Just over a month ago, the small and independent Phoenix Media/Communications Group (PM/CG), publisher of the Boston (plus Providence and Portland) Phoenix announced that it would be selling WFNX to media conglomerate Clear Channel.
Well, the frequency, 101.7 FM, to be more honest. Thankfully, WFNX's intellectual property remains in the hands of PM/CG so perhaps one day it can return to the airwaves once more as an FM outlet or perhaps an FM HD subchannel somewhere or is most likely an Internet-only station ala WBCN. But then again, WBCN has 2 streams which are also simulcast on two HD subchannels of sister stations WZLX and WBZ-FM. One stream essentially continues the modern rock format it was playing right up until the very end just without DJs; and the other is more interesting, which is a freeform format where anything goes and even has a short live segement and broadcasts out of an old school bus.
But anyways, I digress. It is a lost to see FNX go. I've grown up with it through my teenage years into young adulthood, it's introduced to countless new bands and old obscure bands I've never heard of. Especially local bands, such as:
Passion Pit
and
MGMT
But scoring Adam 12 came with another nail in the coffin, because at the same time, he was hired, Chris "Charlie" Padgett & Ed "Special Ed" Oliveira, the hosts of The Sandbox, WFNX's morning show at the time, were fired. Replaced with the aptly-titled "WFNX Breakfast Show," hosted by remaining co-host Dustin Fletcher Matthews and Henry Santoro, WFNX's veteran newsman who was at FNX from day one until the the announcement on the 16th and Keith Dakin, the program director at the time.
To quote The Boston Globe:
Eventually, Mike Tierney quit by the end of 2010. Keith Dakin had quit earlier in the year in August, with assistant program director Paul Driscoll taking over the reins. Then Fletcher quit in August 2011, and was But alot of people believe that The Sandbox ending was the final nail in the coffin, as a good many people enjoyed the program and were dismayed by it's cancellation, just Google it, there's some articles and pages and even yelp reviews about it. Even Chris felt so stating on the comments section of this article on Alternative Contraband, an industry website for alternative rock:
“There was a new sheriff in town,” Padgett said yesterday, referring to [Mike] Tierney. “And eight times out of 10, when there’s a new guy, they’re going to blow things up.” Padgett told us Tierney showed up at the station unexpectedly yesterday just as the gang was about to go on the air, and he was accompanied by someone from human resources. “I said, ‘Uh oh, one or all of us is about to be (expletive),” said Padgett, who mentioned he’s already applied for a job at the Apple store at the North Shore Mall. “This is probably it for me,” he said. “Radio is a contracting industry.”
Am I a former employee? Yes. Did I love that radio station with all my being. You’re fucking-a right I did. Was getting fired from there in 2010 the nail in the coffin for me and radio? Absolutely, because as we can all plainly see, it’s only going to get worse.There's also comments from former DJs Duane Bruce and Boy Troy there so check it out. Speaking of them, back in November, WFNX held a Flashback Weekend when both of them plus plenty other former FNX DJs such as Morning Guy Tai, Mike Gioscia, Liquid Todd, Storm Zbel, Kurt St. Thomas, Kat Corbett, Neal Robert, Joanne Doody and Bill Abbate all made a return to the airwaves to host to their former shows such as X-Night and Spin Cycle. Granted these were all shows from before my time listening to FNX, like when I was diapers.
Speaking of flash-backing to the past, WFNX has quite a history for such a small station. For on August 27th, 1991, Nirvana's Nevermind hit the airwaves in it's entirety, played by then WFNX program director Kurt St. Thomas, who had an early affinity for the band, who later interviewed the band at the WFNX studios in downtown Lynn, which would later be released as Nevermind It's An Interview. The interview took place the same day as their first appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Later in 1994, planning in July of 94 for their annual Disorientation free concert in September at Boston's Hatch Shell for incoming students, the band decided to book Green Day who had taken off when they released their mainstream debut album Dookie in February of the year. So the band was booked and July rolled into August and along with that Woodstock '94, of which Green Day was one the bands taking part and became even more notable when they ending making of the most notable moments of the the entire festival when their set degenerated into a massive mud fight with the crowd where bassist Mike Dirnt would end up losing two of teeth after being tackled by security at the end of the set.
Anyways, September came around and Green Day was bigger then ever. WFNX and the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC, now known as the DCR), the state agency which owns the land the Hatch Shell sits on had booked the band to play on September 9, 1994. The date rolled around and WFNX and the MDC expected a modest crowd, instead ending up with a crowd estimated to be from 65,000 to 100,000 with about 40 State Police troopers plus some private security on hand.
The Meices opened the concert at 7 p.m., playing their set, then Green Day took the stage at 8:15 and all hell brooke loose, the crowd rushed the barriers and by the end of Welcome to Paradise, Billie Joe Armstrong was egging the crowd to rip down the WFNX balloon hanging on the stage. The concert played about 6 more songs until halfway through F.O.D., the plug was pulled on the concert due to the rowdiness of the crowd, and partially because, my dad believes the MDC wanted to protect the plants from being ripped up and having a repeat mudfight like the month before.
The Boston Phoenix ranked it #6 in its' top 40 greatest Boston concerts in history. WFNX took off after that as it began to have competitors as WBCN's then current format of a mixture of classic rock and newer rock music was moved over to sister station WZLX, one of the orignators of the classic rock format and WBCN instead adopted an active rock format to take on WFNX and so began the Boston Radio Wars.
The start and end of the Hatch Shell concert
WFNX also had a public affairs side, it aired One In Ten, the first and when it aired, the only show on commercial radio in the country dedicated to LGBT affairs. In July 1997, the station in cooperation with sister paper, The Boston Phoenix aired a reading of Allen Ginsberg's controversial poem Howl, most likely the only time it was heard on the American airwaves, as Ginsberg fans know that Pacifica's WBAI ended up airing their 2007 reading of Howl online out of fear due to FCC fines. That broadcast can be heard on WFNX's On Demand section under the Best of 1997. Of course, 1997 was also during WFNX's Radio Anarchy Boston format period, which is considered a low point in the station's history. But it moved on from the that, and the start of the century established a radio network of it's own, which 101.7 WFNX right in the center, WFEX/WPHX, both broadcasting on 92.1 in Southern NH and Maine respectively, and 103.7 WWRX in Providence, RI, which for a short time in 2003-2004 even had it's own lineup apparently. Not that I ever went down to Rhode Island, though we did drive to New Hampshire alot to stay at our trailer and having 92.1 to listen to was nice.
But alas, that time is at an end. And why, money. Radio is a business, and depends entirely on advertising because broadcast radio is free, their is no cost for you to listen to the radio, and as such is dependent on it. And if you been listening to the commercials on WFNX over the past year, it has been pretty. A good amount of the commercials have been cringe-worthy inducing ones advertising debt consolidation, structured settlement factoring transaction (i.e. converting settlement payments into a lump sum) and natural supplements for weight loss and erectile dysfunction mixed in with the occasional alcohol commercial and Newbury Comics commercial. It is very much a reflection of the current worldwide economic recession were in, and so I can see were Stephen Mindich is coming from, but I just wish it wasn't Clear Channel.
Why? Because Clear Channel is the antithesis of radio. It's all foreign to the market and out of town, the only local programming Clear Channel has in Boston are WJMN, Jammin' 94.5, a rap station (Granted, WFNX has played some rap in it's past and the Beastie Boys have always been a staple as long as I've been listening) and I hate rap. Well, actually, "Rhythmic Top 40" what ever the hell that is. And WXKS-FM, Kiss 108, which is Top 40 hits, and I'm not a big pop guy. Kiss 108's AM sister, WXKS-AM is Talk 1200, which is just syndicated AM conservative talk. At one point, it was branded Rush Radio 1200, to highlight the fact you could listen to that Oxy-addicted, fat ass gasbag conservative asshole Rush Limbaugh spew his toxic shit.
Of course, he's joined by other gasbags including ONE local talker. Jay Severin, who was WTKK 96.9 until he was fired for talking about how "I slept with virtually every young college girl I hired to be an intern or an employee for my firm." That among other fine gems such as calling Mexicans were "the world's lowest of primitives," along with, "It's millions of leeches from a primitive country come here to leech off you and, with it, they are ruining the schools, the hospitals, and a lot of life in America." And on Muslims? "You think we should befriend them. I think we should kill them." Lovely, right? How did he get back on radio? Clear Channel, of course, overlooked that for ratings and money.
Should I also mention that Clear Channel was bought out by Boston based private equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. Bain Capital is of course, Mitt Romney's former firm that he helped co-found. So that's another reason to dislike them, if you want. Not a big reason, but a reason nonetheless. Especially, if the postulating by radio geeks is true and 101.7 becomes home to a simulcast of WXKS-AM Talk 1200. But more about that it in a bit.
Back to Clear Channel, the only other station they own here in Boston is WKOX, an AM station that plays Spanish music. (Which is also one of the suggested formats, more about that) Yuck. Not sure about that one, but I'm pretty sure it's just a feed from Clear Channel...
Why? Because that's what Clear Channel is notorious for. And was criticized for doing so in Minot, North Dakota when a train carrying ammonia derailed and leaked. There were nine radio stations in Minot at the time, and six of them were owned by Clear Channel and were of course automated. Public authorities wanted to use the station to get warning out, but there was no one to be found at the stations. Eventually, they found the station director... six hours later. Granted, the authorities should have activated the Emergency Alert System, but that might be a little hard when "other critical systems throughout Minot were either inoperable or had failed, including the public siren system, electricity in parts of the town, and the 9-1-1 telephone system, which became overloaded."
And to me, that's why Clear Channel sucks. Now, it's unknown what the new format will be. It's been hinted in the papers and online that it might be Spanish/Latino music radio, most likely being a WKOX-AM simlucast? So, WKOX-FM 101.7 maybe? The other format is supposedly country, I'm guessing to go up against WKLB-FM 99.5, Boston's only other country station. Either way, both formats suck, at least to me, I'm not Hispanic or Latino, so the Spanish format is something I won't be tuning to. The same with country format, I'm not a big country fan by other means other Johnny Cash just because his sound always veered away from the Nashville sound, which I despise.
The other format being postulated on radio geek forums is that Clear Channel will make the station a simulcast of WXKS-AM Talk 1200's conservative talk format, because Clear Channel blew a couple million to upgrade the WXKS-AM signal and it hasn't done much ratings wise, struggling against other AM talkers, WRKO and news/talk WBZ and FM talk station, WTKK. But anyways, conservative talk radio... NO FUCKING WAY will I listen to pile of bile vomit and shit. Some other are thinking it might go liberal/progressive talk and pickup some of the AM prog talkers that the local progressive talk station, WWZN, just dropped in programming changeup. Would I listen... maybe, maybe not. Probably not.
All in all, WFNX will be missed.
But like Frank Turner.... I still believe.
Why? Because Clear Channel is the antithesis of radio. It's all foreign to the market and out of town, the only local programming Clear Channel has in Boston are WJMN, Jammin' 94.5, a rap station (Granted, WFNX has played some rap in it's past and the Beastie Boys have always been a staple as long as I've been listening) and I hate rap. Well, actually, "Rhythmic Top 40" what ever the hell that is. And WXKS-FM, Kiss 108, which is Top 40 hits, and I'm not a big pop guy. Kiss 108's AM sister, WXKS-AM is Talk 1200, which is just syndicated AM conservative talk. At one point, it was branded Rush Radio 1200, to highlight the fact you could listen to that Oxy-addicted, fat ass gasbag conservative asshole Rush Limbaugh spew his toxic shit.
Of course, he's joined by other gasbags including ONE local talker. Jay Severin, who was WTKK 96.9 until he was fired for talking about how "I slept with virtually every young college girl I hired to be an intern or an employee for my firm." That among other fine gems such as calling Mexicans were "the world's lowest of primitives," along with, "It's millions of leeches from a primitive country come here to leech off you and, with it, they are ruining the schools, the hospitals, and a lot of life in America." And on Muslims? "You think we should befriend them. I think we should kill them." Lovely, right? How did he get back on radio? Clear Channel, of course, overlooked that for ratings and money.
Should I also mention that Clear Channel was bought out by Boston based private equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. Bain Capital is of course, Mitt Romney's former firm that he helped co-found. So that's another reason to dislike them, if you want. Not a big reason, but a reason nonetheless. Especially, if the postulating by radio geeks is true and 101.7 becomes home to a simulcast of WXKS-AM Talk 1200. But more about that it in a bit.
Back to Clear Channel, the only other station they own here in Boston is WKOX, an AM station that plays Spanish music. (Which is also one of the suggested formats, more about that) Yuck. Not sure about that one, but I'm pretty sure it's just a feed from Clear Channel...
Why? Because that's what Clear Channel is notorious for. And was criticized for doing so in Minot, North Dakota when a train carrying ammonia derailed and leaked. There were nine radio stations in Minot at the time, and six of them were owned by Clear Channel and were of course automated. Public authorities wanted to use the station to get warning out, but there was no one to be found at the stations. Eventually, they found the station director... six hours later. Granted, the authorities should have activated the Emergency Alert System, but that might be a little hard when "other critical systems throughout Minot were either inoperable or had failed, including the public siren system, electricity in parts of the town, and the 9-1-1 telephone system, which became overloaded."
And to me, that's why Clear Channel sucks. Now, it's unknown what the new format will be. It's been hinted in the papers and online that it might be Spanish/Latino music radio, most likely being a WKOX-AM simlucast? So, WKOX-FM 101.7 maybe? The other format is supposedly country, I'm guessing to go up against WKLB-FM 99.5, Boston's only other country station. Either way, both formats suck, at least to me, I'm not Hispanic or Latino, so the Spanish format is something I won't be tuning to. The same with country format, I'm not a big country fan by other means other Johnny Cash just because his sound always veered away from the Nashville sound, which I despise.
The other format being postulated on radio geek forums is that Clear Channel will make the station a simulcast of WXKS-AM Talk 1200's conservative talk format, because Clear Channel blew a couple million to upgrade the WXKS-AM signal and it hasn't done much ratings wise, struggling against other AM talkers, WRKO and news/talk WBZ and FM talk station, WTKK. But anyways, conservative talk radio... NO FUCKING WAY will I listen to pile of bile vomit and shit. Some other are thinking it might go liberal/progressive talk and pickup some of the AM prog talkers that the local progressive talk station, WWZN, just dropped in programming changeup. Would I listen... maybe, maybe not. Probably not.
All in all, WFNX will be missed.
But like Frank Turner.... I still believe.
The unofficial anthem of WFNX