A letter from Charles, written in May of 1996, explaining why he moved down
the dial...
"Forgive me for sending you this form response, but I want you to know how and
why things went down the way they did. If you still have questions or things you want to
say, feel free to write and I'll respond more personally. Obviously I'm getting a ton of
email because of all the changes, so I apologize for answering you in such specific
detail, but basically it comes down to this: Infinity Broadcasting, my bosses, have always
been fair to me. They have never slid on any deals or verbal agreements, and they have
always made decisions which turned out to be good for both me and for the radio station.
When the Infinity Corporation bought WBOS a few months ago, we knew that it would be silly
to keep two "franchise" d.j.s on at the same radio station; and even sillier to
keep America's most famous morning man (Howard Stern) on at night in Boston. Someone had
to go to either BOS or WZLX (the other Infinity station).
The decision was an easy one to make...A large segment of the 25 to 44 year-olds in
Boston were turned off by some of the modern rock that I was playing at BCN, so they
drifted back and forth from BCN to ZLX, BOS and other stations. These people were the same
listeners who had grown up with WBCN and with me during the 70's, 80's and 90's... and
they were also the same people who could relate to me better on a station that played
classic rock, which features the original musicians and the songs that are the roots of
every rock song coming out on CD today. I fit right in there.
And even though I LOVE new rock (doing alternative music on morning drive for the
past two years has been one of my sweetest experiences ever in radio), we knew that I had
to save my playing of Hole, NIN and Garbage for my CD player at home. We decided that the
logical thing to do was for me to go over to WZLX, where most of my listeners felt more
comfortable musically.
ZLX made me a great offer, giving me all kinds of perks, including free parking at
the PRU for the entire BIG MATTRESS crew, all kinds of musical freedom, and the right to
do any kind of radio that I would have fun doing. The thing that sucked? Besides not being
able to play alternative music, and knowing that the media might "spin" this
move in a negative way, I had to deal with the fact that I'd have to change those call
letters that were so familiar to me, WBCN.
But you know something? It really was a decision that was not all that hard to
make. In fact, I can honestly say that -- had I known what the folks at ZLX were willing
to offer me -- I would have gone over there seven or eight years ago.
Think of it sort of like a company comes in and buys both the Red Sox and the
Yankees. The company decides to make Fenway Park the home of the Yankees, and to have the
Red Sox go across town and play in another park...I guess I'm the Red Sox in this little
scenario.
Anyway, thanks for all your letters! I hope that explains things a little better --
and believe me -- I'm not giving this any kind of media "spin" -- I haven't felt
so optimistic about anything like this in years! I'm sure that when people get wind of the
fact that we're doing radio "the way it used to be" over at 100.7 FM, the
decision will speak for itself."