WCAS, Cambridge, Massachusetts
AM-740
| From
sometime in the early 1970s to May of 1981, there existed a remarkable
little radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It had only 250
watts of power; it was AM; and it had to sign off the air at
sunset. By those measures, it was the least among the
dozens of Boston-area radio stations. Yet, many people recall it
fondly to this day. This page is dedicated to
those who created and who listened to |
| WCAS. |
| This page is maintained by Dan Murphy. Email dan. |
| Latest additions: June 2008: Our
email handler above was not working for quite some time, so if you sent
a message and didn't get a response, please try again.
February 2008: Off-the-air recordings of WCAS during the Blizzard of 1978. March 2008: Reggae Bloodlines hosted by Peter Simon Coming Soon: Off-the-air recordings from 1973-1975. |
1972-1976
- The format for which WCAS became known and which so many people wanted to "save" evolved into being in the early 1970s during the time that Rick Starr was program director. In his recollections of those years, Rick gives generous credit to several other staff members for the end result. It is those recollections which prompted the creation of this page, and they may be found here.
Rick Starr and Neila Smith, circa December, 1973
March 19, 1976
On March 19, 1976, the ownership of WCAS
officially changed to Wickus Island Broadcasting Corp. During the
preceeding 3-4 years, the station had twice been scheduled to be sold
to owners with plans to use the station for religious broadcasts.
Comments from community groups were filed with the FCC protesting the
prospective format change, and the FCC delayed approval of the sale
until the prospective buyers withdrew.
| With the completion of the sale
to Wickus, that particular threat
subsided. On the morning of March 19, 1976, Rick Starr signed the
station on the air, noted the change of ownership, and played a most
interesting song to begin the day and the years of Wickus
management. Click
here for the WCAS
signon of March 19, 1976. Later that morning, the "music news" was preempted for a summary of the history and sale of WCAS. The segment was produced by Rick Starr and includes an interview with the new owner, Dan Murphy. |
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January, 1977 - Concert Calendar
February, 1978 - The Blizzard of '78
February 2008:
We just passed the 30th anniversary of the "Blizzard of 1978",
something that anyone in the Boston at the time remembers well. A
state of emergency was declared in Massachusetts for the rest of the
week while we dealt with, among other things, hundreds of cars
abandoned on Rt 128 and other roadways. It also provided a unique
experience for WCAS staff and listeners for that week -- the station
was on the air at night, a practice allowed by FCC rules in times of
emergency. The staff worked long hours, and volunteers came in to
help gather and organize local storm-related information.
Prompted by retrospectives around the anniversary, Pete Stassa
dug out several hours of off-the-air recordings of the station during
the emergency and has kindly provided them for us. (The files
have been divided into 10-minute segments for ease of online
listening.) Seg1 Seg2 Seg3 Seg4 Seg5 Seg6 Seg7 Seg8 Seg9 Seg10
- This site is new as of August 18, 2004. Much history will be added in the future. For now, enjoy this collection of bumper stickers spanning the lifetime of WCAS.
- If you have memorabilia or recordings of WCAS to share, we would love to add them to the collection. Let us know.
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