The Resurrection of WNEW-FM

Back in college, my roommate and I took the Boston - New York rivalry personally. He was for the Yankees and Mets, I was for the Red Sox. He was for Walt Frazier, I was for John Havlicek. When it came to music, I was mad for WBCN-FM, which had been my guide to the '60s, the foundry for my tastes in rock and blues, and my general sense of cultural superiority. (Ok, I've gotten over it.)

He, meanwhile, wouldn't stop selling WNEW-FM, the dulcet tones of Alison Steele, aka the Night Bird, the Murderers Row line-up of  Jonathan Schwartz, "Professor" Scott Muni, Peter Fornatale, Dave Herman, Vic Scelsa and so on.

Since we were living in Chicago, I had no way to see if his station was as strong as mine at the time (mid '70s) or if this was just another example of the confidence that's so annoying in New Yorkers.

I'd love to say they put all those hours in a musical time capsule and that's what I'm linking to today. I can't. But I just got an email from CBS, saying they're revived the station and its call letters and put it up online.

So that's why I've got the headphones listening to the Rolling Stones "It's All Over Now." into a defiant live version of Elvis Costello singing "Less Than Zero." There's a mix of new stuff and old, including interviews from rock's salad days. Even the new stuff seems pretty classic -- they name-check Radiohead, the White Stripes, Foo Fighters, etc...

The best part, it's a project run by Norm Winer, who I remember from WBCN as Old Saxophone Joe. Meaning Boston wins.