Boston Radio Watch

2012-02-12T14:51:00.001-05:00

Local stations pay tribute to pop diva Whitney Houston Her name, her voice, and above all her music filled Boston's airwaves last night. But it was much more than a news story, especially on radio, that most intimate of mediums. Whitney Houston was remembered on WBZ 1030's overnight talk show hosted by Jordan Rich; parts of her old interviews were broadcast at the top of the hour radio network

2012-02-09T21:12:00.006-05:00

Longtime WBZ personality Dave Maynard passes away at 82 Dave Maynard, popular Boston radio and TV personality for over three decades, has died in Citrus Hill, Florida after a long battle with Parkinson's disease earlier today. He was 82. Maynard's death was announced by WBZ 1030 and WBZ TV4, where he hosted long-running programs. WBZ-AM aired an interview with Maynard's son, Mike. Maynard, a

2012-01-30T13:11:00.001-05:00

Radio chief is set to retire Long-time Boston radio exec Tom Baker is retiring in upcoming weeks it was announced by Greater Media this morning. He is VP and market manager of Greater Media's Boston-based radio properties, having joined the company three years ago. Greater Media's Boston cluster includes five FM outlets WBOS 92.9, WKLB/Country 102.5, WMJX/Magic 106.7, WROR 105.7 and WTKK/96.9

2012-01-29T04:37:00.011-05:00

Radio dial will be spinning with the sound of Super Bowl If you can't be among 63,000 fans at Lucas Oil Stadium for New England Patriots' seventh trip to the Super Bowl next Sunday night, radio will have you fully covered. The game itself will be broadcast locally on the team's flagship WBZ 98.5/The Sports Hub which will start its pregame show at 3pm. The kickoff is scheduled around 6:30pm and

2012-01-03T23:23:00.001-05:00

River cuts its program director Catie Wilber, program director for adult album alternative WXRV 92.5/The River, was let go this week for financial reasons. Wilber was with Northeast Broadcasting-owned WXRV for the past 9 years and programming the River for the past two(BRW 10/24/09). With Wilber's departure, the program director's position at the station has been eliminated. The station will

2011-12-24T09:45:00.004-05:00

Radio is in the mood for the holidays Some special radio programs on the local dial today and tomorrow provide a break a background to all the last-minute shopping and celebrating. WODS 103.3 and WROR 105.7 have been running their nothing-but-Christmas formats since November 11. WMJX/Magic 106.7 will drop its regular adult contemporary music mix for commercial-free 24-hour Magic of Christmas

2011-11-23T15:56:00.001-05:00

WFNX pays tribute to its heritage with its DJ family reunion No deejays, no Boston's rock alternative as we know it. That's what this holiday weekend's WFNX 101.7's "FlashBack Weekend' is all about. Four days of tributes to WFNX deejays of the past 28 years. The playlist, production, and voices will all take listeners back 10, 15, even 20 years into the WFNX archives. Here's the lineup:

2011-11-11T09:00:00.014-05:00

Holiday tunes light up Boston radio airwaves Two Boston radio stations have launched full-bore into wall-to-wall Christmas music earlier this morning, which, by comparison, makes the Hub among the Grinchier points on the map. Although Veteran's Day weekend may seem like an early start for constant holiday cheer, stations nationwide are launching the format earlier each year. According to the

2011-10-26T19:33:00.000-04:00

Clear Channel cuts nationally, consolidates local traffic operations Earlier today, massive personnel reductions took place place at corporate titan Clear Channel's radio stations in small and medium sized markets around the country as the company struggles with its huge $21-billion(and climbing) debt. While reportedly none of Clear Channel's major market stations were impacted today that may

2011-10-13T22:58:00.002-04:00

Getting ahead : CBS Radio promotes a rising radio programmer star in its Boston cluster Earlier today, Mike Thomas has been upped to a programming quarterback of CBS Radio's operations in Boston. In the newly created position as Vice President of Programming he will oversee the programming strategies of CBS Radio' local five-station group which includes a blue-chip lineup of news/talker WBZ 1030

2011-10-12T18:47:00.005-04:00

WTKK adds more news to morning drive and weekends After a 6-month simulcast of New England Cable News(NECN) in the early part of the morning commute, Boston's FM talker WTKK 96.9 is apparently happy with the results thus far(BRW 4/13). The station announced today that beginning Monday(10/17), it will be expanding NECN's morning news simulcast by an extra hour which will now run until 7am. More

2011-10-10T12:15:00.008-04:00

Mix 104.1 and WODS 103.3's director of programming quits According to a report on radio trade publication AllAccess.com's website, WBMX/Mix 104.1 and WODS 103.3' program director Jay Beau Jones resigned from the station today. Jones sent a memo to the staff and colleagues at CBS Radio Boston announcing his departure. His resignation came three weeks after Mix's annual MixFest radio concert which

2011-10-04T19:55:00.001-04:00

SportsHub sitting at top of the heap Who knew?! The new station is the new leader in the local sports-talk radio listenership fight. WBZ 98.5/SportsHub began broadcasting in the format a little over two years ago and has overtaken its competitor, previous long-running rarely-challenged leader in the genre - WEEI 850 - on the prime battleground - men ages 25-54. In the Arbitron survey for the

2011-09-22T15:38:00.003-04:00

SportsHub 98.5's Felger and Mazz to simulcast on Comcast SportsNet New England Comcast SportsNet New England will bring WBZ 98.5/The SportsHub's "Felger and Mazz" show to television later this fall. The program, hosted by Michael Felger and Tony Massaroitt, will be simulcast on CSN NE every weekday from 2 to 6pm. The show has been on air since SportsHub 98.5 launched on August 14, 2009.

2011-09-16T15:50:00.002-04:00

98.5 The SportsHub scores a big hit at the Marconis WBZ-FM/98.5 the SportsHub has been named by the National Association of Broadcasters' Marconi Radio Awards as the "Sports Station of the Year." The announcement came at last night's annual NAB Radio Convention in Chicago.The NAB awards are given annually for excellence in American radio in the name of Guglielmo Marconi, who invented the wireless

2011-09-15T11:54:00.007-04:00

In the beginning... WBZ 1030 is as integral a part of Boston and local radio industry in 2011 as it was when it first captured the imagination of the public in the early 1920's. WBZ was the country's first commercially licensed radio station, aired its first broadcast on September 19, 1921 from East Springfield. WBZ will be celebrating its 90th anniversary on Monday(9/19) with commemorative

2011-09-09T12:37:00.007-04:00

Stations to air special 9/11 tribute programming Boston radio stations will observe the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in the next few days. WRKO AM 680 will provide local coverage with afternoon host Howie Carr broadcasting his show from Ground Zero on Friday(9/9). On Sunday(9/11), morning co-host Todd Feinburg will host 8am-12pm show from Ground Zero which will be followed by Avi Nelson(12-3pm)

2011-09-07T23:54:00.001-04:00

Boston's sports radio is set to quake : 93.7 to become WEEI's simulcast come Monday Althought the official announcement will be made later on Thursday morning, the big buzz about Boston getting a second major FM sports radio outlet has been building since the first FM sports talker - WBZ 98.5/The Sports Hub came on the air two years ago. Aftetr the newcomer the SportsHub overtook WEEI in the

2011-08-16T07:47:00.006-04:00

Severin going back on the air ...and WTKK re-arranges its line-up(see update below) Jay Severin, whose provocative on-air comments about sleeping with his female interns years ago got him fired earlier this year by WTKK 96.9, is returning to the airwaves at a rival station. Severin's afternoon show will resume this Thursday(8/18) at 3 pm on WXKS AM/Talk 1200 the station said today. In hiring

2011-08-01T17:22:00.004-04:00

WEEI begins to utilitize HD Radio technology Not quite a move to FM band but close enough. If you're a sports radio listener and one of the few who owns an HD radio receiver, as of last month you can listen to Boston sports talker WEEI AM 850's programming, including Boston Red Sox games, on the FM side of the dial. WEEI's content is now being streamed via HD2 side-channels of its

2011-07-19T23:49:00.000-04:00

WEEI retains Westwood One's NFL package with added bonus With NFL lockout coming to a close later this week, it was announced today that WEEI AM 850 will continue as the radio broadcast home of Westwood One's NFL programming in a multi-year extension. WEEI will continue to broadcast Sunday and Monday night football which includes the playoffs and the Super Bowl NFL and Westwood One signed a

2011-07-15T15:16:00.000-04:00

Local broadcast legends of Boston airwaves to be honoredAmong those to be inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame on Thursday, September 15 at Quincy Marriot Hotel, are some of the names with a connection to Boston radio in more recent past and present - Edwin "Ned" Martin, “Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers”, better known as Ray and Tom Magliozzi, Eddie Andelman and Ken

2011-07-14T20:34:00.003-04:00

Five more years of Matty Clever, offbeat, self-deprecating humor has been Matt Siegel's hallmark since he arrived in Boston in mid-1970's when he landed at WBCN 104.1. In early 1981, Siegel joined WXKS 107.9/Kiss 108 where he has been ever since. Over the past three decades, Siegel has seen musical trends come and go but he has managed to stay highly successful and very relevant to his morning

2011-07-08T01:24:00.006-04:00

Severin tweets out : he's going after his former station On Thursday night(7/7), fired Boston radio talk show host Jay Severin tweeted on his Twitter account that he is suing his former employer WTKK 96.9, saying they broke his contract when they let him go on April 6(BRW 4/6). Or is he? Update(7/10) : Since the original blog posting, the referenced tweet below has been deleted from @

2011-07-02T11:10:00.003-04:00

Stations celebrate the 4th A number of specialty programming themes, at least two countdowns and a grand daddy of all live concerts will liven up the radio dial in Boston for the next three days.Here are some of the highlights of Fourth of July weekend programming: WXRV 92.5 - The River, "Boston's Independent Radio", celebrates the 4th by spotlighting artists who most define Independence.

2011-06-17T15:50:00.004-04:00

The River 92.5 celebrates 10th annual RiverFest The 10th Annual Riverfront Festival presented by WXRV 92.5 the River and the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce will hit Waterfront Park in Newburyport on Saturday July 16th at 1pm. Headlining this year’s Riverfront Festival is Mike Doughty joined by Marc Broussard, The Damnwells & Scars on 45. Past performers include The Lemonheads, Blind

2011-06-04T07:43:00.003-04:00

All Classical WCRB to extend its reach into RI via deal with Bryant University's station Boston pubcaster WGBH-ownded WCRB 99.5 will extend its 24/7 classical music format into Rhode Island through simulcasts on Bryant University's student-operated radio station WJMF 88.7 in Smithfield. The programming partnership, announced this week, includes a power-boost to WJMF's 225-watt signal; the

2011-06-01T11:16:00.002-04:00

Beyond Bejing : WILD becomes CRI's window on the world Starting today, WILD 1090 is taking world news from a Chinese perspective, more specifically China Radio International (CRI), featuring news, music, language lessons and human interest stories from China live from Beijing. CRI which is leasing airtime on WILD's daytime only-signal will be heard every day from sunup to sunset. WILD is

2011-05-26T13:27:00.002-04:00

Redo re-enters with a new management role at 89.7 After 2 1/2-year break from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day managing radio operations, a veteran broadcast executive Phil Redo is taking a plunge into the ever-changing Boston public radio landscape. Redo who ran Greater Media's Boston cluster(WTKK 96.9, WROR 105.7, WMJX 106.7, WKLB 102.5 and WBOS 92.9) from April 2006 to December 2009 has

2011-05-17T17:25:00.005-04:00

Severin-less station sees ratings declineWhat a difference Jay Severin makes. Or more accurately, what a difference Jay Severin makes by not being on the local airwaves. The afternoon host's departure earlier last month had a negative impact on WTKK 96.9, the FM talk station where he had nearly a 12-year run, according to monthly audience ratings compiled by Arbitron that were released today.

2011-04-13T02:16:00.001-04:00

WTKK to air NECN content in the early morning drive New England Cable News and WTKK 96.9 have reached an agreement that involves simulcasting regional news network's programming on the radio station from 4:30am to 6am every weekday starting next Monday(4/18). The agreement helps Newton-based, Comcast-owned NECN build its reach beyond TV through while providing additional news content for WTKK

2011-04-06T14:38:00.004-04:00

WTKK 96.9 severs ties with Severin Conservative talk-show host Jay Severin, 60, was released from his contract at WTKK 96.9 earlier today, a week after talking on the air about hiring “mostly attractive young women” as interns and sleeping with nearly all of them during a show where topic that dealt with sexual harassment lawsuits. WTKK's owner, Greater Media, issued a statement that it has

2011-04-04T18:53:00.001-04:00

WBZ 1030 names new morning news co-anchor CBS Radio Boston's news/talker WBZ 1030 has named a replacement for Ed Walsh who retired four months ago(BRW 11/4/10), it was announced this afternoon. Joe Mathieu will take over morning drive co-anchor duties in early May according station's program director Peter Casey who made the announcement via the following press release :