The last day of WBCN Boston was August 11, 2009. I was on the air on that final day of broadcasting. This is my story.
104.1 WBCN Boston was the legendary Rock of Boston. The station began its free-form rock format on March 15, 1968. Throughout the ’70s and into the ’80s, it became one of the region’s powerhouse radio stations, setting the tone for music and culture around the city.
My parents grew up listening to BCN. I grew up listening to BCN. So it was a dream come true (especially for my mom) when I was hired to host middays at BCN in February of 2003. I stayed in that time slot until that final day: August 11, 2009.
WBCN Boston: The Days Before the Last Day
I was vacationing with my family in Wells Beach when I got the call. It was on a Monday, after 5 p.m., and it was my Program Director. A bad omen. He was calling to tell me that, in mid-August, WBCN would switch formats, and I’d be out of work.
I immediately thought it was a prank. This was the type of stunt morning hosts Toucher & Rich would try to pull off: “Let’s prank Adam 12 while he’s on vacation!” Here’s the thing, though: it wasn’t a prank. By the next day, the story was being reported everywhere.
The bad news? I was losing my job. The good news? CBS Radio was allowing us to stay on the air during the run-up to the format switch. I had work. I had time to find new work. And, best of all, I had a chance to say goodbye. Which you don’t usually get in radio.
WBCN Boston: My Last Day on 104.1
August 11, 2009 was a Tuesday. It was the final day of a four-day, on-air celebration of WBCN. Old segments from the station’s heyday were aired. Beloved personalities like Charles Laquidara and Lisa Traxler came back to say goodbye. Listeners called nonstop.
Over those last few days and, really, over the course of the last five week’s of the station’s life, the DJs slowly edged the format back to free-form. So by the time I was set to host my final airshift, there was no more programming, no more playlist. I could play whatever I wanted to.
And I did.
WBCN Boston staples from the Cars to Morphine to Darkbuster were all in the mix. Indie rock from Guided By Voices. Swedish hardcore from Refused. If this was it, I was leaving it all on the table. Those five hours felt simultaneously like five days and five minutes.
WBCN Boston: My Last Break
Then? It was time to say goodbye. Little did the BCN listers know that I’d been saving all their heartfelt phone calls over the previous five weeks. I edited all of them into a montage, backed by the 1997 Peel Session version of Mogwai’s “New Paths to Helicon, Pt. 1“
I’d also recorded my then-4-year-old son Jacob saying goodbye, pleading with someone in the audience to “hire my dad” and signing off with: “see you on the bread line!” While all of this was airing, I looked out of the studio window to see BCN DJs Hardy and Juanita looking on.
That’s the one time I almost lost it.
I ended my show with the song I’ve shared below; my final song on WBCN Boston. Hardy took the mic after that, followed by Mark Hamilton, then Bradley Jay to sign the station off. You’ll find that in the clip above. Keep scrolling for some pics of that final day, courtesy of Duncan Wilder Johnson.