The Many Moods of John Garabedian

For the last four years, veteran broadcaster John Garabedian has been on a mission to revitalize Top 40 radio at night with the syndicated LiveLine, starring Mason Kelter. 

Now he’s trying to do the same for Easy Listening.

On March 28, Garabedian closed on WJIB Boston, the AM/FM translator combo that had kept an uncompromising version of Easy Listening/Adult Standards alive under the station’s iconoclastic previous owner, the late Bob Bittner.

Garabedian reimaged WJIB from “The Memory Station” to “The Memories Channel.” He replaced Bittner’s quirky about-the-station promos with his own (including one explaining that the old slogan sounded like it was about memory care). He began streaming the station for the first time.

Garabedian also adjusted the music, which still dates to ’50s pre-rock MOR, but now also extends to the late ’80s/early ’90s. Currently, Garabedian says, the library has more than 1,600 songs, and he’s still tweaking because he’s hearing too much repetition.

So far, Garabedian has gotten more than 200 listener e-mails. While there have been the expected complaints about the new titles (sometimes “they were right”), there was also a request for “Ripple” or “Uncle John’s Band” by a listener who hoped the station could finally play the Grateful Dead.

Other WJIB notes from Garabedian:

• “Although it’s a commercial license, we run no commercials. We will run a fundraiser next spring as Bittner did successfully for 20 years.
• “The TSL on this thing will be unbelievable. ‘I put it on every day at 9 a.m. and don’t turn it off until 10 p.m.’ is typical. Also, ‘Thanks for starting the streaming. Before, my husband had to put a long wire in our backyard to pick the station up.’
• “The FM covers Greater Boston like a glove with only 250 watts at 101.3 FM, but drops out in the outer suburbs. The AM is only 250 watts too, but the low frequency goes forever, and we have an application [for a move to AM 720] to quadruple our power immediately. Oh, and WJIB-AM broadcasts in AM stereo for those cars so equipped.
• “We restored the top-of-the-hour ID from the old WJIB-FM [now Classic Hip-Hop Hot 96.9], for many years the No. 1 station in Boston. It’s built around a nautical theme with surf and seagulls and ringing in the time with the bells of the U.S.S. Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship in the world. A friend got us permission from the U.S. Navy.”

Here’s WJIB at 3 p.m. on its first day:

• Marshall Tucker Band, “Heard It in a Love Song”
• Four Aces, “Friendly Persuasion”
• Glen Campbell, “Rhinestone Cowboy”
• Lettermen, “When I Fall in Love”
• Doris Day, “Everybody Loves a Lover”
• Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”
• Enya, “Journey of the Angels”
• Tracy Chapman, “Give Me One Reason”
• Simon & Garfunkel, “I Am a Rock”
• Penguins, “Earth Angel”
• Aretha Franklin, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”
• Foreigner, “Waiting for a Girl Like You”
• Everly Brothers, “Let It Be Me”
• Elvin Bishop Band, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”
• Byrds, “All I Really Want to Do”
• Bread, “Everything I Own”
• McGuire Sisters, “May You Always”
• Eric Clapton, “Promises”
• Troggs, “Love Is All Around”

Here’s a mostly softer hour of the station at 8 p.m., April 2:

• Kansas, “Dust in the Wind”
• Roger Williams, “Autumn Leaves”
• Barry Manilow, “I Write the Songs”
• Al Martino, “I Love You Because”
• Frankie Avalon, “Venus”
• Andy Williams, “(Where Do I Begin) Love Story”
• Peter Nero, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
• Ace of Base, “The Sign”
• Bob Lind, “Elusive Butterfly”
• Patti Page, “Whispering Wind”
• Jack Jones, “The Impossible Dream”
• Billy Ocean, “Suddenly”
• Percy Faith, “Theme from ‘A Summer Place’”
• Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams, “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late”
• Ray Charles, “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
• Earth, Wind & Fire, “Shining Star”
• Benny Goodman, “How High the Moon”
• Willie Nelson, “Always on My Mind”
• Simon & Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
• Rod Stewart, “Mandolin Wind”

Meanwhile, LiveLine has grown to 30 affiliates. At its flagship station, CHR WHYA (Y101) Cape Cod, Mass., Garabedian says the show has a 25 share at night vs. Y101’s 6-7 share during the day. That would have once been typical, but with less teen listening and many stations voice-tracked or jockless at night, it’s no longer unusual to see many CHRs underperform their daytime numbers.

Meanwhile, Kelter says, a new nighttime audience has emerged. While “we get phone calls from every type of person doing all types of different things … delivery/cab drivers make up about 50% of our callers, which is excellent for the diaries and meters.” 

Kelter’s magic power remains his ability to draw callers out. That was once the job of any DJ who used phones. Now, ironically, it’s another medium’s franchise. “This is exactly why TikTok blew up. It’s the source of everything happening now and connects you to complete strangers around the world who feel like your friends.”

On Tuesday night, April 2, in a half-hour span, these were some of LiveLine’s phone calls: 

• A listener calls to request 50 Cent, “Candy Shop.” He’s on his way to dinner. That turns into a discussion of Taco Bell menu hacks;
• Another listener calls to request Hozier’s fast-breaking “Too Sweet.” “That song’s going to be so big. We just played it for the first time two hours ago.” The caller is working in a liquor store. Under probing, he says he never bought alcohol as a minor (“I was too scared”) but eventually admits that he had friends to buy it for him;
• There is a Secret Sound contest. The clue is that you might not get it if you don’t go out much. The winner knows that it’s a paper towel dispenser because “I wash my hands when I go to the bathroom.” She wins a LiveLine trophy “and the paper towel we used for the sound effect.”
• A caller for “Baby, One More Time” says he is alone on a booze cruise because “I ain’t got no friends.” “Do you want friends?” Kelter asks. He encourages him to try to meet somebody that night.

Kelter also plays Victoria Monet’s “On My Mama,” which leads to him announcing that his own mother will be celebrating her birthday live on the show in a few days.

“Radio didn’t come this far just to come this far,” writes Kelter of today’s struggles. Garabedian’s two projects show how the battle is being fought at two very different “ends of the dial.” One recurring theme of the WJIB mailbag, even from listeners who quibble with the song selections, is how happy they are that the 82-year-old Garabedian wanted to keep WJIB going at all. “Most people, like me, would just say ‘enough’ and enjoy life,” writes one. “I guess when radio is in your blood, you keep chugging along.”