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WJIB
WJIB (720 AM) is a radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston. Licensed to RCRQ, Inc.—a company owned by veteran broadcaster John Garabedian —the station plays a mix of soft oldies and adult standards from the 1950s through the 1990s. Although licensed as a commercial radio station, WJIB is commercial-free, with its operations funded by listener donations and occasional pledge drives.
By day, WJIB is powered at 5,000 watts non-directional. Because 720 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for WGN in Chicago, WJIB must reduce power at night to 189 watts, using a directional antenna, to avoid interference. The station's broadcast towers are off Commercial Street in Medford. Programming is also heard on FM translator W267CE at 101.3 MHz.
WJIB is an indirect successor to a previous Boston FM station at 96.9 MHz with the same call sign (now WBQT, owned by Beasley Broadcast Group) which in turn descended from WXHR, one of the first FM stations in the Boston area. Coincidentally, what is now WJIB was once owned by Harvey Radio Laboratories, the same company that owned WXHR/WJIB-FM. The AM station was first known as WTAO, then WXHR, and later as WCAS.
In 1967, a year after it was sold to a joint venture of Kaiser Broadcasting and The Boston Globe, WXHR became WCAS while WXHR-FM changed to WJIB, featured a beautiful music format, and became well known for a nautical-themed station identification featuring a buoy bell and a seagull (now used in modified form by WOCN-FM on Cape Cod). WJIB-FM became WCDJ, a smooth jazz station, in 1990, and the call sign WJIB lapsed.
After Kaiser/Globe took over, WCAS at first broadcast a format with music and local news of interest to listeners in Cambridge and nearby communities, but was not very successful. The call letters referred to "Watertown, Cambridge, Arlington and Somerville and Belmont" (where the B was said to be "silent"). By 1969, WCAS had flipped to oldies. This was followed in 1972 by a soft rock format that, by 1973, had evolved into a folk/rock format which, while not enormously successful, gained a devoted following in the Boston area. It became a local favorite during the 1970s for its eclectic mix of music (L.A. folk-rock, jazz, bluegrass, country and western were only part of the playlist) and its support of local issues and musicians, notably through special live concerts and the Live at Passim's series of broadcasts. In 1976, the Harvard Crimson wrote: "The least pretentious station around is WCAS at 740 AM, which mixes country, soft rock, and folk nicely, and goes easy on the ads."
One of the station's limitations added to its character: because a limited broadcast license obliged it to go off the air at sunset, one freelancer developed a series of humorous station sign-offs which became mini-hits in themselves.
The "Live at Passim's" broadcast was done on Sundays from Club Passim (formerly Club 47). It paired local acts with national headliners at Passim's coffeehouse such as Ry Cooder, Tom Waits and Jimmy Buffett (the latter two then relatively obscure). The idea of promoting local music by broadcasting from what was then the top folk club in the area was originated by then-program director Rick Starr, who hired local performer Jim Chevallier to produce and host the program. Typically, national acts headlining at the club were the main act, preceded by local Boston-Cambridge musicians. The show's format generally imposed an all acoustic approach like that later used by MTV Unplugged. One of the first acts to appear on the show was Jimmy Buffett, then performing with only a bass player. Ry Cooder and Tom Waits appeared soon after that. The Irish traditional group The Boys of the Lough not only appeared on the show but, in 1975, released an album titled Live at Passim's. One duo who appeared at the club and on the show was Buckingham Nicks—that is, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who soon joined Fleetwood Mac.
In addition to live broadcasts, the station sometimes played songs on tape from local artists. One of these, "Somerville", was a satirical comment on that local city, written by David Misch, who later wrote for the TV shows Mork and Mindy and Saturday Night Live. Another was "Marblehead Morning", a gentle acoustic homage to the town of Marblehead written by Mason Daring, who soon became the composer for most of John Sayles's films.
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WJIB
WJIB (720 AM) is a radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston. Licensed to RCRQ, Inc.—a company owned by veteran broadcaster John Garabedian —the station plays a mix of soft oldies and adult standards from the 1950s through the 1990s. Although licensed as a commercial radio station, WJIB is commercial-free, with its operations funded by listener donations and occasional pledge drives.
By day, WJIB is powered at 5,000 watts non-directional. Because 720 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for WGN in Chicago, WJIB must reduce power at night to 189 watts, using a directional antenna, to avoid interference. The station's broadcast towers are off Commercial Street in Medford. Programming is also heard on FM translator W267CE at 101.3 MHz.
WJIB is an indirect successor to a previous Boston FM station at 96.9 MHz with the same call sign (now WBQT, owned by Beasley Broadcast Group) which in turn descended from WXHR, one of the first FM stations in the Boston area. Coincidentally, what is now WJIB was once owned by Harvey Radio Laboratories, the same company that owned WXHR/WJIB-FM. The AM station was first known as WTAO, then WXHR, and later as WCAS.
In 1967, a year after it was sold to a joint venture of Kaiser Broadcasting and The Boston Globe, WXHR became WCAS while WXHR-FM changed to WJIB, featured a beautiful music format, and became well known for a nautical-themed station identification featuring a buoy bell and a seagull (now used in modified form by WOCN-FM on Cape Cod). WJIB-FM became WCDJ, a smooth jazz station, in 1990, and the call sign WJIB lapsed.
After Kaiser/Globe took over, WCAS at first broadcast a format with music and local news of interest to listeners in Cambridge and nearby communities, but was not very successful. The call letters referred to "Watertown, Cambridge, Arlington and Somerville and Belmont" (where the B was said to be "silent"). By 1969, WCAS had flipped to oldies. This was followed in 1972 by a soft rock format that, by 1973, had evolved into a folk/rock format which, while not enormously successful, gained a devoted following in the Boston area. It became a local favorite during the 1970s for its eclectic mix of music (L.A. folk-rock, jazz, bluegrass, country and western were only part of the playlist) and its support of local issues and musicians, notably through special live concerts and the Live at Passim's series of broadcasts. In 1976, the Harvard Crimson wrote: "The least pretentious station around is WCAS at 740 AM, which mixes country, soft rock, and folk nicely, and goes easy on the ads."
One of the station's limitations added to its character: because a limited broadcast license obliged it to go off the air at sunset, one freelancer developed a series of humorous station sign-offs which became mini-hits in themselves.
The "Live at Passim's" broadcast was done on Sundays from Club Passim (formerly Club 47). It paired local acts with national headliners at Passim's coffeehouse such as Ry Cooder, Tom Waits and Jimmy Buffett (the latter two then relatively obscure). The idea of promoting local music by broadcasting from what was then the top folk club in the area was originated by then-program director Rick Starr, who hired local performer Jim Chevallier to produce and host the program. Typically, national acts headlining at the club were the main act, preceded by local Boston-Cambridge musicians. The show's format generally imposed an all acoustic approach like that later used by MTV Unplugged. One of the first acts to appear on the show was Jimmy Buffett, then performing with only a bass player. Ry Cooder and Tom Waits appeared soon after that. The Irish traditional group The Boys of the Lough not only appeared on the show but, in 1975, released an album titled Live at Passim's. One duo who appeared at the club and on the show was Buckingham Nicks—that is, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who soon joined Fleetwood Mac.
In addition to live broadcasts, the station sometimes played songs on tape from local artists. One of these, "Somerville", was a satirical comment on that local city, written by David Misch, who later wrote for the TV shows Mork and Mindy and Saturday Night Live. Another was "Marblehead Morning", a gentle acoustic homage to the town of Marblehead written by Mason Daring, who soon became the composer for most of John Sayles's films.