Wbcn boston

Skip to main contentDover-Sherborn, MAWellesley, MAFramingham, MAWayland, MANeedham, MAWeston, MAMedfield, MASudbury, MANewton, MAWestwood, MAMassachusettsTop National NewsSee All CommunitiesNATICK, MA — It's no surprise that WBCN started the day that a young person with a revolutionary idea got laughed out of a room full of guys in suits. Ray Riepen, a Harvard law student and co-founder of The Boston Tea Party (a rock club known for having the Velvet Underground as its house band), went to a National Association of Broadcasters meeting in 1968 with a new idea for a radio station, one oriented around albums rather than singles, and with fewer commercials per hour than the top 40 stations of the day. The broadcasters told Riepen to go back to Harvard. Instead, Riepen took his new format and applied it to a struggling Boston classical music station, WBCN. The new station, staffed by college kids, was entirely new in the broadcast world: a mashup of new music, news reporting and humor that rose alongside the turmoil of the late 1960s and the Nixon era. Find out what's happening in Natickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.A new documentary "WBCN and The American Revolution," premiering Sunday at Natick's The Center for Arts, details those early few years of WBCN, before Howard Stern, Princess Cheyenne and disco. Director Bill Lichtenstein got a job at the station at age 14 in 1970 taking calls on the listener line. He was instantly taken with the station's connection to the larger cultural movements happening in Boston. He got the idea to revisit those days with a documentary in 2006 during the height of the Iraq War, which he saw as a parallel to the Vietnam era. Find out what's happening in Natickfor free with the latest updates from Patch."I thought it was an interesting idea to make a film about WBCN and how, before cell phones and the internet, all of this tremendous change happened," Lichtenstein said. On top of introducing the Boston area to bands such as Quicksilver Messenger Service and Patti Smith — who played her first live radio broadcast on WBCN — the station was covering news in the area unlike other media outlets. Reporters from the station covered protests and used humor to contextualize events such as the Nixon impeachment, akin to shows such as "The Colbert Report." The station was also the first to have women DJs and to broadcast LGBTQ voices. "WBCN was one of the first places where diversity took off," Lichtenstein said. A Vietnam War protest at MIT that WBCN covered. (Photo by Peter Simon)True to its shaggy beginnings, WBCN didn't have any sort of formal archive. Instead, Lichtenstein pieced together the station's history through photos

And recordings that he found through fans and former employees. The widow of former Boston Globe photographer Jeff Albertson invited Lichenstein down to her home in Florida, where she kept boxes of old negatives from the station's early years. The materials used in the film have been turned into a public archive through UMass Amherst. The history of the station is still relevant today, Lichtenstein says, because it shows how larger cultural revolutions form — not to mention that there's a divisive president facing impeachment right now. And the station's DNA can still be found in today's social media and on public radio, which didn't exist in the 1960s. "WBCN was less of a performance and more of a relationship with listeners," he said. "When you turn on the radio and hear someone say, 'Let us know what you think,' WBCN created that." If you go ... "WBCN and The American Revolution"4 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Monday and TuesdayThe Center for Arts, 14 Summer St., NatickGet more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

Paul Marshall is returning to Audacy Sacramento’s 98 Rock (KRXQ) for a new weekday morning show starting June 24. Marshall previously served as the station’s Music Director and afternoon drive host from 2001 to 2004.He announced his departure from Hubbard Radio Phoenix’s KSLX on social media in May. The host has also worked at WAAF and WBCN in Boston, KQRC in Kansas City, and KDKB in Phoenix. During his past time in Sacramento, he contributed as a Monday Night Football postgame analyst for KXTV-TV.Audacy Sacramento Regional Vice President Stacey Kauffman stated, “We are excited to welcome Paul Marshall back to 98 Rock. His deep connection to the Sacramento community and his previous success at our station will make him a welcomed addition to our weekday lineup. We look forward to seeing the energy and enthusiasm he will bring to our listeners once again.”Marshall shared, “I am humbled by the opportunity to rejoin 98 Rock. Huge thanks to the Audacy brain trust that deemed me the guy for the gig, namely Jeff Sottolano, Dave Richards, Vince Richards, and Stacey Kauffman. I look forward to working alongside a great group led by Aaron Roberts. I’m stoked to get back to Sac!”

Bridgeport, CT - WPKN, Bridgeport’s free-form, listener-supported radio station (89.5 FM and streaming at wpkn.org), is airing Miriam Linna and Mark Miller’s radio show “Crashing the Party” dedicated to the doo-wop music of the 1950s. Doo-wop is group harmony music which originated on street corners in African-American communities with strong melodic lines and limited instrumentation.The program, launched September 18, has been described as “the greatest doo-wop show in the world." Episodes of “Crashing the Party” will air every first and third Wednesday of the month from 9 to 11 a.m.“’Crashing the Party’ blows a hole into any preconceived notions about the music known as doo-wop,” the hosts opine. Marc and Miriam say they will be “airing rarities and obscurities from our respective collections of shellac in unscripted wild rides that are sure to surprise, amuse and excite the heck out of listeners.”The hosts add, “The show pulls music from the soaring sounds of the 1940s to the wilder sounds of the early 1960s. It’s no nostalgia trip, and although uncommon and unknown records are the focus, there is also a celebration of the key records which impacted the rhythm and blues charts and forged a path into radio and the general population. The idea is to show off a largely misrepresented and misunderstood double-decade era that produced countless records on labels large and small, and which was a pivot point to many new sounds for many generations of vocal group fans.”Living a life dedicated to the unsung heroes of rock ‘n’ roll, Miriam Linna is a founding memberof the Cramps, co-founder with the late Billy Miller of Norton Records, publisher of Kicks Books and Kicks magazine. Marc Miller was inspired by Bill Nolan, host of WPKN’s former “Antique Blues” program. He became one of the world’s youngest doo-wop collectors, forging a creative path that included stints as DJ and music director of WBCN in Boston (at age 19), and DJ, assistant program director, and morning show producer at WXRK (K-Rock, New York), for which he is still doing penance.“Crashing the Party” carries on the tradition of Carl J. Frano, who occupied the Wednesday slot for decades as a beloved WPKN DJ and programmer, sharing his passion for music and artists from the 1950s and 1960s. “Frano’s dedicated audience tuned in for his vast knowledge, warm spirit, and carefully curated selections,” says WPKN general manager, Valerie Richardson, who has been with