| Title | : | Radio Free Boston: The Rise and Fall of WBCN |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.90 (488 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1555537294 |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-09-03 |
| Genre | : |
Blaring the Cream anthem “I Feel Free,” WBCN went on the air in March 1968 as an experiment in free-form rock on the fledgling FM radio band. It broadcast its final song, Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” in August 2009. 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, WBCN both pioneered and defined progressive rock radio, the dominant format for a generation of listeners. Brilliantly told by Carter Alan—and featuring the voices of station insiders and the artists they loved—Radio Free Boston is the story of a city; of artistic freedom, of music and politics and identity; and of the cultural, technological, and financial f
Editorial : “From the first note of Cream’s “I Feel Free” carried by the FM signal at 104.1 in 1968 to the final note of Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” bringing the story to a close in 2009, Alan traces the station’s wild ride from its roots as a foundering classical music operation (WBCN stood for Boston Concert Network and employed a young Ron Della Chiesa), to its evolution into a free-form, counterculture outpost, and finally to a tightly controlled, corporate enterprise with two of its most popular, and controversial, shows emanating out of New York City. The fairy tale of WBCN may not have had a happy ending, but Alan tells it with the kind of flair that does its original free-form spirit proud.”—Boston Globe
What I love most about this book is that for each subject it provides a very complete survey of the techniques and methods. I looked forward to the release of this book with great anticipation as I was an avid WBCN listener during my high school and college years in the late 70's and early to mid '80s.
But whether you were a BCN listener or not, if you are interested in the early days of underground FM radio and the conception of album oriented rock, you will LOVE reading this book! I knew that Carter Allen would not disappoint me with his "biography" of the greatest rock radio station in history, .but this book actually exceeded my already high expectations.
Carter masterfully takes us through the earliest "visions" of Ray Riepen, the first owner of WBCN as a rock radio station back in 1968, to the selection of this unknown group of crazy geniuses with the same vision to spin the records, through the changes as WBCN began to outgrow its audience, to its downfall
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