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WODS
File:WODS logo.png
Broadcast areaGreater Boston
Frequency103.3 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding103.3 AMP Radio
HD2: 103.3 WODS HD2
HD3: The Cove (1/1-10/31), Christmas music (11/1-12/31)
Programming
FormatTop 40 (CHR)
HD2: Classic hits
HD3: Soft AC
Ownership
Owner
WBMX, WBZ, WBZ-FM, WBZ-TV, WSBK-TV, WZLX
History
First air date
July 1948 (as WEEI-FM)[1]
Former call signs
WEEI-FM (1948–1983)
WHTT (1983–1986)
WMRQ (1986–1987)
Call sign meaning
W OlDieS (former branding)
Technical information
Facility ID9639
ClassB
ERP8,700 watts
HAAT351 meters
Transmitter coordinates
42°18′27.40″N 71°13′26.70″W / 42.3076111°N 71.2240833°W / 42.3076111; -71.2240833 (WODS)
Links
WebcastListen live
HD2: Listen live
HD3: Listen live
Website1033ampradio.cbslocal.com
HD2/HD3: www.wods.com

WODS (103.3 FM) - known on-air as 103.3 AMP Radio - is a radio station in Boston, Massachusetts. WODS airs a Top 40 (CHR) format, and is under the ownership of CBS Radio. Its studios are located in Brighton, and its transmitter is in Newton.

CBS Boston studios, home of 103.3 WODS as of 2011

History

WEEI-FM (1948–1983)

WODS began as WEEI-FM in 1948. It ran CBS's "The Young Sound" format beginning in 1965 after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations forced it to cease to be a 24-hour relay of the AM side (WEEI 590). "The Young Sound" was an easy listening format focusing on instrumental versions of recent pop tunes. By 1969, "The Young Sound" had evolved to a Top 40/AOR hybrid format, voice tracked on WEEI-FM by Dick Provost. In late 1972, WEEI-FM flipped to an adult contemporary format. The station evolved into its famous "Soft Rock" format in 1977, which remained in place until 1982 when it flipped to a Top 40 format. By 1981, all of the other owned-and-operated CBS FM radio stations employed the "Hot Hits" format except for WCBS-FM. Unlike their sister stations, though, WEEI-FM played hits from the past several years all along. The other Hot Hits stations evolved to what WEEI-FM was doing in 1983. By then, the Los Angeles station had dropped the format and reverted to adult rock.

WHTT/WMRQ (1983–1987)

HitRadio 103, Power 103, and Q-103

On March 9, 1983, at Midnight, WEEI-FM changed call letters to WHTT, and rebranded, first as HitRadio 103, and then The New Power 103 WHTT. (After WEEI was sold, WEEI-FM became the call letters of Lawrence-licensed 93.7, initially as a simulcast of WEEI.) WHTT, for a time in the mid-1980s, was one of Boston's most popular stations, but its stay at the top of the Arbitron ratings was not to last. WHTT continued with a Top 40 format until July 7, 1986. At that point, ratings were decent, but it was determined that it was tough competing directly with WXKS-FM, as well as WZOU (now WJMN). Top 40 formats are generally hard to sell unless ratings are extremely high. It was also determined that Boston could not support three viable Top 40 stations. As a result, WHTT launched an adult rock format known as "Boston's Quality Rock" playing a blend of softer Album Rock cuts, pop rock cuts, some eclectic smooth jazz, and a few mainstream pop hits. The station's call sign changed to WMRQ, branded on-air as "Q-103". The on-air staff stayed on from WHTT initially, though most gradually left over the next year. Their ratings went downhill fast.

WODS (1987–2012)

On October 1, 1987, the station switched to an oldies format, playing the Rock and Roll Hits from 1955 to 1969, and was branded as "Oldies 103". The first song on "Oldies 103" was "Fun Fun Fun" by The Beach Boys. The station had a very deep playlist, playing a larger number of songs than most oldies stations. The station's call letters were soon changed to WODS. WMRQ's airstaff stayed with the station despite the format change, and a couple people continued at the station right up to the station's final day in 2012. By 1989, WODS was also playing a very limited amount of music from the early 1970s up to 1972 mixed with the 1950s and 1960s.

As time went on, Oldies 103 added more 1970s music but continued to focus on the 1960s and still played a considerable number of pre-1964 oldies. In the late 1990s, the station rebranded as "Oldies 103.3". In 2001, WODS began to move away from '50s' music. The station added more late 1970s songs and a few 1980s hits. In 2001, the Boston-based syndicated show "The Lost 45s" was added to the Sunday night line-up, after long runs at WZLX (1985-1992) and WBMX (1993-1999). It brought more music from the 1980s to the playlist, and the program's host Barry Scott stayed with the station until WODS's final day, when he became the first to be hired away by long-time rival WROR. In 2002, WODS eliminated most of the pre-64 oldies and by 2005, WODS was half 1964-1969 and half 1970-1979 with a few pre-1964 oldies and '80s' songs mixed in.

In 2005, WODS, along with sister stations 100.7 WZLX and what was then Mix 98.5, were rumored to flip to Adult Hits as "Jack FM". WODS seemed the likely victim, as CBS Radio flipped, or were in the process of flipping, similar Oldies stations in Chicago, Baltimore, and New York to Jack. Had WQSX (now WEEI-FM) not flipped to the format as "93.7 Mike FM" on April 14, WODS might have flipped to 103.3 Jack FM the next day.

Prior to the 1990s, WODS only played moderate amounts of Christmas music during the holiday season and did not go wall to wall, even on Christmas. Beginning in the early 1990s, the station began wall to wall Christmas music on Christmas Eve and continued until Christmas evening. Beginning in 2003, WODS has played holiday music from a week before Thanksgiving until Christmas Day. However, in 2007, it started its Christmas music on Monday November 12; and in 2008, it commenced on Thursday, November 6 - the earliest it has ever been. This tradition has been continued in 2009 with Christmas music playing on Friday, November 13, and it started on Thursday, November 18 in 2010. In 2011, Christmas music began on Friday, November 11.

WODS added HD Radio operations in 2006. 103.3 HD1 carried the standard analog radio format, 103.3 HD2 carried a "soft rock" format known as "The Cove," and 103.3 HD3 carried a simulcast of WBZ. After the sign on of "98.5 The Sports Hub" on August 13, 2009, the simulcast moved to the HD3 channel of 98.5, while 103.3 HD3 flipped to Christian rock, branded as "Mercy Rock: The Christian Rock of Boston."

In 2007, WODS added Casey Kasem's American Top 40: The '70s Saturdays nights at 11 p.m. and The Wolfman Jack Show Sunday nights at 11. In October 2008, WODS switched nights for the two shows and added a second airing of AT40:70s Sunday mornings at 10. The 2-hour version (second and third hours) played in the morning and the entire 3-hour version played at night. In 2009, the morning broadcast was dropped and now AT40: 70s aired only Sundays at midnight.

In 2008, WODS added Tom Kent's syndicated show weeknights from 7-10 p.m. As a result, the Top 20 Countdown—a Thursday night staple on WODS for many years—was moved to Saturdays from 7-9 a.m. with Patrick Callahan as host as of October 4. The Top 20 Countdown was originally known as the Thursday Night Countdown, with hosts including Sandy Benson, Patrick Callahan and most recently, J.J. Wright. Tom Kent's generic syndicated show only lasted a few months and, in a rare move, was replaced with local programming again.

In October 2009, WODS changed their station branding from "Oldies 103.3" to "103.3 WODS". At that point, WODS began focusing on Classic Hits from 1970 to 1984, with about half a dozen '60s songs per hour. The station also played an occasional '90s song as well. However, this adjustment did more to hurt than help in the ratings.

Notable WODS on-air personalities

  • Frank Kingston Smith
  • Austin Davis - "Austin of Boston"
  • Mike Addams
  • Paula Street
  • Mike Finnegan
  • JJ Wright
  • Dale Dorman

"103.3 AMP Radio" (2012–present)

On Wednesday, June 27, 2012, it was announced that the station will flip back to Top 40, branded as "103-3 AMP Radio". Within hours of the announcement of the switch, the WODS airstaffers were laid off and the station began to run jockless. Already one of the now-unemployed DJs, Paula Street (who had been with WODS since February 1988), confirmed on the Radio-Info Boston message board [1] that a good-bye to listeners would happen before the flip at Noon on June 28, 2012. When that happened, the classic hits format moved over to WODS' HD2 subchannel, replacing "The Cove".[2] The last show of the Breakfast Club with John Laurenti and Karen Blake took place on that day by ending their show with "I Got a Woman" by Ray Charles. Jay Gordon played his last song, "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley. Barry Scott then played his last song, "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks. Paula Street and J.J. Wright then played their last song, Fun Fun Fun by The Beach Boys (which was also the station's first song as "Oldies 103") at 11:20AM. Then, the station went into these songs, jockless and during commercial breaks:

At 11:55, the station went into a brief intro which included Blow by Kesha. At Noon, "AMP Radio" officially launched with "Where Have You Been" by Rihanna.

Like most of the CBS Radio O&O Top 40 stations, WODS' music direction tends to favor Rhythmic and Dance Pop hits, but unlike the others, they place less emphasis on Hip-Hop tracks and recurrents. This choice of direction puts them in a unique position, as it takes on the Clear Channel Top 40 combo of Mainstream WXKS-FM and Rhythmic WJMN, thus reigniting a Top 40 war between the three stations for the first time since 1986. At the same time, the move also allows sister station WBMX to adjust their Adult Top 40 direction.

According to an initial published report on the Northeast Radio Watch website, Fybush.com, AMP's first local DJ was to be Joey Brooks, formerly of CHUM-FM/Toronto;[3] however, Brooks ended up going to WMIA-FM ("93.9 MIA") in Miami, Florida[4] instead. After a few months of being jockless, the station has added a full-time airstaff.

Because WODS no longer plays Christmas music during the holiday season, 103.3 HD3 flipped from their Christian rock format to Christmas music on October 19, 2012, in order to capture their previous audience. The "Mercy Rock" format moved to WBMX-HD3, moving the "New Sky Radio" talk format to the new WBMX-HD4 channel. On January 23, 2013, 103.3 HD3 flipped to "The Cove", returning the previous soft AC format heard on 103.3-HD2.

On February 12, 2013, CBS announced that former Elvis Duran and the Morning Show co-host TJ Taormina will become the host of the station's morning drive show starting April 1.[5]

References

  1. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1949 (PDF). 1949. p. 306. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  2. ^ "CBS blows up Boston's classic hits WODS, to create CHR '103.3 Amp'" from Radio-Info (June 27, 2012)
  3. ^ http://www.fybush.com/nerw-722012-bostons-wods-gets-amped/
  4. ^ http://www.939mia.com/pages/joeybrooks.html
  5. ^ TJ Taormina Grabs Mornings At Boston's 103.3 Amp Radio
  • George, Peter (in part). "WODS(FM)". The Boston Radio Dial. The Archives at BostonRadio.org. Retrieved 2006-02-20.
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