CHARLES LAQUIDARA & CAPTAIN SQUID, APRIL 1971 [ LISTEN ] (37:20)
The DJ is Charles Laquidara with help from Captain Squid and station PD Norm Winer. Fantastic and genre bending music by way of Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Tom Rush and more.
Before the mid-1960s, the station played classical music exclusively. The call letters stood for the Boston Concert Network (along with Hartford's WHCN).
One of the on-air personalities at that time was Ron Della Chiesa, who also served as music host and program director. Della Chiesa is still active in classical music broadcasting on WCRB.
Peter WolfIn March of 1968, Peter Wolf followed Joe Rogers onto the airwaves to become the second DJ at WBCN’s American Revolution. But Wolf didn’t just arrive at the station for his overnight show with a box of records to play, he arrived with a plan. He had a theme song: “Mosaic” by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, plus an entourage including co-host Charlie Daniels, renamed ‘Master Blaster,’ who called his boss ‘Woofuh-Goofuh.’ Wolf explained, “I brought all my records and 45’s in; lots of blues, R & B [and] rock and roll.” In his husky growl, he’d grant blessings on the “stacks of wax,” “mounds of sound” and the “platters that matter.”
But by the fall of 1968 Peter had joined a new group of musicians, The J. Geils Blues Band. Soon his growing commitment to that group edged into his all-night radio turf. “By early December,” Sam Kopper related, “we had to give Peter the option: you can either do overnights or you can become a rock star.” Wolf went with the band, and the rest, of course, is history.
But by the fall of 1968 Peter had joined a new group of musicians, The J. Geils Blues Band. Soon his growing commitment to that group edged into his all-night radio turf. “By early December,” Sam Kopper related, “we had to give Peter the option: you can either do overnights or you can become a rock star.” Wolf went with the band, and the rest, of course, is history.
In 1965, Nathaniel Johnson was appointed Music Director of WBCN by station program director Don Otto. Johnson remained with the station until 1967, just prior to the changeover from classical to easy-listening, and then to rock. Johnson then left WBCN to assume a new position at WGBH.
BCN's first Rock announcer, "Mississippi Harold Wilson" (Joe Rogers), used the station's first slogan, "The American Revolution" and played the very first song "I Feel Free" by the rock group Cream. At first, the new "American Revolution" format was only heard during the late-evening and overnight hours, but in mid-May, the station expanded the rock programming to 24 hours a day.
Program Director Sam Kopper.Segal's west coast radical radio consciousness infused the early 'BCN. In the summer of 1968, Kopper was made the station's first program director.
Led Zeppelin agreed to play the Boston Tea Party in May 1969 during their first U.S. tour. For their three-night gig the band was paid $4,000.
Since every jock at WBCN had been encouraged to play their own choice of musical selections, Segal’s taste and greater experience would serve as a beacon for the others to follow.
On the air, Steven Segal became ‘The Seagull,’ commenting, “I guess [the name] had something to do with me coming in from California.” Don Law, busy running the Boston Tea Party, became the DJ’s first Boston roommate: “He moved in with me on Beacon Hill and we were the odd couple. He was a sweet guy but he had a very tough time keeping it together. He was as disorganized as an adolescent, but he was brilliant.”
“There’s no question as I look back, but I was quite insane,” Segal added. “I was clearly bi-polar.” Despite Segal’s instant success as a DJ, it became apparent that he might not be the best choice to lead the air staff, so Sam Kopper assumed that role, as he related: “It‘s been said that I was the first Program Director, but that‘s not totally accurate. When Steven arrived, he was the P.D. and, like, the ‘John Lennon’ of our station. I basically exercised and made real his visions.”
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Steven Segal, A.K.A. “The Seagull,” “Steven Clean.”
“The Seagull” returned to the west coast in 1970, but soon became disillusioned with the radio industry.
However, when Maxanne decided to leave WBCN in 1977, Segal returned to fill her afternoon drive slot, calling himself “Stephen Clean.” For a year the DJ spread more free-form merriment and mischief before departing 104.1 for the final time.
Also in 1968, Segal and Kopper hired J.J. Jackson as a disc jockey. In December, Peter Wolf left to take the J. Geils Band full-time and, introduced to the station by Jim Parry, Charles Laquidara was hired to take over the 10pm to 2am air shift.
Steve Segal, Peter Yarrow, Mississippi Harold Wilson, Crazy Al Perry, c.1968.Between late 1968 and early 1971, as program director, Kopper sought out and hired Norm Winer, recently graduated from Brandeis; Andy Beaubien, recently graduated from URI; and Maxanne Sartori, who came in from her DJ position in Seattle.
Sam Kopper hired 20-year old Maxanne Sartori from Seattle’s KLOL-FM to take over WBCN’s afternoon shift on Friday the 13th of November, 1970.
That day marked the beginning of a fruitful and famous association that lasted nearly seven years. It was quickly evident that Maxanne, as she called herself on the air, liked to rock, as Debbie Ullman observed: “I was motivated by the counterculture – Jesse Colin Young, Incredible String Band, Jefferson Airplane, [but] she was really into rock and roll. She was much more tuned into what [would be] happening with ‘BCN by the later 70‘s.”
Maxanne will always be remembered for her association with a young Bruce Springsteen, who dropped in on the afternoon show with a truncated version of the E Street Band for a pair of famously-bootlegged and beloved unplugged performances in January ’73 and April ’74.
Indeed, the unique and hilarious performance of “Rosalita” from the latter visit is easily one of the most memorable nine-minutes in WBCN’s entire history. Infamous for running the studio speakers at maximum volume, Maxanne would be credited with championing Boston artists like The J. Geils Band, The Cars and Billy Squier, also counting some less famous names from the area as favorites, including Reddy Teddy, Nervous Eaters, Fox Pass and Willie “Loco” Alexander.
Then there was Aerosmith: “The first person ever to play our record was Maxanne,” mentioned Steven Tyler. She persistently championed the group to program director Norm Winer, who refused to let her play the band at first: Winer admits, “I thought they were too derivative. But, of course, she was right.”
Bill LichtensteinNIGHT OF TEENAGE MADNESS
"Little Bill" Lichtenstein's final weekly "Night of Teenage Madness" broadcast on WBCN on August 31, 1974 featuring:
Charles Laquidara, Steve "Mono" Crowley, Tom Couch, Kate Curran Rooney, Harry Goldman, Paul Athanas, Lewis Athanas, Jay Rooney, Paul Benzaquin, John Ragucci, Roy Dackerman, Don Helverson and Stuart Siroka. [ LISTEN ] (8:24)
By the time Maxanne left, on April Fool’s Day 1977, she had become WBCN’s most powerful and distinctive personality. Trading in her headphones, the jock picked up a job doing regional promotion for Island Records, later working in the national offices of Elektra-Asylum and eventually as an independent promoter.
AND NOW...ANOTHER RANDOM AIRCHECK (32:28)
Free form indeed featuring a set of mostly blues and R&B tinged music. Things get started with a group called Demon Fuzz. The album version of the Beach Boy’s Help Me Rhonda ends the set. c.April 1971.
The news department was initially headed by Norm Winer, who later became program director. For a brief period during that transition, Charles Laquidara, who was acting program director hired Robert "Bo" Burlingham as news director.
WBCN began supporting non-mainstream investigative reporting and alternative news coverage, including reports from demonstrations and highly produced montage news reports. The news department was never hesitant to take liberties when covering the topics of the day including the probable resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.
Bo resigned shortly thereafter when his name appeared on a UPI news wire as one of several people being indicted by then-Attorney General John Mitchell—a charge which was later dropped. Danny Schechter replaced Bo Burlingham and immediately billed himself as "the News Dissector".
Jazz Workshop, January 9, 1976.
After their initial four shows at My Father's Place in Roslyn, Long Island, January 1st to 4th 1976, the Patti Smith Group (Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Richard Sohl, Ivan Kral and Jay Dee Daugherty) played the Jazz Workshop in Boston, which was broadcast live on WBCN-FM, and included this then-newly released version of "Gloria."WBCN's programming in 1971-72 bore little relationship to the Billboard Hot 100 or any other conventional programming. Classical music, jazz, or anything else might be played, as long as the skillful DJ's could make it work.
For the first time station owners began to make a profit. However, there was always tension between the artistic expression of the DJ's, and managements need to run a business, resulting in the unionization of the station with the United Electrical Workers in 1971.
LEFT: Laquidara hosts his Saturday afternoon broadcast on May 30, 1969. He interviews Crawdaddy founder and editor Paul Williams.
Charles Laquidara announces and recruits volunteers for WBCN's community switchboard, cleverly named The Listener Line (c.1971).The Listener Line also provided information from daily on-air services: drivers were matched with riders traveling throughout the country (Traveler's Friend), musicians were connected with openings in bands (Musician's Connection) and lost animals were found (the Dog and Cat Report).
By 1972, Laquidara was the morning DJ, creating a show he called the "Big Mattress," which would be a morning radio fixture in Boston for the next 28 years. 
In 1973, with WBCN's move from its offices at 312 Stuart Street in Boston to the top of the Prudential Tower, the phone number for the listener line had to be changed. The station promo featured volunteers who answered the Listener Line, who wrote and sang about it, and their new phone number.
The "album" had been compiled out of material the Beatles recorded in London in January 1969, the same sessions that would be used to create the Beatles' Let It Be album which was released in May 1970. While the existence of the promotional album is apocryphal, the truth behind the broadcast, though less dramatic, is equally as fascinating.
In late summer of 1969, WBCN somehow obtained a reel-to-reel tape of a reference acetate of a potential album song lineup prepared by Beatles' engineer Glyn Johns on March 10, 1969. WBCN aired the tape on September 22, 1969. Although WBCN was not the only radio station, or even the first station, to air material from the Get Back sessions — WKBW in Buffalo was the first, and the tapes also aired on WEBN in Cincinnati, WBAI in New York City, and KCOK in St. Louis — WBCN's broadcast of the tapes has been immortalized because it was preserved on a high-quality reel, which spawned several widely circulated Beatles bootlegs.
Here is some great audio from the exceptional free form WBCN FM and DJ Charles Laquidara from January 1971. You will hear rock, jazz, and classical. Some nice ads too.
By 1975, WBCN had gradually evolved from the underground progressive format of the 1960s to the more mainstream album oriented rock format popular in the 1970s.
Unlike most rock stations of the era, WBCN still allowed a degree of individual DJ control of the music.
Their playlist was more varied than many of their competitors, there was some focus on local music (also see the WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble), and the station was known nationwide for breaking acts (The Cars, 'Til Tuesday, U2) and setting trends.
If you're wondering how lucrative a job it was to work at BCN, line announcers made $160 a week. Charles Laquidara got $200.
Oedipus (who had the first punk rock show in the country while at MIT's college station, WTBS) was hired first as a DJ in 1977, and then installed as program director in 1981, and helped to break The Ramones, The Clash, The Police, and countless punk and new wave bands out of Boston.
Oedipus with Jeff Beck.In the period around 1975, John Garabedian, now recognized for the nationally syndicated "Open House Party" (which was once heard locally on WXKS-FM), was an afternoon DJ on WBCN.
WBCN-FM and the Cambridge Phoenix, both owned by Ray Riepen, played several softball games against each other beginning in 1971.
Listen to radio promos for the first WBCN-FM - Cambridge Phoenix softball game (June 1971) featuring Danny Schechter, Norm Winer, Charles Laquidara, WBCN salesman Jack Kearney (above, first row) as sportscaster "Troy Forgotten," and Bill Lichtenstein. [ LISTEN ] (3:31)
In 1979, the station was purchased by Hemisphere Broadcasting, who let go several longtime employees who they determined "non-essential."
This set off a local controversy in Boston that resulted in the entire airstaff walking off the air striking in protest. During the walkout, WBCN stayed on the air with substitute DJs imported from several out-of-town Hemisphere sister stations.
The protest got local media coverage and the attention of several well-known Boston-based music acts, including The Cars, Aerosmith, and Boston, who got behind the protest.
By the mid-1980s, WBCN had successfully fended off a number of challengers (the hard rocking but tightly formatted WCOZ, Top 40 Hitradio WHTT, Classic Rock WZLX, among others) to become/remain the region's top rock station. Many of the DJs, particularly morning "Big Mattress" host Charles Laquidara, were now local quasi-celebrities. Laquidara had Billy West on the show on a daily basis, as well as Karlos, the first computer-generated (using Digital Equipment's DECtalk) on-air personality in radio history. Legendary Boston stripper Princess Cheyenne hosted a Sunday night sex advice show that eventually led to one of her appearances in Playboy Magazine in April 1986. The station was more commercial and "programmed" by this point, but still retained some of its progressive energy and edge.
By the 1990s, WBCN was at a crossroads. With its audience aging, it risked becoming a classic rock-focused station and losing its currency as an outlet for new music. For a long time, WBCN successfully balanced new and old music (featuring the slogan "Classic to Cutting Edge"). In the early 1990s, the station began airing the nationally syndicated Howard Stern Show, but aired it in the evenings on tape delay instead of during morning drive. This allowed them to retain their "Big Mattress" morning show along with its large and loyal audience.
In early 1994, WBCN made its first major format adjustment since 1968. The old DJs, station IDs, and classic rock were gutted, replaced by an alternative music format featuring new, younger jocks; on April 1, 1996, the Stern show was moved to mornings. The station lost some of its longtime listeners (who migrated to the now co-owned WZLX, where former WBCN DJs Laquidara and Carter Alan had gone), but quickly gained credibility among many younger people.
The WBCN "peace plane".Much of the station's programming focused on syndicated talk shows (former WAAF personalities Opie & Anthony replacing David Lee Roth, who had previously replaced Howard Stern in morning Drive Time). During the autumn months, WBCN became more focused on sports as the station broadcast the games of the NFL's New England Patriots beginning in 1995.
In early 2006, with the Howard Stern morning drive time show gone due to Stern moving to Sirius Satellite Radio, WBCN experienced a plummet in Arbitron ratings that the station had not observed since the late 1970s and early 1980s, when it fell behind then rock format competitor WCOZ. The station started to air the syndicated Opie & Anthony during morning drive. WBCN also launched The Toucher and Rich Show, a new locally produced comedy-based afternoon drive time show starring Fred Toettcher and Rich Shertenlieb. The duo formerly worked together at Atlanta alternative station WNNX.
In 2007, the station was nominated for the Top 25 Markets Alternative Station of the Year Award by Radio & Records magazine. Other nominees included KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, KTBZ-FM in Houston, KITS, in San Francisco, KNDD in Seattle and WWDC in Washington, DC.
The WBCN staff at 312 Stuart Street office circa 1971.
Because he had no liquor license, and because he wanted to convey a sense of propriety to the Boston city establishment, he called the club the “Boston Tea Party.”
Not lost on young people at the time was the other meaning of “tea” — marijuana.
53 Berkeley Street Boston, MA.
15 Lansdowne Street Boston, MAAmong them, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Fleetwood Mac, Yardbirds, Velvet Underground, Tom Rush, Miles Davis, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters.
When Ray Riepen realized that the music people were flocking to hear at the Tea Party couldn’t be heard on the radio, he negotiated for late night airtime on a failing classical music station, WBCN, and hired college announcers to broadcast from a makeshift studio located in the back room of the club.
It all started in early 1967 — a time when young people put flowers in their hair and believed that all that was needed was love — and maybe some marijuana or LSD — to change the world.
During the following months, industry insiders, local media, and even WBCN's on air staff speculated that, in a matter of time, WBCN could see a format change, especially after the Boston Herald ran an article in the March 30th, 2009 issue about WBCN's future, and the station airing a Top 40 format for a few hours the following day (April Fool's Day).
From 1995 through 2008, WBCN was the flagship station of the Patriots Rock Radio Network, which broadcast games of the New England Patriots. Gil Santos, former WBZ sports reporter, did play-by-play, while Gino Cappelletti, former Patriots star, provided color commentary. The broadcasts were produced by Marc D. Cappello. With WBCN's dissolution as an analog station, the Patriots flagship station became WBCN's sister station WBZ-FM on August 13, 2009.
Johnny Winter Tea Party poster, June 12, 1969.
Blaring the Cream anthem "I Feel Free," WBCN went on the air in March 1968 as an experiment on the fledgling FM radio band. It broadcast its final song, Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," in August 2009.
March 15, 1968...
In between, WBCN became the musical, cultural, and political voice of the young people of Boston and New England, sustaining a vibrant local music scene that launched such artists as the J. Geils Band, Aerosmith, James Taylor, Boston, the Cars, and the Dropkick Murphys, as well as paving the way for Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, U2, and many others.
Along the way, the station both pioneered and defined progressive rock radio, the dominant format for a generation of listeners.
The trailer for "The American Revolution", the movie.
Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Let The Universe Answer, bloomsdisco, TheAmRev, The American Revolution.fm, Facebook/The American Revolution, Universal1051.
