I wasn’t actually going to post this because it’s not about a local radio station and it features a ton of names most of us have probably never heard of.  So it’s not for everyone.
 
But it’s a terrific – although very long – yarn about a Boston all sports radio station owned by a Microsoft co-founder and what happened on its way to trying to take on its much bigger market leader.
 
I see echoes in this yarn of CKFH vs. CHUM and CJCL when they were the first all sports format in Toronto on 1430, with a transmitter that essentially broadcast into Lake Ontario. It’s also reminiscent of TSN 1050 vs. The Fan.
 
The station was at 1510 in Boston (soon to be replaced by the reincarnation of WMEX, a classic AM Top 40 station in that city) and dared to take on market leader WEEI.
 
Among the highlights – the morning man comes into work, opens the newspaper as he’s getting ready to go on the air, only to see a headline that he’s been fired. Only problem is, he didn’t know anything about it.
 
“We start the show and we’re reading the article…And we’re like, “Hey, guess who’s getting fired today?...” The show remained on the air until 7:20 a.m.
 
Adams: So in a commercial break, I go into his office and say, “What the [expletive] is going on?” And he says, “I’m sorry you found out this way.” And I say, “Well, do you want me to go on the air, or do you want me to go to network,” which was Sporting News Radio. And he says, “Oh, just go to network.” And we walked out, all of us.”
 
Then there’s the signal that broadcast straight into the lake.
 
“The signal apparently had an easterly signal, and I remember Bob Lobel told me one time, he was on a boat and it came in great, and it’s a great station if you’re a fish.”
 
Or the guy who had a bad habit of losing control on air.
 
“Max [was]… a bit late, because some security guard asked to see his credential as he was heading back. He throws on the headset, and mutters something about “that [expletive-expletive] security guard.” There’s a long pause, then Grande says, “You know you’re on the air, right?”
 
In the end, the place went bust, but this oral history of a station gone wrong is quite remarkable. Even if you don’t know the players, this is a classic radio story and almost everyone who ever worked in the business will be able to relate to at least some part of it.

An oral history of Boston sports radio’s 1510 The Zone