WCAS (AM)
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WCAS (740 AM) was a radio station active in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1967 to the early 1980s. The call letters referred to "Cambridge, Arlington and Somerville." For more about the history of the frequency and other names for it, see WJIB.) It became a local favorite during the 1970s for its eclectic mix of music - LA folk-rock, jazz, bluegrass, country and western were only part of the playlist - and its support of local issues and musicians, notably through special live concerts and the Live at Passim's series of broadcasts. In 1976, the Harvard Crimson wrote: "The least pretentious station around is WCAS at 740 AM, which mixes country, soft rock, and folk nicely, and goes easy on the ads."[1]
One of the station's limitations added to its character: because a limited broadcast license obliged it to go off the air at sunset, one freelancer developed a series of humorous station sign-offs which became mini-hits in themselves.
The "Live at Passim's" broadcast was done on Sundays from Club Passim (formerly the legendary Club 47. It paired local acts with national headliners at Passim's coffeehouse such as Ry Cooder, Tom Waits and Jimmy Buffett (the latter two then relatively obscure). The idea of promoting local music by broadcasting from what was then the top folk club in the area was originated by then-program director Rick Starr, who hired local performer Jim Chevallier to produce and host the program. Typically, national acts headlining at the club were the main act, preceded by local Boston-Cambridge musicians. The show's format generally imposed an all acoustic approach like that later used by MTV Unplugged. One of the first acts to appear on the show was Jimmy Buffett, then performing with only a bass player. Ry Cooder and Tom Waits appeared soon after that. The Irish traditional group the Boys of the Lough not only appeared on the show but, in 1975, released an album titled "Live at Passim".
One duo which appeared at the club and on the show was Buckingham Nicks - that is, Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks who would shortly join Fleetwood Mac.
In addition to live broadcasts, the station sometimes played songs on tape from local artists. One of these, "Somerville"[2], was a satirical comment on that local city, written by David Misch, who would later write for the TV shows Mork and Mindy and Saturday Night Live . Another was "Marblehead Morning", a gentle acoustic homage to the town of Marblehead written by Mason Daring, who would soon become the composer for most of John Sayles's films.[3]
The station's local popularity was never sufficient to make it solvent, and Wickus Island Broadcasting, which owned it through the latter half of the Seventies, was obliged to declare bankruptcy at the start of the Eighties.
[edit] References
- Kaplan, James I and Seth. "Getting around the Square", The Harvard Crimson, June 28, 1976. Accessed May 10, 2008.
[edit] External links
- 740 WCAS website
- WCAS history by former program director Rick Starr
- The Boston Radio Dial: WJIB(AM) - includes history of WCAS
- Harvard Crimson article from 1977 on local music, mentioning WCAS
- MIT's The Tech with 1979 article mentioning WCAS
