My Life as a Series of Demos - Part 4: On the Radio - WMFO in Medford, WBCN in Boston (and some answering machine messages)

Part Four: On the Radio - WMFO in Medford, WBCN in Boston (and some answering machine messages)

Still in Somervile, in the late '70's - early '80's I began doing radio again, this time at the Tufts University station, WMFO-Medford. Here’s some of the radio production I did there:

Beatle-tudes Promo #2
Grateful Dead Special Promo #1
Grateful Dead Special Promo #2
Mental Notes Promo - Hubert Bendover
Mental Notes Promo - We are Crazy
Hot Weather PSA
Request Line
American Youth Speaks Out! - Station ID
Breathless - Station ID
Form of Madness - Station ID
It’s Crackers - Station ID
Radio Verite - Station ID


After I’d been there for a while some of my compatriots at the station went on a field trip to my original source of inspiration, WBCN-Boston. They brought along some WMFO production work, including some of mine, to play for the folks there, and somehow as a result of that I got invited to work (as a volunteer, that is) with the writing/producing/performing team for Charles Laquidara, one of the original WBCN disc jockeys who had turned me on to so much music in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

By this time (1981) WBCN had shed its hippie trappings and become a very mainstream rock station. Charles Laquidara was one of the few originals left; he had changed with the times and was now the #1 morning drive-time DJ in Boston with his show, The Big Mattress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Laquidara

His departing creative team consisted of Tom Couch and Eddie Gorodetsky, the latter of whom has gone on to make something of a name for himself in the entertainment world:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gorodetsky

I was paired up with a little-known comedian, songwriter and character-voice guy by the name of Billy West. He later became one of the go-to guys for animation voices. If you’re a fan of Futurama or Ren and Stimpy, for example, you’ve heard him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_West

Neither one of us stayed at WBCN for too long. Billy really wanted to be the next Mel Blanc in Hollywood. And although I was offered a salaried position I really didn’t like the high-pressure environment - not to mention having to get up at 4 AM, take a bus, then a subway and then run several blocks in order to be at the station by 6 AM - and be funny. Nevertheless Billy and I did produce a few things, together and separatel, for the Laquidara/Big Mattress show:

‘Another Hit’ ID
‘Adam-12’ Big Mattress Promo
‘Jerry Vale’ Big Mattress Promo
I Feel Like Singing (w/Charles Laquidara)
Larry Fine in the Columbia Space Shuttle
Monday Morning 6:30 am Strikes!
Up and At ‘Em 7:30
Santa Claus vs. The Air Force

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Also while at ‘BCN I wrote a few short radio plays for Jerry Goodwin, the 2-to-6 AM host. He had a lot more creative latitude on his show (for obvious reasons) and enjoyed airing odd little pieces like these, which he and his producer put together, mostly by themselves but sometimes with outside voice talents - including Jerry’s kid for “God as a Child”. I don’t perform on these, but it was always a treat to hear what they did with my scripts:

The Night Watchman
God as a Kid
White Christmas

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And somewhere around the same time I created a few answering-machine messages for a friend of mine:

Phone Message - Cop
Phone Message - Nervous Guy
Phone Message - Beautiful Music Radio
Phone Message - Psychiatrist