WBOS pulls plug on Laquidara's 'Back Spin'
Charles Laquidara's "Back Spin," a weekday 9-10 a.m. oldies show, will end its run on Greater Media station WBOS-FM (92.9) on Aug. 25.
Citing differences about content and control, Greater Media Boston market manager Phil Redo says the decision to end the program, which began in January, was mutual and that the possibility remains that the show will return in a different form, possibly as a weekend special.
"It was a mutual parting of the ways," Redo said yesterday by phone.
In the show, the former WBCN DJ plays nine songs from a specific year and fills out the hour with his trademark zany chatter.
Laquidara, who is based in Hawaii, commented only, "I've been wanting more time to kayak."
``We really want to prove that Boston has so many talented musicians that we can fill seven days," says program director Juliet Nuzzo, who will start her senior year next month. The live performances will not actually fill the schedule. Recorded music, including tunes by national artists, will do that. But every show, says Nuzzo, will have one or two acts performing in the studio.
WERS follows the typical college-station profile, changing format s throughout the day. With 17 formats in all, guest artists will vary greatly. Many, says Nuzzo, will be familiar to the WERS audience because the station has been playing their recordings. Listeners who tune into the reggae show ``Rockers," for example, will already know Boston's own Jamaican-born reggae musician Mighty Mystic because his single, ``Riding on the Clouds," has been a favorite. He will come into the studio some day next week to play during the show, which airs weekdays, 4-8 p.m.
Singer-songwriter Antje Duvekot has been a WERS favorite for about four years, says Nuzzo: ``We fell in love with her, put her into rotation, and the listeners really responded." Duvekot, who recently opened for Ellis Paul at the Somerville Theatre, will perform on the morning ``Coffeehouse" sometime during its Monday-Saturday, 6-10 a.m. run. Other artists scheduled to appear include singer-songwriter Catie Curtis, the Boston Afrobeat Society, and the Mike Tucker Quartet.
If the schedule sounds vague (and more artists are still being added while the timing is worked out), that's because the event came together quickly, says Nuzzo. Only last month, she and her staff were meeting to discuss their annual fund-raiser, the spring live-music week. ``We were sitting around talking about what we were going to do in March," she says. ``And someone threw the idea out: It's summer, there are so many great concerts. Why not do something now?"
The station began airing promotional spots, asking artists to send in demo recordings, and the project was launched. A free concert next Tuesday at the Paradise Lounge, with such Boston talents as Special Teamz, Mighty Mystic, Termanology, 7L, and Esoteric, will take the music out of the studio. If it works, the station hopes to make ``Local Music Week" an annual event. Plus, notes Nuzzo, unlike the live-music week, the local-music week will not be a fund-raiser, so no appeals for donations will break the flow of music.
