhile, WNTN is still a daytime only station. It was founded by the Newton Broadcasting Corporation and began life as a progressive rock station during the early 1970s until it switched to the brokered/ethnic format that it still runs today. I still remember listening to Rosetta Romagnoli's Sunday Italian programming which featured same-day coverage of the Italian Serie A soccer league. Its 1550 AM signal used to share a signal with CBE in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Although it's no longer the case, the station still signs off at sunset; however, it now airs programming online at night.
Many daytime radio stations still broadcast only from sunup to sundown, but a good number of these radio stations now broadcast online music or informational programming after the signal goes off. I've listened to daytime radio stations from St. Louis and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania up until they go off, after which they start playing Polish polka music online.
There are many more examples of daytime radio stations that are too numerous to mention, especially here in the New England area. But this is just a small sample of how daytime radio stations entertained and informed the small cities and towns of our country. And with no new daytime radio stations being authorized, and many of these radio stations either operating 24/7 under reduced power at night(and running internet streams 24/7) or going out of business, the idea of daytime only radio is a dying breed of communication.
What do you think?
These radio stations would offer local news and information, along with various kinds of music. From rock and pop to classical and sweet music, they offered small cities and towns good listening that big city radio stations could not give them. Of course, when the stations went off the air at night, out-of-town radio stations would blast into the areas.
I remember some of the best ones-WILD in Boston was a black contemporary music(up until 2005, when Radio One bought it and ran it into the ground) that would present the best in soul, rhythm and blues, disco and gospel music. At night during the late 1960s and early 1970s, they would end their broadcast day with the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice." In the mid-70s, they would end with a flat out declaration, "When We're Off The Air, You're Off The Air!" Later, it was switched to a more friendly statement, "Please join us tomorrow." Their sign-offs changed over the years, but they always were cordial in their saying goodbye to their listeners. For example, this was heard in the 80s.
"Until we join you tomorrow morning at sunrise, here's hoping you and your family have a very pleasant evening."
During the latter part of the 2000s and up until 2012, WILD was run to the ground with a brokered/talk format during the week and classic soul and gospel on the weekends. Earlier this year, the station leased out its broadcast day to news and propaganda programming in English from China Radio International. (It still must go off at sunset because it shares its AM 1090 frequency with WBAL in Baltimore.
WCAS in Cambridge was a pop/MOR station in the early 1970s until it switched to a folk and acoustic format in 1974. They would end their broadcasting with various stingers using everything from a rip off of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" to WCAS being a superhero being stripped of power at night.
"Oh, no! I'm losing all my powers! I can feel them fade..."
And just before the sign-off, there would be a news and arts show called "The Sundown Rundown," which reported on the arts and media.
In the 1980s, the station switched to a soul music format, and then to a gospel station under the call letters WLVG. The station went bankrupt and its signal was silenced until the early 1990s, when Bob Bittner bought the station and turned it into the easy listening/MOR format with the call letters WJIB. (Yes, it's a tribute to the old WJIB.) It operates 24 hours a day, but must reduce its power to protect the signal of Boomer Radio in Toronto.
WRYT in Boston started as WORL, a big band radio station at 950. It switched to a brokered time format(mostly religious programming during the week) in the 1960s, which continues today. In 1974, the call letters were changed to WROL(these call letters continue today). In 1982, it started expanded its broadcast time until it went 24 hours in the early 1990s. During the week, there is an overnight broadcast of Brazilian religious programming. And on the weekends, there's the Irish Hit Parade, a marathon 9 hour program of Irish and Celtic music, which was started by John Latchford in 1967. It airs from 10 a.. until 7 p.m, and is hosted by Paul Sullivan, Matt O'Donnell & Bill Bailey(his last part of the show is known as "The Bailey Ceili"). On Sundays, there's A Feast Of Irish Music with Seamus Mulligan, 4 hours from 1 to 5 p.m. By the way, in the 1980s, it was carried on satellite; today, it's heard on the internet.
http://www.wrolradio.com
In Quincy, WJDA was a local Quincy radio station that featured mostly local music and news for the South Shore, while its sister station in Salem, WESX, broadcast their programming towards the North Shore. I remember that I used to hear announcer Jerry Howar and his Downeast alter-ego Slim Pickens with the weather. And I also remember him doing "The Little White Church" on WROL and a morning show on WATD-FM in Marshfield. On weekends, WJDA would do a weekend festival of music while WESX would air Polish programming. In the 1990s, the two stations began to broadcast 24 hours a day, featuring satellite programming from "The Music Of Your Life" and CBS Radio sports. WJDA would also broadcast a Chinese program on Sunday evenings. The station was sold to an ethnic broadcaster, which now broadcasts Hispanic and Brazilian programming 24/7. By the way, WESX is squelched out in Boston is drowned out by WMKI-AM's HD Radio signal.
WLYN in Lynn broadcast news, music and local information for many years; it also had an FM frequency of 101.7 with ethnic programming during the day and rock music at night. In 1983, the FM side was sold to the Boston Phoenix with alternative rock until it was recently sold to Clear Channel. WLYN was bought out in the 1990s by the Multicultural Broadcasting chain in New York and broadcasts ethnic programming around the clock.
WHIL-AM in Haverhill, which broadcast on 1430 in the AM Band was a radio station that broadcast ethnic programming and progressive music. It also broadcast at 107.9 FM with more contemporary music and speicalty shows. In the mid-1970s, they ran a beautiful music format with the call letters WWEL, until it switched its call letters to WXKS and ran a disco format. In 1980, WXKS-AM dropped disco permanently for a standards format called "The Music Of Your Life." It went 24 hours in 1988 and continued to do so until it got bought out by Clear Channel and started playing Latino music.
Meanwhile, WNTN is still a daytime only station. It was founded by the Newton Broadcasting Corporation and began life as a progressive rock station during the early 1970s until it switched to the brokered/ethnic format that it still runs today. I still remember listening to Rosetta Romagnoli's Sunday Italian programming which featured same-day coverage of the Italian Serie A soccer league. Its 1550 AM signal used to share a signal with CBE in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Although it's no longer the case, the station still signs off at sunset; however, it now airs programming online at night.
Many daytime radio stations still broadcast only from sunup to sundown, but a good number of these radio stations now broadcast online music or informational programming after the signal goes off. I've listened to daytime radio stations from St. Louis and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania up until they go off, after which they start playing Polish polka music online.
There are many more examples of daytime radio stations that are too numerous to mention, especially here in the New England area. But this is just a small sample of how daytime radio stations entertained and informed the small cities and towns of our country. And with no new daytime radio stations being authorized, and many of these radio stations either operating 24/7 under reduced power at night(and running internet streams 24/7) or going out of business, the idea of daytime only radio is a dying breed of communication.
What do you think?
Monday, July 25, 2011
BABY NEW YEAR SPECTACULAR!
On the last night of WDRM-FM's existence, they aired a show called "Baby New Year Spectacular." The story was set at an arena where Baby New Year would preside over a rock and roll concert that featured groups like The Scorpions, the Cardigans, Quiet Riot, and others, as well as "visits" by Burt Reynolds, Art Carney, H.R. Pufnstuff and more.
"Hi! I'm Baby New Year!"
Boos!
"And it's time for Baby New Year Spectacular!"
More boos!
Just as the show started airing-around 7 p.m.-somebody drove a car into the empty studio(the show had been recorded earlier in the day over in England) and a few people jumped out of the car. They started trashing the studio and confiscating the equipment before setting the studio on fire. How they managed to get that car out of there and back on the road was anybody's guess, but the whole studio was destroyed with the tape turning into mush.
That's the reason why the station didn't make it to their midnight sign-off time; hell, it was over in less than 25 minutes. And those jerks who did it are still at large.
"Hi! I'm Baby New Year!"
Boos!
"And it's time for Baby New Year Spectacular!"
More boos!
Just as the show started airing-around 7 p.m.-somebody drove a car into the empty studio(the show had been recorded earlier in the day over in England) and a few people jumped out of the car. They started trashing the studio and confiscating the equipment before setting the studio on fire. How they managed to get that car out of there and back on the road was anybody's guess, but the whole studio was destroyed with the tape turning into mush.
That's the reason why the station didn't make it to their midnight sign-off time; hell, it was over in less than 25 minutes. And those jerks who did it are still at large.
THE SLOW DEATH OF THE AM BAND!
When I was growing up, most of my listening was on the AM band. That's where most of the music was, as well as the news and sports. WRKO 680 and WMEX 1510 fought their hardest to get the top 40 youth while WBZ 1030 and WHDH 850 combined full service radio with music, talk, news and sports. And then there were the daytime stations: WCAS-AM 740, which was a top 40, then a folk station. WILD-AM 1090, which was the only urban station in the Boston area and played soul and disco music. WJDA-AM 1300, which served the South Shore with nostalgia and information. WHIL(later WWEL) at 1430, which broadcast specialty programming such as oldies and ethnic shows. And WLYN at 1360, which was mostly music and news.
However, in the 1960s, there was a prediction that FM Radio would rule the airwaves. When WVBF, WBCN and WROR came along with rock and roll, including long versions of songs, top 40's days on AM were numbered. Also, later on in the 1980s, some daytime stations began to broadcast well into the night by filling their blocks with sports or ethnic programming. Some stations developed a niche format-serving Hispanic and Greek communities, among others, with foreign language programs.
And since the 1970s, FM radio has all but destroyed the music genre on the AM band with specialized formats of top 40, Hot AC, alternative, hip hop, etc. Most of the DJs we grew up with are either dead or retired.
When AM Stereo came out in the 1980s, people thought that it would save music on the AM band, but because there were 4 different formats, it never caught on. AM Radio turned to talk hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Art Bell, Larry King, Dr. Laura and Rev. Al Sharpton for their ratings rush. Meanwhile, some stations began doing brokered time programming.
I remember growing up in Boston listening to the radio at night and picking up radio stations from Chicago, New York Montreal, Detroit, Albany, New Haven, Toronto and other cities along the Northeast corridor. You got to hear stuff that you wouldn't find on your own radio station here in Boston. However, many of these AM stations are no longer on the air, especially in Canada, where small cities and towns are seeing their radio stations leave the band. Three CBC clear channel stations-two in Montreal and one in Moncton-no longer broadcast on their heritage frequencies. And Nova Scotia doesn't have any stations on AM.
So many AM radio stations are now simulcasting their broadcasts on their FM sister stations, like WGY up in Schenectady and WBBM in Chicago.
HD Radio was supposed to be a "savior" to the AM band by offering crystal clear FM type broadcasting, but it interferes with other stations. WBZ's HD signal, for example, destroys the analog signals of their New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh stations. Also, Radio Disney Boston's HD signal at AM 1260, causes interference with WESX in Salem and WJDA in Quincy, which makes them unlistenable.
With the baby boom generation reaching retirement and the influx of both legal and illegal immigrants, most radio stations are turning over their time to ethnic audiences. Once local radio stations, WJDA and WESX now offer programming in Spanish and Portuguese, most of which is very good(if you can hear it through Radio Disney's HD hishash. WJIB(the old WCAS) now plays the beautiful music format that was pushed off the air by corporate owners. And of course, there's WUNR 1600, which broadcasts in over 20 different languages(the bulk of it in Spanish) to serve the needs of the immigrant communities. (I used to listen to WUNR overnights for their Super 16 urban programs during the week, and Kenny Mayer on Sunday nights).
Somehow, the AM band is dying a slow death as most people of my generation switch to FM radio(which is mostly voicetracked jukeboxes) or to the internet(which has unbridled freedom for music). Satellite radio, once the crown jewel of listening, has fallen off the wagon. When they were seperate companies, XM and Sirius satellite radio's music channels had freeform formats. Now that they've merged, they've become the Clear Channel of Satellite. (They've even got a number of their stations on the systems.)
I wonder if by the end of this decade, maybe sooner, AM radio will cease to exist. That's something worth thinking about...NOT!
However, in the 1960s, there was a prediction that FM Radio would rule the airwaves. When WVBF, WBCN and WROR came along with rock and roll, including long versions of songs, top 40's days on AM were numbered. Also, later on in the 1980s, some daytime stations began to broadcast well into the night by filling their blocks with sports or ethnic programming. Some stations developed a niche format-serving Hispanic and Greek communities, among others, with foreign language programs.
And since the 1970s, FM radio has all but destroyed the music genre on the AM band with specialized formats of top 40, Hot AC, alternative, hip hop, etc. Most of the DJs we grew up with are either dead or retired.
When AM Stereo came out in the 1980s, people thought that it would save music on the AM band, but because there were 4 different formats, it never caught on. AM Radio turned to talk hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Art Bell, Larry King, Dr. Laura and Rev. Al Sharpton for their ratings rush. Meanwhile, some stations began doing brokered time programming.
I remember growing up in Boston listening to the radio at night and picking up radio stations from Chicago, New York Montreal, Detroit, Albany, New Haven, Toronto and other cities along the Northeast corridor. You got to hear stuff that you wouldn't find on your own radio station here in Boston. However, many of these AM stations are no longer on the air, especially in Canada, where small cities and towns are seeing their radio stations leave the band. Three CBC clear channel stations-two in Montreal and one in Moncton-no longer broadcast on their heritage frequencies. And Nova Scotia doesn't have any stations on AM.
So many AM radio stations are now simulcasting their broadcasts on their FM sister stations, like WGY up in Schenectady and WBBM in Chicago.
HD Radio was supposed to be a "savior" to the AM band by offering crystal clear FM type broadcasting, but it interferes with other stations. WBZ's HD signal, for example, destroys the analog signals of their New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh stations. Also, Radio Disney Boston's HD signal at AM 1260, causes interference with WESX in Salem and WJDA in Quincy, which makes them unlistenable.
With the baby boom generation reaching retirement and the influx of both legal and illegal immigrants, most radio stations are turning over their time to ethnic audiences. Once local radio stations, WJDA and WESX now offer programming in Spanish and Portuguese, most of which is very good(if you can hear it through Radio Disney's HD hishash. WJIB(the old WCAS) now plays the beautiful music format that was pushed off the air by corporate owners. And of course, there's WUNR 1600, which broadcasts in over 20 different languages(the bulk of it in Spanish) to serve the needs of the immigrant communities. (I used to listen to WUNR overnights for their Super 16 urban programs during the week, and Kenny Mayer on Sunday nights).
Somehow, the AM band is dying a slow death as most people of my generation switch to FM radio(which is mostly voicetracked jukeboxes) or to the internet(which has unbridled freedom for music). Satellite radio, once the crown jewel of listening, has fallen off the wagon. When they were seperate companies, XM and Sirius satellite radio's music channels had freeform formats. Now that they've merged, they've become the Clear Channel of Satellite. (They've even got a number of their stations on the systems.)
I wonder if by the end of this decade, maybe sooner, AM radio will cease to exist. That's something worth thinking about...NOT!
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