I watched an interesting documentary the other day called I Am What I Play.In it, four fabled DJs from rock radio’s past recount sometimes parallel stories about a time when jocks were almost as well known (at least locally) as the bands they were spinning.The four broadcasters are Meg Griffin (WNEW – New York), Pat O’Day (KJR – Seattle), Charles Laquidara (WBCN – Boston), and most interestingly (to me) David Marsden (CFNY – Toronto).These jocks worked at a time when they were allowed great leeway, if not total control, over what music they played and what they said on the air.I didn’t grow up listening to any of these guys so it was a strange feeling to be nostalgic for a time I never experienced but it was definitely a better time for radio than today.
104.1 WBCN (W Boston Concert Network) was a Rock station in Boston, Massachusetts from 1968 until 2017. Past DJs include J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf, MTV VJ JJ Jackson, voice actor Billy West and the aforementioned Charles Laquidara.
1490 AM WWIL plays Gospel music while 90.5 FM is a Contemporary Christian station. At one time they were co-owned but it now appears that they are held by two separate companies. WWIL AM and FM are licensed to (W) WILmington, North Carolina.
880 AM WPEK was a Progressive Talk station in Asheville, North Carolina. They flipped to Sports in June, 2018 and are now an ESPN Radio affiliate. WPEK is licensed to Fairview, NC.
WHPE went on the air in the late 1940s and was originally owned by the (W) High Point Enterprise newspaper. They currently carry a Religious format as part of the Bible Broadcasting Network of stations.
1130 AM in Minneapolis is the oldest continuously operating radio station in the state of Minnesota. They signed on the air at 1300 AM as KFMT on December 23, 1923. The owner, (W) Dr. George Young switched the call letters to reflect his name in 1926 and those calls remained until 1991. At least eight frequency changes occured throughout the 1920s before settling in at 1130 AM in 1941. This sticker dates to sometime between 1977 and 1989 when they carried a Country format.
