WBOS (92.9
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
, "Rock 92-9") is a
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
FM radio station
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...
, and serving
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...
. WBOS is owned and operated by
Beasley Broadcast Group
Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., based in Naples, Florida, is an owner/operator of radio stations in the United States. , the company owned 63 stations under the Beasley Media Group name.
History
The company was founded in 1961 by George G. Beasl ...
. The studios and offices are in
Waltham. WBOS airs a
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...
, which it calls "the next generation of classic rock." While rival
WZLX's
playlist
A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...
extends from the 1960s and 1970s into the 1980s and 1990s, WBOS concentrates on the 1990s and early 2000s, with some 1980s titles. "Dave and Chuck the Freak,"
syndicated from co-owned
WRIF
WRIF (101.1 FM) is a commercial active rock radio station licensed in Detroit, Michigan and serving Metro Detroit as well as bordering city Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The station is currently owned by Beasley Media Group. WRIF is a grandfathered ...
in Detroit, are heard weekday mornings on WBOS.
WBOS has an
effective radiated power
Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...
(ERP) of 18,500 watts. The
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
is on the top of the
Prudential Tower
The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru,subscription required'The Pru' everyone calls it: a resigned shrug of a name, as flat and uninflected as the wan moue its pronunciation requires." is an Inter ...
in Boston's
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
neighborhood. WBOS broadcasts in the
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
hybrid format. The HD2 subchannel
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
s
WRCA
WRCA (1330 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Watertown, Massachusetts, and serving the Greater Boston media market. The license is held by the Beasley Media Group, LLC, part of the Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. WRCA is simulcas ...
, which carries business news programming from
Bloomberg Radio
Bloomberg Radio is a radio service of Bloomberg L.P. that provides global business news programming 24 hours a day. The format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market up ...
.
History
Early years
On April 1, 1960, WBOS-FM
signed-on,
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
ing most of the programming of its
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
WBOS (now
WUNR
WUNR is a radio station serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, licensed to nearby Brookline. It broadcasts on 1600 kHz on the AM radio dial with an ethnic format. It is owned by Herbert Hoffman.
History
The station first signed on in 1948 ...
). WBOS-AM-FM were owned by the Champion Broadcasting System with studios at 790 Commonwealth Avenue.
Most of the AM station's programming was
beautiful music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
, but when the AM side began to broadcast ethnic programming, the FM side continued to play beautiful music, which was branded on both AM and FM as "Boston's Music Theatre." In 1975, WBOS-FM changed to a hodgepodge format which did not gain much of an audience.
Disco
In 1978, Boston radio personality Ron Robin, disappointed that the airtime for his weekly
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
music show on
WVBF had been cut back, left WVBF and began doing a four-hour Sunday-night disco show for WBOS-FM. Initially, Robin bought the airtime and sold commercials for the show.
The success of that show led to WBOS-FM hiring Robin, and a rapid expansion of the disco programming, first to seven nights a week from 8:00 p.m. to midnight (April 1978), and then to 24/7 in September 1978. For a brief time in late 1978 and early 1979, WBOS-FM was one of Boston's most popular radio stations. But when
WXKS-FM
WXKS-FM (107.9 FM), branded as ''Kiss 108'', is a commercial top 40/CHR radio station licensed to serve Medford, Massachusetts, and covering Greater Boston. Owned by iHeartMedia, the WXKS-FM studios are in Medford and the transmitter sits atop ...
came on the scene with a highly promoted disco format, including big promotions and hiring away some WBOS disc jockeys, WBOS' ratings suffered.
WRKO
WRKO (680 AM) is a commercial news/talk
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly ho ...
midday legend
J.J. Wright J. J. Wright may refer to:
* J.J. Wright (composer), American sacred jazz composer and conductor
* J. J. Wright (DJ), American disc jockey from Boston
{{hndis, Wright, J. J. ...
(later at
WODS) was one of the original disco DJs for WBOS when the station went round-the-clock disco in 1978. Longtime, sought-after producer Jack King (
WBIM-FM
WBIM-FM (91.5 FM) is a non-commercial, educational radio station broadcasting 24/7 from the campus of Bridgewater State University. The station has a mostly alternative and indie rock format during regular automation, but the station does have ma ...
,
WVBF, and
WBZ) created, wrote and engineered most of the station's disco specials at the time. King was there at the beginning of the station's format change to disco and worked closely with Robin to 'keep the beat going' into the late 1970s and early 1980s. When WBOS changed to
adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
, the duo went to WBZ Radio for a long, successful stint there.
Adult contemporary
In January 1980, the station flipped to an adult contemporary format which was a little less "adult" and a little more "contemporary," but that format would only run for two years.
Rock
In January 1982, WBOS flipped to a short-lived attempt at an
album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock.
Album-oriente ...
(AOR) format, programmed for some of that time by legendary Boston rock personalities Jerry Goodwin and Maxanne Satori. However, the rock format didn't make any inroads against established rockers like
WBCN,
WCOZ, and
WAAF WAAF may refer to:
* w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner
* Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II
** Waaf, a member of the service
* WAAF (AM ...
.
Country
On July 14, 1983, WBOS' format was abruptly changed to
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
, and was moderately successful for several years. It was the only FM country station in the Boston market at the time.
Program director and morning personality Dean James, along with general sales manager Dave DiGregorio, worked to bring country to the mainstream in Boston, a city with little history as a country music stronghold. The country format ran for six years.
Adult album alternative
On April 27, 1989, at 3:00 p.m., WBOS dropped country and adopted an
adult album alternative
Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...
(AAA) format, initially with a bit more of an eclectic focus than most AAA stations at the time, incorporating
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
,
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
,
R&B, and singer-songwriter cuts into the playlist, along with new releases. Eventually, the station gravitated more toward current material and new releases. At that time, when CDs were just starting to be used in radio, WBOS promoted itself as the first all-compact disc radio station, eliminating vinyl, and very sparingly using carts for some songs. Unusually, the vinyl themed retro show "
The Lost 45s
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
" with Barry Scott aired on Sunday nights after leaving
WZLX.
In April 2005, WBOS made changes to play more music and decrease the amount of talk. The station's morning show, hosted by Bill Abbate and Kristin Lessard, was abruptly cancelled to make way for the DJ-free "All Music Mornings." "It's putting the station somewhat back to where it started in terms of its ideals. Listener perception is that radio plays too many commercials and that DJs can be boring and irrelevant," said Buzz Knight, operations manager for WBOS. Knight said that WBOS will be "the cool station for people over 30."
In September 2007, George Knight began hosting morning drive on the station, but that would be short lived. That same month, owner
Greater Media
Greater Media, Inc., known as Greater Media, was an American media company that specialized in radio stations. The markets where they owned radio stations included Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Charlotte, and the state of New Jersey. The compa ...
registered domains that showed that the station was possibly flipping to
sports talk
Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...
as 92.9 The Ticket, complete with a logo and a slogan, "Boston's Only FM Sports Station." The station was rumored to flip on October 1 of that year, but never materialized. WBMX (now
WBZ-FM
WBZ-FM (98.5 FM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, WBZ-FM is the Boston affiliate for Fox Sports Radio; t ...
) and WMKK (now
WEEI-FM
WEEI-FM (93.7 Hertz, MHz) – branded SportsRadio 93.7 WEEI-FM – is a commercial Sports radio, sports Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Lawrence, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by ...
) eventually flipped to the sports format over the next five years.
Alternative rock
On February 1, 2008, at 5:00 p.m., the station saw its biggest change since flipping to AAA in 1989, as the format switched to
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
and the station rebranded as "Radio 92-9." While George Knight continued to host his popular "Sunday Morning Over Easy" program, and music director Dana Marshall was promoted to Program Director, the rest of the station's airstaff was let go. After
WBCN's demise in 2010, WBOS adopted a
mainstream rock
Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.
Format background
Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...
direction, but continued to report on
Mediabase
Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...
and
Nielsen BDS
Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...
on the alternative panel. This was due to the addition of bands like
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...
and
Guns n Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...
to the playlist. The move left WFNX once again as Boston's only pure alternative rock station. Around 2012, WBOS reverted to playing mostly alternative tracks, while playing some classic hard rock tracks (but at a very minimal amount), usually from artists/bands such as
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
,
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
,
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...
,
AC/DC
AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
,
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
,
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
,
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...
, and
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...
. By July 2012, WBOS became Boston's only alternative rock station following the closure of WFNX.
On July 13, 2016, WBOS rebranded as "Alt 92-9." The station slowly added more air personalities back to the station during this time.
In July 2017, WBOS began carrying the Dave and Chuck The Freak morning show out of sister station
WRIF
WRIF (101.1 FM) is a commercial active rock radio station licensed in Detroit, Michigan and serving Metro Detroit as well as bordering city Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The station is currently owned by Beasley Media Group. WRIF is a grandfathered ...
. That same year, the station began broadcasting
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...
hockey games that conflict with
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
games, the arrangement followed Beasley's acquisition of
WBZ-FM
WBZ-FM (98.5 FM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, WBZ-FM is the Boston affiliate for Fox Sports Radio; t ...
, the flagship station for both teams.
Classic rock
On April 11, 2019, at 10:30 a.m., following the "Dave & Chuck the Freak Morning Show" (and after playing "
Bury a Friend
"Bury a Friend" is a song by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and the third single from her debut studio album, ''When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?'' (2019). It was released on January 30, 2019, and serviced to US alternative radi ...
" by
Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single " Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom ...
), WBOS flipped to
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
, branded as "Rock 92-9." The first song on "Rock" was "
For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)
"For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" is a song by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. The song was first released on AC/DC's eighth studio album ''For Those About to Rock We Salute You'' in 1981, and later as a single in 1982. The single' ...
" by
AC/DC
AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
.
The change followed a transition from a classic rock-classic hits hybrid to a more conventional classic hits format at sister station
WROR-FM
WROR-FM (105.7 FM) – branded as 105.7 WROR – is a commercial classic hits radio station licensed to Framingham, Massachusetts. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, the station serves Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England, incl ...
, leaving space for a competitor to market powerhouse
WZLX. The station brought back two DJs previously heard on WBCN during its later rock years: Adam 12 hosts midday and Hardy hosts afternoons.
Owners
WBOS was originally owned by Boston businessman Herbert Hoffman. In the 1980s, he sold it to Sconnix, which later sold it to Ackerley Media in 1988. The station was sold to Granum Communications in 1992, which merged with
Infinity Broadcasting
Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus an ...
in 1996. In 1997, the station was traded to
Greater Media
Greater Media, Inc., known as Greater Media, was an American media company that specialized in radio stations. The markets where they owned radio stations included Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Charlotte, and the state of New Jersey. The compa ...
.
On July 19, 2016,
Beasley Media Group
Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., based in Naples, Florida, is an owner/operator of radio stations in the United States. , the company owned 63 stations under the Beasley Media Group name.
History
The company was founded in 1961 by George G. Beasl ...
announced it would acquire Greater Media and its 21 stations (including WBOS) for $240 million. The FCC approved the sale on October 6, 2016, and the sale closed on November 1, 2016.
HD Radio
WBOS broadcasts using the iBiquity
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
digital broadcasting system, and had an HD secondary channel called "The Coffee House," which launched in early 2006. This format consisted of "the acoustic, unplugged side of triple A" by using the "station's archive of live and in-studio performances," and emphasized "singer-songwriters, folk music and unplugged versions of songs by core WBOS artists."
The "Coffee House" format was later replaced with ''Radio You Boston'', featuring content programmed by college-aged residents of the Boston area. It was later re-branded as ''Local 92.9'', and featured local music artists from the Boston area.
On July 3, 2017, Beasley announced that
Bloomberg Radio
Bloomberg Radio is a radio service of Bloomberg L.P. that provides global business news programming 24 hours a day. The format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market up ...
programming would be moved from
WXKS to sister
WRCA
WRCA (1330 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Watertown, Massachusetts, and serving the Greater Boston media market. The license is held by the Beasley Media Group, LLC, part of the Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. WRCA is simulcas ...
, simulcast on a new
FM translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
W291CZ, and also carried on WBOS-HD2.
Bloomberg Radio Moving to 1330/106.1 Boston
/ref>
Past personalities
* J. J. Wright
* Ron Robin
* Jack King
* Neal Robert
* Charles Laquidara
Charles Laquidara (born November 24, 1938) is an American radio disc jockey whose show, ''The Big Mattress'', was broadcast in the Boston, Massachusetts, area for nearly 30 years (1969–1996) on WBCN (FM), WBCN. He then spent four years doi ...
* Barry Scott of The Lost 45s
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
* Dick Pleasants
* Maria Morgan
* Carolyn Morrell
* Liz Solar
* Bill Smith
* Cliff Nash
* Kevin Malvey
* Bill Abbate
* Kristin Lessard
* Amy Brooks
* Melissa Gaudette
* Gerrie Burke
* John Laurenti
* Eduardo Nash
* Joanne Doody
* PD-George Taylor Morris
* Robin Young
* Julie Devereaux
* Dave DiGregorio
* Keith Murray
* David O'Leary
* Hutch
* Dominic Lewis
* PD-Chris Hermann
* PD-Shirley Moldanado
* PD-Jim Herron
* Matt Phipps
* George Knight
* Bob Bayne
* Kevin Collins
* Bobby V – Bob Vartanian
Trivia
* WBOS was also the call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
of a shortwave radio
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
station operated by Westinghouse's WBZ affiliate during the 1940s. (The 92.9 frequency now occupied by WBOS was one of the early frequencies used by WBZ's FM station in the 1950s).
* Arnie Ginsburg
Arnold William Ginsburg (August 5, 1926 – June 26, 2020), known as Arnie "Woo-Woo" Ginsburg, was an American disc jockey in the Boston radio market from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. Following this period, he became involved in the business si ...
was the nighttime host on WBOS (AM), one of Boston's first rock-and-roll DJs. However, by the time the FM station signed on, his show had moved to WMEX 1510 AM
The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1510 kHz: 1510 AM is a North American (U.S.) clear-channel frequency. WLAC in Nashville, Tennessee, is the dominant Class A station on 1510 AM. KGA Spokane had been a Class A station, b ...
.
* Charles Laquidara
Charles Laquidara (born November 24, 1938) is an American radio disc jockey whose show, ''The Big Mattress'', was broadcast in the Boston, Massachusetts, area for nearly 30 years (1969–1996) on WBCN (FM), WBCN. He then spent four years doi ...
hosted a show from Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
entitled ''WBOS Backspin'' during the Spring of 2006. The show aired commercial-free on weekdays, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., live.
* Studio 7 is the recording area where common heard artists on the station record and play some of their songs live. Since 1992, John Mellencamp
John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrument ...
, Sarah McLachlan
Sarah Ann McLachlan Order of Canada, OC Order of British Columbia, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing ( ...
, John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...
, Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...
, Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reach ...
, Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, Morissette began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with tw ...
, and others have performed here while on tour in a major venue in Boston, including Boston Garden
The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (late ...
, Tweeter Center, etc.
* Mellencamp's ''Jack and Diane'' live version has been recorded at Studio 7.
References
External links
*
Boston.com article on the new format (2005)
; WBOS data
{{Authority control
BOS
''Bos'' (from Latin '' bōs'': cow, ox, bull) is the genus of wild and domestic cattle. ''Bos'' is often divided into four subgenera: ''Bos'', ''Bibos'', ''Novibos'', and ''Poephagus'', but including these last three divisions within the genus ...
BOS
''Bos'' (from Latin '' bōs'': cow, ox, bull) is the genus of wild and domestic cattle. ''Bos'' is often divided into four subgenera: ''Bos'', ''Bibos'', ''Novibos'', and ''Poephagus'', but including these last three divisions within the genus ...
Classic rock radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1960
BOS
''Bos'' (from Latin '' bōs'': cow, ox, bull) is the genus of wild and domestic cattle. ''Bos'' is often divided into four subgenera: ''Bos'', ''Bibos'', ''Novibos'', and ''Poephagus'', but including these last three divisions within the genus ...
Brookline, Massachusetts
Mass media in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
1960 establishments in Massachusetts