I was never a huge fan of 104.1 WBCN. In high school I was a devoted listener to 107.3 WAAF, and I listened, not by choice, to Rock 101.1 when I worked in a kitchen. I went to college and worked for 91.3 WKNH, and since I’ve been out all I listen to is 92.1 WFNX. Now, maybe over the course of my dialing I stopped on WBCN to hear a few tunes, but overall I never really became attached to WBCN.
A few months ago BCN called it a day and is now only broadcasting in digital on the Internet. This act disrupted the balance of Boston radio as we know it. WAAF plays the hard rock stuff, WFNX plays the odd alternative stuff and WBCN played a happy mix of both. What happens when you take out the middleman? Well, WAAF starts to play weirder alternative and classic rock, and WFNX plays a lot of terrible early 2000s hard rock that no one cares about anymore. With the loss of WBCN the other stations are trying to compensate and gain new listener-ship and the rest of us suffer for it. Come on, after I hear Elvis Costello I do not want to hear anything by Linkin Park.
I think I never realized the importance of WBCN until they had left, isn’t that always the way? Without their presence it is hard to differentiate between stations at times, and that bothers me more than anything. I like being able to say I listen to WFNX because they don’t play nu-metal junk, now I have to change my reasoning. What are we left with? A lack of options and more dull pop than anyone knows what to do with. I like my CDs but don’t mess with my radio.
