Boston Radio: 1920-2010

by Donna L. Halper

Overview

Boston's radio history begins with pioneering station 1XE/WGI, one of America's first radio stations, and includes the first station to receive a commercial license, WBZ; the first FM radio network, W1XOJ and W1XER; and one of the first news networks, the Yankee News Service. Nationally known bandleaders like Joe Rines and Jacques Renard were first heard on Boston radio, as was one of the first weathercasters, E. B. Rideout. The city has been home to a number of legendary announcers, such as Bob and Ray, Arnie Ginsburg, Dick Summer, Dale Dorman, and Charles Laquidara; talk show giants like Jerry Williams and David Brudnoy; and sports talkers like Eddie Andelman and Glenn Ordway. Many Boston radio personalities, such as Curt Gowdy, "Big Brother" Bob Emery, Don Kent, and Louise Morgan, found fame on television but first established themselves on Boston's airwaves. Since 1920, Boston radio has remained vibrant, proving that live and local stations are as important as ever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738574103
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	02/21/2011
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,085,196
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Donna L. Halper is a Boston-based author, professor, and media historian with expertise in the history of broadcasting. Using rare photographs from her own collection and from some of Boston's best-known air personalities, she tells the story of the stations and announcers Bostonians have loved for decades.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 The Formative Years 11

2 Radio's Golden Age 27

3 A Time of Transition 43

4 New Formats, New Stations 67

5 The Internet Age 95

A Brief Boston Radio Retrospective 127

Editorial Reviews

Boston commercial radio dates back to the media's infant years and remains vibrant beyond naysayers' predictions. In fact, the story of its development in the past ninety years can be read (and, in the case of this pictorial, seen) as a micro-history of the evolution of business on the airwaves. Donna Halper's Images of America paperback guides readers through the full history of Bean Town broadcasting.