Media

Media

 Radio

Boston is one of the largest radio markets in the country. The programming offered by the commercial stations is wider than what you'll find in most cities and features new music, rock, Top 40, and Muzak. Boston also has a large number of public, network, and college stations, generally commercial-free, featuring music not played by the majority of commercial stations (jazz, classical, folk, etc.). WGBH is the local public outlet. Eight college stations are listed here, mostly at the low end of the FM dial. WMBR (MIT), WHRB (Harvard), and WBUR (BU) are the most easily received on campus.

The MIT radio station, WMBR (50-030, x3-8810) broadcasts on 88.1 FM to the entire Boston area. Monthly schedules are sent out free upon request.

If Boston's stations don't satisfy you, or if you are homesick, you can listen to numerous out-of-town AM stations at night. Continuous news can be heard on WCBS (880kHz) and WINS (1010) from New York or WBBM (780) from Chicago. Top 40 booms in on WLS (890) from Chicago. Excellent classical music programming is on WQXR (1560) in New York. Big band music can be heard on WNEW (1130) from New York. Numerous other clear channels around the US and Canada can be heard at night; most of the powerful stations are between 640 and 900kHz, 990 and 1220kHz, and 1500 and 1580kHz. Reception, however, is irregular at best. Incidentally, WBZ-AM (Boston) can be heard in 38 states at night.

AM Stations The following table lists Boston AM stations, their call letters, frequencies, and a brief description of each.


WHDH

650

(Boston) A mostly talk radio station, with topics ranging from current events to sports to movies.

WRKO

680

(Boston) "The Talk Station" (i.e. no music)

WEEI

850

(CBS/Boston) All news 5 AM-10 PM; mystery and talk all night. Patriots, Celtics. No music.
WROL 950

(Boston) Mostly talk and ethnic music.
WBZ 1030

(Westinghouse/Boston) Daytime: news. Night: Talk. Weekends: Sports Talk

WMEX

1150

(Boston) "Favorite oldies.''

WEZE

1260

(ABC/Boston) Boston's only Christian-formatted radio station.

WNTN

1550

(Newton) Many different types of ethnic programming.

WUNR

1600

(Brookline) "Super Soul"

FM Stations WBUR (90.9) interferes with the reception in the BU area and on the west side of campus; WBCN (104.1) has its transmitter on top of the Prudential Tower and can be found across the dial at times. T Station logos are included in the description when available. All are stereo and 24 hours a day unless noted otherwise.

WMBR

88.1

(14hr) MIT/Cambridge. WMBR is Walker Memorial Basement Radio, staffed by students and non-MIT people. Their transmitter is atop Eastgate, the highest point in Cambridge. Music runs the gamut from new wave to rock to Indian music. Program guides are available at the station or by calling x3-8810.

WERS

88.9

Emerson College Radio. Classical, rock, folk, etc.

WGBH

89.7

National Public Radio/Boston. Classical on mornings and weekends, jazz all night. Live music (BSO and New England Conservatory concerts) and good tapes (BBC, CBC), organ recitals. Poetry, literature, public affairs. Program guide available.

WZBC

90.3

mono; Boston College/Newton. Country, folk, bluegrass, rock, modern, classical.

WBUR

90.9

Boston U/Boston. Classical 9 AM through 10 PM; jazz at other times with news at 4:30 PM and 7 AM. Program guide available.

WMFO

91.5

Tufts U/Medford. Wide variety of programming.

Guide available.

WBRS

91.7

mono; Brandeis U/Waltham. Soul, mellow rhythm and blues. Some rock and jazz. No commercials. AP news.

WBOS

92.9

Brookline. Country.

WCGY

93.7

Lawrence. General rock and roll.

WJMN

94.5

Boston. "Jam'n," R&B, dance, rap.

WHRB

95.3

Harvard U/Cambridge. Jazz, classical, folk, rock; few commercials. Big classical-music programs during Harvard reading period. Program guide available, call 495-4818. 3 Kwatts.

WBCS

96.9

"Boston's country station."

WBMX

98.5

"Mix." Pop music "without the rap and hard rock."

WPLM

99.1

"Variety." Big Band, Bruins.

WSSH

99.5

Lowell. Soft rock. (Shhh!)

WZLX

100.7

Boston. Classic rock. Mostly 60's and 70's.

WFNX

101.7

Boston Phoenix/Lynn. Boston's pioneer alternative rock station, with jazz on Sunday mornings.

WCRB

102.5

Waltham. BSO, Pops, and Tanglewood concerts Friday-Sunday evenings. The classical music station with commercials. "WCRB Saturday Night'' comedy show weekly about 11:30 PM. Few commercials 1-6 AM. Occasional simulcast with WGBH-TV. Program guide available online.

WODS

103.3

Boston. Oldies.

WBCN

104.1

Boston. Alternative Rock, with Howard Stern in the mornings. New England Patriots Football.

WRBB

104.9

Northeastern U/Boston. Progressive music.

WROR

105.7

Framingham. Adult contemorary with DJ personalities.

WMJX

106.7

Boston. "Magic 106'' plays soft rock and adult contemporary.

WAAF

107.3

Worcester. Hard-core rock.

WXKS

107.9

Medford. Kiss-108. Contemporary hits leaning toward dance beat. Sometimes they'll play the same song three times in one hour. Plus annoying DJ's. Boston's #1 radios station.

Television
Clear reception of all Boston VHF channels is very difficult to achieve on campus, thanks to ghosts bouncing off the Muddy Charles. If you're seeing double, you can try one of the more distant stations listed below; they may be a little fuzzy but will be ghost-free. For the final solution, see MIT Cable Television, below.


Station

Channel

Affiliation

Description

WGBH

2

PBS

Public TV. Some simulcasts with WCRB-FM. Boston

*WBZ

4

CBS

Standard CBS fare. Boston

*WCVB

5

ABC

Standard ABC fare. Boston

WLNE

6

CBS

Standard CBS fare. New Bedford

*WHDH

7

NBC

Standard NBC fare. Boston

WJAR

10

NBC

Standard NBC fare. Providence, RI

WPRI

12

ABC

Standard ABC fare. Providence, RI

*WFXT

25

Fox

Fox Television, movies. Boston

*WSBK

38

UPN

Reruns, old movies, sports, UPN programming. Boston

*WGBX

44

PBS

Educational. Associated with WGBH. Boston

*WLVI

56

WB

Reruns, old movies, and sports,

plus WB programming. Cambridge

*WQTV

68

Ind.

Variety of syndicated programming. Boston

MIT Cable Television

MIT has a cable TV system with cable drops in all dormitories, lobbies 7 & 10, and various other locations. The control center is located in the basement of Building 9. Channels 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 have included live and taped lectures, foreign and classic films, student projects, and rebroadcasts of commercial (usually news) programs. Earthshaking developments that the networks are carrying (space shuttle, assassinations) are routed to the lobby monitors. People interested in working MITV should contact the


Student Cable Programming Group (9-030).

Student cable (x3-TV36) broadcasts on channel 36.



MIT Cable TV also relays Boston TV channels 24 hours a day. By purchasing a cable converter and connecting it to a cable outlet, you can receive all the MIT channels and perfect reception of all stations marked with an * above. Converters are available from the MIT Cable TV office, 9-050. Of course, you don't need a converter box if your TV is cable-ready.



Newspapers

The two daily Boston newspapers are the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. In addition, there are many good national papers available.



The Boston Globe It is a liberal, Democratic newspaper. It was a local newspaper once trying to become a national one until it was bought by the New York Times, but it has a great sports section and great comics, and the "Calendar'' section (on Thursdays) has a fairly complete schedule of events and things to do around Boston.

The Boston Herald It is fond of banner headlines, and tends toward sensationalism. If all you care for is sports, turn to the Herald.

The Boston Phoenix is a local example of the "alternative'' press. It regularly publishes "muck-raking'' articles about world, national, and local affairs. Reviews of entertainment products and programs, complete listings of the week's events, and some incredible classified ads are also featured. It has excellent listings of events about Boston.



The Cambridge Chronicle and other smaller weekly publications such as the Tab are oriented toward local communities. There are some foreign-language weeklies for minority groups in Boston.



Many living groups subscribe to out-of-town newspapers as well as locals. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are favored since they arrive on the issue date. The Washington Post arrives a day late. The Out of Town News Agency in Harvard Square carries a wide selection of national and international papers, as well as magazines.



USA Today is a national newspaper full of pretty color pictures and charts aimed at people with the attention span of sixth graders. The sports section is not bad.



Finally, several political groups have weekly papers which they are continuously hawking. These are often quite biased and polemical but make interesting reading and occasionally break stories before the regular newspapers do. They sometimes ask for a donation, occasionally in an intimidating manner. The best response is often to politely give the paper back.



On-Campus Newspapers

There is one main student newspaper published at MIT.


The Tech

(W20-483, x3-1541) has news, sports, community, and arts reviews, and is distributed on campus Tuesdays and Fridays during the school year. It has provided continuous news service to MIT since 1881. The Tech Index, a microfiche topic and person index of articles that have appeared in The Tech, is available, along with microfiche of the newspaper, for use by the MIT community. Call the Tech's office for details.



Counterpoint (5-8922) is an MIT/Wellesley political opinion newspaper, which publishes articles on all sides of campus and national issues. It used to publish an extremely honest (and thus very offensive in some cases) guide to all of the ILG's in the fall, but now it has softened up a little and is less useful.

Both these papers are given out free on campus and will accept letters, articles, and advertising.



Tech Talk (5-111, x3-3094), the MIT house newspaper, is distributed free on campus every Wednesday. It includes a calender of the week's events, a listing of seminars, feature articles, classified ads, and a listing of available MIT jobs. Ads are accepted from the entire MIT community. Articles of general interest are sometimes accepted.