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Viewers like you make this
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Downloaded from
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Support your local PBS Station.
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This is March 15, 1968.
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00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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00:00:08,625 --> 00:00:09,083
And now it's time
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00:00:09,125 --> 00:00:12,375
for our revolutionary
new experiment in radio.
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This is WBCN in Boston...
Jerry Garcia Band, Duane Allman,
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00:00:23,500 --> 00:00:24,750
they're all here.
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00:00:40,500 --> 00:00:43,083
Railroad tracks on
Mass. Avenue were blockaded
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for a while tonight in Cambridge
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00:00:45,458 --> 00:00:47,875
in a militant anti-war protest.
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This is WBCN in Boston,
the American Revolution.
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By the score,
the hippies have been descending
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on the Boston Common.
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Their recreation area is this
grassy plot
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00:01:25,417 --> 00:01:28,375
on the corner
of Charles and Beacon Streets.
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00:01:28,417 --> 00:01:31,542
The summer
before was the Summer of Love
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00:01:31,667 --> 00:01:35,875
in San Francisco-- we didn't
have a Haight-Ashbury community.
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We did have the Boston Common.
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- Hi, hello.
- Hi.
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- Why are you here?
- Because I
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like love-ins.
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00:01:44,291 --> 00:01:46,041
Is it possible to love
everybody?
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- Yes.
- How come?
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00:01:48,792 --> 00:01:50,041
How come people haven't loved
everybody for 2, 000 years?
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00:01:50,125 --> 00:01:53,041
Because they've been
mixed up.
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00:01:54,417 --> 00:01:57,667
The very presence
and activity of this community
29
00:01:57,750 --> 00:02:00,750
has caused crossfire
and conflict from other groups
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00:02:00,792 --> 00:02:02,041
inside the community of Boston.
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00:02:02,166 --> 00:02:06,291
Namely, the police department,
local businessmen,
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00:02:06,417 --> 00:02:08,125
and members of the
Boston City Council.
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00:02:08,250 --> 00:02:09,750
If you've got a group of people
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00:02:09,875 --> 00:02:11,500
who have no means of
communicating
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00:02:11,583 --> 00:02:14,333
with the establishment, as has
been the case with the hippies,
36
00:02:14,375 --> 00:02:17,583
then communication
becomes the primary problem.
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00:02:27,875 --> 00:02:29,875
These people think
that the,
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00:02:29,959 --> 00:02:32,709
the normal community, the
"straights," as they call it,
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00:02:32,750 --> 00:02:34,333
just don't understand them,
40
00:02:34,375 --> 00:02:37,834
don't want to understand them,
and completely reject them.
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00:02:37,875 --> 00:02:40,125
And they just go
from bad to worse.
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00:02:46,250 --> 00:02:50,000
Conformity gives shape and size
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00:02:50,083 --> 00:02:53,083
and character to society,
doesn't it?
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00:02:53,125 --> 00:02:56,500
Just think of these hippies down
on Charles Street,
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00:02:56,625 --> 00:02:59,709
every one of whom is trying to
look different from the other.
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Aren't they a mess?
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00:03:12,125 --> 00:03:13,333
I would hope that the,
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00:03:13,375 --> 00:03:15,125
most of these people would
take up a trade
49
00:03:15,250 --> 00:03:19,000
or a profession and get to work
50
00:03:19,125 --> 00:03:21,458
and help to build a better
America.
51
00:03:23,500 --> 00:03:26,750
Hippies have caused a little bit
of problem in our,
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00:03:26,875 --> 00:03:28,750
in our business.
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00:03:33,375 --> 00:03:34,125
They're using the Boston Common
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as a, as a lavatory.
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They're full of bugs
and parasites.
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You show them a bar of soap,
they'll run for the hills.
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00:03:43,375 --> 00:03:45,250
I mean, what is going to happen?
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00:03:45,375 --> 00:03:49,333
This is not the same city
of Boston that we grew up in.
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00:03:49,375 --> 00:03:52,458
JOSEPH F. TIMILTY:
Boston Common was set up
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originally for the benefit of
all the people of Boston.
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Today, a colony of unwashed,
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00:03:58,500 --> 00:04:02,750
unshaven people have managed
to infest
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00:04:02,875 --> 00:04:08,000
that area and desecrate that
community by their love-ins,
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00:04:08,125 --> 00:04:10,375
their sit-ins, their smoke-ins,
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00:04:10,458 --> 00:04:14,750
and a few other ins that I
wouldn't dare to describe today.
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00:04:14,875 --> 00:04:18,542
We now have a different type
of pollution: people pollution,
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00:04:18,667 --> 00:04:20,250
hippie pollution,
the flower people.
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All I am asking is
for the police department
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00:04:24,750 --> 00:04:27,041
to enforce the regulations.
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00:04:33,417 --> 00:04:35,417
My name is Ray Riepen,
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and in 1966, I moved
to Cambridge and
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was going to do some
graduate work
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00:04:43,667 --> 00:04:45,792
at the Harvard Law School.
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00:04:45,917 --> 00:04:48,750
Shortly after that,
I opened the first rock club
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on the East Coast, called
the Boston Tea Party.
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00:04:51,875 --> 00:04:55,667
A woman whose divorce
I'd handled called me one day
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00:04:55,750 --> 00:04:58,500
and asked me if I would do some
free legal work
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for Andy Warhol and Film-Makers'
Co-op in New York,
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which had been backed by
the Ford Foundation.
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They had talked about
opening a Boston branch.
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Shortly after I put my money up
and signed the lease,
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she called me and told me that
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the Ford Foundation
had changed their mind
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and that they, they were not
going to open
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00:05:19,625 --> 00:05:24,250
a Boston branch
of the Film-Makers' Co-op.
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00:05:24,291 --> 00:05:26,417
So, I quickly had to figure out
what I was going to do,
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00:05:26,500 --> 00:05:30,417
besides file for bankruptcy.
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00:05:30,542 --> 00:05:36,291
It just occurred to me that
with 240,000 students in Boston,
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00:05:36,417 --> 00:05:38,250
that the best chance I had
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to pay the rent on this thing
was to give,
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you know, play rock music there
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00:05:44,542 --> 00:05:47,250
and have, you know,
have a rock club.
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We're at the Boston Tea Party
tonight!
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In Boston, Massachusetts.
All right, right on.
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There is no place
like this place,
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00:06:00,417 --> 00:06:02,500
and runnin' around about
this place,
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00:06:02,542 --> 00:06:04,750
lookin' at things like this
place...
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00:06:15,417 --> 00:06:17,500
Well, we were
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00:06:17,542 --> 00:06:19,417
all hippies, we all had long
hair, and Ray didn't.
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00:06:19,542 --> 00:06:22,375
Ray was a straight guy.
101
00:06:22,417 --> 00:06:23,417
You would not have picked
out Ray
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00:06:23,500 --> 00:06:26,375
to be the owner of the
Tea Party.
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00:06:26,417 --> 00:06:29,417
Ray was kind of an interesting
character, I mean, here he is,
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00:06:29,542 --> 00:06:32,750
so very much the Kansas City
lawyer.
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00:06:32,792 --> 00:06:35,291
He had a way of kind of sitting
back from it all,
106
00:06:35,417 --> 00:06:38,417
and I think that
he quickly realized
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00:06:38,500 --> 00:06:41,166
that he was really
on to something.
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00:06:41,291 --> 00:06:43,417
Well, when you went in, it was,
like, this old
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kind of temple-like building.
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00:06:46,125 --> 00:06:50,917
Across the top of the stage,
it said, "Praise Ye the Lord."
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In the '30s, the building had
been used as a Calvary temple,
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so there was this little,
you know, religious overtones.
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Up in the balcony would be
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the light show.
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00:07:01,417 --> 00:07:05,166
A filmmaker
named Ken Brown,
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who produced these great
little films of stuff
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00:07:08,041 --> 00:07:12,667
that he cut out and these little
characters who'd move around.
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00:07:15,542 --> 00:07:18,041
It had a good vibe
to it, you know?
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00:07:19,417 --> 00:07:22,291
It was just a great,
funky place.
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00:07:25,917 --> 00:07:27,291
We had the real thing.
121
00:07:36,875 --> 00:07:38,375
I was a Tea Party regular.
122
00:07:38,417 --> 00:07:42,041
I went there as often
as I could, I mean...
123
00:07:42,125 --> 00:07:42,417
Let's think about
this for a second,
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00:07:42,500 --> 00:07:44,792
the fact that I could go see
the Who
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00:07:44,917 --> 00:07:46,417
for $3.50 is insane.
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00:07:46,500 --> 00:07:49,750
There is a terrific poster from
May
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00:07:49,792 --> 00:07:50,542
of 1969 that just tells you
128
00:07:50,625 --> 00:07:54,750
what was going on at the
Tea Party.
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00:07:54,792 --> 00:07:57,542
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
was opening for the Who
130
00:07:57,667 --> 00:08:01,250
and they were doing three nights
at the Tea Party.
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00:08:01,291 --> 00:08:03,291
The Allman Brothers played there
132
00:08:03,375 --> 00:08:05,291
for the, their first time up
north.
133
00:08:05,417 --> 00:08:07,250
Duane Allman, of course,
was there.
134
00:08:07,291 --> 00:08:09,500
It was amazing that you could
see music
135
00:08:09,542 --> 00:08:13,417
of that level in such
a small, intimate environment.
136
00:08:13,500 --> 00:08:16,875
There was
a whole transition period
137
00:08:16,917 --> 00:08:21,000
that was starting to happen with
these traditional blues players
138
00:08:21,041 --> 00:08:25,542
performing in front of a white
audience for the first time.
139
00:08:25,625 --> 00:08:27,875
People just never really
saw anything like that.
140
00:08:27,917 --> 00:08:29,542
Seeing people like Muddy Waters
for the first time
141
00:08:29,667 --> 00:08:34,125
was just mind-boggling.
142
00:08:43,625 --> 00:08:45,375
Ray was good at finding talent,
143
00:08:45,458 --> 00:08:46,709
bands that these days,
144
00:08:46,750 --> 00:08:49,250
you'd say, "My God,
Led Zeppelin, really?"
145
00:08:49,333 --> 00:08:50,583
Yes, yes, really.
146
00:08:55,583 --> 00:08:58,959
Led Zeppelin made their
first U.S. tour
147
00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,000
in January '69.
148
00:09:02,083 --> 00:09:03,375
They actually had only about
149
00:09:03,500 --> 00:09:05,125
an hour's worth of music
in their set.
150
00:09:05,250 --> 00:09:07,583
The audience
was just going crazy.
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00:09:07,625 --> 00:09:10,375
Led Zeppelin started just
improvising,
152
00:09:10,458 --> 00:09:13,625
and they went on to play
for four hours.
153
00:09:13,709 --> 00:09:15,333
Their manager,
a guy named Peter Grant,
154
00:09:15,375 --> 00:09:16,500
was quoted afterwards, saying,
155
00:09:16,583 --> 00:09:19,500
"Wow, I knew we'd made it when
I saw
156
00:09:19,625 --> 00:09:22,500
the reaction of the people
at the Tea Party."
157
00:09:29,125 --> 00:09:31,875
Thank you very much,
this is a song called "Heroin."
158
00:09:32,625 --> 00:09:35,875
The last weekend
of May of 1967,
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00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,125
the Velvet Underground
played the Tea Party.
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00:09:39,250 --> 00:09:43,625
It turns out that this was
a really, really important gig,
161
00:09:43,750 --> 00:09:46,750
because up until that time,
they'd been part
162
00:09:46,875 --> 00:09:49,750
of Andy Warhol's Exploding
Plastic Inevitable,
163
00:09:49,875 --> 00:09:52,250
and the multimedia
and the whole thing.
164
00:09:52,375 --> 00:09:54,750
And this was the first gig that
they ever had
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00:09:54,834 --> 00:09:58,250
where it was just
the four band members
166
00:09:58,375 --> 00:10:00,709
playing as a rock band.
167
00:10:03,500 --> 00:10:05,208
LOU REED You know,
Boston was the whole thing,
168
00:10:05,250 --> 00:10:06,583
as far as we were concerned.
169
00:10:06,625 --> 00:10:09,875
It was just, it was the first
time we played in public
170
00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:11,500
and didn't have all
those things thrown at us.
171
00:10:11,625 --> 00:10:15,458
The, you know, the "leather
freaks," the...
172
00:10:15,500 --> 00:10:17,083
You know, "druggies."
173
00:10:17,125 --> 00:10:19,375
It was the first time anybody
just listened to the music,
174
00:10:19,458 --> 00:10:22,250
which blew our minds
collectively.
175
00:10:31,083 --> 00:10:34,625
When Ray Riepen first developed
the, the whole concept
176
00:10:34,750 --> 00:10:37,583
of the Tea Party, there wasn't
any radio station at all
177
00:10:37,625 --> 00:10:41,458
that played any, any of this
kind of music.
178
00:10:41,500 --> 00:10:43,834
The only place on radio that you
could listen
179
00:10:43,875 --> 00:10:47,000
to rock and roll was on A.M.
radio,
180
00:10:47,125 --> 00:10:51,458
and you got 40 songs played over
and over again.
181
00:10:51,500 --> 00:10:53,333
That's why they called
it Top 40.
182
00:11:02,834 --> 00:11:04,709
At the time, we didn't notice
183
00:11:04,750 --> 00:11:09,125
that it was, like, the same
songs every 30 minutes or so,
184
00:11:09,250 --> 00:11:13,208
because it was kinetic, and it
was active, and it was loud.
185
00:11:13,250 --> 00:11:16,250
- Plays hits number...
186
00:11:16,375 --> 00:11:16,583
Five, four, three,
two...
187
00:11:16,625 --> 00:11:19,083
One, one, one, one.
188
00:11:21,709 --> 00:11:26,250
Your job was not so much
to be responsive
189
00:11:26,333 --> 00:11:26,709
to the audience as it was
190
00:11:26,750 --> 00:11:29,625
to force this music
down their throats.
191
00:11:29,709 --> 00:11:31,959
And then putting them
on the air
192
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:33,834
in this high-energy format
193
00:11:33,875 --> 00:11:37,083
with 18 minutes
of national commercials,
194
00:11:37,125 --> 00:11:39,458
very highly produced
commercials, every hour.
195
00:11:39,500 --> 00:11:42,500
Oh, there's
a miserable old acne pimple!
196
00:11:42,583 --> 00:11:43,750
What to do?
197
00:11:43,875 --> 00:11:47,959
The DJs were all, usually
outsized personalities,
198
00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:49,625
sometimes screaming,
sometimes not,
199
00:11:49,750 --> 00:11:52,750
but always with some sort
of schtick.
200
00:11:52,875 --> 00:11:53,750
We're gonna play
this one for everyone saying
201
00:11:53,875 --> 00:11:56,250
"Whoo, whoo, Ginsburg!"...
202
00:11:56,333 --> 00:11:57,750
...tonight at Adventure Car Hop.
203
00:12:01,250 --> 00:12:03,250
And they
always talked like this.
204
00:12:03,375 --> 00:12:04,834
"Hey, Sunday, simply...
205
00:12:04,875 --> 00:12:08,458
Chris Karamesines and his nitro-
burning dragster!", you know.
206
00:12:08,500 --> 00:12:10,583
In Italian,
there's a great phrase,
207
00:12:10,625 --> 00:12:12,834
and the opera singers use it,
"senza coglionis."
208
00:12:14,333 --> 00:12:16,875
It means without balls,
literally.
209
00:12:16,959 --> 00:12:20,000
And, you know...
And you know something is
210
00:12:20,083 --> 00:12:23,000
sort of, sort of white bread,
it's a sort of...
211
00:12:23,083 --> 00:12:26,458
It lacks-- it lacks feeling,
it lacks passion.
212
00:12:26,500 --> 00:12:29,959
And I think that a lot of that
was what was being broadcast.
213
00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:31,750
Everybody had the
same records,
214
00:12:31,834 --> 00:12:32,709
but you couldn't hear it
on the radio.
215
00:12:32,750 --> 00:12:34,625
Jefferson Airplane,
their debut album.
216
00:12:40,959 --> 00:12:44,333
Steve Miller Band,
Quicksilver Messenger Service.
217
00:12:44,375 --> 00:12:46,500
You know, jazz rock
was being born,
218
00:12:46,625 --> 00:12:48,959
and Cream's album came out,
and Donovan.
219
00:12:54,375 --> 00:12:55,875
The music business
220
00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:01,709
changed by 1968 to, 70% of the
record sales were albums.
221
00:13:01,750 --> 00:13:04,083
And some record would come out,
222
00:13:04,125 --> 00:13:05,875
and you would just listen to it
over and over again
223
00:13:05,959 --> 00:13:07,959
and you would just talk
about it.
224
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,500
And the Beatles, in 1967, when
they released "Sergeant Pepper,"
225
00:13:12,583 --> 00:13:14,625
they have talked about knowing
the fact
226
00:13:14,709 --> 00:13:16,458
that when they put that out,
227
00:13:16,500 --> 00:13:19,750
they were going to completely
dominate the conversation
228
00:13:19,875 --> 00:13:23,834
and the airwaves about this
record-- and they were right.
229
00:13:30,250 --> 00:13:31,959
Well,
"Sergeant Pepper" started it.
230
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:36,000
That was an album that really
changed the way we dressed,
231
00:13:36,083 --> 00:13:37,750
the way we looked, the way we
thought, what drugs we took.
232
00:13:37,834 --> 00:13:40,834
You know, "A Day in the Life"
comes across
233
00:13:40,875 --> 00:13:43,375
as one of the most important
songs I've ever heard,
234
00:13:43,458 --> 00:13:45,000
and it still is,
235
00:13:45,125 --> 00:13:47,709
about how absurd a day can be,
and how, when you get stoned,
236
00:13:47,750 --> 00:13:49,208
you see it from a different
perspective.
237
00:13:49,250 --> 00:13:51,375
I mean, really,
that's what that song's about.
238
00:13:51,500 --> 00:13:55,000
"Woke up, got out of bed,
took a smoke and then went..."
239
00:14:05,875 --> 00:14:08,875
Well, I got the idea
that in a town
240
00:14:08,959 --> 00:14:15,000
of 240,000 students,
84 colleges,
241
00:14:15,083 --> 00:14:17,875
it might be, you know,
appropriate to play the music
242
00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,875
they were buying
at the record stores.
243
00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,333
I went down to the N.A.F.M.B.
convention,
244
00:14:24,375 --> 00:14:26,959
which was the week before
245
00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:28,750
the National Association of
Broadcasters'
246
00:14:28,875 --> 00:14:30,500
principal convention,
247
00:14:30,625 --> 00:14:32,500
and I thought, "Well, I'll go
down there and tell them
248
00:14:32,583 --> 00:14:34,875
what I'm thinking about doing
and see what they say."
249
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,000
And so, you know,
I told them that I thought,
250
00:14:39,083 --> 00:14:42,875
you know, I'll limit the
commercials to eight an hour
251
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,458
and have conversational tone
252
00:14:45,500 --> 00:14:49,083
and play album cuts.
253
00:14:49,125 --> 00:14:52,583
They all asked me, well,
what my background was,
254
00:14:52,625 --> 00:14:53,834
and I told them, well,
I was a lawyer,
255
00:14:53,875 --> 00:14:56,083
and I was doing graduate work
256
00:14:56,125 --> 00:14:58,458
at Harvard Law School,
and they suggested
257
00:14:58,500 --> 00:15:02,000
that I concentrate on that
and leave broadcasting to them,
258
00:15:02,125 --> 00:15:06,500
because I was the dumbest person
they had ever met.
259
00:15:06,625 --> 00:15:10,208
That there was nothing about
my concept of programming
260
00:15:10,250 --> 00:15:14,250
that was economically viable
in America.
261
00:15:14,375 --> 00:15:18,208
He was what we
needed, he was an entrepreneur
262
00:15:18,250 --> 00:15:22,959
who had kind of the affinity
for the culture
263
00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,709
and, but at the same time,
kind of
264
00:15:26,750 --> 00:15:30,500
the personality
of the entrepreneur,
265
00:15:30,625 --> 00:15:35,250
which is kind of, "My way or the
highway, I have this vision."
266
00:15:35,333 --> 00:15:40,583
So I began to pull
Dun & Bradstreets on all the,
267
00:15:40,625 --> 00:15:44,083
you know, radio stations
in Boston.
268
00:15:44,125 --> 00:15:48,875
And here was WBCN
that had been in Chapter 11,
269
00:15:48,959 --> 00:15:53,583
and it was about to go down
again and was late payment.
270
00:15:53,625 --> 00:15:55,083
And they were somebody
that I knew that
271
00:15:55,125 --> 00:15:58,875
they had to be desperately
looking for an alternative
272
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:00,083
to just going off the air.
273
00:16:00,125 --> 00:16:03,083
So he wound up connecting
274
00:16:03,125 --> 00:16:06,083
with a man named
T. Mitchell Hastings.
275
00:16:06,125 --> 00:16:08,750
T. Mitchell
Hastings was a, a genius,
276
00:16:08,875 --> 00:16:11,333
and he also created
a small radio called
277
00:16:11,375 --> 00:16:13,750
the FM Hastings Jr.,
278
00:16:13,834 --> 00:16:16,500
which was a small,
pocket-sized radio.
279
00:16:16,583 --> 00:16:17,083
So T. Mitchell Hastings
280
00:16:17,125 --> 00:16:21,500
owned a radio station
in Boston named WBCN.
281
00:16:21,583 --> 00:16:24,750
But then he began to acquire
some other stations.
282
00:16:24,875 --> 00:16:26,000
In Hartford, WHCN.
283
00:16:26,083 --> 00:16:29,083
WNCN, which was in
New York City.
284
00:16:29,125 --> 00:16:32,208
And these stations were all
essentially bankrupt,
285
00:16:32,250 --> 00:16:34,709
because they were
classical music stations
286
00:16:34,750 --> 00:16:36,125
that couldn't sell any
advertising
287
00:16:36,208 --> 00:16:39,750
and, you know, begging on air
for people to buy spots.
288
00:16:39,875 --> 00:16:40,750
DELLA CHIESA
You're listening
289
00:16:40,875 --> 00:16:42,000
to Concert Network Radio.
290
00:16:42,083 --> 00:16:44,875
We have been
in severe financial trouble,
291
00:16:44,959 --> 00:16:46,458
looking for funds here at WBCN.
292
00:16:46,500 --> 00:16:47,959
If you can help us, send your
contribution
293
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,208
to 171 Newbury Street,
Back Bay, Boston,
294
00:16:50,250 --> 00:16:52,000
and if we don't have
adequate funds,
295
00:16:52,125 --> 00:16:53,250
we'll be forced to go off
the air.
296
00:16:53,375 --> 00:16:54,000
We had problems, you know?
297
00:16:54,083 --> 00:16:57,458
We had people coming in
from the Associated Press...
298
00:16:57,500 --> 00:16:58,125
In those days, we had the,
299
00:16:58,208 --> 00:17:00,709
we had the newswire
right at the studio.
300
00:17:00,750 --> 00:17:03,083
Disconnecting it, taking it out.
301
00:17:03,125 --> 00:17:05,041
Because the bill hadn't
been paid.
302
00:17:05,125 --> 00:17:07,542
And I went to him and I said,
303
00:17:07,625 --> 00:17:08,125
"Mr. Hastings," you know,
"what am I gonna do?"
304
00:17:08,166 --> 00:17:10,417
I was program director
at the time.
305
00:17:10,542 --> 00:17:13,417
He said, "Well, read
from the newspaper."
306
00:17:13,542 --> 00:17:14,166
That was it.
307
00:17:14,250 --> 00:17:19,417
So, Ray was able to convince
this technical genius,
308
00:17:19,500 --> 00:17:20,667
T. Mitchell Hastings,
309
00:17:20,750 --> 00:17:23,417
into just giving him
the overnights.
310
00:17:23,500 --> 00:17:26,500
He knew exactly what was going
on in San Francisco,
311
00:17:26,542 --> 00:17:29,166
and in Pasadena, California,
and in New York,
312
00:17:29,250 --> 00:17:33,667
where other FM stations
took advantage of the fact
313
00:17:33,750 --> 00:17:36,041
that nobody wanted
to listen to FM,
314
00:17:36,125 --> 00:17:39,875
and started broadcasting rock
in stereo.
315
00:17:39,917 --> 00:17:43,291
I was supposed to be class
of '68 at Tufts.
316
00:17:43,417 --> 00:17:47,417
I was a philosophy major
with no career prospects.
317
00:17:47,542 --> 00:17:49,125
When I got to Tufts,
it just happened that
318
00:17:49,166 --> 00:17:50,166
the dorm that I was living in,
319
00:17:50,291 --> 00:17:54,917
the next room,
this guy named Joe Rogers
320
00:17:55,041 --> 00:17:57,917
was playing this incredible
Muddy Waters,
321
00:17:58,041 --> 00:17:59,667
he'd play Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
322
00:17:59,792 --> 00:18:03,166
Stuff that I'd never heard--
jaw-dropping, amazing music.
323
00:18:08,792 --> 00:18:10,875
So I was working at the,
324
00:18:10,917 --> 00:18:12,667
or doing a show
at the Tufts station,
325
00:18:12,750 --> 00:18:18,166
and one evening, unannounced,
Ray appeared there.
326
00:18:18,250 --> 00:18:19,041
I think that was easy enough
for him to do,
327
00:18:19,125 --> 00:18:21,792
because I'm pretty sure
we didn't lock the door.
328
00:18:21,875 --> 00:18:23,166
I listened to the college radio
stations
329
00:18:23,291 --> 00:18:27,375
and drove around, and then I
just drove over and walked in.
330
00:18:27,417 --> 00:18:28,041
They were on the air
and I just walked in
331
00:18:28,166 --> 00:18:31,166
and introduced myself
and I said,
332
00:18:31,250 --> 00:18:33,166
"I'm trying to get some time
on a network
333
00:18:33,250 --> 00:18:35,250
"and I need some announcers.
334
00:18:35,291 --> 00:18:38,500
Would you guys be interested
in going on real radio?"
335
00:18:38,542 --> 00:18:42,291
Meeting Ray was really
an interesting experience.
336
00:18:42,375 --> 00:18:44,041
I heard he controls the club,
the Boston Tea Party,
337
00:18:44,166 --> 00:18:47,000
very important guy,
and he's gonna start
338
00:18:47,041 --> 00:18:48,417
a commercial radio station.
339
00:18:48,542 --> 00:18:50,667
I'm, like, "Okay, fine,"
you know, "I'm in school,
340
00:18:50,750 --> 00:18:52,917
I'm a full-time student,
what can I do?"
341
00:18:53,041 --> 00:18:54,667
But I went over to his
apartment,
342
00:18:54,750 --> 00:18:56,125
which was this amazing,
343
00:18:56,166 --> 00:18:59,041
modern, gorgeous place in
Cambridge, but oddly enough,
344
00:18:59,166 --> 00:19:02,166
there wasn't one piece
of furniture in the room, okay?
345
00:19:02,250 --> 00:19:04,125
He had a lot of books stacked
around,
346
00:19:04,166 --> 00:19:06,041
but no furniture, and I'm, like,
347
00:19:06,166 --> 00:19:08,125
"If this guy is so freaking
successful,
348
00:19:08,166 --> 00:19:10,250
why doesn't he have any
furniture?"
349
00:19:10,291 --> 00:19:12,166
I told them
what I had in mind,
350
00:19:12,250 --> 00:19:15,166
and they probably thought
I was crazy, too, because,
351
00:19:15,250 --> 00:19:17,750
you know, it didn't exist yet.
352
00:19:17,792 --> 00:19:21,792
The deal was, if you worked
on a college station, maybe,
353
00:19:21,917 --> 00:19:23,375
was to try and be professional,
354
00:19:23,417 --> 00:19:25,291
and of course, professional
meant standard broadcasting,
355
00:19:25,375 --> 00:19:28,875
which I thought was ugly radio.
356
00:19:28,917 --> 00:19:31,667
And that was one of
the genius parts
357
00:19:31,792 --> 00:19:36,875
of Ray Riepen's plan
and his business model for WBCN,
358
00:19:36,917 --> 00:19:38,291
is that he did not hire
359
00:19:38,375 --> 00:19:41,667
professional radio announcers--
he hired kids.
360
00:19:41,792 --> 00:19:46,375
What he cared about
was your passion for the music
361
00:19:46,417 --> 00:19:49,500
and what was called at the time
the underground culture.
362
00:19:49,542 --> 00:19:51,792
I'm looking at...
363
00:19:51,917 --> 00:19:54,375
...a momentary flashback
364
00:19:54,417 --> 00:19:56,792
caught in time, which is
365
00:19:56,917 --> 00:20:00,041
the BCN air staff.
366
00:20:00,125 --> 00:20:02,166
Jim Parry was one of the DJs.
367
00:20:02,250 --> 00:20:07,166
Joe Rogers was then
Mississippi Harold Wilson.
368
00:20:07,250 --> 00:20:09,917
Sam Kopper,
369
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:11,375
J.J. Jackson,
370
00:20:11,417 --> 00:20:15,291
who was the first
African American DJ at BCN.
371
00:20:15,375 --> 00:20:18,875
Then there's Steven Clean,
Steven Segal.
372
00:20:18,917 --> 00:20:21,542
Al Perry, who was also a DJ,
373
00:20:21,625 --> 00:20:25,417
but also was a guy who kind
of took one for the team
374
00:20:25,500 --> 00:20:29,166
and became a sales guy,
ultimately sales manager,
375
00:20:29,291 --> 00:20:31,667
and then general manager.
376
00:20:31,750 --> 00:20:33,375
You can see Al wearing a tie,
377
00:20:33,417 --> 00:20:37,000
so he was probably fresh from
a sales call to some agency.
378
00:20:37,041 --> 00:20:39,000
This truly tells the tale.
379
00:20:39,041 --> 00:20:41,792
When we got there,
we were just excited
380
00:20:41,917 --> 00:20:44,875
and in awe of the idea
that we were being allowed
381
00:20:44,917 --> 00:20:48,291
to play any sort of music
382
00:20:48,417 --> 00:20:52,500
and could speak any way
we wanted to on, on the radio.
383
00:20:52,542 --> 00:20:54,166
And then when it turned out that
the radio station
384
00:20:54,291 --> 00:20:59,041
was going to debut on
a Friday night, well, then,
385
00:20:59,125 --> 00:21:04,250
what they had to say was, "Well,
I guess, Rogers, it's you."
386
00:21:04,291 --> 00:21:06,542
It wasn't because I was
387
00:21:06,625 --> 00:21:08,625
their ace designated lead-off
hitter.
388
00:21:08,667 --> 00:21:10,417
It was, that's
how the schedule was,
389
00:21:10,542 --> 00:21:12,417
and my instructions were simply,
"Don't screw it up."
390
00:21:12,500 --> 00:21:16,250
We have been in
severe financial trouble
391
00:21:16,291 --> 00:21:18,917
here at WBCN-- we're
experimenting with new formats,
392
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:20,917
trying to kind of feel
our way around.
393
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:22,667
I'm Ron Della Chiesa,
I'll be here tomorrow evening
394
00:21:22,750 --> 00:21:25,375
with another mixed bag
of programming for you.
395
00:21:25,417 --> 00:21:28,875
And now it's time for our
revolutionary new experiment
396
00:21:28,917 --> 00:21:30,500
in radio, as we told you:
397
00:21:30,542 --> 00:21:34,792
our first live broadcast
with Mississippi Harold Wilson.
398
00:21:34,917 --> 00:21:41,917
So on, this would
be March 15 of 1968, yeah,
399
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:47,500
I carried my records up the
stairs to, up to the top floor
400
00:21:47,542 --> 00:21:50,667
of the Newbury Street building
where the station was.
401
00:21:50,792 --> 00:21:55,375
Began by playing some
Mothers of Invention,
402
00:21:55,417 --> 00:21:57,917
Frank Zappa, some sort of
farting and belching noises.
403
00:22:07,750 --> 00:22:12,917
That first broadcast,
March 15, 1968,
404
00:22:13,041 --> 00:22:14,792
I remember Joe Rogers,
Mississippi,
405
00:22:14,875 --> 00:22:18,875
you know, dropped the needle
and played amazing music,
406
00:22:18,917 --> 00:22:21,917
and it was a magical time.
407
00:22:45,417 --> 00:22:46,500
It was completely
free form,
408
00:22:46,542 --> 00:22:49,792
it was, play whatever we want,
bring in records from home.
409
00:22:49,875 --> 00:22:51,750
For the first time, there was an
outlet for music
410
00:22:51,792 --> 00:22:53,291
like this on the radio.
411
00:22:53,375 --> 00:22:56,375
This was music of substance,
these were artists of interest,
412
00:22:56,417 --> 00:22:58,166
these were artists
who displayed their roots
413
00:22:58,291 --> 00:22:59,417
and their influences.
414
00:22:59,542 --> 00:23:05,875
The music was just always
important to us,
415
00:23:05,917 --> 00:23:08,667
and it was clearly ours.
416
00:23:08,792 --> 00:23:11,667
Older people didn't like it,
didn't understand it.
417
00:23:11,750 --> 00:23:13,375
You'd hear Jimi Hendrix.
418
00:23:13,417 --> 00:23:17,166
Not, not necessarily
"Foxy Lady."
419
00:23:17,250 --> 00:23:18,542
You might hear "If 6 was 9."
420
00:23:18,667 --> 00:23:20,792
You'd hear a song six deep
into the Hendrix album.
421
00:23:26,542 --> 00:23:31,125
I remember Joe Rogers had
brought to the playlist,
422
00:23:31,166 --> 00:23:33,875
and I started playing one of
the earliest known recordings
423
00:23:33,917 --> 00:23:37,250
of Aretha Franklin, when she
was with a gospel choir,
424
00:23:37,291 --> 00:23:39,917
a stomping gospel song.
425
00:23:43,417 --> 00:23:45,667
Whatever rock was happening,
fine.
426
00:23:45,792 --> 00:23:47,542
You want to play some folk,
no problem.
427
00:23:47,625 --> 00:23:48,542
If you wanted to play some
Beethoven
428
00:23:48,625 --> 00:23:53,125
or some Carl Orff--
no problem, mix it up.
429
00:23:53,166 --> 00:23:56,417
Throw in some Monty Python,
throw in some spoken word.
430
00:23:56,542 --> 00:23:57,417
You never knew what
you were going to hear
431
00:23:57,542 --> 00:24:00,041
on the radio station.
432
00:24:00,125 --> 00:24:04,625
Every station would get the
records by the Firesign Theatre,
433
00:24:04,667 --> 00:24:05,500
and it would just take you
for a trip.
434
00:24:05,542 --> 00:24:08,417
It was literally...
435
00:24:08,542 --> 00:24:10,542
...acid-y, you know,
it was like acid.
436
00:24:13,041 --> 00:24:13,542
Nick Danger, Third Eye.
437
00:24:13,667 --> 00:24:16,542
I want to order a pizza
to go, and no anchovies.
438
00:24:16,667 --> 00:24:18,417
No anchovies?
You've got the wrong man.
439
00:24:18,542 --> 00:24:21,125
I spell my name Danger.
440
00:24:21,166 --> 00:24:22,291
What?
441
00:24:22,417 --> 00:24:24,000
You'd hear some Muddy,
442
00:24:24,041 --> 00:24:25,667
you'd hear some Grateful Dead,
you'd hear some Tom Rush--
443
00:24:25,750 --> 00:24:26,417
you'd hear a little bit
of everything.
444
00:24:26,542 --> 00:24:28,917
It was just, like, amazing.
445
00:24:34,667 --> 00:24:37,917
Quite simply,
you were not going to hear
446
00:24:38,041 --> 00:24:40,500
this music anywhere
except at WBCN.
447
00:24:40,542 --> 00:24:43,875
I remember the absolute shock
448
00:24:43,917 --> 00:24:49,417
of hearing long-form sets of
30, 40, 50 minutes,
449
00:24:49,542 --> 00:24:53,125
and suddenly we had found
on the radio
450
00:24:53,166 --> 00:24:55,166
what was the soundtrack
of our lives.
451
00:24:55,291 --> 00:24:57,417
It's so vivid to me what it was
like...
452
00:24:57,542 --> 00:24:59,875
You just walk in and,
453
00:24:59,917 --> 00:25:02,417
to a radio station,
and there'd be all these albums.
454
00:25:02,500 --> 00:25:04,417
You could tell by the color,
almost,
455
00:25:04,500 --> 00:25:07,000
of that one edge what artist
it was.
456
00:25:07,041 --> 00:25:08,792
We would pull these albums out,
457
00:25:08,917 --> 00:25:11,917
and, you know, you'd pull--
first, you'd pull four or five
458
00:25:12,041 --> 00:25:13,417
and say, "This is how
I am going to start my show."
459
00:25:13,500 --> 00:25:16,417
And then you start getting
inspired along the way,
460
00:25:16,500 --> 00:25:17,500
and you'd say, "Ah, this song
would go with..."
461
00:25:17,542 --> 00:25:20,291
And you'd run up
before the record ended
462
00:25:20,417 --> 00:25:23,041
and you find that album,
you pull it out,
463
00:25:23,125 --> 00:25:24,917
you go to the
other turntable that was empty,
464
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:26,792
and you put the record on,
slap it on there,
465
00:25:26,875 --> 00:25:28,417
and you'd queue it up.
466
00:25:28,500 --> 00:25:29,500
But if it was in the same key,
you'd let it go,
467
00:25:29,542 --> 00:25:32,667
and that was the magic moment
where the two songs
468
00:25:32,750 --> 00:25:35,542
would go together...
469
00:25:35,667 --> 00:25:37,291
And then the other song would
come up,
470
00:25:37,375 --> 00:25:38,750
and people would go...
471
00:25:38,792 --> 00:25:40,917
"Oh, man, that was great."
472
00:25:41,041 --> 00:25:42,667
I remember distinctly driving
473
00:25:42,792 --> 00:25:45,667
from New York to Boston, and BCN
you could just start getting,
474
00:25:45,750 --> 00:25:49,417
like, 40 minutes outside
of town,
475
00:25:49,500 --> 00:25:52,125
and I remember hearing
the static.
476
00:25:53,667 --> 00:25:58,000
Finally, it settled into a
song that I knew by Bob Dylan.
477
00:26:03,625 --> 00:26:05,917
And all of a sudden,
just hearing that coming
478
00:26:06,041 --> 00:26:10,542
through my speakers from
a radio station in Boston,
479
00:26:10,625 --> 00:26:12,542
I knew that I just felt home.
480
00:26:19,542 --> 00:26:22,291
One DJ would go from
10:30 to 2:00,
481
00:26:22,417 --> 00:26:25,542
and then from 2:00 to 5:30,
Peter Wolf would take over,
482
00:26:25,625 --> 00:26:28,041
you know, in the wee hours.
483
00:26:28,166 --> 00:26:30,500
Peter Wolf was a
well-known musician in town,
484
00:26:30,542 --> 00:26:34,250
and he was a rock star
in Boston--
485
00:26:34,291 --> 00:26:37,750
later, obviously,
a huge rock star.
486
00:26:37,792 --> 00:26:41,542
And he was doing 2:00 to 5:00
or 6:00 a.m., and you could just
487
00:26:41,667 --> 00:26:44,542
feel everything change
when Peter walked in the room.
488
00:26:44,625 --> 00:26:48,792
Ah, yes,
kooma labor gomma gabor.
489
00:26:48,917 --> 00:26:50,542
This is Woofer Goofer,
Mamma Toofer, Habba Doofer,
490
00:26:50,667 --> 00:26:55,542
you're listening to WBCN FM,
104.1 in Boston.
491
00:26:55,625 --> 00:26:58,792
And you know what WBCN mean?
492
00:26:58,875 --> 00:26:59,750
You know what WBCN means?
Wolf!
493
00:26:59,792 --> 00:27:01,667
You got it, baby, Wolf's
boss...
494
00:27:01,750 --> 00:27:04,041
Let it happen, cap'n!
495
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,000
I would be on the air when he
would come in,
496
00:27:08,041 --> 00:27:11,417
and he would almost always come
in with his friend Big Charles.
497
00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:13,542
I was kind of like his sidekick.
498
00:27:13,667 --> 00:27:16,792
I started calling him the
"Woofer Goofer"
499
00:27:16,875 --> 00:27:18,792
and then I became the
"Master Blaster,"
500
00:27:18,875 --> 00:27:20,917
anything you can do I can do
a little bit faster.
501
00:27:21,041 --> 00:27:23,041
WBCN in Boston,
Woofer Goofer, Mamma Toofer,
502
00:27:23,125 --> 00:27:25,375
104.1, having a little fun.
503
00:27:25,417 --> 00:27:26,542
You got it, baby!
504
00:27:28,417 --> 00:27:31,792
It was a total violation
of everything we stood for,
505
00:27:31,917 --> 00:27:35,125
but he was such a great guy
and such a great personality.
506
00:27:35,166 --> 00:27:36,375
Here was a radio station
507
00:27:36,417 --> 00:27:38,041
that was an underground rock
station,
508
00:27:38,166 --> 00:27:41,917
and Wolf was doing the overnight
show, and it was just amazing.
509
00:27:44,792 --> 00:27:46,542
Yeah, we're doing it, WBCN
in Boston, give us a call.
510
00:27:46,667 --> 00:27:50,291
You know what I'm talking about.
511
00:27:50,375 --> 00:27:51,625
When the station began,
512
00:27:51,667 --> 00:27:53,750
the broadcasts were from
the fifth floor
513
00:27:53,792 --> 00:27:57,625
of 171 Newbury Street,
that's where WBCN
514
00:27:57,667 --> 00:28:00,750
as a classical station existed.
515
00:28:00,792 --> 00:28:04,125
Because T. Mitchell
was very leery
516
00:28:04,166 --> 00:28:08,542
of having long-haired hippies
going into his studio,
517
00:28:08,667 --> 00:28:11,250
which was kind of a, you know,
upscale shopping area,
518
00:28:11,291 --> 00:28:13,041
and a lot of ad agencies there,
519
00:28:13,166 --> 00:28:14,792
he just didn't want to be
associated with these people,
520
00:28:14,875 --> 00:28:17,291
even though he was
maybe thinking he'd be happy
521
00:28:17,375 --> 00:28:18,750
to take their money.
522
00:28:18,792 --> 00:28:20,542
I don't know whether they
thought we'd steal
523
00:28:20,625 --> 00:28:22,417
the classical records or whether
524
00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:25,792
somebody would be smoking funny
cigarettes up there, or what.
525
00:28:25,917 --> 00:28:30,750
But they didn't socially want
the two groups to interact.
526
00:28:30,792 --> 00:28:31,792
We were hippies,
we had long hair,
527
00:28:31,917 --> 00:28:34,667
we had, you know, rock and roll
band shirts.
528
00:28:34,792 --> 00:28:37,917
And we did, you know,
sort of the usual substances.
529
00:28:38,041 --> 00:28:39,917
The decision was made that it
would be better
530
00:28:40,041 --> 00:28:44,792
to do the actual shows from,
away from Newbury Street.
531
00:28:44,875 --> 00:28:47,792
Ray got two turntables
and a microphone
532
00:28:47,875 --> 00:28:50,417
that could be installed over
533
00:28:50,500 --> 00:28:51,792
in the backroom of his
dance hall,
534
00:28:51,875 --> 00:28:54,041
the Boston Tea Party.
535
00:28:54,125 --> 00:28:55,667
The studio was literally
536
00:28:55,792 --> 00:28:59,875
on a side room backstage at the
Boston Tea Party,
537
00:28:59,917 --> 00:29:02,542
which was an amazing place
to be sitting,
538
00:29:02,625 --> 00:29:04,875
because you'd see these bands
going back and forth, and, like,
539
00:29:04,917 --> 00:29:07,417
"Oh, look, there's Jefferson
Airplane," or "Oh, look,
540
00:29:07,542 --> 00:29:09,041
there's the Who," or whatever.
541
00:29:09,125 --> 00:29:12,041
And somebody brought up the
point that it was going to be
542
00:29:12,125 --> 00:29:13,667
kind of noisy when we turned on
the mic, and he was, like,
543
00:29:13,792 --> 00:29:15,917
"Who gives a shit?
544
00:29:16,041 --> 00:29:17,875
It's gonna
sound fantastic, let it go."
545
00:29:20,125 --> 00:29:22,166
HADGES The
instrumental from the album
546
00:29:22,250 --> 00:29:23,917
by the Quicksilver Messenger
Service, a song called
547
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:25,625
"Gold and Silver," and don't
forget, they will be in
548
00:29:25,667 --> 00:29:26,667
at the Boston Tea Party,
549
00:29:26,792 --> 00:29:29,125
53 Berkeley Street,
this weekend,
550
00:29:29,166 --> 00:29:31,542
so you want to go out
and see them.
551
00:29:31,625 --> 00:29:33,291
Tom Hadges
leading the American Revolution.
552
00:29:33,375 --> 00:29:37,041
The place, 104 on your FM dial
in stereo, the new WBCN.
553
00:29:37,125 --> 00:29:41,000
The record library was a closet,
it was about this wide,
554
00:29:41,041 --> 00:29:43,291
had a door and I think
four shelves on it.
555
00:29:43,375 --> 00:29:45,875
And this was also the green room
during shows,
556
00:29:45,917 --> 00:29:47,792
so Ten Years After,
557
00:29:47,875 --> 00:29:50,917
the British neo-blues band,
were there one night,
558
00:29:51,041 --> 00:29:53,792
and Ray Riepen,
in his expansive mood, said,
559
00:29:53,917 --> 00:29:56,792
"Hey, you want some records?
Take some."
560
00:29:56,875 --> 00:29:59,917
So Alvin Lee, was the lead
guitarist, said, "Okay,"
561
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,542
and grabbed everything from
B through D,
562
00:30:02,625 --> 00:30:04,000
and, you know, packed them
in the thing
563
00:30:04,041 --> 00:30:06,792
and went away-- so we could
not play the Beatles
564
00:30:06,917 --> 00:30:10,792
or the Doors for a month or so,
till they got replaced.
565
00:30:10,917 --> 00:30:13,750
So this is, uh...
kind of a loose operation.
566
00:30:13,792 --> 00:30:16,875
The response
from people was so great,
567
00:30:16,917 --> 00:30:18,917
they loved the music and they
loved the different approach,
568
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:23,125
because we were sort of treating
radio not as a performance,
569
00:30:23,166 --> 00:30:26,792
but as a relationship
with our listeners.
570
00:30:26,917 --> 00:30:33,542
So what was on March 15
an overnight programming slot
571
00:30:33,667 --> 00:30:35,750
by May 1 was 24 hours.
572
00:30:35,792 --> 00:30:38,792
Different announcers had
done shows, and in the process,
573
00:30:38,917 --> 00:30:42,667
mentioned to the listeners
that it would be good,
574
00:30:42,750 --> 00:30:44,041
if they can hear us,
575
00:30:44,125 --> 00:30:46,375
maybe they could send in a
postcard.
576
00:30:46,417 --> 00:30:48,291
BARNA
This is Rich Barna with you
577
00:30:48,375 --> 00:30:51,375
on the American Revolution, and
if'n you like what you hear,
578
00:30:51,417 --> 00:30:53,917
why not write us, as we like to
know what it is that you like--
579
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,792
and also what it is that
you don't like.
580
00:30:56,917 --> 00:30:58,792
And they did,
and they sent in
581
00:30:58,875 --> 00:31:02,250
thousands and thousands
of postcards.
582
00:31:02,291 --> 00:31:03,917
The mailman delivering the mail
was bringing it in duffle bags
583
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,500
of these postcards
from listeners.
584
00:31:07,542 --> 00:31:09,917
"You have me as well as
half the philosophy department
585
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,917
here at Harvard
as faithful listeners."
586
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,750
"The revolution is becoming ever
more popular
587
00:31:15,792 --> 00:31:17,500
at Newton High."
588
00:31:17,542 --> 00:31:21,250
"I work in a store where we play
your music all day."
589
00:31:21,291 --> 00:31:22,792
"Man, everybody's listening."
590
00:31:26,792 --> 00:31:27,792
By time it went on
the air, you know,
591
00:31:27,917 --> 00:31:30,542
in that spring, full time,
592
00:31:30,667 --> 00:31:32,000
you could walk down
593
00:31:32,041 --> 00:31:34,291
some of the streets
in Boston, like Comm. Ave.,
594
00:31:34,417 --> 00:31:36,417
and people would have their
windows open
595
00:31:36,500 --> 00:31:36,917
and their radio speakers
596
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,875
deliberately
on the windowsill,
597
00:31:38,917 --> 00:31:41,667
playing this to the world.
598
00:31:41,750 --> 00:31:43,250
And everybody is on the same
station.
599
00:31:53,291 --> 00:31:56,166
I have vivid memories
of walking up
600
00:31:56,291 --> 00:31:59,750
Massachusetts Avenue
in Cambridge, every store,
601
00:31:59,792 --> 00:32:00,917
whether it was the record store
602
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:02,792
or the Orson Welles Cinema,
603
00:32:02,917 --> 00:32:05,041
you heard it in every store.
604
00:32:05,166 --> 00:32:06,750
You could go from one
end of Boston
605
00:32:06,792 --> 00:32:09,667
to one end of Cambridge
and not have a radio,
606
00:32:09,792 --> 00:32:10,041
and you could hear BCN
all the way.
607
00:32:10,125 --> 00:32:12,417
At the B.U.
library,
608
00:32:12,500 --> 00:32:13,041
they had this really cool thing
609
00:32:13,125 --> 00:32:15,917
where you could just put
headphones on and plug it in.
610
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,250
You could look around the room
and every,
611
00:32:18,291 --> 00:32:22,291
everybody in there, every one of
them, was listening to WBCN.
612
00:32:22,375 --> 00:32:25,792
BCN was really
becoming established
613
00:32:26,041 --> 00:32:28,041
I mean, there was nothing else
614
00:32:28,166 --> 00:32:31,875
on the radio that was even close
to what was happening.
615
00:32:31,917 --> 00:32:33,750
You're listening
to wonderful,
616
00:32:33,792 --> 00:32:37,417
bigger than a bread box radio,
WBCN in Boston.
617
00:32:45,542 --> 00:32:48,667
We felt like we were going
through a revolution.
618
00:32:48,750 --> 00:32:49,792
At that time, the station
619
00:32:49,875 --> 00:32:51,750
was mostly about the music,
620
00:32:51,792 --> 00:32:56,291
but remember, when the station
leadership chose
621
00:32:56,417 --> 00:32:59,000
"The American Revolution"
as the theme,
622
00:32:59,041 --> 00:33:02,542
I think that's a recognition
that there was more to it
623
00:33:02,667 --> 00:33:05,166
than just
a lifestyle revolution,
624
00:33:05,291 --> 00:33:07,041
that it was also
about a political revolution.
625
00:33:07,166 --> 00:33:10,542
It's playing off,
"Here's Boston,
626
00:33:10,667 --> 00:33:13,250
"Boston was the hot bed of
the American Revolution,
627
00:33:13,291 --> 00:33:16,417
the original one--
this is a new one."
628
00:33:16,542 --> 00:33:20,667
My first memory
of BCN was when,
629
00:33:20,792 --> 00:33:25,542
I don't know which disc jockey
it was, but when they said,
630
00:33:25,625 --> 00:33:29,542
"This is the American
Revolution," you know?
631
00:33:29,667 --> 00:33:33,291
And you felt that they meant it.
632
00:33:38,291 --> 00:33:41,125
Good evening, my fellow
Americans.
633
00:33:41,166 --> 00:33:44,917
By early '68, there was
a sense of expectation
634
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,417
on a political agenda.
635
00:33:46,542 --> 00:33:49,542
Lyndon Johnson's presidency
was being threatened.
636
00:33:49,667 --> 00:33:51,000
This man, who albeit
637
00:33:51,041 --> 00:33:53,500
had a good domestic record
on equal rights,
638
00:33:53,542 --> 00:33:57,166
had a horrible foreign policy in
that he was
639
00:33:57,250 --> 00:34:01,166
sending young men off to a war
that we should not have been in.
640
00:34:05,041 --> 00:34:07,000
People were cutting their hair
641
00:34:07,041 --> 00:34:10,000
and shaving their beards
and Going Clean for Gene.
642
00:34:10,083 --> 00:34:12,500
Gene McCarthy, he was our hero.
643
00:34:12,583 --> 00:34:13,000
I remember being at Fenway Park
644
00:34:13,083 --> 00:34:18,250
for a huge Gene McCarthy rally.
645
00:34:18,333 --> 00:34:20,000
Johnson went on national TV
646
00:34:20,083 --> 00:34:21,000
with a message
that nobody was expecting.
647
00:34:21,083 --> 00:34:25,125
I shall not seek,
648
00:34:25,208 --> 00:34:29,250
and I will not accept,
the nomination
649
00:34:29,333 --> 00:34:33,375
of my party for another term
as your president.
650
00:34:33,458 --> 00:34:34,375
And that just
651
00:34:34,458 --> 00:34:35,875
threw open the gates.
652
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,208
Everything
just really changed, quickly.
653
00:34:38,250 --> 00:34:41,375
This is the "CBS Evening News,"
654
00:34:41,500 --> 00:34:42,834
with Walter Cronkite.
655
00:34:42,875 --> 00:34:44,250
Good evening.
656
00:34:44,375 --> 00:34:47,125
Dr. Martin Luther King,
the apostle of non-violence
657
00:34:47,250 --> 00:34:49,959
in the Civil Rights Movement,
has been shot to death
658
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:51,250
in Memphis, Tennessee.
659
00:34:51,375 --> 00:34:55,125
And then,
you know, Robert Kennedy,
660
00:34:55,250 --> 00:34:58,458
two months later, in June
of '68, he was killed.
661
00:34:58,500 --> 00:35:02,875
After my shift, I got in my car
and was driving home
662
00:35:02,959 --> 00:35:04,250
and I tuned the radio,
663
00:35:04,375 --> 00:35:08,875
and what I heard was the
Robert Kennedy rally after
664
00:35:08,959 --> 00:35:10,458
the California primary.
665
00:35:10,500 --> 00:35:12,250
...the divisions,
whether it's between
666
00:35:12,375 --> 00:35:14,625
Black and whites, between
the poor and the more affluent,
667
00:35:14,709 --> 00:35:17,500
or between age groups
or on the war in Vietnam,
668
00:35:17,625 --> 00:35:20,458
that we can start to work
together, we are a great country
669
00:35:20,500 --> 00:35:21,875
and a compassionate country.
670
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:23,625
I remember listening
to the results
671
00:35:23,709 --> 00:35:25,750
of the, of the vote.
672
00:35:25,834 --> 00:35:27,375
So, uh...
673
00:35:27,458 --> 00:35:30,000
My thanks to all of you,
and now it's on to Chicago
674
00:35:30,125 --> 00:35:33,125
and let's win there, thank you.
675
00:35:33,208 --> 00:35:36,208
And it was, like, we won,
we won, we won!
676
00:35:40,333 --> 00:35:44,375
"Oh, my God, Robert Kennedy
has been shot!"
677
00:35:49,375 --> 00:35:51,250
I remember coming in to
do my morning show.
678
00:35:51,333 --> 00:35:54,625
I had this copy in front of me:
679
00:35:54,750 --> 00:35:57,375
"Robert Kennedy has been shot,"
and so I went on the air
680
00:35:57,458 --> 00:36:02,000
to say that,
and it was just, you know,
681
00:36:02,125 --> 00:36:06,250
it's among those moments in life
that you just...
682
00:36:06,333 --> 00:36:08,625
You feel like you're totally
hit in the chest.
683
00:36:12,250 --> 00:36:14,625
The assassination of Kennedy
684
00:36:14,709 --> 00:36:19,000
was such an emotional,
almost physical, blow,
685
00:36:19,125 --> 00:36:23,000
because it felt like
there wasn't any hope
686
00:36:23,125 --> 00:36:25,959
in the legitimate
political channels anymore.
687
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:30,333
And then the absolute, you know,
confrontation
688
00:36:30,375 --> 00:36:36,333
of the Chicago Convention
in August of '68.
689
00:36:46,625 --> 00:36:47,333
Well, I think
if people stay in the park,
690
00:36:47,375 --> 00:36:49,750
they'll be okay,
they'll be treated
691
00:36:49,875 --> 00:36:50,125
with respect by the police.
692
00:36:50,250 --> 00:36:55,208
Those people that,
those Yippies that march
693
00:36:55,250 --> 00:36:57,333
on the Amphitheatre
or go downtown
694
00:36:57,375 --> 00:37:00,625
and demand their rights...
695
00:37:00,750 --> 00:37:02,333
They'll be risking their lives.
696
00:37:02,375 --> 00:37:06,959
That's right, these cops here
are tough, they'd...
697
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:08,375
They'd kill you with a smile.
698
00:37:08,458 --> 00:37:10,375
He's being kicked and
smashed
699
00:37:10,500 --> 00:37:12,250
by these police officers here,
he's being hit by billy clubs.
700
00:37:12,333 --> 00:37:14,500
They're kicking him,
they're jumping on him--
701
00:37:14,625 --> 00:37:15,834
it's unbelievable!
702
00:37:15,875 --> 00:37:17,583
We were shouting
at the cops yesterday
703
00:37:17,625 --> 00:37:18,250
that they should go to Prague
704
00:37:18,333 --> 00:37:20,500
and teach the Russians and
stuff,
705
00:37:20,583 --> 00:37:22,375
and apparently they took
that as a compliment.
706
00:37:22,500 --> 00:37:25,834
Instead of Bobby Kennedy,
we got Hubert Humphrey.
707
00:37:25,875 --> 00:37:30,125
And certainly the...
708
00:37:30,208 --> 00:37:33,000
as institutional
a politician as there was.
709
00:37:33,125 --> 00:37:35,875
I proudly accept the nomination
710
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,500
of our party.
711
00:37:39,625 --> 00:37:41,500
I don't think any of
us really thought
712
00:37:41,625 --> 00:37:43,875
that Hubert Humphrey
was a great
713
00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:45,375
receptacle for our hopes
and dreams.
714
00:37:45,458 --> 00:37:49,875
And then you add to that the
third-party candidacy
715
00:37:49,959 --> 00:37:50,250
of George Wallace,
who was playing
716
00:37:50,375 --> 00:37:53,250
the segregationist, racist card,
717
00:37:53,375 --> 00:37:57,375
and it was an autumn of chaos,
huge marches,
718
00:37:57,500 --> 00:37:59,375
students demonstrating.
719
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:04,125
Nixon was
720
00:38:04,208 --> 00:38:07,125
and felt like the
personification
721
00:38:07,208 --> 00:38:13,750
of American evil, of everything
that was wrong in the country.
722
00:38:18,333 --> 00:38:22,458
Nixon ran
on a platform of peace.
723
00:38:22,500 --> 00:38:24,834
We didn't believe him
for a minute.
724
00:38:24,875 --> 00:38:25,333
He was Tricky Dick Nixon.
725
00:38:25,375 --> 00:38:27,375
Nixon had been Eisenhower's
vice president,
726
00:38:27,500 --> 00:38:31,208
and so to many oldest Boomers,
we remember,
727
00:38:31,250 --> 00:38:35,375
you know, this strange,
gargoyle looking guy.
728
00:38:35,458 --> 00:38:38,709
He was, like, out
of central casting for the job.
729
00:38:38,750 --> 00:38:40,500
There wasn't anything
you could look at and go,
730
00:38:40,583 --> 00:38:42,875
"Oh, no, maybe he's really
a nice guy on the side."
731
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:44,458
No, he's like this all the time.
732
00:38:44,500 --> 00:38:50,333
From then on, it was,
we are at war with Nixon.
733
00:38:50,375 --> 00:38:54,709
We are at war with American
political leadership.
734
00:39:03,458 --> 00:39:05,333
Shortly after the station
started,
735
00:39:05,375 --> 00:39:07,875
Ray started getting phone calls
from professional disc jockeys,
736
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:11,500
who said, "Ray, you got to get
rid of those kids.
737
00:39:11,625 --> 00:39:16,125
Bring me in, we can really make
this thing fly."
738
00:39:16,250 --> 00:39:20,375
And somehow, Ray came
to the conclusion,
739
00:39:20,500 --> 00:39:24,000
made the decision that he was
going to stick with the kids.
740
00:39:24,083 --> 00:39:26,750
It was a crazy decision,
but that was it.
741
00:39:26,834 --> 00:39:28,750
Everything followed
from that decision.
742
00:39:28,834 --> 00:39:31,500
The sequence of offices for BCN
was interesting.
743
00:39:31,583 --> 00:39:33,375
We were in the Tea Party
there for a while.
744
00:39:33,500 --> 00:39:34,750
But then we moved
to Stuart Street
745
00:39:34,834 --> 00:39:35,333
for the full-time offices.
746
00:39:35,375 --> 00:39:41,125
We were in a small studio
over a luncheonette
747
00:39:41,250 --> 00:39:42,834
run by a guy named Flash.
748
00:39:42,875 --> 00:39:44,834
We were up on the third floor,
749
00:39:44,875 --> 00:39:45,375
so you could smell, you know,
750
00:39:45,500 --> 00:39:48,875
if the burgers got burned,
it somehow came up.
751
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:53,000
We had a relatively small space
and a lot of people,
752
00:39:53,083 --> 00:39:57,125
because the station had become
a 24-hour station.
753
00:39:57,250 --> 00:39:58,333
I remember when bands would come
754
00:39:58,375 --> 00:40:00,959
and they'd look around
and there'd be, like,
755
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:01,458
all kinds of crap on the walls
756
00:40:01,500 --> 00:40:05,000
and piles of junk on the floor
and stuff.
757
00:40:05,125 --> 00:40:06,500
They'd get instantly
comfortable.
758
00:40:06,583 --> 00:40:07,375
Maybe there wasn't a chair,
maybe they had to sit
759
00:40:07,500 --> 00:40:10,250
on a table--
that's also possible--
760
00:40:10,375 --> 00:40:12,208
but the studio functioned
very well.
761
00:40:12,250 --> 00:40:14,375
All of the equipment itself
was impeccably
762
00:40:14,500 --> 00:40:16,375
bought and maintained,
763
00:40:16,500 --> 00:40:19,625
but everything else about
the place was a mess.
764
00:40:19,709 --> 00:40:22,375
So the story with my
photographing WBCN
765
00:40:22,458 --> 00:40:24,875
is that I was such
a fan at first,
766
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,834
that I sort of got to know them
767
00:40:27,875 --> 00:40:29,500
and they began feeling
comfortable with me
768
00:40:29,625 --> 00:40:31,000
as a photographer.
769
00:40:31,083 --> 00:40:32,875
And I would show up, photograph
them
770
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:34,250
here, there, and everywhere,
771
00:40:34,375 --> 00:40:35,625
and then at one point,
772
00:40:35,709 --> 00:40:37,875
we all gathered into their
little record library,
773
00:40:37,959 --> 00:40:38,500
which was tiny.
774
00:40:38,583 --> 00:40:41,875
One of the DJs, John Brodey,
decided it would be cool
775
00:40:41,959 --> 00:40:42,458
to take off his clothes.
776
00:40:42,500 --> 00:40:47,875
And that's the X-rated version
of that picture.
777
00:40:47,959 --> 00:40:52,000
And... it was like one family,
one big happy family.
778
00:40:52,083 --> 00:40:53,834
There seems to be
a whole jock revolution
779
00:40:53,875 --> 00:40:55,375
happening in America.
780
00:40:55,458 --> 00:40:59,083
This is your old
friends here at WBCN in Boston,
781
00:40:59,125 --> 00:41:01,125
104.1.
782
00:41:01,250 --> 00:41:02,583
This is WBCN in Boston.
783
00:41:02,625 --> 00:41:04,375
This is WBCN in
Boston.
784
00:41:04,458 --> 00:41:05,875
I'm never sure
if what I'm hearing
785
00:41:05,959 --> 00:41:07,583
through my earphones
is not the same as what
786
00:41:07,625 --> 00:41:10,083
you're hearing through
your radio, really.
787
00:41:10,125 --> 00:41:12,834
It goes through a lot of changes
before it gets to you.
788
00:41:19,125 --> 00:41:20,625
It was all about freedom,
789
00:41:20,709 --> 00:41:25,000
being basically a commune
of people working together to--
790
00:41:25,083 --> 00:41:27,834
of all equals and irreverence.
791
00:41:27,875 --> 00:41:30,250
We were speaking truth to power.
792
00:41:30,375 --> 00:41:31,834
I mean, we were 22-year-olds,
793
00:41:31,875 --> 00:41:34,875
who, you know,
thought we knew all the truth.
794
00:41:34,959 --> 00:41:39,500
Boston was in the
grips of counterculture,
795
00:41:39,625 --> 00:41:43,125
students trying to find new ways
of living,
796
00:41:43,208 --> 00:41:44,709
new ways of being.
797
00:41:44,750 --> 00:41:47,583
You know, the great discussions
were, "How are we ever gonna
798
00:41:47,625 --> 00:41:50,000
"live our life in this kind
of a society?
799
00:41:50,083 --> 00:41:51,375
"How do you have a moral life?
800
00:41:51,458 --> 00:41:52,583
How do you have a good life?"
801
00:41:52,625 --> 00:41:55,834
We hated the old men
sending the young men
802
00:41:55,875 --> 00:41:58,458
off to war, but that kind of
consciousness expansion
803
00:41:58,500 --> 00:41:59,458
was happening then
804
00:41:59,500 --> 00:42:01,875
politically,
805
00:42:01,959 --> 00:42:04,125
socially--
obviously on racial issues--
806
00:42:04,250 --> 00:42:05,500
and musically.
807
00:42:05,583 --> 00:42:07,125
More and more artists
808
00:42:07,250 --> 00:42:11,750
were putting political messages
in their songs, and I think that
809
00:42:11,834 --> 00:42:16,500
appealed to a lot of people,
because they wanted something
810
00:42:16,625 --> 00:42:19,875
a little bit more than just,
"Baby, I love you."
811
00:42:19,959 --> 00:42:22,333
And so, you know,
"Baby, I love you,
812
00:42:22,375 --> 00:42:23,959
but we got something
we gotta do."
813
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:24,500
You had one song.
814
00:42:24,625 --> 00:42:28,250
"There is something happening
here," you know?
815
00:42:28,333 --> 00:42:29,458
And it's all Buffalo Springfield
816
00:42:29,500 --> 00:42:32,333
and it drives from right
at that moment.
817
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,125
Rock music has
always been about creating chaos
818
00:42:44,250 --> 00:42:45,583
and raising hell, you know?
819
00:42:45,625 --> 00:42:47,583
I mean, that's what it's
supposed to do.
820
00:42:47,625 --> 00:42:50,125
If you're doing your job right,
that's what you're doing.
821
00:42:50,250 --> 00:42:52,959
And it's people's natures, that
are that age, to be belligerent.
822
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:54,959
You know? I mean,
it's a biological fact.
823
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,625
It's hormonally driven,
and we felt sold out.
824
00:42:58,709 --> 00:43:00,625
We felt bitterly betrayed
by our country,
825
00:43:00,750 --> 00:43:04,709
and you fuse that attitude
with the sort of inherent
826
00:43:04,750 --> 00:43:08,709
anarchy and chaos
of rock and roll,
827
00:43:08,750 --> 00:43:11,375
and it was an extremely
potent thing.
828
00:43:11,458 --> 00:43:17,000
And BCN became
the mouthpiece for that.
829
00:43:17,125 --> 00:43:20,500
It became the delivery system
for that music to the audience.
830
00:43:20,583 --> 00:43:23,250
You know? To all of us.
831
00:43:23,333 --> 00:43:24,750
Free expression was...
832
00:43:24,875 --> 00:43:26,500
I mean, we talked about
that all the time.
833
00:43:26,583 --> 00:43:29,583
It was, like,
how much can we get away with?
834
00:43:29,625 --> 00:43:32,709
These were the times
when the Rolling Stones
835
00:43:32,750 --> 00:43:35,750
came to play "The Ed Sullivan
Show,"
836
00:43:35,875 --> 00:43:37,583
and they could not play their
song
837
00:43:37,625 --> 00:43:39,000
"Let's Spend the Night
Together,"
838
00:43:39,083 --> 00:43:40,875
that was their new hit song,
839
00:43:40,959 --> 00:43:43,625
but were not allowed to say the
word "night."
840
00:43:43,750 --> 00:43:44,750
And Mick Jagger had to say,
841
00:43:44,834 --> 00:43:47,625
"Let's spend some time
together," because the concept
842
00:43:47,709 --> 00:43:53,375
of spending the night together
was too risqué.
843
00:44:01,583 --> 00:44:03,959
At the same time, we watched
844
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:07,125
"The Smothers Brothers," that
they were struggling with
845
00:44:07,208 --> 00:44:09,458
what they were being allowed to
do and what they couldn't do.
846
00:44:09,500 --> 00:44:10,583
What are you doing?
847
00:44:10,625 --> 00:44:13,000
I'm getting
ready to go to college.
848
00:44:13,125 --> 00:44:15,500
At the time,
that was the state of the art
849
00:44:15,625 --> 00:44:16,750
of the struggle for expression.
850
00:44:16,875 --> 00:44:19,875
Our government is asking us as
citizens, good citizens,
851
00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:23,500
to refrain from traveling
to foreign lands.
852
00:44:25,583 --> 00:44:27,625
Okay, all you guys in Vietnam,
come on home.
853
00:44:27,750 --> 00:44:31,875
And clearly, at WBCN,
854
00:44:31,959 --> 00:44:38,125
we just-- we ignored
most all of those rules,
855
00:44:38,208 --> 00:44:41,750
and that was something
the audience could hear.
856
00:44:41,834 --> 00:44:45,000
We didn't really care
what the rules were.
857
00:44:45,125 --> 00:44:48,959
We tried to-- well, we did,
we made our own rules.
858
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:53,125
We, we formed a radio
consciousness
859
00:44:53,208 --> 00:44:55,750
that was further and further
and further more political
860
00:44:55,834 --> 00:44:58,709
and more dangerous, and we
worked hard to be dangerous.
861
00:44:58,750 --> 00:45:00,750
We were the first station
that played
862
00:45:00,875 --> 00:45:04,333
John Lennon,
"Working Class Hero,"
863
00:45:04,375 --> 00:45:06,834
where John Lennon says, right in
the middle of the song,
864
00:45:06,875 --> 00:45:10,083
he says, "You think you're so
clever and classless and free,
865
00:45:10,125 --> 00:45:12,625
but you're all fucking peasants
as far as I can see."
866
00:45:12,709 --> 00:45:14,875
We played that, no beeps,
nothing.
867
00:45:14,959 --> 00:45:18,458
Using an obscenity like that,
it was part of the song.
868
00:45:18,500 --> 00:45:21,125
You really didn't have a right
to cut that out.
869
00:45:21,250 --> 00:45:24,250
And... there were times
870
00:45:24,375 --> 00:45:28,875
when songs like that needed
to be played, just, period.
871
00:45:28,959 --> 00:45:31,375
One of the things
we were supposed to do
872
00:45:31,500 --> 00:45:33,625
was to push the edge
of the envelope,
873
00:45:33,709 --> 00:45:34,709
and it wasn't so much that you
were concerned about
874
00:45:34,750 --> 00:45:37,875
offending someone, because
obviously, the audience
875
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:40,625
you were playing to were not
going to be offended,
876
00:45:40,709 --> 00:45:44,208
but because of the FCC,
and all you need to do is
877
00:45:44,250 --> 00:45:46,709
get a letter from somebody, and
you've got this incredible fine
878
00:45:46,750 --> 00:45:48,333
you got to deal with
and all of that.
879
00:45:48,375 --> 00:45:50,750
Each announcer had
his or her own
880
00:45:50,875 --> 00:45:53,959
FCC license-- you could lose
your job
881
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:55,959
there or any place else
by losing your license.
882
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,959
Somebody would write
a letter to the FCC,
883
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:02,500
and next thing you know,
I'd get a letter.
884
00:46:02,625 --> 00:46:03,625
And then I'd have to go down,
they'd have a--
885
00:46:03,750 --> 00:46:06,458
I don't know what they call
them--
886
00:46:06,500 --> 00:46:09,709
but they'd have a conference,
and here would be some...
887
00:46:09,750 --> 00:46:12,333
you know, administrative person
888
00:46:12,375 --> 00:46:14,750
in the Federal Communications
Commission in Washington,
889
00:46:14,834 --> 00:46:18,583
wanted to know what kind of
a deal I was running up there.
890
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,625
The Non-Violent
Direct Action Group
891
00:46:22,750 --> 00:46:23,875
is planning a little winter
campaign
892
00:46:23,959 --> 00:46:26,834
to focus attention on the war
in Indochina.
893
00:46:26,875 --> 00:46:29,583
Their meetings are held on
Wednesday nights at 7:30 p.m.
894
00:46:29,625 --> 00:46:31,750
at the Phillips Brooks House
in Harvard Yard.
895
00:46:31,875 --> 00:46:35,375
We'll remind you about
that again next Wednesday.
896
00:46:35,500 --> 00:46:38,625
This is WBCN
and we're in Boston.
897
00:46:38,709 --> 00:46:41,375
The Vietnam War hung over
everything.
898
00:46:41,458 --> 00:46:45,834
If you graduated from high
school or college in that time,
899
00:46:45,875 --> 00:46:50,875
probably your first concern,
as a male, then, was,
900
00:46:50,959 --> 00:46:53,083
"Am I going to be drafted?"
901
00:46:53,125 --> 00:46:55,333
263.
902
00:46:55,375 --> 00:46:56,625
That's my lottery number.
903
00:46:56,750 --> 00:46:59,083
If you had number one,
you were going.
904
00:46:59,125 --> 00:47:04,125
And you got number one by the
date that you were born,
905
00:47:04,208 --> 00:47:08,125
and my date, September 9,
was number 263 out of 365,
906
00:47:08,250 --> 00:47:08,875
so I didn't get drafted,
907
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:10,959
and I was really, really,
really happy.
908
00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:13,125
Boston was seething,
I mean,
909
00:47:13,208 --> 00:47:15,250
250,000 college students,
910
00:47:15,333 --> 00:47:17,834
most of whom by then had turned
against the war.
911
00:47:17,875 --> 00:47:21,959
Don't forget, I mean, Boston was
912
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:27,583
a battleground of ideas,
it wasn't just a community.
913
00:47:27,625 --> 00:47:29,375
This was the place that
Henry Kissinger,
914
00:47:29,458 --> 00:47:29,875
you know, taught at Harvard.
915
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:34,625
And so, so were activists
opposing the war there,
916
00:47:34,709 --> 00:47:35,750
and there was a back-and-forth.
917
00:47:35,834 --> 00:47:38,000
There were protests at M.I.T.,
918
00:47:38,125 --> 00:47:38,875
there were protests all across
the Boston area
919
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,458
in all these universities.
920
00:47:41,500 --> 00:47:44,834
Because we saw the universities
as part of the war machine,
921
00:47:44,875 --> 00:47:47,625
the war system, you know?
922
00:47:47,750 --> 00:47:48,959
That they were providing
intellectual capital,
923
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:52,000
that they were contractors
for the Pentagon,
924
00:47:52,083 --> 00:47:56,250
providing studies
and research and training.
925
00:47:56,333 --> 00:48:00,709
And, you know, we opposed that,
we wanted to expose it.
926
00:48:00,750 --> 00:48:05,750
So we began to look
at every way
927
00:48:05,834 --> 00:48:09,625
that we can impede
and oppose the war.
928
00:48:09,750 --> 00:48:11,959
About 300 students today took
over
929
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:13,959
the main administration hall
at Harvard.
930
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,000
Acting in protest against
931
00:48:16,083 --> 00:48:19,000
the Reserve Officer Training
Corps program,
932
00:48:19,083 --> 00:48:22,875
they evicted several deans
and then locked themselves in.
933
00:48:22,959 --> 00:48:24,875
What would
it take for the SDS
934
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,750
to make peace
with the university?
935
00:48:27,875 --> 00:48:28,875
Well, we've
said all along that we have
936
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,709
a series of demands that are
non-negotiable demands,
937
00:48:31,750 --> 00:48:32,959
and it would be very, very easy.
938
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:33,875
All the university has to do
is meet them.
939
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,709
The Harvard strike got a lot of
attention,
940
00:48:36,750 --> 00:48:38,875
because Harvard gets a lot
of attention.
941
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:42,208
This was the elite, the crème de
la crème of American students,
942
00:48:42,250 --> 00:48:45,583
and I was writing for the
"Old Mole" in Cambridge.
943
00:48:45,625 --> 00:48:48,875
The "Old Mole" was our
underground newspaper,
944
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:51,500
and we had a small collective
945
00:48:51,583 --> 00:48:52,000
of people putting it out.
946
00:48:52,083 --> 00:48:54,000
And I came into the offices
947
00:48:54,125 --> 00:48:58,959
of the dean of Harvard College,
which was occupied--
948
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,125
this is before
the Occupy Movement--
949
00:49:01,208 --> 00:49:02,875
occupied by all
of these activists
950
00:49:02,959 --> 00:49:06,208
smoking dope in the
dean's office.
951
00:49:06,250 --> 00:49:08,875
And I talked to some of the
people from SDS, Harvard SDS.
952
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:11,000
I said, "You got to stop
this immediately,
953
00:49:11,125 --> 00:49:12,750
"because this will become
the story,
954
00:49:12,875 --> 00:49:15,083
"that you're defacing
the university.
955
00:49:15,125 --> 00:49:17,625
Get these people out of here
right now."
956
00:49:17,750 --> 00:49:21,083
So they did, they got all
the students out of there.
957
00:49:21,125 --> 00:49:23,625
I said, "Are the doors locked?"
958
00:49:23,709 --> 00:49:25,750
They said, "Yes."
I said, "Good.
959
00:49:25,834 --> 00:49:27,458
Let's go into the filing
cabinets."
960
00:49:27,500 --> 00:49:31,583
So we seal off the offices.
961
00:49:31,625 --> 00:49:33,500
And the offices
are filled with files.
962
00:49:33,625 --> 00:49:35,000
And they're looking through.
963
00:49:35,083 --> 00:49:37,959
And what they're looking for is
any files that say
964
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:41,250
"C.I.A.,"
Central Intelligence Agency,
965
00:49:41,375 --> 00:49:45,000
any files that say "R.O.T.C.,"
Reserve Officer Training Corps,
966
00:49:45,083 --> 00:49:50,333
any files that say "Dow,"
or other major corporations.
967
00:49:50,375 --> 00:49:52,875
And we're finding them.
968
00:49:52,959 --> 00:49:54,250
And we began to find
969
00:49:54,375 --> 00:49:56,875
all kinds of secret documents
about,
970
00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:59,458
from the Pentagon to Harvard,
971
00:49:59,500 --> 00:50:00,125
from the C.I.A. to Harvard.
972
00:50:00,208 --> 00:50:03,709
"Henry Kissinger will be in
Saigon next week."
973
00:50:03,750 --> 00:50:05,500
He was then a professor
at Harvard.
974
00:50:05,625 --> 00:50:07,750
And all this material was there.
975
00:50:07,875 --> 00:50:10,000
The university said,
"We have no contracts
976
00:50:10,125 --> 00:50:12,083
with the Central Intelligence
Agency."
977
00:50:12,125 --> 00:50:14,750
We're finding files
that have contracts
978
00:50:14,834 --> 00:50:16,750
with the Central Intelligence
Agency.
979
00:50:16,875 --> 00:50:18,375
So now we're pulling all these
papers out,
980
00:50:18,500 --> 00:50:21,000
and the question is, what are
we going to do with them?
981
00:50:21,083 --> 00:50:23,375
And so we say, "Well, you got
to publish this somehow.
982
00:50:23,458 --> 00:50:25,000
How are we going to get this out
of here?"
983
00:50:25,125 --> 00:50:28,500
Meanwhile, the State Police
surrounded Harvard Yard.
984
00:50:28,625 --> 00:50:32,000
In the dean's office, we had
these little bookbags,
985
00:50:32,125 --> 00:50:36,250
green bags, and so we filled one
with these documents.
986
00:50:36,333 --> 00:50:38,959
The "Old Mole"
was down the street.
987
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:41,959
And I took one, a student, and
we came to the door,
988
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,375
the State Police on this side
of the fence,
989
00:50:44,500 --> 00:50:46,834
the activists on this side
of the fence.
990
00:50:46,875 --> 00:50:49,000
"How am I going
to get out of here?"
991
00:50:49,125 --> 00:50:51,500
So I pick a fight with this kid,
"Let me out of here!
992
00:50:51,583 --> 00:50:52,000
"I hate this revolution!
993
00:50:52,083 --> 00:50:54,709
"Look what you're doing to
Harvard!
994
00:50:54,750 --> 00:50:57,083
You're destroying the whole
place, I can't stand it!"
995
00:50:57,125 --> 00:51:01,000
At which point, a cop comes over
and says, "Let this guy leave!"
996
00:51:01,083 --> 00:51:03,250
And the cop escorts me out,
not knowing
997
00:51:03,333 --> 00:51:06,083
that in my bag are
all these documents.
998
00:51:06,125 --> 00:51:09,500
And Danny was part of a team
that then set to work
999
00:51:09,583 --> 00:51:13,083
to really analyze the content
of the documents,
1000
00:51:13,125 --> 00:51:18,500
and to begin to map out a real
analysis of what they showed,
1001
00:51:18,625 --> 00:51:20,583
and he was just terrific at it.
1002
00:51:20,625 --> 00:51:23,375
The next day, the
"Old Mole" had a special edition
1003
00:51:23,500 --> 00:51:27,458
with, printing all
of these documents from inside
1004
00:51:27,500 --> 00:51:31,333
the halls of Harvard,
which showed how compromised
1005
00:51:31,375 --> 00:51:35,000
the administration was and how
supportive it was of the C.I.A.
1006
00:51:35,125 --> 00:51:37,125
and various government contracts
1007
00:51:37,208 --> 00:51:40,250
in support of the war
in Vietnam.
1008
00:51:40,333 --> 00:51:43,875
And that was an important moment
in the Harvard strike.
1009
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:45,208
The angry conflicts
1010
00:51:45,250 --> 00:51:48,333
on the college campuses
continue.
1011
00:51:48,375 --> 00:51:51,125
President Pusey of Harvard
held a press conference to say
1012
00:51:51,208 --> 00:51:53,333
he called in the police because
1013
00:51:53,375 --> 00:51:55,250
the students occupying the
administration building
1014
00:51:55,333 --> 00:51:58,083
were breaking into
the confidential files.
1015
00:51:58,125 --> 00:52:02,458
Today, about 3,000 students
gathered to protest
1016
00:52:02,500 --> 00:52:04,583
the police coming on to the
campus Thursday morning,
1017
00:52:04,625 --> 00:52:07,750
when they swung their clubs
and arrested about 200.
1018
00:52:07,875 --> 00:52:09,083
The confrontation produced
1019
00:52:09,125 --> 00:52:12,333
some of the worst violence
experienced at Harvard
1020
00:52:12,375 --> 00:52:14,250
in its entire history.
1021
00:52:14,375 --> 00:52:15,709
They effectively brought the war
1022
00:52:15,750 --> 00:52:17,208
right back into Harvard Yard
1023
00:52:17,250 --> 00:52:21,125
and galvanized 16,000 members
1024
00:52:21,208 --> 00:52:23,875
of the Harvard community
to go on strike.
1025
00:52:30,583 --> 00:52:33,583
It's a warm, clear day
here at the Boston Common.
1026
00:52:33,625 --> 00:52:38,083
We had also seen that
Nixon and his administration
1027
00:52:38,125 --> 00:52:42,250
had no plan to end the war,
and so at this point,
1028
00:52:42,333 --> 00:52:48,375
there was as close
to a general strike as we could
1029
00:52:48,458 --> 00:52:51,500
possibly figure out, and it was
called the Moratorium.
1030
00:52:51,625 --> 00:52:55,125
Stop what you're doing
and take time out
1031
00:52:55,208 --> 00:52:57,875
to register your opposition
to the war.
1032
00:52:57,959 --> 00:53:00,125
The Greater Boston
Peace Action Coalition
1033
00:53:00,208 --> 00:53:04,250
needs volunteers to leaflet,
help out in the office,
1034
00:53:04,375 --> 00:53:05,500
and sell buttons.
1035
00:53:05,625 --> 00:53:09,583
For more information,
call 661-1090.
1036
00:53:09,625 --> 00:53:12,583
We were pretty tireless
in making people aware of it.
1037
00:53:12,625 --> 00:53:15,750
It would have been very
difficult to have been in Boston
1038
00:53:15,834 --> 00:53:17,333
at that time and been part of
the community,
1039
00:53:17,375 --> 00:53:21,125
and not be aware of exactly why
and when and where
1040
00:53:21,250 --> 00:53:23,375
that event was taking place.
1041
00:53:32,750 --> 00:53:36,250
In Boston, every single college
1042
00:53:36,375 --> 00:53:39,500
and university basically
shut down.
1043
00:53:39,583 --> 00:53:41,125
You had the law schools marching
to the Common,
1044
00:53:41,250 --> 00:53:45,000
you had high schools marching
to the Common,
1045
00:53:45,083 --> 00:53:46,375
you had suburban housewives
1046
00:53:46,458 --> 00:53:49,125
leading delegations
of suburban housewives.
1047
00:53:49,250 --> 00:53:54,250
In historic Boston
Common, an immense crowd,
1048
00:53:54,333 --> 00:53:57,000
the largest Vietnam
peace demonstration ever seen.
1049
00:53:57,125 --> 00:54:00,125
We were so hurt that
our country would continue
1050
00:54:00,208 --> 00:54:03,250
to proceed and sacrifice lives
for a conflict
1051
00:54:03,333 --> 00:54:07,250
that everybody knew
really wasn't,
1052
00:54:07,333 --> 00:54:08,375
that it wasn't justified,
it just wasn't right.
1053
00:54:08,458 --> 00:54:12,625
Our next speaker
will be Abbie Hoffman.
1054
00:54:12,750 --> 00:54:15,875
I'll tell you what's
wrong with this society!
1055
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:19,208
Abbie Hoffman gave
his usual great,
1056
00:54:19,250 --> 00:54:22,625
you know, speeches
with his funny lines,
1057
00:54:22,709 --> 00:54:26,000
but one of the immortal lines
was when he pointed
1058
00:54:26,125 --> 00:54:27,750
over to the Hancock building.
1059
00:54:27,875 --> 00:54:30,834
John Hancock building,
hypodermic needle.
1060
00:54:30,875 --> 00:54:31,125
Look at it--
1061
00:54:31,250 --> 00:54:33,959
John Hancock building!
1062
00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:35,250
Fucking John Hancock...
1063
00:54:35,333 --> 00:54:38,375
John Hancock was a
revolutionary!
1064
00:54:38,458 --> 00:54:42,583
He was no goddamn
life insurance salesman!
1065
00:54:42,625 --> 00:54:45,375
We all laughed, but,
you know, he said,
1066
00:54:45,458 --> 00:54:48,375
you know, "It's time to up
the ante here."
1067
00:54:48,458 --> 00:54:52,333
April 18, 1775.
1068
00:54:52,375 --> 00:54:55,333
Everybody who is here
1069
00:54:55,375 --> 00:54:58,250
who is now alive remembers
that famous day and year.
1070
00:54:58,375 --> 00:55:03,750
Paul Revere, he rode out through
M.I.T., out through Harvard Yard
1071
00:55:03,834 --> 00:55:06,333
and Arlington and Lexington and
Concord, screaming and yelling,
1072
00:55:06,375 --> 00:55:10,125
"The pigs are coming,
the pigs are coming,
1073
00:55:10,250 --> 00:55:12,375
the pigs are coming!"
1074
00:55:12,458 --> 00:55:14,959
He said, "Get your shit
together!
1075
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:16,375
We gotta have a revolution!"
1076
00:55:16,500 --> 00:55:22,083
BCN had paid a skywriter to put
a peace sign
1077
00:55:22,125 --> 00:55:23,709
up in the sky,
1078
00:55:23,750 --> 00:55:28,125
and everybody cheered and it was
announced that BCN had done it.
1079
00:55:28,208 --> 00:55:29,458
The applause is for
a skywriter
1080
00:55:29,500 --> 00:55:33,500
who was just made a huge peace
sign in the sky.
1081
00:55:33,625 --> 00:55:36,458
And, you know, here it
was writ large in the sky
1082
00:55:36,500 --> 00:55:39,959
by the radio station
I was working for.
1083
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:41,625
That was a thrilling thing.
1084
00:55:41,750 --> 00:55:46,000
The peace symbol came from
a fellow,
1085
00:55:46,083 --> 00:55:47,458
I believe his name was Wayne.
1086
00:55:47,500 --> 00:55:48,333
I seem to think that I might
have
1087
00:55:48,375 --> 00:55:52,625
wrote a check for that myself.
1088
00:55:52,750 --> 00:55:55,834
'Cause we didn't have a lot of
money, you know-- I don't...
1089
00:55:55,875 --> 00:55:57,750
There were times when I just
wasn't going to go
1090
00:55:57,875 --> 00:55:59,500
into someone's office who was
over me at the time,
1091
00:55:59,625 --> 00:56:00,875
and fight with them.
1092
00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:04,834
On my coffee table at home is a,
someone put out a book
1093
00:56:04,875 --> 00:56:06,250
about peace, and if you flip
through it,
1094
00:56:06,375 --> 00:56:09,000
that peace symbol is in it,
so...
1095
00:56:10,500 --> 00:56:13,083
I mean, we're each powerless,
you know?
1096
00:56:13,125 --> 00:56:15,750
I mean, none of us at that
time-- being so young, too.
1097
00:56:15,875 --> 00:56:18,875
You know, it's hard to get your
parents' attention
1098
00:56:18,959 --> 00:56:22,250
or your boss's attention
or your teacher's attention,
1099
00:56:22,375 --> 00:56:24,208
you know, through most of your
life at that point.
1100
00:56:24,250 --> 00:56:25,458
We had very limited experiences,
1101
00:56:25,500 --> 00:56:28,625
and the causes
that we held precious
1102
00:56:28,709 --> 00:56:31,375
and the issues that we felt
were the priorities
1103
00:56:31,458 --> 00:56:34,000
were things
that we might never have
1104
00:56:34,125 --> 00:56:34,458
a chance to express adequately.
1105
00:56:34,500 --> 00:56:39,250
Through this collaborative
experience,
1106
00:56:39,333 --> 00:56:41,250
we were able to get
the world's attention
1107
00:56:41,375 --> 00:56:42,500
and make our feelings known.
1108
00:56:42,583 --> 00:56:46,375
It elevated our aspirations
to doing more
1109
00:56:46,500 --> 00:56:49,500
and, you know, validated us,
validated the battle.
1110
00:56:52,959 --> 00:56:55,333
Our audience, they had to
be informed about
1111
00:56:55,375 --> 00:56:58,750
what was happening
to their country,
1112
00:56:58,834 --> 00:57:00,000
what was happening locally.
1113
00:57:00,125 --> 00:57:02,625
BCN did a very good job,
as the movement
1114
00:57:02,750 --> 00:57:07,250
got more political, of not being
the, the leader.
1115
00:57:07,333 --> 00:57:08,875
In other words,
people didn't go to the streets
1116
00:57:08,959 --> 00:57:12,083
because BCN told them to go
to the streets.
1117
00:57:12,125 --> 00:57:15,333
It was the internet of its day,
1118
00:57:15,375 --> 00:57:16,500
when you could communicate with
the station,
1119
00:57:16,625 --> 00:57:19,208
the station would communicate...
1120
00:57:19,250 --> 00:57:23,125
It was the community resource of
how you knew what was going on.
1121
00:57:28,625 --> 00:57:30,750
That's the new single
Wilson Pickett's got out,
1122
00:57:30,875 --> 00:57:32,500
"Don't Let the Green Grass
Fool You."
1123
00:57:32,625 --> 00:57:34,375
Before that, Ben E. King,
"When You Love Someone,"
1124
00:57:34,458 --> 00:57:37,375
and then Forever More,
"Eight O'Clock and All is Well."
1125
00:57:37,458 --> 00:57:39,125
We were getting
so many phone calls
1126
00:57:39,208 --> 00:57:42,959
that it was impossible to
actually answer the phone
1127
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:44,709
when you're doing your show.
1128
00:57:44,750 --> 00:57:45,375
You know,
I just want to share
1129
00:57:45,458 --> 00:57:47,750
something with you, okay?
1130
00:57:47,875 --> 00:57:48,458
All right, since I've been on
the air at 10:00,
1131
00:57:48,500 --> 00:57:50,500
I've had a really hard time,
1132
00:57:50,583 --> 00:57:53,709
getting, you know, like,
a show together
1133
00:57:53,750 --> 00:57:55,250
the way I'd like to.
1134
00:57:55,375 --> 00:57:58,125
I don't know, what I am leading
up to, I guess,
1135
00:57:58,250 --> 00:57:58,500
is, we really,
we really would like
1136
00:57:58,583 --> 00:58:01,500
some volunteer help down here.
1137
00:58:01,583 --> 00:58:03,625
You know, like, we're in no
position to pay bread for it,
1138
00:58:03,709 --> 00:58:06,625
but we really need help
answering phones,
1139
00:58:06,750 --> 00:58:08,500
and connecting people up with
the right numbers and things.
1140
00:58:08,583 --> 00:58:11,875
The Listener Line was
a telephone line
1141
00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:15,375
in which people who listened
to the radio station
1142
00:58:15,458 --> 00:58:16,583
could call us and ask us
anything.
1143
00:58:16,625 --> 00:58:19,875
All stations had request lines,
1144
00:58:20,000 --> 00:58:22,208
but, you know, deep down inside,
you knew they weren't
1145
00:58:22,250 --> 00:58:24,083
really listening to what
you said and--
1146
00:58:24,125 --> 00:58:25,500
even if they answered the phone.
1147
00:58:25,583 --> 00:58:26,500
If you called
BCN's Listener Line,
1148
00:58:26,625 --> 00:58:30,250
you would instantly realize,
"Well, geez, these people
1149
00:58:30,333 --> 00:58:31,750
really do care about what
I have to say."
1150
00:58:31,834 --> 00:58:34,750
I remember there being a
complete reference library.
1151
00:58:34,875 --> 00:58:36,375
I mean, people would say,
"Where can I get a good pizza?"
1152
00:58:36,500 --> 00:58:38,709
They'd want to know things that
you'd, you know,
1153
00:58:38,750 --> 00:58:40,375
you'd go to Siri on your iPhone
now and ask questions.
1154
00:58:40,500 --> 00:58:43,750
But you'd call
the Listener Line instead.
1155
00:58:50,750 --> 00:58:54,750
The number is 536-8000.
1156
00:58:54,875 --> 00:58:55,500
One of the things
I loved doing
1157
00:58:55,625 --> 00:58:57,750
was the Cat and Dog Report.
1158
00:58:57,834 --> 00:59:01,000
You'd say,
"Hey, I lost my cat."
1159
00:59:01,083 --> 00:59:03,125
"What color was the cat?
Okay, what color...
1160
00:59:03,208 --> 00:59:03,500
What color eyes did it have?"
1161
00:59:03,625 --> 00:59:06,125
So it was called
the Cat and Dog Report.
1162
00:59:06,250 --> 00:59:07,458
And it was popular.
1163
00:59:07,500 --> 00:59:10,458
I don't even know how
we, you know,
1164
00:59:10,500 --> 00:59:12,375
how we got there,
but somebody brought in
1165
00:59:12,500 --> 00:59:13,625
a stray puppy once, and we said,
1166
00:59:13,709 --> 00:59:15,500
"Oh, let's get all the
stray puppies
1167
00:59:15,583 --> 00:59:17,458
and, you know, let's find a new
home for them," or something.
1168
00:59:17,500 --> 00:59:19,375
Okay, it's animal time.
1169
00:59:19,458 --> 00:59:21,959
Seems like everybody's
had their litters,
1170
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:23,458
and all these people
have surplus cats.
1171
00:59:23,500 --> 00:59:27,875
I've got some coming up myself,
so I know how it is.
1172
00:59:27,959 --> 00:59:29,500
Two fluffy black cats.
1173
00:59:29,625 --> 00:59:31,875
They're about
seven weeks old now.
1174
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:33,583
625-1885 if you'd like one.
1175
00:59:33,625 --> 00:59:38,250
People would want
to call the Listener Line
1176
00:59:38,375 --> 00:59:39,500
when they had a problem,
and it would be
1177
00:59:39,583 --> 00:59:41,750
the first call
that they would make.
1178
00:59:41,875 --> 00:59:46,750
I can remember people
who were suicidal,
1179
00:59:46,875 --> 00:59:51,333
that our... Listener Line people
would stay on the phone
1180
00:59:51,375 --> 00:59:52,834
with them for hours.
1181
00:59:52,875 --> 00:59:55,000
And acid casualties.
1182
00:59:55,125 --> 00:59:57,834
It was a tremendous service
for the community.
1183
00:59:57,875 --> 01:00:00,125
Kate Curran was the one...
one that sort of organized
1184
01:00:00,208 --> 01:00:00,625
the entire group.
1185
01:00:00,709 --> 01:00:02,500
It was a completely
volunteer service,
1186
01:00:02,583 --> 01:00:05,583
and it was a very important part
of the station.
1187
01:00:07,709 --> 01:00:09,458
This is the
Holy Modal Rounders
1188
01:00:09,500 --> 01:00:12,125
with a mantra for you.
1189
01:00:20,750 --> 01:00:23,875
The Golden Guru
for WBCN Boston says
1190
01:00:23,959 --> 01:00:28,625
chant this mantra every day
and make bad karma go away.
1191
01:00:28,709 --> 01:00:32,750
There was a great history of
acts stopping by for interviews,
1192
01:00:32,834 --> 01:00:38,000
who also decided that they would
bring a guitar along and play.
1193
01:00:38,125 --> 01:00:41,500
It, it really hadn't happened
on the radio before.
1194
01:00:41,625 --> 01:00:46,750
Another time, uh... the Listener
Line person came in and said,
1195
01:00:46,834 --> 01:00:50,583
"The musician's downstairs,
he just played at the Arc,
1196
01:00:50,625 --> 01:00:52,875
"another musician, I guess they
both played at different places,
1197
01:00:52,959 --> 01:00:54,208
uh, Jerry Garcia."
1198
01:00:54,250 --> 01:00:55,500
I said,
"From the Grateful Dead?"
1199
01:00:55,583 --> 01:00:56,750
"Yeah."
"Who's the other one?"
1200
01:00:56,834 --> 01:00:57,625
"Duane Allman from
the Allman Brothers.”
1201
01:00:57,709 --> 01:01:00,875
"Yes, send them up, we'll play,
yeah cool."
1202
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:01,750
So they come up and we're...
1203
01:01:01,834 --> 01:01:04,250
...you know.
1204
01:01:04,333 --> 01:01:05,834
"So what do you got now for us,"
1205
01:01:05,875 --> 01:01:06,625
and we're doing this on air,
we're smoking dope.
1206
01:01:09,000 --> 01:01:09,625
Oh, my earphones.
1207
01:01:09,750 --> 01:01:12,625
I'm sorry, man.
1208
01:01:12,750 --> 01:01:16,125
Even Jerry Garcia's
cough is melodic.
1209
01:01:16,250 --> 01:01:18,458
Haha, yeah, sure.
1210
01:01:18,500 --> 01:01:20,709
Even his cough is heavy.
1211
01:01:20,750 --> 01:01:21,625
Even his cough is heavy.
1212
01:01:24,834 --> 01:01:28,583
These guys, there's Jerry Garcia
and Duane Allman.
1213
01:01:43,750 --> 01:01:47,083
I mean, stuff like that couldn't
happen today with musicians.
1214
01:01:47,125 --> 01:01:49,834
Unless they were paid big bucks,
by, you know, a record company
1215
01:01:49,875 --> 01:01:51,750
or somebody to go and do that.
1216
01:01:51,875 --> 01:01:54,625
But here's these two guys
coming up, they'd each played
1217
01:01:54,709 --> 01:01:55,625
their respective gigs,
and they came up,
1218
01:01:55,709 --> 01:01:58,375
and they played for two hours.
1219
01:02:20,750 --> 01:02:24,000
The video theatre presents...
1220
01:02:24,750 --> 01:02:27,000
"Reefer Madness."
1221
01:02:27,083 --> 01:02:29,959
In order to exist
we had to have commercials,
1222
01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:31,500
so everybody knew that.
1223
01:02:31,583 --> 01:02:33,750
Even the most jaded announcer
knew that.
1224
01:02:33,834 --> 01:02:36,834
The advertisers
tended to be small shops.
1225
01:02:36,875 --> 01:02:38,625
The ads were incredibly
inventive and funny.
1226
01:02:43,709 --> 01:02:46,458
Michael Fremer
was a stand-up comedian
1227
01:02:46,500 --> 01:02:48,875
in Boston
and he did a lot of voices.
1228
01:02:50,959 --> 01:02:52,834
FREMER Hey,
what's the matter now, Beaver?
1229
01:02:52,875 --> 01:02:54,750
Gee Wally, I don't know,
1230
01:02:54,875 --> 01:02:57,000
it's just that
there's a big sale
1231
01:02:57,125 --> 01:02:57,709
at New England Music City,
and Cheap Thrills,
1232
01:02:57,750 --> 01:03:00,083
and Eddie Haskell
took all my money.
1233
01:03:00,125 --> 01:03:01,750
You didn't turn
the advertisement off.
1234
01:03:01,834 --> 01:03:04,500
You either turned it up
or listened to it.
1235
01:03:04,583 --> 01:03:06,458
What could be better for an
advertiser than have someone
1236
01:03:06,500 --> 01:03:07,875
listen to your commercial?
1237
01:03:08,000 --> 01:03:10,625
The sales people didn't decide
what went on the air,
1238
01:03:10,709 --> 01:03:11,709
the announcers decided
what went on the air.
1239
01:03:11,750 --> 01:03:13,959
Didn't care about
the ratings.
1240
01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:14,750
We didn't care about
any of that stuff.
1241
01:03:14,834 --> 01:03:18,250
We were just concerned about
doing great radio.
1242
01:03:18,333 --> 01:03:18,834
Partly, it was the sound.
1243
01:03:18,875 --> 01:03:21,250
We didn't want a hype sound
on the air.
1244
01:03:21,333 --> 01:03:21,834
It just didn't fit.
1245
01:03:21,875 --> 01:03:23,875
But the other thing
was the product.
1246
01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:27,834
The whole sense of
this product is right
1247
01:03:27,875 --> 01:03:31,208
for this station, for WBCN.
1248
01:03:31,250 --> 01:03:32,834
This product is not.
1249
01:03:32,875 --> 01:03:34,625
And of course they were
appalled.
1250
01:03:34,709 --> 01:03:36,208
They were doing us a favor.
1251
01:03:36,250 --> 01:03:41,750
Here we were, this independent
rock and roll station,
1252
01:03:41,834 --> 01:03:44,875
and they were nice enough
to call us and want to do us
1253
01:03:45,000 --> 01:03:47,500
a favor and give us an ad
and then we'd tell them,
1254
01:03:47,625 --> 01:03:48,750
"I'm sorry, it's too ugly."
1255
01:03:48,834 --> 01:03:51,125
On the bulletin board at WBCN,
1256
01:03:51,250 --> 01:03:54,333
there's a handwritten sign,
which says at the top,
1257
01:03:54,375 --> 01:03:56,875
"We don't want to advertise:"
1258
01:03:57,000 --> 01:03:59,625
there follows, "cosmetics,
hair oils, deodorants,
1259
01:03:59,709 --> 01:04:02,750
"underwear,
WBCN news department.
1260
01:04:02,834 --> 01:04:05,375
"Any product that purports
to make a person better liked
1261
01:04:05,500 --> 01:04:06,875
or more pleasing
than his real self."
1262
01:04:07,000 --> 01:04:10,583
For a sponsor to say,
"Like the real you's
1263
01:04:10,625 --> 01:04:13,834
a drag, man, if you use our
product, you can be better."
1264
01:04:13,875 --> 01:04:16,250
Well, you know, like,
we just don't like to do that,
1265
01:04:16,375 --> 01:04:17,750
because it's just not real,
1266
01:04:17,834 --> 01:04:19,125
it's just not what's
really happening.
1267
01:04:19,208 --> 01:04:20,458
One of the reasons
they listen to us
1268
01:04:20,500 --> 01:04:22,000
is to get away from that crap.
1269
01:04:22,125 --> 01:04:25,333
I was on the front page of
"Advertising Week" every week.
1270
01:04:25,375 --> 01:04:26,750
I was the highest grossing...
1271
01:04:26,875 --> 01:04:28,875
I was getting A.M. time,
1272
01:04:28,959 --> 01:04:33,375
I was getting $55
for a 30-second spot.
1273
01:04:33,458 --> 01:04:38,625
I had done that in 14 months,
so we revolutionized...
1274
01:04:38,750 --> 01:04:43,250
And, of course, a year later,
every station in the country
1275
01:04:43,333 --> 01:04:45,125
tried to sound like BCN.
1276
01:04:49,875 --> 01:04:53,875
Larry Glick for the WNEX
Public Affairs Department.
1277
01:04:54,000 --> 01:04:55,750
Guam-based B-52 bombers hit
1278
01:04:55,875 --> 01:04:58,750
South Vietnam's notorious
guerilla-infested zone.
1279
01:04:58,875 --> 01:05:01,625
In the very beginning
we did not have news on,
1280
01:05:01,709 --> 01:05:04,875
because our attitude was,
all these other radio stations
1281
01:05:05,000 --> 01:05:08,125
these days have five minutes
of news at the top of the hour
1282
01:05:08,208 --> 01:05:09,959
and some of them have
a half-hour news at 6:00,
1283
01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:12,834
and news is perfectly
well covered.
1284
01:05:12,875 --> 01:05:15,709
We were getting heat on that
from the, you know,
1285
01:05:15,750 --> 01:05:20,959
you had a certain obligation
as far as the FCC was concerned
1286
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:24,750
to provide news
and public affairs.
1287
01:05:24,875 --> 01:05:26,834
So Charles is saying to me
in this period,
1288
01:05:26,875 --> 01:05:29,875
"Come and do the news,
come do the news.
1289
01:05:29,959 --> 01:05:31,875
"You know, just don't come on
and call me,
1290
01:05:32,000 --> 01:05:33,709
"and say,
'Here's a demonstration,'
1291
01:05:33,750 --> 01:05:33,875
come do the news."
1292
01:05:33,959 --> 01:05:36,500
But I didn't want to do it.
1293
01:05:36,583 --> 01:05:38,500
That's not me, I'm an organizer,
I'm not the news.
1294
01:05:38,625 --> 01:05:44,375
And by chance, a dear friend
of mine, Bo Burlingham,
1295
01:05:44,458 --> 01:05:47,250
just one of the sweetest people
in the world,
1296
01:05:47,375 --> 01:05:49,375
shows up on my doorstep,
1297
01:05:49,458 --> 01:05:53,083
and he has been,
much to my great sadness,
1298
01:05:53,125 --> 01:05:55,333
caught up in Weathermen.
1299
01:05:55,375 --> 01:05:57,875
Well, I was as desperate
as everybody else was
1300
01:05:57,959 --> 01:06:03,250
because it looked like the war
was going on interminably.
1301
01:06:03,375 --> 01:06:07,250
Students for Democratic Society,
when it started out,
1302
01:06:07,375 --> 01:06:08,834
it was very nonviolent.
1303
01:06:08,875 --> 01:06:09,875
The Weathermen actually
seemed like
1304
01:06:09,959 --> 01:06:15,625
they were serious about
doing something, and I decided,
1305
01:06:15,750 --> 01:06:17,083
I would go with them.
1306
01:06:17,125 --> 01:06:19,208
And now,
much to my great delight,
1307
01:06:19,250 --> 01:06:24,750
he and his soon-to-be-wife Lisa
show up on our doorstep and say,
1308
01:06:24,875 --> 01:06:25,959
"We're out. Out of Weathermen."
1309
01:06:26,000 --> 01:06:27,959
And... and they lived with us
for a while,
1310
01:06:28,000 --> 01:06:30,000
and then got on their feet.
1311
01:06:30,083 --> 01:06:34,625
I was in a situation where
I needed to get a job.
1312
01:06:34,709 --> 01:06:38,583
So, I was talking to Michael
about that and he said,
1313
01:06:38,625 --> 01:06:43,959
"Well I heard that WBCN
is looking for a news director."
1314
01:06:44,000 --> 01:06:49,125
So I go in, I introduced Bo
to Charles and to Ray,
1315
01:06:49,208 --> 01:06:53,250
and they hire him and we put
together some volunteers,
1316
01:06:53,375 --> 01:06:56,959
including Danny Schechter,
who will support him.
1317
01:06:57,000 --> 01:07:00,750
We came up with a plan that
we were going to get together
1318
01:07:00,875 --> 01:07:02,250
a team of people,
who were going to gather
1319
01:07:02,333 --> 01:07:05,875
the news during the day,
and then Charles was actually
1320
01:07:06,000 --> 01:07:09,875
going to read it, with,
you know, rock and roll,
1321
01:07:09,959 --> 01:07:11,125
and all sorts of other things
going on.
1322
01:07:11,250 --> 01:07:14,959
When the sun came up
this morning,
1323
01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:17,125
the WBCN news team was there.
1324
01:07:17,208 --> 01:07:19,709
For them it was just the start
of another day.
1325
01:07:22,834 --> 01:07:27,375
The first day we did okay,
1326
01:07:27,500 --> 01:07:28,125
and then Thursday rolled around,
1327
01:07:28,250 --> 01:07:31,458
we had this meeting over lunch,
1328
01:07:31,500 --> 01:07:32,875
and I remember they all left,
1329
01:07:32,959 --> 01:07:35,208
and then I heard
the ticker machine,
1330
01:07:35,250 --> 01:07:36,959
which was where we got
most of the news.
1331
01:07:37,000 --> 01:07:39,750
And it said,
"Flash, flash, flash."
1332
01:07:39,834 --> 01:07:44,000
A federal grand jury in Detroit
today charged the 13 top leaders
1333
01:07:44,083 --> 01:07:47,625
of the Weathermen with plotting
to bomb public buildings
1334
01:07:47,750 --> 01:07:50,625
in Chicago, Detroit, New York,
and Berkeley, California.
1335
01:07:50,750 --> 01:07:53,500
Attorney John Mitchell said,
"The indictments grew out of
1336
01:07:53,625 --> 01:07:56,625
"an investigation begun after
three other Weathermen
1337
01:07:56,750 --> 01:07:59,500
"blew themselves up
in a fashionable townhouse
1338
01:07:59,583 --> 01:08:02,000
in New York's Greenwich Village
in March."
1339
01:08:02,125 --> 01:08:03,125
David?
1340
01:08:03,250 --> 01:08:06,250
I looked at
the list of names,
1341
01:08:06,375 --> 01:08:08,000
and it started off with a bunch
of names of people
1342
01:08:08,083 --> 01:08:11,375
who I knew were underground.
1343
01:08:11,458 --> 01:08:14,750
And I got to the last name
on the list and it said,
1344
01:08:14,834 --> 01:08:17,041
"Robert Burlingham."
1345
01:08:17,166 --> 01:08:21,500
And I was, you know,
I was totally stunned,
1346
01:08:21,542 --> 01:08:24,625
and I'd really not been involved
at all in the underground.
1347
01:08:24,667 --> 01:08:28,917
Bo comes in with this... the
thing he'd ripped, and he says,
1348
01:08:29,041 --> 01:08:30,542
"Charles, we have a problem."
1349
01:08:30,667 --> 01:08:32,917
Long before they said,
"Houston, we have a problem."
1350
01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:34,417
It was,
"Charles we have a problem."
1351
01:08:34,542 --> 01:08:39,125
And I looked at it and it says,
"Attorney General John Mitchell
1352
01:08:39,166 --> 01:08:41,125
has just announced that
indictments are being issued
1353
01:08:41,166 --> 01:08:44,917
in Detroit for 13 Weathermen.”
1354
01:08:45,041 --> 01:08:47,750
And so I go,
"So what's wrong with this?"
1355
01:08:47,792 --> 01:08:50,542
And he says, "Seventh name."
1356
01:08:50,625 --> 01:08:52,166
I look down, seventh name,
1357
01:08:52,291 --> 01:08:55,250
Bo Burlingham, my news director.
1358
01:08:55,291 --> 01:08:58,375
So he calls me up right away
and says, "Oh my God,
1359
01:08:58,417 --> 01:09:00,542
I'm about to be arrested--
the FBI."
1360
01:09:00,667 --> 01:09:02,041
So I come and pick him up.
1361
01:09:02,166 --> 01:09:06,291
The first thing Michael and I
did when I left BCN
1362
01:09:06,417 --> 01:09:09,291
was to go see Ray Riepen,
who had hired me.
1363
01:09:09,417 --> 01:09:12,041
I said, "Well, you know, geez,
I got this...
1364
01:09:12,166 --> 01:09:14,000
"this is a federally licensed
business, it makes me nervous
1365
01:09:14,041 --> 01:09:16,917
"to have a guy that's indicted
for dynamiting federal buildings
1366
01:09:17,041 --> 01:09:18,542
"on the payroll.
1367
01:09:18,667 --> 01:09:19,166
I gotta let you go."
1368
01:09:19,291 --> 01:09:22,291
And he said,
I'm actually a part owner,
1369
01:09:22,417 --> 01:09:23,166
I have a newspaper
1370
01:09:23,291 --> 01:09:27,917
"called the 'Cambridge Phoenix,'
and if you wanted to,
1371
01:09:28,000 --> 01:09:29,125
you could work there."
1372
01:09:29,166 --> 01:09:31,750
I thought that was very generous
of him.
1373
01:09:31,792 --> 01:09:34,291
So that's what we did, and
he wrote for the newspaper then
1374
01:09:34,375 --> 01:09:36,125
for a year or two,
and then I think,
1375
01:09:36,166 --> 01:09:40,542
"Mother Jones" out on
the West Coast.
1376
01:09:40,625 --> 01:09:43,000
Meanwhile we're getting
the lawyers to work on it
1377
01:09:43,041 --> 01:09:44,417
and the FBI had no idea.
1378
01:09:44,500 --> 01:09:47,750
I mean, he's doing the news
on WBCN,
1379
01:09:47,792 --> 01:09:50,291
and the FBI has no idea
he's in Boston.
1380
01:09:50,375 --> 01:09:52,792
All charges were dropped, yeah,
there were all sorts of
1381
01:09:52,917 --> 01:09:54,166
illegalities and irregularities.
1382
01:09:54,291 --> 01:09:57,291
And so we needed
a new news director,
1383
01:09:57,375 --> 01:10:01,291
and... and that's when Danny
Schechter came into the picture.
1384
01:10:01,417 --> 01:10:03,166
We'll have news coming up
1385
01:10:03,250 --> 01:10:05,625
in about five minutes--
Danny was out covering things...
1386
01:10:05,667 --> 01:10:09,917
I became the news director
at BCN, you know,
1387
01:10:10,041 --> 01:10:12,166
filling in for Bo Burlingham.
1388
01:10:12,250 --> 01:10:14,125
And I bring... I write script,
1389
01:10:14,166 --> 01:10:17,417
and I bring it to the DJ
to read.
1390
01:10:17,542 --> 01:10:19,041
It was a 2:00 newscast.
1391
01:10:19,125 --> 01:10:22,166
Jim Parry was the DJ,
and he takes a look at
1392
01:10:22,250 --> 01:10:25,625
what I typed out and he says,
"I can't read this.
1393
01:10:25,667 --> 01:10:27,166
"I can't even... I can't even
understand what it's saying,
1394
01:10:27,250 --> 01:10:29,667
"this is a sloppy mess.
1395
01:10:29,792 --> 01:10:30,875
You read it."
1396
01:10:30,917 --> 01:10:32,625
He then introduces me.
1397
01:10:32,667 --> 01:10:35,667
"And now
Danny Schechter
1398
01:10:35,750 --> 01:10:38,792
the news inspector,
the news ingestor."
1399
01:10:38,875 --> 01:10:39,250
I started playing with these,
1400
01:10:39,291 --> 01:10:41,917
"Danny Schechter,
the news inspector,
1401
01:10:42,000 --> 01:10:43,792
Danny Schechter
the news selector,"
1402
01:10:43,875 --> 01:10:46,792
and sort of the news dissector
was one of those.
1403
01:10:46,875 --> 01:10:48,166
And, I loved that idea
of the news dissector,
1404
01:10:48,250 --> 01:10:50,750
and it sort of stuck.
1405
01:10:50,792 --> 01:10:53,667
In the news
right now, police in Boston
1406
01:10:53,750 --> 01:10:56,667
got orders this morning to halt
an anti-war demonstration.
1407
01:10:56,792 --> 01:10:57,291
About 30 Vietnam veterans,
1408
01:10:57,417 --> 01:11:02,291
carrying toy M-16 rifles
and in full fatigues,
1409
01:11:02,417 --> 01:11:04,417
stalked across City Hall plaza
1410
01:11:04,500 --> 01:11:07,166
in a mock search and destroy
mission.
1411
01:11:07,250 --> 01:11:10,500
This was an era in which,
you know, the Vietnam War
1412
01:11:10,542 --> 01:11:12,041
hung over everything.
1413
01:11:12,166 --> 01:11:16,542
While I was at BCN I tried to
cover it in a different way
1414
01:11:16,625 --> 01:11:18,250
than it was being covered
by other media outlets.
1415
01:11:18,291 --> 01:11:21,375
The AP copy would come over.
1416
01:11:21,417 --> 01:11:26,917
And it would make a reference to
40 of the enemy were killed.
1417
01:11:27,041 --> 01:11:29,041
And Danny would just
scratch it out,
1418
01:11:29,166 --> 01:11:32,000
and he would eliminate the word
"enemy."
1419
01:11:32,041 --> 01:11:34,542
And, of course, at the time,
all you were hearing was,
1420
01:11:34,625 --> 01:11:35,250
you know, "the enemy this,"
"the enemy that."
1421
01:11:35,291 --> 01:11:38,041
We were killing people
1422
01:11:38,125 --> 01:11:41,750
who, who were presented as our
enemies and they weren't.
1423
01:11:41,792 --> 01:11:46,166
As far as the war was concerned,
there was critical commentary,
1424
01:11:46,250 --> 01:11:48,125
but if you look at the criticism
1425
01:11:48,166 --> 01:11:50,125
it's, "We're not fighting
it the right way,
1426
01:11:50,166 --> 01:11:52,542
we're making mistakes,
we should do better."
1427
01:11:52,625 --> 01:11:54,166
Danny was an exception.
1428
01:11:54,291 --> 01:11:59,166
That's why people who had a
different picture of the world,
1429
01:11:59,291 --> 01:12:02,375
including many young people,
tuned in to hear
1430
01:12:02,417 --> 01:12:05,041
Danny Schechter,
your news dissector,
1431
01:12:05,166 --> 01:12:06,750
I think at 6:00.
1432
01:12:06,792 --> 01:12:09,542
And then you got a picture of
what was actually happening
1433
01:12:09,625 --> 01:12:11,542
from a very different
point of view.
1434
01:12:11,667 --> 01:12:17,291
The WBCN news team didn't have
a model for how to do the news.
1435
01:12:17,375 --> 01:12:23,625
They were creating
what it would mean for
1436
01:12:23,667 --> 01:12:28,291
a rebellious rock and roll,
freeform
1437
01:12:28,375 --> 01:12:32,000
FM station to start
incorporating news.
1438
01:12:34,417 --> 01:12:35,291
Who's the one
1439
01:12:35,417 --> 01:12:38,375
who has pledged an honorable end
to the war in Vietnam?
1440
01:12:41,500 --> 01:12:43,041
Nixon's the one.
1441
01:12:43,166 --> 01:12:45,417
You want peace.
I want peace.
1442
01:12:45,542 --> 01:12:47,417
MAN Oh, that's
nothing to what
1443
01:12:47,500 --> 01:12:49,041
I could say if I chose.
1444
01:12:49,166 --> 01:12:51,250
They were combining music.
1445
01:12:51,291 --> 01:12:53,792
They were combining hard news.
1446
01:12:53,875 --> 01:12:57,792
They were combining parodies
and comedies,
1447
01:12:57,917 --> 01:13:02,166
and did so brilliantly,
in a way that paved the way
1448
01:13:02,291 --> 01:13:05,500
for "The Daily Show"
and Stephen Colbert.
1449
01:13:05,542 --> 01:13:07,291
And there's a direct line
through that.
1450
01:13:07,375 --> 01:13:09,000
I was living
in a house with a group of
1451
01:13:09,041 --> 01:13:11,792
people, and one of my roommates
was active on behalf
1452
01:13:11,917 --> 01:13:13,291
of the Indians at Wounded Knee.
1453
01:13:13,375 --> 01:13:14,667
The FBI came to the house
one morning...
1454
01:13:14,750 --> 01:13:16,417
This was a story that came
directly to me,
1455
01:13:16,542 --> 01:13:19,542
woke me up one morning,
and I covered it,
1456
01:13:19,625 --> 01:13:21,917
and then we played the whole
tape on BCN.
1457
01:13:22,041 --> 01:13:23,291
It was great radio.
1458
01:13:23,417 --> 01:13:25,542
I lived in a house
with a number of other people
1459
01:13:25,625 --> 01:13:27,792
who were activists.
1460
01:13:27,917 --> 01:13:31,000
One of them, Bill Zimmerman,
was a pilot,
1461
01:13:31,041 --> 01:13:34,000
and he had delivered food to the
Indians in Wounded Knee.
1462
01:13:34,041 --> 01:13:37,750
The American Indian movement
had seized this tiny village
1463
01:13:37,792 --> 01:13:40,625
on the Pine Ridge reservation
in South Dakota,
1464
01:13:40,667 --> 01:13:42,417
as a protest against
the conditions
1465
01:13:42,500 --> 01:13:45,792
of reservation life in America.
1466
01:13:45,917 --> 01:13:49,500
The hamlet of Wounded Knee,
South Dakota, still remains
1467
01:13:49,542 --> 01:13:50,417
under control
of militant Indians.
1468
01:13:50,542 --> 01:13:53,500
The government still refuses
to talk to their leaders.
1469
01:13:53,542 --> 01:13:58,291
One could drop food
into the village via parachute
1470
01:13:58,417 --> 01:14:03,041
and there would be very little
the federal forces could do.
1471
01:14:03,166 --> 01:14:05,041
This was an attempt
to help them.
1472
01:14:05,125 --> 01:14:06,542
An act of solidarity.
1473
01:14:06,625 --> 01:14:12,792
And we made the drop
on April 17, 1973.
1474
01:14:12,875 --> 01:14:16,625
And so eventually the FBI
found out about
1475
01:14:16,667 --> 01:14:19,875
who was behind these planes,
and this whole action,
1476
01:14:19,917 --> 01:14:25,667
and came to my house, where Bill
also had a room, to arrest him.
1477
01:14:25,750 --> 01:14:27,291
And what is your
name, sir?
1478
01:14:27,417 --> 01:14:28,667
And who are you, sir?
1479
01:14:28,792 --> 01:14:30,417
My name is Bob Smith,
I'm with the FBI.
1480
01:14:30,500 --> 01:14:32,000
- Bob Smith?
- That's right.
1481
01:14:32,041 --> 01:14:34,500
They came in, all of them had
their guns drawn,
1482
01:14:34,542 --> 01:14:36,542
and they were making
a lot of noise,
1483
01:14:36,625 --> 01:14:39,417
so the other people who lived
in the house woke up.
1484
01:14:39,542 --> 01:14:41,667
You got the tape recorder going?
1485
01:14:41,792 --> 01:14:42,417
Yes, sir, I certainly do.
1486
01:14:42,500 --> 01:14:44,500
All right, what's your name?
1487
01:14:44,542 --> 01:14:46,041
Dan Schechter.
1488
01:14:46,166 --> 01:14:48,917
WBCN in Boston,
I'm covering this here.
1489
01:14:49,000 --> 01:14:54,291
Danny immediately produced
a portable tape recorder,
1490
01:14:54,375 --> 01:14:57,000
and went up to
one of the FBI agents,
1491
01:14:57,041 --> 01:14:58,792
and introduced himself as
1492
01:14:58,875 --> 01:15:00,667
Danny Schechter,
the news dissector,
1493
01:15:00,792 --> 01:15:03,166
and said,
"I'm here covering the bust.”
1494
01:15:05,500 --> 01:15:07,166
Are you a resident
of this dwelling?
1495
01:15:07,291 --> 01:15:08,667
Yes, no,
I'm covering this arrest.
1496
01:15:08,792 --> 01:15:10,000
What's happening here?
1497
01:15:10,041 --> 01:15:10,625
We have a warrant
for other people.
1498
01:15:10,667 --> 01:15:13,166
Are you a resident
of this dwelling?
1499
01:15:13,250 --> 01:15:14,792
Can you tell
me who you have a warrant for?
1500
01:15:14,875 --> 01:15:16,625
We don't have to
tell you anything.
1501
01:15:16,667 --> 01:15:18,250
You don't
have to tell me anything?
1502
01:15:18,291 --> 01:15:19,750
And they weren't really
expecting that.
1503
01:15:19,792 --> 01:15:21,417
That there would be somebody,
a journalist, in the house
1504
01:15:21,500 --> 01:15:24,041
actually covering it.
1505
01:15:24,125 --> 01:15:28,041
And so they threatened me,
you know, with arrest myself
1506
01:15:28,125 --> 01:15:32,291
about, you know, that I was,
you know, interrupting justice.
1507
01:15:32,375 --> 01:15:34,041
Now, if you interfere with us,
1508
01:15:34,125 --> 01:15:34,625
you're interfering with justice.
1509
01:15:34,667 --> 01:15:37,291
We have told you we have
a warrant for this man
1510
01:15:37,417 --> 01:15:38,542
and other men.
1511
01:15:38,625 --> 01:15:39,542
Now do not interfere
with justice.
1512
01:15:39,625 --> 01:15:42,291
I'm telling you now.
Amazing, right?
1513
01:15:42,375 --> 01:15:45,500
His sense of theatrics
was amazing.
1514
01:15:45,542 --> 01:15:47,375
You know, in other words,
the whole idea
1515
01:15:47,417 --> 01:15:48,917
of challenging these guys,
1516
01:15:49,041 --> 01:15:51,375
"I'm a reporter and I'm covering
this story right now."
1517
01:15:51,417 --> 01:15:52,667
The fact that,
"This is my house
1518
01:15:52,750 --> 01:15:54,166
and I am just coming out at 6:00
in the morning."
1519
01:15:54,291 --> 01:15:54,417
He probably was, you know,
1520
01:15:54,542 --> 01:15:56,542
wearing his bathrobe or
something.
1521
01:15:56,667 --> 01:15:59,542
And Zimmerman was arrested.
1522
01:15:59,667 --> 01:16:01,542
He was, you know,
indicted in Boston.
1523
01:16:01,625 --> 01:16:03,500
The charges were later dropped,
1524
01:16:03,542 --> 01:16:06,625
which is often the case,
that the FBI would violate
1525
01:16:06,667 --> 01:16:10,542
its own rules
and legal protocols.
1526
01:16:10,667 --> 01:16:12,875
I'm sure that they never get
that sort of a reaction,
1527
01:16:12,917 --> 01:16:16,750
so that is so great,
so typical of the guy.
1528
01:16:19,750 --> 01:16:22,041
To set the stage,
1529
01:16:22,125 --> 01:16:24,291
and it's unthinkable
at this point in time,
1530
01:16:24,417 --> 01:16:25,542
women were really
1531
01:16:25,667 --> 01:16:27,667
a curiosity in terms of
being on the air then.
1532
01:16:27,750 --> 01:16:30,542
I think even our own enlightened
announcers, male announcers,
1533
01:16:30,667 --> 01:16:32,542
may not have been quite
so enlightened.
1534
01:16:32,667 --> 01:16:37,375
Because, again,
they're coming from an old world
1535
01:16:37,417 --> 01:16:40,291
and moving into this new one.
1536
01:16:40,417 --> 01:16:43,417
I loved BCN,
and listened to it all.
1537
01:16:43,542 --> 01:16:46,250
I mean my, you know,
my car radio was just,
1538
01:16:46,291 --> 01:16:48,041
that's where it was set, on BCN.
1539
01:16:48,166 --> 01:16:49,917
We used to do public service
announcements,
1540
01:16:50,041 --> 01:16:51,625
we called them PSAs for...
1541
01:16:51,667 --> 01:16:52,625
it was called Project Place.
1542
01:16:52,667 --> 01:16:55,667
If you're scared,
uptight about anything
1543
01:16:55,750 --> 01:16:59,542
and you're falling, drop into
Project Place's drop-in center.
1544
01:16:59,625 --> 01:17:03,542
Project Place needed
some help,
1545
01:17:03,625 --> 01:17:08,917
so I made a tape of a PSA,
1546
01:17:09,041 --> 01:17:10,625
"If you're a doctor,
you want to call this number,
1547
01:17:10,667 --> 01:17:13,667
and if you're a chick
and can type."
1548
01:17:13,792 --> 01:17:18,166
I hear Charles Laquidara,
who was one of my faves,
1549
01:17:18,250 --> 01:17:20,041
I love Charles Laquidara too,
1550
01:17:20,125 --> 01:17:22,542
make this announcement saying
1551
01:17:22,667 --> 01:17:25,500
Project Place needs volunteers
1552
01:17:25,542 --> 01:17:29,542
and, "If you're a chick,
and can type, call us."
1553
01:17:29,625 --> 01:17:30,542
And I thought,
I cannot believe this.
1554
01:17:30,667 --> 01:17:35,667
Calling women "chicks,"
I think some people thought
1555
01:17:35,792 --> 01:17:39,041
was a hip thing to do,
but I think women
1556
01:17:39,166 --> 01:17:40,792
were reading Betty Friedan,
you know, at the time.
1557
01:17:40,875 --> 01:17:43,542
So I went to a Bread
and Roses meeting, and said,
1558
01:17:43,667 --> 01:17:45,041
"We have to do something
about this."
1559
01:17:45,166 --> 01:17:46,917
And one of the people
in the group said,
1560
01:17:47,000 --> 01:17:47,542
"Let's get some chicks."
1561
01:17:47,667 --> 01:17:49,667
"Chicks?"
- Like little baby chicks.
1562
01:17:49,792 --> 01:17:53,542
And then,
in the middle of the next day,
1563
01:17:53,667 --> 01:17:55,667
our poor manager,
his name was Len Cohen,
1564
01:17:55,792 --> 01:17:57,542
Len's sitting there,
and all of a sudden,
1565
01:17:57,667 --> 01:17:59,291
they come walking in.
1566
01:17:59,417 --> 01:18:01,917
It was suddenly a lot of women
getting off the elevator.
1567
01:18:02,041 --> 01:18:04,125
We walked into the office,
they had no idea.
1568
01:18:04,166 --> 01:18:08,625
I mean they were like,
"What is going on here?"
1569
01:18:08,667 --> 01:18:10,917
And we scattered the chicks
and said, you know,
1570
01:18:11,041 --> 01:18:13,000
"These are chicks,
we're not chicks."
1571
01:18:13,041 --> 01:18:16,166
They've got a cardboard box they
dumped... they opened it up,
1572
01:18:16,291 --> 01:18:20,291
and dumped it on his desk,
it's like 40 baby chicks.
1573
01:18:20,375 --> 01:18:21,875
"These are chicks.
1574
01:18:21,917 --> 01:18:23,542
We are women."
1575
01:18:23,625 --> 01:18:26,041
We got up from our desks
in the sales room,
1576
01:18:26,125 --> 01:18:28,250
and we saw...
I saw some baby chickens
1577
01:18:28,291 --> 01:18:29,917
come out of their hands,
1578
01:18:30,000 --> 01:18:32,000
and the chicks were walking
around on Len Cohen's desk.
1579
01:18:32,041 --> 01:18:36,792
It was like within two weeks
we had our first women show.
1580
01:18:36,875 --> 01:18:38,667
And that ad, needless to say,
went right out the window.
1581
01:18:38,792 --> 01:18:42,792
What happened was it kind of
showed that, you know,
1582
01:18:42,875 --> 01:18:46,542
we were open to criticism,
and we took it,
1583
01:18:46,667 --> 01:18:48,417
and we did something about it.
1584
01:18:48,500 --> 01:18:51,750
The demands that we made
that day included
1585
01:18:51,792 --> 01:18:53,917
that they give us an hour
of airtime.
1586
01:18:54,041 --> 01:18:54,875
The following hour
was pre-recorded
1587
01:18:54,917 --> 01:18:58,166
by Bread and Roses
for Women's Liberation.
1588
01:18:58,250 --> 01:19:00,417
We talked about
violence against women,
1589
01:19:00,500 --> 01:19:02,667
we talked about
reproductive rights,
1590
01:19:02,792 --> 01:19:06,166
we talked about the major issues
of the day,
1591
01:19:06,291 --> 01:19:06,792
and it was played on BCN.
1592
01:19:06,875 --> 01:19:15,250
WBCN took that situation
and helped change itself
1593
01:19:15,291 --> 01:19:18,000
but also helped contribute
to what was going on
1594
01:19:18,041 --> 01:19:19,417
at that particular time.
1595
01:19:19,542 --> 01:19:22,542
There were no women on the air
at BCN,
1596
01:19:22,667 --> 01:19:26,166
so the decision to hire a woman
1597
01:19:26,250 --> 01:19:28,500
was a very important step
for the station to take.
1598
01:19:28,542 --> 01:19:32,625
Both Maxanne and Debbie Ullman
were hired in rapid succession.
1599
01:19:32,667 --> 01:19:35,166
Maxanne had established herself
in Seattle.
1600
01:19:35,291 --> 01:19:37,625
And one of the great things
about Maxanne,
1601
01:19:37,667 --> 01:19:38,917
her ears were impeccable.
1602
01:19:39,041 --> 01:19:41,667
Maxanne heard bands
that none of us heard.
1603
01:19:41,750 --> 01:19:42,792
And I'm talking about Aerosmith,
1604
01:19:42,917 --> 01:19:45,667
some of us minimized
their importance,
1605
01:19:45,750 --> 01:19:46,667
thinking that they were
too derivative
1606
01:19:46,792 --> 01:19:48,375
of the Rolling Stones,
1607
01:19:48,417 --> 01:19:50,000
that was an obvious comparison
in the beginning.
1608
01:19:50,041 --> 01:19:52,667
You know, Maxanne heard
the quality of what they did,
1609
01:19:52,792 --> 01:19:54,917
the musicianship, song writing,
and so on,
1610
01:19:55,041 --> 01:19:57,750
and very quickly
she was proven right.
1611
01:19:57,792 --> 01:20:01,792
And she kept playing the same
song over and over
1612
01:20:01,917 --> 01:20:03,792
by this Boston group,
that local group--
1613
01:20:03,875 --> 01:20:06,291
"Dream on, dream on,
dream on."
1614
01:20:06,417 --> 01:20:07,750
"Max, find another song!"
1615
01:20:07,792 --> 01:20:10,041
"This group is going to be huge,
Charles!"
1616
01:20:10,166 --> 01:20:11,917
"Yeah, but you don't have to
keep playing it."
1617
01:20:12,000 --> 01:20:14,542
And then, of course,
she broke Aerosmith,
1618
01:20:14,625 --> 01:20:16,000
broke them in the world.
1619
01:20:20,917 --> 01:20:23,542
Queen.
Queen broke out of Boston.
1620
01:20:23,667 --> 01:20:24,750
Maxanne was one of the first
people to hear the record,
1621
01:20:24,792 --> 01:20:28,417
the first album,
an unlabeled slab of vinyl,
1622
01:20:28,542 --> 01:20:28,792
is what they played it
for us on.
1623
01:20:28,917 --> 01:20:30,792
And it knocked her socks off,
1624
01:20:30,917 --> 01:20:33,125
or whatever it was she was
wearing on her feet,
1625
01:20:33,166 --> 01:20:34,250
maybe her flip flops.
1626
01:20:34,291 --> 01:20:36,750
And she was invariably right.
1627
01:20:44,166 --> 01:20:47,667
Maxanne rocked harder
than any of the rest of us,
1628
01:20:47,750 --> 01:20:50,041
it's not like girls
are wimpy musicians.
1629
01:20:50,125 --> 01:20:50,917
Maxanne was out there
1630
01:20:51,000 --> 01:20:55,417
pounding it out, and she became
one of the stars because of it.
1631
01:20:55,500 --> 01:20:57,792
It was a rock
and roll station,
1632
01:20:57,875 --> 01:21:00,166
that was the part that made it
so radical,
1633
01:21:00,250 --> 01:21:04,750
that they accepted that,
the demand, and then
1634
01:21:04,792 --> 01:21:07,375
all of a sudden you had,
you know,
1635
01:21:07,417 --> 01:21:09,166
these women disc jockeys.
1636
01:21:09,291 --> 01:21:14,542
Picking the music, and
interacting with the musicians
1637
01:21:14,625 --> 01:21:16,542
in the way that disc jockeys do,
1638
01:21:16,625 --> 01:21:18,000
and it was like transformative.
1639
01:21:18,041 --> 01:21:23,000
I remember one night
I'm listening to BCN,
1640
01:21:23,041 --> 01:21:27,667
I'm at home, and someone
called me up, and said,
1641
01:21:27,792 --> 01:21:30,792
"You ought to turn on
Jerry Williams."
1642
01:21:30,875 --> 01:21:34,792
He's a famous talk master
at the time in Boston.
1643
01:21:34,875 --> 01:21:36,667
Hello America, welcome back,
1644
01:21:36,792 --> 01:21:39,542
fourth and final hour here on
WBZ radio, the spirit of 103.
1645
01:21:39,667 --> 01:21:42,041
He was talking about WBCN,
so I immediately tune in,
1646
01:21:42,125 --> 01:21:45,041
and I'm listening to these
outrageous things
1647
01:21:45,166 --> 01:21:46,750
he's saying about WBCN.
1648
01:21:46,792 --> 01:21:48,291
The free of form I like.
1649
01:21:48,375 --> 01:21:48,917
Right.
1650
01:21:49,041 --> 01:21:51,792
But that business
of freaks announcing...
1651
01:21:51,917 --> 01:21:54,291
I agree.
1652
01:21:54,375 --> 01:21:56,000
Like everybody
sitting around smoking pot.
1653
01:21:56,041 --> 01:21:59,625
Then he goes on and on
about women,
1654
01:21:59,667 --> 01:22:00,917
and how women want to sound
like men,
1655
01:22:01,041 --> 01:22:03,917
and they really don't belong
on the radio.
1656
01:22:04,041 --> 01:22:07,750
Radio is just a voice.
1657
01:22:07,792 --> 01:22:10,917
And sometimes women's voices,
because of the high frequency
1658
01:22:11,000 --> 01:22:13,000
of those voices,
sometimes turn some people off.
1659
01:22:13,041 --> 01:22:14,667
Jesus, sounds like
another world, doesn't it?
1660
01:22:14,792 --> 01:22:15,917
God!
1661
01:22:16,041 --> 01:22:17,417
You know what turns me
off about women on the air?
1662
01:22:17,500 --> 01:22:18,542
No.
1663
01:22:18,667 --> 01:22:19,792
They're trying to be men.
1664
01:22:21,041 --> 01:22:22,792
If they would try to be women,
1665
01:22:22,875 --> 01:22:27,291
be themselves, be female...
1666
01:22:27,417 --> 01:22:29,542
Some women try to fall into that
trap of saying,
1667
01:22:29,625 --> 01:22:33,625
"Hi there, Sally Kraufloin,
from Los Angeles, California,
1668
01:22:33,667 --> 01:22:35,125
bringing you the news."
1669
01:22:35,166 --> 01:22:37,417
You know, it's...
they're on that male kick.
1670
01:22:37,500 --> 01:22:39,041
Be yourself, be like you are.
1671
01:22:39,166 --> 01:22:41,792
As one man said,
the radio is a woman's companion
1672
01:22:41,917 --> 01:22:43,291
during the other day.
Mm-hmm.
1673
01:22:43,417 --> 01:22:45,291
And I think I
would certainly as a woman
1674
01:22:45,375 --> 01:22:45,875
rather listen to a man
than listen to a woman
1675
01:22:45,917 --> 01:22:48,041
rattle on and on.
1676
01:22:48,125 --> 01:22:49,625
I could call up
any of my friends and talk.
1677
01:22:49,667 --> 01:22:51,917
There's a place
in broadcasting for women,
1678
01:22:52,041 --> 01:22:54,542
but not the ones I heard on BCN.
1679
01:22:54,625 --> 01:22:56,250
Wow, they are really
straight on.
1680
01:22:58,166 --> 01:23:00,625
I can't even tell the guys
from the girls over there,
1681
01:23:00,667 --> 01:23:01,041
for that matter.
1682
01:23:01,166 --> 01:23:03,750
When they're walking
down the street
1683
01:23:03,792 --> 01:23:06,000
I can't tell them apart either.
1684
01:23:06,041 --> 01:23:09,417
You know, you look back on it
and you think it's like
1685
01:23:09,542 --> 01:23:11,917
looking back on what women
used to wear in the 1920s.
1686
01:23:12,041 --> 01:23:14,500
You go, "Oh my God,
this can't be real.
1687
01:23:14,542 --> 01:23:15,917
"Did someone really say that?
1688
01:23:16,041 --> 01:23:17,417
Did someone really
believe that?"
1689
01:23:17,542 --> 01:23:20,542
But all you can kind of do
is look back on it
1690
01:23:20,625 --> 01:23:23,041
and think, as a result of that,
1691
01:23:23,125 --> 01:23:27,500
there was an impetus to change
even more quickly.
1692
01:23:27,542 --> 01:23:33,166
You know BCN had a commitment
to diversity in music and ideas
1693
01:23:33,250 --> 01:23:34,792
that mattered.
1694
01:23:34,875 --> 01:23:40,041
John Scagliotti and Andy Kopkind
came to work at the station
1695
01:23:40,166 --> 01:23:42,500
doing commentaries, they did
1696
01:23:42,542 --> 01:23:46,291
"The Lavender Hour,"
which was a gay radio program.
1697
01:23:46,417 --> 01:23:49,041
BCN was one of the first places,
I think, where
1698
01:23:49,125 --> 01:23:52,041
diversity took off
in a much greater way.
1699
01:23:52,166 --> 01:23:54,417
I think the idea
that we found ourselves
1700
01:23:54,542 --> 01:23:56,917
in the middle of an experiment
1701
01:23:57,041 --> 01:24:00,667
where gay people, Black people,
women,
1702
01:24:00,792 --> 01:24:02,750
were all kind of
working together.
1703
01:24:02,792 --> 01:24:07,417
Andy and I were gay, so that
changed the dynamics of BCN.
1704
01:24:07,500 --> 01:24:09,166
There were two gay guys there.
1705
01:24:09,291 --> 01:24:12,542
Andy had started a career in
"Time" magazine.
1706
01:24:12,625 --> 01:24:14,041
They got him out of
London School of Economics.
1707
01:24:14,125 --> 01:24:17,041
You know, he was on his way,
he was going to be
1708
01:24:17,166 --> 01:24:19,041
the next editor of
"Time" magazine.
1709
01:24:19,166 --> 01:24:21,875
Then he got arrested
for being gay in Griffith Park,
1710
01:24:21,917 --> 01:24:23,250
and that ended,
and then he went to work for
1711
01:24:23,291 --> 01:24:26,792
the "New Republic"
and he embraced his...
1712
01:24:26,917 --> 01:24:28,500
the Civil Rights
and all these other things
1713
01:24:28,542 --> 01:24:30,166
that he grew up with and felt,
1714
01:24:30,250 --> 01:24:33,041
but now was able to work on them
in a much... a real way,
1715
01:24:33,125 --> 01:24:37,417
but he was very talented
and was a good writer.
1716
01:24:37,542 --> 01:24:41,417
We had covered a lot of
gay stuff in our news,
1717
01:24:41,542 --> 01:24:43,041
and we did the first gay pride
march in New York.
1718
01:24:43,125 --> 01:24:45,917
Bette Midler!
1719
01:24:48,792 --> 01:24:50,417
We always followed
the cultural aspects
1720
01:24:50,500 --> 01:24:51,000
in our programming,
1721
01:24:51,041 --> 01:24:55,041
so of course Bette Midler would
be on the, you know,
1722
01:24:55,166 --> 01:24:58,917
the first gay pride coverage
on WBCN.
1723
01:25:09,125 --> 01:25:12,667
And then Sunday night
was never a big time,
1724
01:25:12,750 --> 01:25:15,041
and so Norm, he didn't know
what to do with Sunday night,
1725
01:25:15,166 --> 01:25:17,375
and nobody wanted to do it.
1726
01:25:17,417 --> 01:25:20,667
And so he came up with this
cockamamie idea of "Potluck."
1727
01:25:20,792 --> 01:25:23,291
Which would be that anybody
could sign up for "Potluck"
1728
01:25:23,417 --> 01:25:26,250
and be on the radio
in our staff.
1729
01:25:26,291 --> 01:25:28,917
So it was our chance,
Andy and my chance,
1730
01:25:29,000 --> 01:25:31,291
to actually be DJs, you know,
because we were doing the news
1731
01:25:31,375 --> 01:25:32,792
and all of this,
but we just wanted
1732
01:25:32,917 --> 01:25:34,291
to go and play some records.
1733
01:25:34,417 --> 01:25:37,375
You know, we love playing music,
we had parties at our house.
1734
01:25:37,417 --> 01:25:40,667
We had the greatest gay parties
in town on Newbury Street.
1735
01:25:48,250 --> 01:25:50,125
But we figured we couldn't
just be DJs
1736
01:25:50,166 --> 01:25:53,250
so we decided to do the first
"Lavender Hour."
1737
01:25:53,291 --> 01:25:56,542
The "Lavender Hour"
was a very important addition
1738
01:25:56,625 --> 01:25:57,125
to what was going on.
1739
01:25:57,166 --> 01:26:04,542
The first time that people
could actually come out.
1740
01:26:04,667 --> 01:26:07,166
No one was doing anything like
that on the radio in those days.
1741
01:26:07,291 --> 01:26:09,625
That was really pioneering
stuff.
1742
01:26:09,667 --> 01:26:12,792
If you've been to
a gay bar or a gay dance
1743
01:26:12,917 --> 01:26:14,542
in the last six or seven years,
1744
01:26:14,667 --> 01:26:17,750
you've heard the jukebox
play the Supremes'
1745
01:26:17,792 --> 01:26:19,166
"Stop in the Name of Love."
1746
01:26:19,291 --> 01:26:21,166
And tonight,
for our "Potluck" show,
1747
01:26:21,291 --> 01:26:23,166
we'll find some other music
1748
01:26:23,291 --> 01:26:25,625
and poetry that expresses
the range
1749
01:26:25,667 --> 01:26:27,917
of gay experience these days.
1750
01:26:28,041 --> 01:26:30,291
Or I'd go out and interview
David Bowie,
1751
01:26:30,375 --> 01:26:34,041
and have a fight with David
Bowie at a press conference
1752
01:26:34,166 --> 01:26:37,291
about why he was just going
to be a bisexual,
1753
01:26:37,375 --> 01:26:38,250
why wasn't he coming out
all the way?
1754
01:26:38,291 --> 01:26:41,542
And he would yell at me
1755
01:26:41,667 --> 01:26:43,166
and then we'd play "Changes."
1756
01:26:43,250 --> 01:26:44,291
What made
you start writing gay songs?
1757
01:26:44,375 --> 01:26:48,166
Um... what made me
start writing gay songs?
1758
01:26:48,250 --> 01:26:49,166
Well, let's put it this way,
1759
01:26:49,250 --> 01:26:52,041
it's not something that would be
normally acceptable
1760
01:26:52,166 --> 01:26:53,166
on the top 40 market
or any rock market
1761
01:26:53,291 --> 01:26:55,667
before you started writing.
1762
01:26:55,792 --> 01:26:57,166
Well, you see,
it's acceptable to the people
1763
01:26:57,291 --> 01:26:58,917
that I've wrote to and play for.
1764
01:26:59,041 --> 01:27:00,917
That always has been.
1765
01:27:01,000 --> 01:27:02,291
Who doesn't like gay people?
1766
01:27:02,417 --> 01:27:05,667
There's no... there's no
antagonism at all.
1767
01:27:05,792 --> 01:27:08,166
You seriously
believe that gay people
1768
01:27:08,250 --> 01:27:10,166
are not subject to oppression
in this world, are you crazy?
1769
01:27:10,250 --> 01:27:12,417
Who said that I didn't?
1770
01:27:12,500 --> 01:27:13,917
I said that I found no hostility
towards anyone.
1771
01:27:14,041 --> 01:27:15,250
Well, that is .
1772
01:27:15,291 --> 01:27:16,917
Okay, well I'm not trying
to be hostile.
1773
01:27:17,041 --> 01:27:18,792
You have done
some openly gay stuff,
1774
01:27:18,917 --> 01:27:20,166
which I was very glad to hear
for the first time,
1775
01:27:20,291 --> 01:27:22,667
coming from a singer.
1776
01:27:22,750 --> 01:27:24,291
You must have had some process
of forethought
1777
01:27:24,375 --> 01:27:26,875
before you actually started
writing material.
1778
01:27:26,917 --> 01:27:29,375
I was inspired.
1779
01:27:29,417 --> 01:27:31,542
Well, I just thought
it was just me, this is my life,
1780
01:27:31,667 --> 01:27:35,291
I was in a little bubble,
you know, this gay bubble,
1781
01:27:35,375 --> 01:27:37,542
where it wasn't a big deal
and the people I worked with
1782
01:27:37,625 --> 01:27:38,291
didn't find it a big deal.
1783
01:27:38,375 --> 01:27:42,917
But, guess what, it's 50,000,
or a million watts,
1784
01:27:43,041 --> 01:27:44,291
or I don't know, huge watts.
1785
01:27:44,375 --> 01:27:46,041
People are listening to you
in New Hampshire,
1786
01:27:46,125 --> 01:27:47,417
they're listening way out
in western Mass.
1787
01:27:47,542 --> 01:27:51,166
And all of a sudden there's this
gay thing on the radio.
1788
01:27:51,250 --> 01:27:53,542
The first time
on commercial radio
1789
01:27:53,625 --> 01:27:56,875
that a gay program
had ever been on.
1790
01:27:56,917 --> 01:27:59,375
We didn't know that, now we do,
but we didn't know it then.
1791
01:27:59,417 --> 01:28:02,750
Then we started getting letters,
and it was really incredible
1792
01:28:02,792 --> 01:28:03,917
to get this letter from kids
1793
01:28:04,000 --> 01:28:05,917
who were like gay, 16,
1794
01:28:06,041 --> 01:28:07,917
and we would get like a letter
1795
01:28:08,000 --> 01:28:12,417
that would say, "Oh, I was
thinking of committing suicide.
1796
01:28:12,542 --> 01:28:15,166
And it just saved me,
it just saved me."
1797
01:28:15,291 --> 01:28:17,417
All of a sudden I realized,
"My God, I'm having a great time
1798
01:28:17,500 --> 01:28:19,375
being a DJ doing
'The Lavender Hour,'
1799
01:28:19,417 --> 01:28:21,375
and all this other stuff,"
and meanwhile people
1800
01:28:21,417 --> 01:28:25,500
are actually seeing this
1801
01:28:25,542 --> 01:28:27,417
turning into such a massive
moment for their lives,
1802
01:28:27,500 --> 01:28:30,667
was pretty incredible,
very incredible.
1803
01:28:32,417 --> 01:28:35,166
Good evening
my fellow Americans.
1804
01:28:35,291 --> 01:28:39,166
When Nixon announced
the invasion of Cambodia,
1805
01:28:39,291 --> 01:28:42,417
WBCN was on and they said,
1806
01:28:42,542 --> 01:28:45,375
"Turn on the TV,
the president's going to talk."
1807
01:28:45,417 --> 01:28:48,375
So we turned on the television
1808
01:28:48,417 --> 01:28:54,625
and there's Nixon pointing
to Cambodia and Laos.
1809
01:28:54,667 --> 01:28:59,792
We take this action not for the
purpose of expanding the war
1810
01:28:59,875 --> 01:29:01,291
into Cambodia,
1811
01:29:01,375 --> 01:29:04,667
but for the purpose of ending
the war in Vietnam.
1812
01:29:04,792 --> 01:29:07,417
It looked like he was winding
down the war at the beginning,
1813
01:29:07,500 --> 01:29:09,792
but then he escalated.
1814
01:29:09,875 --> 01:29:14,166
And, you know, BCN said,
"There's going to be
1815
01:29:14,250 --> 01:29:15,417
a demonstration,
you know, tomorrow."
1816
01:29:15,542 --> 01:29:18,166
My recollection is from like
1817
01:29:18,291 --> 01:29:23,291
May 1st through May 4th
1818
01:29:23,417 --> 01:29:25,792
there were giant protests
across the country.
1819
01:29:25,917 --> 01:29:30,417
That was the start of what
eventually led to Kent State.
1820
01:29:30,500 --> 01:29:35,417
At Kent State itself
they went to demonstrate
1821
01:29:35,542 --> 01:29:39,291
and the administration
said that they couldn't.
1822
01:29:39,375 --> 01:29:43,125
So it was an
"illegal demonstration"
1823
01:29:43,166 --> 01:29:44,291
and they called in
the National Guard.
1824
01:29:44,417 --> 01:29:47,542
I'm David Brinkley, NBC News.
1825
01:29:47,667 --> 01:29:50,500
Kent State University in Ohio
has had campus violence
1826
01:29:50,542 --> 01:29:54,750
for three nights causing the
National Guard to be called in,
1827
01:29:54,792 --> 01:29:58,125
and today the guardsmen
opened fire on the students,
1828
01:29:58,166 --> 01:29:59,291
killing four of them--
1829
01:29:59,375 --> 01:30:01,542
two young men
and two young women.
1830
01:30:13,542 --> 01:30:17,500
When students were shot
by the National Guard
1831
01:30:17,542 --> 01:30:19,542
and they didn't have weapons,
1832
01:30:19,625 --> 01:30:23,417
and it was such a shock,
it was such a crime.
1833
01:30:23,500 --> 01:30:26,250
I don't think anyone anticipated
1834
01:30:26,291 --> 01:30:29,291
that sort of response
from the authorities
1835
01:30:29,375 --> 01:30:33,625
and the consequences
were irreparable.
1836
01:30:33,667 --> 01:30:38,500
So college campuses everywhere
reacted to this.
1837
01:30:38,542 --> 01:30:39,542
Boston University, Brown,
1838
01:30:39,625 --> 01:30:43,417
and Tufts have suspended classes
for the rest of the school year.
1839
01:30:43,542 --> 01:30:45,041
A national coordinating center
1840
01:30:45,166 --> 01:30:46,542
at Brandeis University
says there were
1841
01:30:46,667 --> 01:30:49,917
240 such strikes today.
1842
01:30:50,041 --> 01:30:53,291
There was a war going on, and it
wasn't just a war in Vietnam,
1843
01:30:53,417 --> 01:30:54,417
there was a war at home.
1844
01:30:54,542 --> 01:30:57,041
There was a war covering up
the war.
1845
01:30:57,166 --> 01:31:00,667
There was a culture in Boston
that was partial to,
1846
01:31:00,750 --> 01:31:03,500
supportive of,
actually informing people
1847
01:31:03,542 --> 01:31:06,500
about what was really going on
and BCN was part of it.
1848
01:31:06,542 --> 01:31:09,000
It was at this period
1849
01:31:09,041 --> 01:31:13,667
that BCN was coming to be
a voice that was quite unique
1850
01:31:13,792 --> 01:31:16,625
and courageous and that made
a huge difference.
1851
01:31:16,667 --> 01:31:20,542
The FBI is reported preparing
to shut down some of the 500
1852
01:31:20,625 --> 01:31:22,500
small agencies it maintains
around the country
1853
01:31:22,542 --> 01:31:24,500
because of security reasons.
1854
01:31:24,542 --> 01:31:27,500
Last month more than a thousand
documents were stolen
1855
01:31:27,542 --> 01:31:30,542
from the FBI office
in Media, Pennsylvania.
1856
01:31:30,667 --> 01:31:35,625
This story here,
it's another example of BCN
1857
01:31:35,667 --> 01:31:39,667
trying to inform the public
about information
1858
01:31:39,792 --> 01:31:42,166
that major media
and the government
1859
01:31:42,250 --> 01:31:43,917
didn't want people
to know about.
1860
01:31:44,000 --> 01:31:44,625
Can you explain
what happened--
1861
01:31:44,667 --> 01:31:47,542
they went in, they stole files?
1862
01:31:47,625 --> 01:31:49,417
I mean there was
an activist group that found
1863
01:31:49,542 --> 01:31:51,500
a FBI office
1864
01:31:51,542 --> 01:31:53,500
in Media, Pennsylvania,
of all things.
1865
01:31:53,542 --> 01:31:56,875
That name is fascinating,
you know.
1866
01:31:56,917 --> 01:31:58,542
And they were able to...
1867
01:31:58,667 --> 01:32:01,000
we would say then liberate
these documents
1868
01:32:01,041 --> 01:32:02,500
and try to make them public.
1869
01:32:02,542 --> 01:32:04,792
And, you know, so BCN
was certainly interested
1870
01:32:04,917 --> 01:32:07,417
in this information because
it was about the ways in which
1871
01:32:07,542 --> 01:32:10,041
our government was spying on us.
1872
01:32:10,125 --> 01:32:12,542
And, of course, the government
didn't want this known
1873
01:32:12,625 --> 01:32:13,667
and we did want it known.
1874
01:32:13,750 --> 01:32:15,417
They started
reading them on the air,
1875
01:32:15,542 --> 01:32:18,041
all that spying,
1876
01:32:18,125 --> 01:32:24,875
all that kind of, you know,
COINTELPRO stuff became public.
1877
01:32:24,917 --> 01:32:28,041
And that undermined
any possibility that
1878
01:32:28,166 --> 01:32:32,041
that would ever be secret
and they couldn't stop it.
1879
01:32:32,125 --> 01:32:35,667
Danny did a really good job
at like "Just read it, read it,
1880
01:32:35,792 --> 01:32:36,500
read it on the air."
1881
01:32:36,542 --> 01:32:38,542
I mean what it says about BCN,
1882
01:32:38,625 --> 01:32:41,542
and particularly about, like,
1883
01:32:41,625 --> 01:32:43,625
Al Perry, who was the general
manager at that time,
1884
01:32:43,667 --> 01:32:46,542
it's like he didn't try
and shut that down.
1885
01:32:46,625 --> 01:32:48,500
I remember this, yeah, yeah.
1886
01:32:48,542 --> 01:32:53,041
Look... what's the issue here?
1887
01:32:53,125 --> 01:32:55,291
Danny didn't steal them.
1888
01:32:55,417 --> 01:32:58,166
They were made available to him,
so, yeah.
1889
01:32:58,250 --> 01:33:02,625
What are you gonna...
you're not gonna... you know...
1890
01:33:02,667 --> 01:33:06,875
If you don't do this,
then it's... it's just...
1891
01:33:06,917 --> 01:33:09,542
they're in control, complete
control, and you can't...
1892
01:33:09,667 --> 01:33:12,792
You know, there's... there's
a time when you have to
1893
01:33:12,917 --> 01:33:14,417
take a stance.
1894
01:33:14,500 --> 01:33:16,291
And maybe that's what,
in a lot of ways,
1895
01:33:16,417 --> 01:33:18,291
WBCN was about in that respect.
1896
01:33:18,417 --> 01:33:20,500
There was a time when it just...
you had to say,
1897
01:33:20,542 --> 01:33:23,917
"This... we're stopping it
right here," you know.
1898
01:33:26,792 --> 01:33:31,542
There can be no whitewash
at the White House.
1899
01:33:33,625 --> 01:33:36,667
We all heard about it
first on the 17th of June.
1900
01:33:36,792 --> 01:33:39,417
The news reports said,
"Five men were arrested
1901
01:33:39,542 --> 01:33:41,750
"with bugging equipment at the
Democratic National Committee
1902
01:33:41,792 --> 01:33:45,250
"headquarters in the sprawling,
luxurious
1903
01:33:45,291 --> 01:33:48,750
Watergate apartment office
complex in Washington, D.C."
1904
01:33:48,792 --> 01:33:54,291
It was the theme of the
WBCN news for months on end.
1905
01:33:54,375 --> 01:33:59,625
And by making it so conspicuous,
we got those points across.
1906
01:34:04,667 --> 01:34:05,625
The Watergate Five,
1907
01:34:05,667 --> 01:34:08,667
all using aliases taken from
Hunt's mystery novels,
1908
01:34:08,792 --> 01:34:13,041
finished a lobster dinner
on the night of June 17th,
1909
01:34:13,166 --> 01:34:14,417
and then...
1910
01:34:16,792 --> 01:34:18,792
broke into the
Democratic Headquarters
1911
01:34:18,875 --> 01:34:21,667
to repair bugging devices
that they had already planted
1912
01:34:21,792 --> 01:34:24,417
as well as to photocopy
important documents.
1913
01:34:24,542 --> 01:34:29,417
It was like a soap opera
that we weren't writing,
1914
01:34:29,500 --> 01:34:30,667
but that surpassed
our expectations
1915
01:34:30,750 --> 01:34:32,875
with every new episode,
1916
01:34:32,917 --> 01:34:35,166
and it just kept getting better
and better.
1917
01:34:35,291 --> 01:34:40,250
Yeah, Charles
Colson was a C.I.A. agent?
1918
01:34:40,291 --> 01:34:43,000
Yes, this... this memo,
1919
01:34:43,041 --> 01:34:45,625
which is...
it was a confidential memo,
1920
01:34:45,667 --> 01:34:48,125
but what hasn't appeared
in the papers, as far as I know,
1921
01:34:48,166 --> 01:34:50,875
is the fact that
which appears in this document
1922
01:34:50,917 --> 01:34:53,291
that Colson is C.I.A.
1923
01:34:53,375 --> 01:34:56,125
Hunt is asking him whether or
not during the time in the '50s
1924
01:34:56,166 --> 01:35:01,166
when he was in Saigon, he was
receiving information reports,
1925
01:35:01,250 --> 01:35:04,667
orders through military channels
or through his C.I.A. channels,
1926
01:35:04,750 --> 01:35:07,750
his Colson's C.I.A. channels,
and Colson says that, yes,
1927
01:35:07,792 --> 01:35:08,792
he was receiving them
through C.I.A. channels.
1928
01:35:08,875 --> 01:35:13,291
The station offered news and
perspectives and reporting
1929
01:35:13,417 --> 01:35:16,417
and investigate journalism,
and we won all sorts of
1930
01:35:16,542 --> 01:35:19,500
top journalism awards
for doing it,
1931
01:35:19,542 --> 01:35:20,750
and the culmination of it
1932
01:35:20,792 --> 01:35:27,000
was 1972 when Nixon, you know,
was running
1933
01:35:27,041 --> 01:35:30,500
for re-election and he was being
challenged by George McGovern,
1934
01:35:30,542 --> 01:35:33,417
a peace candidate.
1935
01:35:33,542 --> 01:35:35,291
Massachusetts came through
for McGovern
1936
01:35:35,375 --> 01:35:36,917
and the only state to do so.
1937
01:35:37,041 --> 01:35:39,667
We want to give
a special note of thanks
1938
01:35:39,792 --> 01:35:42,166
to the people of Massachusetts.
1939
01:35:45,000 --> 01:35:49,125
It isn't just an accident that
the American experiment
1940
01:35:49,166 --> 01:35:53,041
began in Massachusetts and that
we're carrying it on here
1941
01:35:53,125 --> 01:35:54,792
at the nation's capital.
1942
01:35:54,875 --> 01:35:58,000
We're going to keep doing that
for a good many years to come.
1943
01:35:58,041 --> 01:36:00,792
Whether we can legitimately,
as the BCNers
1944
01:36:00,875 --> 01:36:03,792
of that time, take credit
1945
01:36:03,875 --> 01:36:05,792
for enlightening enough
Massachusetts people
1946
01:36:05,875 --> 01:36:10,250
to alter the result here
in Massachusetts, I don't know.
1947
01:36:10,291 --> 01:36:14,792
But it's certainly symbolic
of the consciousness raising
1948
01:36:14,875 --> 01:36:18,250
we were trying to do
and the effect it could have.
1949
01:36:18,792 --> 01:36:21,667
Take it away.
1950
01:36:24,000 --> 01:36:26,250
As time went on,
1951
01:36:26,291 --> 01:36:28,792
we started broadcasting live
on a regular basis
1952
01:36:28,917 --> 01:36:30,792
from a couple of different
locations.
1953
01:36:30,875 --> 01:36:34,917
Jazz Workshop,
run by Fred Taylor,
1954
01:36:35,041 --> 01:36:37,041
one of the great jazz clubs
in the world.
1955
01:36:37,166 --> 01:36:40,417
Next door you walked down
the stairs and to the left
1956
01:36:40,542 --> 01:36:41,667
was Paul's Mall,
owned by the same guy,
1957
01:36:41,792 --> 01:36:43,917
booked by the same guy,
Fred Taylor.
1958
01:36:44,000 --> 01:36:45,875
These were dingy,
underground clubs,
1959
01:36:45,917 --> 01:36:51,041
very, very constrained
in terms of space.
1960
01:36:51,166 --> 01:36:54,750
You know, if Randy Newman
was performing at Paul's Mall,
1961
01:36:54,792 --> 01:36:57,375
the front row was, you know,
six feet away from him
1962
01:36:57,417 --> 01:36:58,792
and that was it.
1963
01:36:58,917 --> 01:37:00,041
Randy Newman's
comes back on stage,
1964
01:37:00,166 --> 01:37:01,542
timing it perfectly.
1965
01:37:12,792 --> 01:37:13,792
That's not funny.
1966
01:37:16,125 --> 01:37:17,875
I'll sing it again
and don't laugh.
1967
01:37:21,166 --> 01:37:23,917
In 1973, we had this young guy
from New Jersey come in,
1968
01:37:24,000 --> 01:37:25,792
never played live
on the radio before,
1969
01:37:25,875 --> 01:37:27,917
had never played in Boston
before.
1970
01:37:28,000 --> 01:37:31,792
If I recall,
he even had a tuba player there,
1971
01:37:31,917 --> 01:37:33,625
and it was on Maxanne's show.
1972
01:37:33,667 --> 01:37:34,792
Hello, Bruce Springsteen.
1973
01:37:34,917 --> 01:37:35,917
We're on the air?
1974
01:37:36,041 --> 01:37:37,166
Yeah, we are on the air.
1975
01:37:37,291 --> 01:37:38,166
Hey!
1976
01:37:39,792 --> 01:37:41,917
All right, all right.
1977
01:37:42,000 --> 01:37:46,041
Is the tuba mic all right,
right there?
1978
01:37:46,125 --> 01:37:47,750
Yeah? Okay, here we go.
1979
01:37:47,792 --> 01:37:48,917
Take it away, fellas.
1980
01:37:49,000 --> 01:37:51,667
One, and a two, and...
1981
01:37:55,291 --> 01:37:57,542
Those sorts of appearances,
and the spontaneous
1982
01:37:57,667 --> 01:37:59,792
just showing up in the studio,
1983
01:37:59,917 --> 01:38:01,000
and they were really magical
moments.
1984
01:38:01,041 --> 01:38:02,792
This is my very
first time on the radio,
1985
01:38:02,875 --> 01:38:05,625
and I want to say hello
to my mother,
1986
01:38:05,667 --> 01:38:07,125
who lives in California.
1987
01:38:07,166 --> 01:38:08,125
Hi, Mom.
1988
01:38:10,291 --> 01:38:12,250
All right, let's do, uh...
1989
01:38:30,041 --> 01:38:33,500
New Jersey, New York
was not a problem,
1990
01:38:33,542 --> 01:38:35,542
but spreading out from there
was really tough for them
1991
01:38:35,625 --> 01:38:36,917
at the time.
1992
01:38:37,000 --> 01:38:38,417
Don't you want to say
a word or two
1993
01:38:38,500 --> 01:38:40,500
about Asbury Park, New Jersey?
1994
01:38:40,542 --> 01:38:42,667
I've been trying to
get out of there for 20 years.
1995
01:38:42,792 --> 01:38:44,166
No...
1996
01:38:44,291 --> 01:38:47,375
I think that he really
appreciated the fact that BCN
1997
01:38:47,417 --> 01:38:50,792
was willing to be so supportive.
1998
01:38:50,917 --> 01:38:53,667
I really do want
to thank WBCN and Maxanne,
1999
01:38:53,750 --> 01:38:57,500
because when we first came here,
when we first came to Boston,
2000
01:38:57,542 --> 01:39:00,917
we played to about ten or 20
people.
2001
01:39:01,000 --> 01:39:04,041
And now it must be damn
50 people in the place.
2002
01:39:06,250 --> 01:39:08,917
Well, the power of
media is just overwhelming.
2003
01:39:10,750 --> 01:39:12,375
But I want to thank
you very much and let you know
2004
01:39:12,417 --> 01:39:14,166
that we really appreciate it
because we really do.
2005
01:39:14,250 --> 01:39:16,542
Bruce was playing in a lot
of clubs around town.
2006
01:39:16,625 --> 01:39:18,041
He's playing at Charlie's Place,
he's playing at Joe's Place,
2007
01:39:18,166 --> 01:39:21,291
and he seemed to just bop
from club to club.
2008
01:39:21,375 --> 01:39:23,792
He played in... he didn't just
play in one or two venues,
2009
01:39:23,917 --> 01:39:25,125
he played in all these
crummy bars.
2010
01:39:25,166 --> 01:39:25,917
But then he was playing
theaters,
2011
01:39:26,041 --> 01:39:28,250
Harvard Square Theater,
that's like a theater,
2012
01:39:28,291 --> 01:39:29,041
that was a big deal.
2013
01:39:29,125 --> 01:39:31,667
Tonight we're lucky
enough to have Bruce Springsteen
2014
01:39:31,750 --> 01:39:32,041
and Bonnie Raitt.
2015
01:39:36,166 --> 01:39:43,041
He took the stage,
and within minutes,
2016
01:39:43,125 --> 01:39:46,542
people knew that there
was something going on here
2017
01:39:46,667 --> 01:39:48,917
that was extremely
extraordinary,
2018
01:39:49,041 --> 01:39:51,417
and extremely incredible.
2019
01:39:51,500 --> 01:39:54,125
Opening up his set with
"New York City Serenade,"
2020
01:39:54,166 --> 01:39:56,041
which starts with a
classical piano introduction
2021
01:39:56,166 --> 01:39:58,291
by David Sancious.
2022
01:39:58,375 --> 01:39:58,917
That's unheard of!
2023
01:39:59,041 --> 01:40:01,917
A band hits the stage, you hit
it with... hit it hard--
2024
01:40:02,041 --> 01:40:02,917
the horns blare,
the guitar blares.
2025
01:40:03,041 --> 01:40:05,917
He comes out there and he starts
with this beautiful
2026
01:40:06,000 --> 01:40:09,041
melodic piano and people
are going, "What is this?"
2027
01:40:17,917 --> 01:40:19,041
But this one... this one photo,
2028
01:40:19,166 --> 01:40:22,500
the way his back is arched,
2029
01:40:22,542 --> 01:40:23,917
the way his hands are extend out
on the keyboards,
2030
01:40:24,041 --> 01:40:27,125
it's just...
something's about to happen,
2031
01:40:27,166 --> 01:40:28,917
and that's the feeling you get
from it.
2032
01:40:42,917 --> 01:40:47,166
It wasn't till later on,
that I had...
2033
01:40:47,291 --> 01:40:48,917
that I had learned that
that was the show
2034
01:40:49,041 --> 01:40:51,417
that Jon Landau was at.
2035
01:40:51,500 --> 01:40:53,917
And as he said, "I have seen the
future of rock and roll,
2036
01:40:54,041 --> 01:40:56,792
and its name is
Bruce Springsteen."
2037
01:41:04,041 --> 01:41:06,125
Hey, Boston, come out tonight!
2038
01:41:10,166 --> 01:41:13,250
That date is always called out.
2039
01:41:13,291 --> 01:41:15,417
Bruce Springsteen opens
for Bonnie Raitt.
2040
01:41:15,500 --> 01:41:18,041
Jon Landau declares him
the future of rock and roll.
2041
01:41:20,291 --> 01:41:24,041
Absolutely one of the highlights
of WBCN live broadcasts
2042
01:41:24,166 --> 01:41:27,417
was from the Jazz Workshop
of Patti Smith,
2043
01:41:27,500 --> 01:41:28,041
the Patti Smith Group.
2044
01:41:28,166 --> 01:41:30,625
Maxanne,
what's going on down there?
2045
01:41:30,667 --> 01:41:32,917
They've been turning
away people by droves.
2046
01:41:33,041 --> 01:41:35,041
There's lines down the street.
2047
01:41:35,166 --> 01:41:37,375
This is the best night,
2048
01:41:37,417 --> 01:41:39,417
it's the best part of the show:
the tune up.
2049
01:41:39,542 --> 01:41:41,375
They'd just come out
with their debut album
2050
01:41:41,417 --> 01:41:44,375
the year before, Patti Smith
the writer, the cultural figure.
2051
01:41:44,417 --> 01:41:47,041
Not exactly a mass appeal artist
but our cult loved her.
2052
01:41:57,166 --> 01:41:59,542
Because she was on a major
record label at the time,
2053
01:41:59,667 --> 01:42:00,166
Arista Records,
2054
01:42:00,250 --> 01:42:04,542
the record executive,
the promotional executive,
2055
01:42:04,667 --> 01:42:07,542
took her backstage before
she began and said,
2056
01:42:07,667 --> 01:42:08,750
"Look, this is on the radio,
2057
01:42:08,792 --> 01:42:09,875
don't say any bad words."
2058
01:42:09,917 --> 01:42:11,917
But he was kind of heavy-handed
2059
01:42:12,041 --> 01:42:13,417
in the way that he conveyed this
to her.
2060
01:42:13,500 --> 01:42:17,417
And so Patti came on stage
and the band was rocking...
2061
01:42:23,291 --> 01:42:26,542
There was the Patti Smith
broadcast and my assignment
2062
01:42:26,667 --> 01:42:29,542
was to be back at the studio
2063
01:42:29,667 --> 01:42:34,291
with my hand on the... well,
basically the on-off switch,
2064
01:42:34,417 --> 01:42:36,166
basically which controls
whether or not that...
2065
01:42:36,291 --> 01:42:38,500
whether or not that broadcast
would proceed.
2066
01:42:38,542 --> 01:42:39,250
And I was sitting with my boss,
2067
01:42:39,291 --> 01:42:42,917
with the general manager of BCN
at the time, Al Perry,
2068
01:42:43,041 --> 01:42:44,291
and we were enjoying the show,
2069
01:42:44,417 --> 01:42:47,041
and at a certain point
she stopped,
2070
01:42:47,125 --> 01:42:51,041
and she did a little monologue
about the importance of radio.
2071
01:42:51,125 --> 01:42:53,291
It was very heartfelt
and very sincere.
2072
01:42:53,417 --> 01:42:54,041
You know what radio has
in it?
2073
01:42:54,166 --> 01:42:57,750
R-A-Y-dash-D-I-O.
2074
01:42:57,792 --> 01:43:01,166
And "Dio" is God, so like radio
is like ray of god.
2075
01:43:01,291 --> 01:43:05,291
That's its highest possibility.
2076
01:43:05,417 --> 01:43:07,041
The show moved on
and at a certain point,
2077
01:43:07,166 --> 01:43:11,792
she just stopped dead
in the midst of a song,
2078
01:43:11,875 --> 01:43:13,125
and admitted to the audience
2079
01:43:13,166 --> 01:43:18,166
that she felt very intimidated
2080
01:43:18,291 --> 01:43:20,917
by the limitations
being placed on her
2081
01:43:21,041 --> 01:43:22,500
to say what was on her mind.
2082
01:43:22,542 --> 01:43:25,291
We shouldn't worry about
slang terminology
2083
01:43:25,375 --> 01:43:27,291
on a rock and roll station.
2084
01:43:33,792 --> 01:43:36,542
I mean, you should be able
to express yourself in America.
2085
01:43:36,625 --> 01:43:39,125
We have like one of the most
colorful languages,
2086
01:43:39,166 --> 01:43:41,250
which is like integrated
with our art,
2087
01:43:41,291 --> 01:43:44,417
the art of this generation
is rock and roll.
2088
01:43:44,500 --> 01:43:47,542
And she just started blurting
out... in the form of a poem
2089
01:43:47,625 --> 01:43:49,125
she started blurting out
obscenity after obscenity.
2090
01:43:49,166 --> 01:43:52,250
A stream of obscenities.
2091
01:44:02,000 --> 01:44:04,166
I can't even read
my fuckin' poem.
2092
01:44:04,250 --> 01:44:07,917
It just doesn't even interest me
anymore.
2093
01:44:27,417 --> 01:44:30,291
So there was a difficult
decision there.
2094
01:44:30,375 --> 01:44:36,542
Because as the obscenities
came out,
2095
01:44:36,625 --> 01:44:41,291
you had to decide whether to let
them go or to cut them off.
2096
01:44:41,375 --> 01:44:45,917
And I guess at the time
it seemed to me the better idea
2097
01:44:46,000 --> 01:44:47,250
to let them go.
2098
01:44:47,291 --> 01:44:49,667
I think she went out of her way
because she was sort of
2099
01:44:49,792 --> 01:44:51,667
singing it to kind of alert
the station of the fact,
2100
01:44:51,750 --> 01:44:54,041
"I'm going to sing this song
to the club.
2101
01:44:54,166 --> 01:44:58,375
"If you don't want to hear these
songs... these words broadcast,
2102
01:44:58,417 --> 01:45:01,291
turn me off right now," and it
would have been an option.
2103
01:45:01,417 --> 01:45:03,291
Well, it didn't happen,
obviously, but, you know,
2104
01:45:03,417 --> 01:45:06,291
that's... that's radio,
2105
01:45:06,375 --> 01:45:10,250
If that doesn't quintessentially
sort of package up
2106
01:45:10,291 --> 01:45:13,917
BCN's true essence,
stuff like that on the radio,
2107
01:45:14,000 --> 01:45:15,542
wow, amazing, amazing.
2108
01:45:15,667 --> 01:45:16,667
Never happened again...
2109
01:45:16,792 --> 01:45:18,875
Never happened again.
2110
01:45:25,250 --> 01:45:26,250
Tweet, tweet, tweet.
2111
01:45:29,417 --> 01:45:30,750
WBCN in Boston.
2112
01:45:30,792 --> 01:45:33,875
Is my microphone off?
One, two.
2113
01:45:33,917 --> 01:45:35,792
Oh, so my microphone's on?
2114
01:45:35,875 --> 01:45:38,166
Oh, I didn't hear it,
but it's on, right?
2115
01:45:38,291 --> 01:45:40,250
Oh, right on, Patti!
2116
01:45:40,291 --> 01:45:43,417
I mean, well she was an artist,
she was a poet,
2117
01:45:43,542 --> 01:45:46,417
so when she said,
"This is rock and roll radio,
2118
01:45:46,542 --> 01:45:48,792
and we should be able
to say what we think,
2119
01:45:48,875 --> 01:45:53,000
or say what we feel," you felt
like you could do that at WBCN.
2120
01:45:53,041 --> 01:45:54,417
You could say what you think
and you could say what you feel.
2121
01:45:54,542 --> 01:45:58,250
The fact is that really BCN
was one of the few stations
2122
01:45:58,291 --> 01:46:00,291
in America that played the music
of Patti Smith.
2123
01:46:00,417 --> 01:46:07,291
It was not traditionally
commercially viable--
2124
01:46:07,417 --> 01:46:08,291
you know, she would push
the limit.
2125
01:46:08,417 --> 01:46:10,375
She pushed the envelope
artistically.
2126
01:46:10,417 --> 01:46:12,875
And these were the kinds
of artists
2127
01:46:12,917 --> 01:46:15,667
that we wanted to support.
2128
01:46:15,792 --> 01:46:18,667
Eh, maybe no one heard it,
and I don't think anyone did
2129
01:46:18,792 --> 01:46:22,000
because I don't recall ever
hearing about that.
2130
01:46:22,041 --> 01:46:24,375
One of the few.
2131
01:46:26,542 --> 01:46:30,250
You know, we were beginning
to get ratings.
2132
01:46:30,291 --> 01:46:31,417
The station was making
more and more money,
2133
01:46:31,500 --> 01:46:35,750
and symbolically, I guess,
moving
2134
01:46:35,792 --> 01:46:38,667
to the top of the
Prudential Tower.
2135
01:46:38,750 --> 01:46:42,417
The move to the Pru was the
dramatic one because that was
2136
01:46:42,500 --> 01:46:49,750
the plushest, most amazing,
modern, sterile,
2137
01:46:49,792 --> 01:46:52,291
mainstream,
corporate U.S.A. place
2138
01:46:52,417 --> 01:46:55,750
you could imagine moving into.
2139
01:46:55,792 --> 01:47:00,000
That place should have been
the home of the "Today Show."
2140
01:47:00,041 --> 01:47:01,750
And I don't think I said
hello yet.
2141
01:47:01,792 --> 01:47:04,125
Hello, I'm Tom Hadges, this is
WBCN you're listening to.
2142
01:47:04,166 --> 01:47:05,417
We're in Boston.
2143
01:47:05,542 --> 01:47:07,417
I'll sit here till about 2:00
this afternoon.
2144
01:47:07,542 --> 01:47:10,041
People would pay
to come up to the 50th floor
2145
01:47:10,166 --> 01:47:12,792
to walk around the top
of the Prudential Building,
2146
01:47:12,875 --> 01:47:15,667
which was the single largest,
tallest building in Boston
2147
01:47:15,750 --> 01:47:17,125
at that time.
2148
01:47:17,166 --> 01:47:18,417
And, "Oh, by the way,
there's BCN."
2149
01:47:18,542 --> 01:47:20,291
Hi, everybody.
2150
01:47:20,417 --> 01:47:23,542
Good music. Right here.
2151
01:47:23,625 --> 01:47:27,166
You know, BCN was considered
alternative media,
2152
01:47:27,250 --> 01:47:28,542
but at the same time
mainstream media.
2153
01:47:28,667 --> 01:47:31,291
You know I would go to work
at 6:00 in the morning,
2154
01:47:31,375 --> 01:47:34,792
and walk around the sky walk,
and look at Boston waking up,
2155
01:47:34,875 --> 01:47:38,000
and looking at the beauty
of this whole area
2156
01:47:38,041 --> 01:47:40,041
and BCN was on top of it.
2157
01:47:40,166 --> 01:47:44,792
There was a tension growing
between the demands
2158
01:47:44,875 --> 01:47:49,750
of paying the bills
and what we all wanted.
2159
01:47:49,792 --> 01:47:53,917
We all wanted to be faithful
to the original concept of WBCN
2160
01:47:54,000 --> 01:47:54,542
and the mission of BCN.
2161
01:47:54,625 --> 01:47:57,417
Personally, for me,
it was a challenge.
2162
01:47:57,542 --> 01:48:02,125
It was the difficulty of being
sure that we could maintain
2163
01:48:02,166 --> 01:48:07,166
our honesty, and the fact that
we weren't selling out.
2164
01:48:07,250 --> 01:48:11,625
Ugly Radio is Dead was just as
important when we moved into
2165
01:48:11,667 --> 01:48:16,291
the Pru mid-'70s as it was when
the station launched in '68.
2166
01:48:16,375 --> 01:48:19,166
No question, being
up there was a daily reminder
2167
01:48:19,250 --> 01:48:21,542
of how much value the station
held just on a business level.
2168
01:48:21,625 --> 01:48:24,625
But I think there was,
not a capitulation,
2169
01:48:24,667 --> 01:48:28,417
but a certain realization
inside that you went, "You know,
2170
01:48:28,500 --> 01:48:29,542
"this is not going to last
forever.
2171
01:48:29,667 --> 01:48:32,417
Days are... days are numbered."
2172
01:48:32,542 --> 01:48:33,542
Try new coconut
Newsoft fabric softener.
2173
01:48:33,625 --> 01:48:35,792
Discover for yourself
2174
01:48:35,875 --> 01:48:38,750
the softness of natural coconut
conditioners.
2175
01:48:38,792 --> 01:48:41,000
Oh brother, I quit.
2176
01:48:41,041 --> 01:48:46,375
Well, we were starting to sell
national advertising.
2177
01:48:46,417 --> 01:48:48,041
I became responsible
for national ads.
2178
01:48:48,166 --> 01:48:50,792
I'll never forget the first time
I went to New York
2179
01:48:50,917 --> 01:48:52,375
with our national rep,
2180
01:48:52,417 --> 01:48:55,500
made my first call,
had to put on a tie.
2181
01:48:55,542 --> 01:49:00,667
And I walk in
and the media buyer,
2182
01:49:00,792 --> 01:49:03,792
a rather imposing woman,
2183
01:49:03,875 --> 01:49:06,875
stood up behind her desk
and cursed me out
2184
01:49:06,917 --> 01:49:10,625
because apparently they had sent
a reel...
2185
01:49:10,667 --> 01:49:14,667
all the ads came in these little
eight-inch reels to the station,
2186
01:49:14,792 --> 01:49:16,417
and whoever was the production
manager at the time--
2187
01:49:16,542 --> 01:49:17,625
I'm not going to name
any names--
2188
01:49:17,667 --> 01:49:21,417
had written "F.U." on the box
2189
01:49:21,500 --> 01:49:22,875
and mailed it back
to the agency.
2190
01:49:25,291 --> 01:49:25,542
Oh my...
2191
01:49:25,667 --> 01:49:30,000
So I had a lot of those
experiences.
2192
01:49:46,792 --> 01:49:49,375
Hey, you're better
looking than I am,
2193
01:49:49,417 --> 01:49:51,166
why don't you stay here?
2194
01:49:51,291 --> 01:49:54,041
Blondes, they say, photograph
better than brunettes.
2195
01:49:55,667 --> 01:49:57,750
I'm afraid you'll catch me
picking my nose.
2196
01:50:00,041 --> 01:50:01,166
Oh, you want a level, don't you?
2197
01:50:01,250 --> 01:50:02,166
Yes, yes.
2198
01:50:02,250 --> 01:50:03,667
Good evening.
2199
01:50:03,792 --> 01:50:07,250
This is the 37th time I have
spoken to you from this office,
2200
01:50:07,291 --> 01:50:09,417
where so many decisions
have been made
2201
01:50:09,500 --> 01:50:11,792
that shaped the history
of our nation.
2202
01:50:11,917 --> 01:50:13,542
Need anymore?
2203
01:50:13,625 --> 01:50:18,625
You know, people talk about
the '60s being the Hippie Era,
2204
01:50:18,667 --> 01:50:21,500
the Golden Era,
whatever you want to call it,
2205
01:50:21,542 --> 01:50:22,542
depending on what
your perspective is.
2206
01:50:22,625 --> 01:50:28,625
The '60s went past the '60s,
because my guess,
2207
01:50:28,667 --> 01:50:31,667
if I had to say when the '60s,
when that Golden Era,
2208
01:50:31,750 --> 01:50:36,125
when FM radio started going
in the other direction
2209
01:50:36,166 --> 01:50:39,625
of being capitalistic and not
being underground anymore,
2210
01:50:39,667 --> 01:50:41,750
I think it was after Nixon
resigned.
2211
01:50:41,792 --> 01:50:46,667
I have never been a quitter.
2212
01:50:46,792 --> 01:50:49,542
To leave office before my term
is completed is abhorrent
2213
01:50:49,667 --> 01:50:52,875
to every instinct in my body.
2214
01:50:52,917 --> 01:50:56,041
The fact that it ended
with Nixon's upper lip
2215
01:50:56,125 --> 01:50:59,041
perspiring profusely,
that was a good ending.
2216
01:50:59,125 --> 01:51:04,667
I remember sitting there in my
home with my three-year-old...
2217
01:51:04,750 --> 01:51:05,667
with my three-year-old daughter,
and forcing her to watch it,
2218
01:51:05,792 --> 01:51:07,917
and telling her that,
2219
01:51:08,000 --> 01:51:09,625
"I just want her to remember
these images."
2220
01:51:09,667 --> 01:51:11,291
You know, even vaguely because
she's just little.
2221
01:51:11,417 --> 01:51:14,041
But eventually I would talk
to her about the significance
2222
01:51:14,125 --> 01:51:15,375
of this and it's something
2223
01:51:15,417 --> 01:51:17,041
she could tell
her grandchildren about.
2224
01:51:17,166 --> 01:51:18,375
It was a great day.
2225
01:51:18,417 --> 01:51:23,250
Therefore I shall resign
the presidency
2226
01:51:23,291 --> 01:51:25,166
effective at noon tomorrow.
2227
01:51:25,291 --> 01:51:29,625
Vice President Ford
will be sworn in as president
2228
01:51:29,667 --> 01:51:32,667
at that hour in this office.
2229
01:51:36,125 --> 01:51:39,250
You know, it was, uh... elation
2230
01:51:39,291 --> 01:51:41,750
and, uh... celebration,
2231
01:51:41,792 --> 01:51:45,500
and but also sadness that it,
you know, it had to come
2232
01:51:45,542 --> 01:51:46,792
to all the way to this,
2233
01:51:46,917 --> 01:51:50,500
to get this gargoyle
out of running our country.
2234
01:51:50,542 --> 01:51:53,667
I mean, at the end of it all
my parents were against me,
2235
01:51:53,750 --> 01:51:56,667
my long hair, everything from
the beginning.
2236
01:51:56,792 --> 01:52:00,291
They said, "It's the drugs,
Steven, get off those drugs."
2237
01:52:00,417 --> 01:52:04,792
But at the end, they sat down,
and my father had tears
2238
01:52:04,875 --> 01:52:08,166
in his eyes and he said,
"You were right."
2239
01:52:08,250 --> 01:52:11,041
He said, "You were right,
they've been lying to us."
2240
01:52:12,917 --> 01:52:15,291
There's the
president waving goodbye.
2241
01:52:15,375 --> 01:52:18,792
You hear the applause.
2242
01:52:18,917 --> 01:52:22,792
By '74, it's not only
that Nixon resigned,
2243
01:52:22,917 --> 01:52:26,917
he was such a convenient target
of all of our wrath.
2244
01:52:27,041 --> 01:52:30,542
But it was, everything was
becoming in a way
2245
01:52:30,667 --> 01:52:32,792
more institutionalized,
more commercialized.
2246
01:52:32,917 --> 01:52:37,417
The acts that played the Tea
Party were now playing big halls
2247
01:52:37,500 --> 01:52:41,000
and getting paid tons of money,
the ticket prices were going up.
2248
01:52:41,041 --> 01:52:44,417
There were a lot of stations all
over the country now doing what,
2249
01:52:44,542 --> 01:52:46,500
you know, in a way what BCN
was doing.
2250
01:52:46,542 --> 01:52:50,667
I think pretty much not as well
and not as overtly political.
2251
01:52:50,750 --> 01:52:53,125
But playing the kind of,
you know,
2252
01:52:53,166 --> 01:52:54,792
the album cuts and all that.
2253
01:52:54,917 --> 01:52:59,417
So it really was becoming
much more of, you know,
2254
01:52:59,542 --> 01:53:03,875
institutionalized and just part
of the regular American culture.
2255
01:53:06,625 --> 01:53:09,917
Little did we know, you know.
2256
01:53:10,041 --> 01:53:14,417
Little did we know that we would
be involved in something
2257
01:53:14,500 --> 01:53:18,125
that would be as much fun and
so meaningful to so many people.
2258
01:53:18,166 --> 01:53:20,792
The best thing about it was
we were doing it ourselves.
2259
01:53:20,917 --> 01:53:23,417
We were making it up
as we went along.
2260
01:53:23,542 --> 01:53:25,500
We were developing friendships,
2261
01:53:25,542 --> 01:53:26,875
we were putting up
with each other,
2262
01:53:26,917 --> 01:53:29,667
we were trying to create
something
2263
01:53:29,750 --> 01:53:31,250
that hadn't existed before.
2264
01:53:31,291 --> 01:53:34,750
You don't get that opportunity
much in broadcasting.
2265
01:53:34,792 --> 01:53:37,792
I think one of the other things
I'd like to see people remember
2266
01:53:37,917 --> 01:53:44,000
WBCN for was what it stood for.
2267
01:53:44,041 --> 01:53:47,750
Independence, having people
make up their own minds
2268
01:53:47,792 --> 01:53:51,000
as what to play, what to say.
2269
01:53:51,041 --> 01:53:53,750
We've learned a lot
since the '70s
2270
01:53:53,792 --> 01:53:57,291
around what inclusion means.
2271
01:53:57,417 --> 01:54:01,250
And some of what learned is that
we're actually
2272
01:54:01,291 --> 01:54:02,917
all on the same planet here,
2273
01:54:03,000 --> 01:54:06,417
in the process of suffering
some of the same consequences
2274
01:54:06,500 --> 01:54:08,792
of our neglecting to recognize
our shared humanity.
2275
01:54:08,917 --> 01:54:12,250
Of course the question
that everyone's asking is
2276
01:54:12,291 --> 01:54:12,917
can this happen again?
2277
01:54:13,000 --> 01:54:16,917
The fact that everyone
can be a communicator.
2278
01:54:17,000 --> 01:54:20,125
Pick up your smartphone,
shoot a video.
2279
01:54:20,166 --> 01:54:22,917
If it's important, it will get
seen by a lot of people,
2280
01:54:23,000 --> 01:54:25,291
and it can create social change.
2281
01:54:25,375 --> 01:54:25,917
No question about that.
2282
01:54:26,041 --> 01:54:30,166
Abbie Hoffman,
the godfather of the Yippies,
2283
01:54:30,250 --> 01:54:31,875
was from Worcester, Mass.,
2284
01:54:31,917 --> 01:54:35,291
and he, you know, became a sort
of occasional correspondent
2285
01:54:35,417 --> 01:54:38,041
for WBCN and was on the air.
2286
01:54:38,166 --> 01:54:41,667
And, you know, when he was asked
to summarize, you know,
2287
01:54:41,750 --> 01:54:43,166
the legacy of his work,
2288
01:54:43,250 --> 01:54:46,917
you know, he said basically,
you know, "We were young,
2289
01:54:47,000 --> 01:54:50,875
"we were sometimes crazy,
we made mistakes,
2290
01:54:50,917 --> 01:54:53,917
but we were right."
2291
01:54:55,917 --> 01:54:58,291
I think that could be said
of WBCN.
2292
01:55:00,000 --> 01:55:02,417
One, two, one, two, hey!
2293
01:56:41,667 --> 01:56:42,792
Good night.
2294
01:56:45,792 --> 01:56:47,792
You there, Fatman?
2295
01:56:47,917 --> 01:56:49,250
Yes, Max, how they doing?
2296
01:56:49,291 --> 01:56:51,417
Well, I think...
I think that
2297
01:56:51,542 --> 01:56:54,041
with all the Minguses,
and the Miles, and the 'Tranes
2298
01:56:54,166 --> 01:56:56,041
that have been in this room,
2299
01:56:56,166 --> 01:56:59,125
nobody ever destroyed
the ceiling quite so bad before.
2300
01:56:59,166 --> 01:57:02,750
John Cale just put the nick of
a bass through the ceiling here.
2301
01:57:05,041 --> 01:57:08,041
Oh, I wish we could have
seen that.
2302
01:57:08,125 --> 01:57:08,917
Good night, Fatman.
2303
01:57:09,041 --> 01:57:11,041
Good night, Max.
175029
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