1 10 139 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/870239cc63efbb281237872c7b80ea86.jpg d805b6960fcb047401f5d45ab4a3eebb https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/7ba42354dfca23443e2fe71536a4b8d8.jpg bf0ac44836cfea53fba8e8ed674ffdd8 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/b983777ef7e8b13827689d92ed31ba0b.jpg e1373388f476a6bf813f1a47c2204eb9 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/28dedaa525a05eb39f9d5a2ff3e223c8.jpg 46afbe36ee953d74737bb876df2814fa https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/7444626d48b0f83b1d9cf223a53e7971.jpg 197927f5133396ff9377e33e3bfca38c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource WXLP-FM 91.3 at Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA Description An account of the resource Collected artifacts and oral histories with alumni of the station. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Various Photos from WXPL Studio and Events, ca. 1989-1992 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mike Baronas https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/98760cb2feea069ed449005fc984f312.jpg b9e12dd962d3cf53958cd7ebb6e7af6f https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/bd38cbb4ab28181d2e7c093d2e8b5b4b.jpg 6a0e428b8422827f71096d735ec7e4d8 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/60d01827ae9f4c54bb78529de4a95bae.jpg 1d51455ae1cb11cbfb100b896dfc257c https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/f83464091122a781446d7dc4c7b9126e.jpg b1fe874f64d3ae2c78a4b13315f1fe4c https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/6942b730bf98ce199b1843e4148b6e73.jpg 4e132fb8eca3f8bfa0c270956330a4bc https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/35db871f1e468dc18f040dff57ff0214.jpg 436c16e069ec4e51cac161bd982c367e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource WXLP-FM 91.3 at Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA Description An account of the resource Collected artifacts and oral histories with alumni of the station. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spinal Tap “Break Like The Wind” record release party in the Pub Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1992 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/f086d4e8f06feb2f49b3b56048dfdf0d.mp3 5f706f0a7d598a475232e3cc1ad69202 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM The Big O Thrash Show Collection, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource Promos and other materials for the Big O Thrash Show Description An account of the resource This collection contains playlists, show recordings and excerpts, production sounds, promotional material, best-of lists, and promos recorded by Mark Fields and Mike Baronas for their metal show at WXPL, Fitchburg State University, between 1989 and 1992. From Mark Fields: "The Big 'O' Thrash Show eventually shortened its name to "The Big 'O' as other forms of heavy styles we liked (death metal, grindcore) emerged and gained popularity. Also, discussing the show ... with our friend Mark "Goz" Goslin, we verified that the show continued under his direction for 2 years after we left, and that Scott McCooe carried it forward for at least another year beyond that." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Might contain copyrighted background music. Please notify if any concerns. Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Katherine Jewell Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Mike Baronas, Mark Fields Location The location of the interview Online via riverside.fm Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound [NOTE; Transcript generated by AI, to be updated] Kate (00:01.646) Here we go. All right. So I am Katherine Jewell. I'm professor at Fitchburg State University. It is August 9th, 2024. And I am recording oral histories as part of a project and podcast focused on the history of WXPL. I'm currently in Harlem in New York City, but usually in Belmont, Massachusetts. And I have Mike Fields and Mark Fields and Mike Ronas. that correct? Mark Fields (00:30.232) Yes. Kate (00:31.168) Alright. yeah. Mike Baronas (00:32.552) Everyone would get that messed up. When we were doing station IDs. Mike, Mark, I get things autographed to Mark. He'd get things autographed to Mike. Yeah, Mark Fields (00:35.164) hahahaha Mark Fields (00:40.567) Yeah. Kate (00:41.738) Good. That was excellent. So could you guys tell me like how you ended up at Fitchburg State and WXPL? Mark Fields (00:54.007) You want to go first, Mike? Mike Baronas (00:54.304) Sure. Yeah, Fitchburg State was the only local college, affordable college that had a proper radio station when I was growing up in Brockton. I listened to Emerson, not Emerson. Well, I did listen to Emerson, but there was Easton. There was a college radio station there, metal DJ. I'm like, my God, I want to do that. So, you my mom was a teacher at Northeastern University. You know, I could have gone there, you know, free boat. But you know, much to their chagrin, you know, I chose, you know, my passion, go into radio. And that's really what sold me on going there, you know, a working radio station. Mark Fields (01:52.611) I was interested in Fitchburg State because they had the only four -year public school program to study graphic arts technology. I was really interested in that and interested in pursuing that as a career. Prior to going to Fitchburg, I listened to a local radio station near where I grew up, in Waterville, Maine. WMHB, the Colby College radio station there, had a metal show on Saturday nights. Drafted in over a summer break to cover for the DJ Marty who was you know who lived in Connecticut or somewhere? And I got a little itch for radio Radio broadcasting when I was covering for him over the summer and so when I went to Fitchburg State It just seemed natural to join the radio club that happened to be there Yeah Mike Baronas (02:44.872) I didn't know that. I didn't know you did fill in work before WXPL. great. Mark Fields (02:51.395) Yeah, that I didn't sharpen my skills too much, muddled through and did okay, just like we did for four years. Mike Baronas (02:55.786) Ha ha ha. Mike Baronas (03:00.756) Ha ha ha. Kate (03:03.096) So what was the process like getting involved with the station? How did you train? What did you do first? Were you doing metal right away? What would that process look like? Mike Baronas (03:15.416) I think it wouldn't have happened had Mark and I not met. do you mind if I tell an orientation story? yeah, it was orientation. I don't know why Fitchburg State wanted us to sleep overnight with, strangers, but they did. And, you know, we were just happened to be walking. I didn't want to be there. Mark Fields (03:25.121) Yeah, go ahead man, yeah. Mike Baronas (03:45.118) you know, and I happened to be wearing my Celtic Frost shirt. And, you know, my favorite band, nobody in their right mind would even know who this band was, I thought. Lo and behold, walking up the steps ahead of me is Mark, who says, hey, the Frosties! And I'm like, you know, I was taking a back. And I thought he was making a joke. I'm like, is he making a joke at my shirt? And then grumpy me, blah, blah, blah. So it happened to be about a week or so later in the cafeteria, I went up to him. I'm like, hey, you made mention of my shirt. You know who this band is? And I don't know if you have more of a recollection than that. without us meeting there, none of this would have taken off. Mark Fields (04:39.369) I think my recollection is the, I stumbled across the radio station on a tour of the campus and thought, okay, well I'll kind of file that away that maybe I can get involved with them later on. And then shortly after Mike and I had a proper introduction at the start of school, I think the station was offering tryout sessions for people to. Mike Baronas (05:05.428) Yeah. Mark Fields (05:06.519) to to to see if you know if if we had any sort of coordination at all that might make us candidates for a for possible radio show and having having done having work with turntables and and manual segues back the previous summer it was somewhat familiar to me the interface they only had to show me that you guess the particulars of of that of that studio and Without much difficulty I auditioned my two songs and then Mike and I got paired off because we both like the same kind of crazy heavy music. Kate (05:43.15) So the music kind of brought you into your radio interests. Like they were always kind of went together, in other words. Mike Baronas (05:55.648) yeah, it's what I know it's what I wanted to do. I wanted to promote music. I wanted other people to learn this type of music. That was my interest in it. Even more so than proper studies at Fitchburg. I immersed myself in that for four years. I just, yeah, you know. Mark Fields (06:11.863) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, as it turned out. Yeah. Mike Baronas (06:27.673) classes be damned. mean, you know, it was all about the big O thrash show. Kate (06:34.2) So when did the Big O show start in your radio? Like, did you start out with that like immediately? How'd you come up with the name? Like where? Mark Fields (06:43.011) Yeah, that was our first semester at school in the fall of 1988. Mike Baronas (06:48.318) Yeah, we started, but yeah, we were underlings though. We weren't like... Yeah, we started out with the name, I believe. Right, yep. Mark Fields (06:53.656) Right, right. Mark Fields (06:59.127) we got from my roommate mike mike bernard back then i i i had stumbled across the the phrase the big the big as being a short for the big orgasm or the ultimate climax in something and and you know i would say you know use that term to describe thing that was the ultimate in my roommate mike bernard having never heard that term before he thought that was pretty funny Mike Baronas (07:27.434) Yeah, and you said you should use that. Mark Fields (07:27.735) you I was from yeah why don't you just call your show the big O okay well there we yeah Eureka there it was so it was not much more thought put into it than that Mike Baronas (07:40.02) But we did have a, there was a metal director at the time, Val Algrove, who kind of showed us the ropes, and showed us how to connect with record company PR folks and things like that, to get servicing for new releases. and interviews with bands, free tickets, all that type of thing. Kate (08:18.796) What was the metal scene like at that point? Like labels, publications, like what, how? I mean, know, you know, there's Central Connecticut State had a metal, had a kind of a metal rotation, Seton Hall. There are a number of known, well -known metal college radio stations. But like, so how were you kind of mapping this landscape and what did it look like? It was mostly independent, so do you have your own? publications or were you kind of in the CMJ world but on the side, how did all that work? Mark Fields (08:57.251) Well, there was a lot of music that was, music metal in particular was really popping off. There was a really rich time, in that, in that, in that scene when we were hitting college stuff started really kind of taking off, in a big way around 86 and we just kind of, we just kind of continued on with all sorts of new exciting developments through our time in, in, in 1992 when I, when I left, there was, you know, thrash was really coming into, it's, it's, full full blossom death metal was emerging as a prominent style of music, grindcore after that. So there is a wealth of material that was coming out that was all really exciting when you have something cool that you have discovered. You want to share it with the world. You want to share it with your friends or anyone who listen to you, kind of like what Mike was alluding to, you know. Mike Baronas (09:48.672) yeah, even way back in high school we did that. I mean, just as fans, you know, we were just we were fans with a great opportunity to be, you know, that's kind of what it boils down. Yeah, exactly. And the music was the music was, I mean, you know, that's all I still listen to. mean, after 1993, I mean, you know, that was the divide. don't I don't listen to anything after that, to be honest. Mark Fields (09:52.791) Right. Mark Fields (09:58.209) Yeah, we're in the right place at the right time. Mark Fields (10:14.967) But the labels, there were a few major labels that had some metal releases that they were promoting, but primarily who we dealt with were independent labels of various levels of influence and impact. But we were tied in with most of the movers and shaker labels like Metal Blade, Road Runner, Combat Records were all big names at the time. Mike Baronas (10:40.863) Yeah. Mike Baronas (10:44.756) Yeah, but we were also tied into, you know, the bands that broke it. mean, you know, the black album, Metallica's black album. mean, I met them on that tour due to Electra Records. Actually, Mark met them the tour before. You know, so I mean, it was certain level. mean, the big four, you know, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, you know, they were all fair game, but... everyone knew those bands. And for us, I mean, I know my mindset was always, they don't need our help. These bands don't need our help anymore. It's the smaller bands, the up and comers, you know, the new bands that came out when we were there like Death, Sepultura, Obituary, that we pumped and pumped and pumped, you know, and, and now they're like household names. So well, to some households, some households. Kate (11:37.088) The Subl Tour is a favorite. Mark Fields (11:39.446) Right, Kate (11:41.966) I have a Sepultura t -shirt. Mark Fields (11:42.306) haha Mike Baronas (11:45.15) Yay! they're on their last tour now. It's a shame. Yeah, they're on their last farewell tour, even though who's in the band anymore? Mark Fields (11:45.595) Alright, right on, good, good, good on ya. Kate (11:48.424) on, I feel... Be nice to me. Well, that's true. It's been an interesting rotation there. Yeah. So geographically, geographically, what did the metal scene look like? Were there certain clubs? was it focused in certain areas? You know, like there's Seattle is booming, Chapel Hill is booming in terms of indie rock. Mike Baronas (11:57.864) Now two guys, but it's not the main guys. Anyway, I'll shut up about stuff like that. My opinionated self. Mark Fields (12:02.369) ssss Kate (12:17.939) on hip hop scenes, like what, where was the metal scene really focused? Mike Baronas (12:26.644) Well, Death Metal, was just starting, which just blew up when we were there, it was Florida. Mike Baronas (12:39.06) you know, primarily. Before that it was the Bay Area, know, Metallica, Exodus, Death Angel. All right, and you know, after that it just expanded. It was everywhere, right Mark? Mark Fields (12:56.483) Yeah, it was, there were up -posing, I didn't think that England back at the time was a big player, there were, know, but I think middle of around 1991, I think Stockholm started blowing up with all the bands that were coming out there. Mike touched on the major, like the death metal and the thrash metal epicenters, but there were also, I guess, certain amount of bands coming out of New York. Boston, every any city had its own thing going on. But there were certain cities that seemed to yield more bands that got traction. Mike Baronas (13:35.934) Yeah, there always seemed to be one great band and then everybody else wanted to be that band. mean, in Boston, was was Wargasm who unfortunately never got a fair shake in their career. But still one of my favorite bands, still great guys, you know, still in touch with some of them to this day, you know. Kate (14:02.698) So how did Fitchburg fit into this larger geography? did you, like, can you kind of walk me through the process of, you know, contacting a label, discovering a band, getting it on the station, and then how did that kind of... build back into the Fitchburg station and kind of the scene itself or the radio station's kind of identity. Like, how did you guys fit in at the station? Were you doing what you were doing like what other people were doing or was it different? How did it kind of all mesh together with the overall practices, business practices of the station? Mark Fields (14:44.363) i think there's there's several questions in their book but in terms of what worked about our program is that after short time doing a two -hour show together we were each granted a two -hour segment back -to -back and we just hung out for the entirety of each other's shows so there'd be on on any you know we've got a lot of any particular week would be a four -hour block of metal that we programmed, gave us, every Thursday from like eight to, was it eight to, was six to ten or eight to midnight? Yeah. Mike Baronas (15:14.698) Yeah, every Thursday. Mike Baronas (15:20.032) 8 to midnight and then actually even years after that there was an extended Big O which went from midnight to 2. we arguably had probably one of the most popular shows. Mark Fields (15:39.203) Yeah, I think that there were also some local kids that were listening that were discovering this music alongside of us. They had their own bands as well, and there happened to be a local club in Fitchburg downtown called Club 490, which was around for a few years and which served as a kind of a clubhouse for the local metal and hardcore kids. They brought in a number of prominent bands that came through and also they had local bands play there and there was lot of friendships and kind of creativity that blossomed out of that. It was a clubhouse of sorts. Mike Baronas (16:21.28) And I think some of those major acts came through because of our work with the record companies and they saw the amount of work that we were doing weekly playlists. Was it weekly? Did we do those weekly? my God. That we'd mail out to every single record company we could possibly find and bands. I mean, so they got wind of fit. yeah, yeah. Mark Fields (16:37.379) Yeah Mark Fields (16:46.051) You got one of those don't you Mike? Put one up. Mike Baronas (16:50.068) Yeah, I mean, so, well I got a million of them, but here's one. Kate (16:56.487) my god. Mark Fields (16:58.754) There it is. Kate (17:00.194) That's amazing. So you have all these like... Mark Fields (17:01.996) Yeah. Mike Baronas (17:04.564) I don't know, I came across my old metal folder, which I brought and I kept, you know, I take to the radio station every, God, every day. And I mean, we did so many different things, you know, there's a spinal tap party we did. You know, we went so far as to start. You know, we had bands come and play at the pub, well, not the pub, right outside the pub. You know, we really worked at it. You know, I didn't know if I wanted to see this as a job going forward after that. You know, moving to New York wasn't really an option, but God, we put our heart and soul in that station. Mark Fields (17:56.161) Yeah, I think that as far as getting along or how we fit into the culture of the station generally, think they just... We had good rapport with everybody. It wasn't like we were embarrassing cousins that they shoved into the corner and just gave us our four hours a week and let us... Yeah, we had good rapport with everybody. Yeah, but we worked really, really hard. Mike Baronas (18:15.646) No, we worked it. We worked it. We had our own desk. We had our own corner. We had our own posters. Actually, I spray painted the band Wargasm up on the wall, and facilities had a fit with that. And actually, the station manager at the time did as well. Anyhow, yeah, no, we were into it. We were into it. It was. Kate (18:29.339) Thanks. Mike Baronas (18:42.972) one of the most popular forms of music at the time and we just rolled with it. Mark Fields (18:47.219) in terms of getting that getting in touch with labels and connecting that with the places that didn't already service us simply enough you can turn over the the back of the of the of the of the record cover of a of a bit of a bad you have a your own collection sometimes there is a phone number on their you call my piece a day on you know i'm i'm mark i work at a college station we don't currently get service well from you we do we do i do i'm one of the guys does metal programming here and usually the person on the other end of the line was pretty agreeable and then we started getting service. Mike Baronas (19:22.376) We, we, we, it took hours for us to get through the mail, on a weekly basis. Hours to cut through and then listen to and then say, yeah, this sucks. no, we should play this. No, this poison album isn't getting played because poison doesn't need WXPL's help. But yet there were DJs that continue to play that type of thing. But you know, we were nobody's boss. So whatever. Mark Fields (19:49.749) Right, right, right, right. The brutal overlords. Yeah, we ended up being... We kind of fell into the role of being directors of the metal program. There were other metal shows during the week in addition to ours, but I guess we were kind of the... Yeah, for lack of a better word, yeah. Kate (19:52.845) You Mike Baronas (19:56.372) We tried. We tried, you know, but, yeah. Mike Baronas (20:09.62) Yeah, guess so. Didn't we oversee them, I suppose? Didn't they make us... Whatever. Kate (20:18.357) hehe Mark Fields (20:18.583) We didn't crack the whip or make threats or anything, but Mike Baronas (20:21.598) Well, we tried to. I think it's hard to remember now. I don't know, some of those people are still our friends, so we couldn't have been that big bastards. Mark Fields (20:30.923) Yeah, yeah, yeah! Kate (20:33.858) But so was there like a rotation or anything? Did you have like your own stacks of like new releases like that were specifically metal or were they mixed into the regular rotations or heavy, light, medium? Yeah. Yeah, were they, was it kind of integrated into the overall or was it a separate playlist? Mike Baronas (20:47.496) of the station itself or just our particular shows. Mark Fields (20:51.01) Yes. Mike Baronas (20:55.099) we were definitely, we were definitely separate. Mark Fields (20:55.201) I think metal... yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, was no metal programming that existed apart from the specifically metal programs, specific shows. Yeah, yeah, but... Mike Baronas (21:05.396) No, was Jane's addiction, know, typical alternative, you know, which was fine. You know, we did our own thing. Kate (21:14.27) Mm -hmm. That makes sense. So this is an interesting time in terms of metal's national profile, let's say, in terms of kind of the culture war battles over music and occult and obscenity and teen suicides and all of that. How did you, were you kind of aware of the politics of metal and popular music? Were you tapped into that at all? Were there any local permutations of that, of either the station kind of, how did the station fit in with the general student body? Or were there any kind of political conflagrations, let's say, around the music or the station? Mark Fields (22:04.671) i recall having felt any anything to directed at also the station do you like Mike Baronas (22:10.558) Now, the only thing I recall is the student body in and of itself, I don't think, listened to WXPL. It was the surrounding towns. Those are the folks who, when we were at shows, they would come up, hey, you do that? Yeah, the student body at Fitchburg. Apart from those... Mark Fields (22:26.38) Yeah. Mike Baronas (22:39.306) deep into the music scene. Really ignored it. Mark Fields (22:44.215) Yeah, the only people I guess on campus who paid any attention to this type of stuff we played were the other people at the station that played the type of stuff that we played. Mike Baronas (22:52.138) Yeah, at their keg parties. Kate (22:53.912) Yeah Mark Fields (22:54.348) Hahaha Kate (22:57.176) So did you have a good sense of who your listenership was? Who was calling in? Who was your typical listener? Mike Baronas (23:07.2) Remember, remember where the first time Kevin came up with his dad? Why don't you tell that story? Mark Fields (23:12.065) yeah well the occurred basis of the dropkick murphy's was just a kid growing up in lemonster the time that we've first got on the air i guess he was at the twin city plaza with his with a waiting in a car for his mom to run an air and during the time that our show was on he was just flipping through the the f dial found us and it was for him a revelation and so he became quickly interested in what we were doing and not so long after that he called the request line and asked if he could come up and hang out with us at some point. So we said, well sure. Yeah, yeah. Mike Baronas (23:51.838) So cute, it was so cute. He came up with his denim jacket, know, everyone with the battle vest, you know, with the big ACDC patch on the back and, God, you know, we showed him around. It would just, you know, it just warmed your heart, you know, to actually do something that someone cared about. Mark Fields (24:14.019) Yes, I think the typical audience member might have been just a junior high or high schooler that lived in the area who received through word of mouth at school or at one of those Club 490 shows. Mike Baronas (24:29.672) And happened or just happened like we did, you know, when we were kids, just flip around the dial. Whoa, what's that? You know, let's listen to this. Mark Fields (24:33.559) Yeah. Right. Kate (24:39.522) So how did this experience, I know you said classes be damned, but you did graduate. like, how did you see this though fitting into, in retrospect, into your college experience and the kinds of things that you learned in college? Like how did it kind of work with your trajectory through college? Mike Baronas (24:46.944) Yeah, skin in my teeth. Mark Fields (24:49.485) Yeah. Kate (25:08.647) like in the in what you gained from the college experience. What did you get out of this? Mark Fields (25:14.667) more than I got out of my degree. Mike Baronas (25:17.696) Ditto. Yeah, no, when I think of Fitchburg State, I think of WXPL. That's what I went there to do, and that's what I did. Classes were just, they were ancillary to me. Mark Fields (25:18.625) I got, yeah. Mark Fields (25:29.963) Right, and I'm not putting that as a knock on the faculty or the program that I undertook, yeah. But ultimately, the things that have stayed with me through the majority of my adult life have been relationships and memories that I took from stuff that was related to my time at the radio station. Mike Baronas (25:32.702) No, no, nor I. No, I had some great teachers as well. Yep. Kate (25:54.358) So what moments stand out? me your best stories. This is where I open it up and I want you to tell me all the things, all the tea. Mike Baronas (26:06.89) best stories. Kate (26:09.964) On air, off air. Mike Baronas (26:12.434) I think just some things that come to mind immediately introducing what introducing entombed on their first US tour introducing Dark Angel both at the channel the best club that there ever was though those stand out those are just cool things that you know you know we did because of the radio station Mark Fields (26:28.823) Yeah, rest in peace, channel. Mark Fields (26:35.999) I was always happy for the chance, usually we could arrange when bands came to town that we could get an interview. So we'd actually have an audience with members of bands that we dug and just sit across from them and discuss ideas and pick their brains about things that mattered to us. So I think just that in general, mean, the friendship that we... still hold to this day with drummer Gene Hoagland who has played with everybody and is kind of a metal legend. Mike Baronas (27:11.109) We just met with him, we just saw him a few weeks ago. Mark Fields (27:13.987) Right, yeah, yeah, well he was touring in an RV and playing the Paradise on a co -headlining tour with Death back in 89. And we just sat across from him through an interview that was arranged with Combat Records and got to talking with him and we hit it off and we still remain friends to this day. Mike Baronas (27:20.768) March 89. Mike Baronas (27:35.518) we'd see him, you know, every time he'd come through town, stop and say hey. Mark Fields (27:38.615) He gets in touch, hey I'm gonna be playing the House of Blues, you guys wanna get on the list? We can hang out after... Yeah man, sure, love to. Mike Baronas (27:47.572) Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Mark Fields (27:48.887) So I think just meeting musicians that we found important and having a chance to discuss with them was kind of a rare thing that not every fan of the music would get to have. Mike Baronas (28:05.118) Yeah, they say, you know, some say don't meet your heroes and that only happened a handful of times. But yeah, no, I think, you know, for me anyway, I believe apart from one band, I met every band during that era that I ever wanted to meet. So. Mark Fields (28:25.771) And yeah, most of them were really nice people. Kate (28:30.104) Did you have, did they play in studio or is it mostly interviews? Mike Baronas (28:35.742) We never had in -studio. We didn't have the facilities for in -studio, but they would come in for in -studio interviews. Mark Fields (28:42.049) Did Desolat do an acoustic set? I don't know. Man... Mike Baronas (28:45.268) Did they? Was that at the station when it was up in the library or when it moved back down? Was it? Yeah, I have no recollection of that one. Yeah. Mark Fields (28:53.313) down in the tunnel. Yeah, don't know, memory's kind of fuzzy. But yeah, occasionally we'd have on -air interviews, but we didn't have really the facility for a proper electrified performance from anybody. Mike Baronas (29:11.476) Yeah, it was pretty thrilling for us too, you know, to have like the, you know, the major local, you know, bands of the Sand Black Church, Wargasm, Liar Rage, et cetera, et cetera, you know, to come to our little station here out, here out in the middle of nowhere in Fitchburg. And yeah, I know some national acts came in too. Remember Scatterbrain came to the station. They they're like, Fitchburg, what's Fitchburg? Chinchbug? Mark Fields (29:21.271) Wargasm again, yeah, yeah. Mark Fields (29:26.837) Right, yeah, who are we that you would grace us with your presence? Yeah. Mark Fields (29:35.169) Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kate (29:39.064) You Mike Baronas (29:40.096) We're Chinchbug, we're in Chinchbug, you know. Anyway. Mark Fields (29:41.475) shoot. Kate (29:44.6) You know what the impressions were going in and out of Fitchburg? So tell me about how, about what happened next. Like where did you go, where did you take this experience in your careers and your lives going forward? Mike Baronas (30:07.006) Mark, you want to go? Mark Fields (30:07.373) For me it was - for me it quickly faded into the to the rear view mirror. I didn't stay involved with No? You disagreeing with me, Mike? Mike Baronas (30:17.94) gasp, etc. Mark Fields (30:29.961) Apart from that, I didn't do any broadcasting work or promotion stuff. I've been in and out of bands myself, but that's a different thing altogether. But Mike started an imprint publication. Go ahead, Mike. I wrote for Mike. Mike Baronas (30:43.956) Yeah, you know, no, wasn't really I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. So one day I was sitting in my mom's office at college and I came up with the idea of, you know, I grew up with horror movies and heavy metal. let's do a half half heavy metal, half horror magazine, you know, called it Gasp, etc. grew some art, shocking persons, etc. We already had all the connections with the record companies. So we continue with that. Got some advertising there. And through, you know, local convention appearances and things, met up with some of the stars from different horror films. My first one off the bat, who became a really good friend was Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. you know, so it kind of expanded from there. I did that for, you know, six issues until that eventually, you know, the advertising didn't sustain it. Yeah, I was spinning my wheels. But you know, we brought it back when we got all jazzed for again, my favorite band Celtic Frost reuniting in 2006. And we did an online version of it. And we got to meet them in person again. Mark Fields (32:06.827) Yeah, that's one of the greatest things that ever happened. Mike Baronas (32:09.78) That's literally one of the best, easily one of the best times of my life. Mark Fields (32:12.78) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, same. Yeah, one of the best days ever for me too. Mike Baronas (32:18.304) Yeah, one of the best that was February 2006. Yeah, you know, so gracious sat down here. Here. Check out. Check out my new guitar. Hand us his, you know, Iceman is I've been as Iceman, you know, HR Giger. I'm sitting there holding him like looking at Mark like, is this really happening? You know. Mark Fields (32:39.921) Hahaha, yeah, yeah, yeah. Mike Baronas (32:41.162) You know, just so gracious, gave us a long interview, signed all our garbage. And still love him to this day. I mean, we're still in touch with Tom to this day. Mark Fields (32:48.159) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kate (32:55.684) So you had this magazine. Where did your careers take you? Mike Baronas (33:02.88) Me, I spent about 25 years as a sales and marketing coordinator. And that's pretty much what I done for my nine to five job. So I I graduated technical writing. The writing was there with the magazine. So that kind of tied in a little bit. Mark Fields (33:27.138) Yeah. Mike Baronas (33:28.34) You know, at least I like to say it did. There's a little bit of journalism in there. Mark Fields (33:38.367) I worked in the printing industry for about seven years out of Fitchburg State. Decided that field was not for me. And then I shifted gears and have been doing unskilled stuff since then. Haven't figured out what I want to be when I grow up, but... Mike Baronas (33:58.824) Yeah, yeah, my, my, yeah, I took a left turn. Yeah, I took a left turn and took a job for strictly for money as well. So, you know, things happen in life. So Mark Fields (34:02.315) In the meantime, bills must be paid. Mike Baronas (34:13.066) A, you know, as long as you have good friends that have your back, you know, that's all that matters. Mark Fields (34:16.323) Absolutely, 100 percent. Kate (34:18.427) So what about music and radio? How do you consume music now? This is the question. Mike Baronas (34:25.734) If you see behind us, know, physical media is still really part of our life. Kate (34:30.178) Ha ha ha ha! Mike Baronas (34:34.624) Mark is much more, you know, up to date on things. You know, like I said earlier, know, once 1993, 1994 hit, when my magazine stopped and I stopped getting servicing, you know, and got married and then had kids, etc, etc, you know, kind of lost track of things. So Mark Fields (34:59.075) I still get recommendations from friends, get recommendations from algorithms, I see stuff on metal websites that may peak my interest and I'll sample a Bandcamp stream here and there. So I get my input, my new suggestions and new stuff comes into my life through various avenues. if it's available physically I buy it just because I figure it's good to have a physical backup of everything even though all my music behind me has been digitized for portable play and convenience I always have redundancy multiple copies of mp3 basically it's not so much for show as it is practically just to have an archival physical backup copy of everything. Plus I do happen to enjoy the physical process of immersing myself in the graphics even if it is only like a four and three quarter inch square format of a CD booklet. Mike Baronas (36:15.444) And it still feels to this day that you're supporting the band when you actually buy their physical product. I mean, in my mind anyway, I don't know if that's the case all the time, but just... Mark Fields (36:24.833) Yeah, a lot of the that I happen to like that are coming out these days are not on Spotify or the streaming platforms. So the best way to support them directly is through a physical purchase at a gig when they come through or buy something directly from them on their Bandcamp page where a much higher percentage of the proceeds go directly to the artist. It's tough to make a buck making music. Mike Baronas (36:50.656) Yeah, it's completely opposite from when we started. It's kind of scary for bands. I don't know how they all do it. Well, t -shirts, t -shirts, know, Exodus had a great quote, wasn't it? We're traveling t -shirt salesmen. That's what we are. You know that? That's true. I mean, they've been around forever. It's complete opposite of what they were doing when, geez, when did I first see them? 1987? Anyway. Mark Fields (36:57.921) Yeah, if you're not touring and selling tons of shirts, you're not making money. Mark Fields (37:07.008) man. Mark Fields (37:14.691) We're gonna get royalties off of physical sales or whatever. Kate (37:20.248) Yeah, yeah, I mean that middle, it's just, it's not possible to just be a working band and make a good living. You know, don't have to be Beyonce living in Bel Air, but like to just, you know, have an apartment and. you know, sustain yourself on music. Mike Baronas (37:36.65) tough. Gotta be tough. No, they're dead. People who want to do it are definitely working. You know, they're definitely working it. So still living out of the RVs like we saw back in the 80s, you know. Mark Fields (37:36.801) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mark Fields (37:49.314) Yeah. Kate (37:50.178) Yeah, yeah, I mean, as a historian, I hate to, you know, construct a kind of golden era narrative. But I think, you know, the era when you were doing this, it's really hard to not fall into that kind of narrative about that era in music. I don't know. Do you agree? Mike Baronas (38:13.246) Yeah, yeah. No, no, no. mean, you know, had we had we been at college, you know, a few years earlier than that, we would have been right there when it started. But everything was taking off, you know, they, you know, everyone was had heard of Metallica, Slayer, et cetera, began caught not copying, but, know, doing, you know, doing their own forms of own styles of that type of heavy music and Mark Fields (38:13.315) I -I agree 100%. Go ahead, Mike. Mike Baronas (38:42.452) Yeah, no, I agree. Golden Era is probably right where it is. the death metal and then the Swedish metal, that's really... Then it went into black metal. That's kind of when we left town. Mark Fields (38:59.947) Right justice that was kind of starting to get traction, but I can't help but Yeah, I can't help but agree that there was so much Going on in those years that we happened to be there Like Mike said that your stuff was if we'd gone to school a few years earlier It would have been right as things were taking off I mean, you know Metallica and Slayer was starting to put stuff on and starting to change the face of heavy music But by the time we got there those days are already gotten traction there's a whole crop of stuff that was coming up alongside in the in the wake of that that we had a job of just picking and choosing from from so many good things that were they were coming out we really could present what we thought was the best of the of the crop of stuff that was coming out there when you would just be two or three the top of the songs and that's the whole showing that we have a whole scene of bands that were available for us to to kind of gatekeep for lack of a better cure rate maybe to bring the best of what we thought was the best to our listeners. Mike Baronas (40:04.02) Yeah, they needed our help, you know. Kate (40:06.062) How did you look at bands like coming out of like say the Seattle scene where it had that kind of heavier pre -grunge like Greek with a green mile and Mudhoney and Soundgarden? Were they kind of in your rotation or was it really separate? Was there like kind of bleed over between kind of those early grunge sounds and or was it? Mike Baronas (40:24.234) They tried to. They tried to. No, they tried to market it to metal radio. I don't know, it didn't work for me. Mark Fields (40:34.357) I wasn't feeling it. I never felt any of that stuff. I always view that as kind of like a parallel thing and not part of my personal wheelhouse. Mike Baronas (40:44.436) Right, and then Nirvana broke and none of those bands needed our help anymore. Mark Fields (40:49.193) Right, right, yeah, the new girl in town and then all eyes and money were off of the emerging thrash bands that were starting to get some commercial success and it was on to the next thing before... Yep. Mike Baronas (41:00.244) Yeah, the next flavor of the year or whatever. Kate (41:03.694) What about like the hardcore like the hardcore punk like the fugazis and Mike Baronas (41:09.6) That's Mark's World. Mark Fields (41:12.609) Yeah, I overlap a little bit more with that than Mike, or maybe I'll overlap a lot more than Mike. But there were, apart from a couple of crossover bands, like DRI, that kind of had some metal fan base, there were other shows on WXPL, such as Projectile Vomit. was a popular show that was on for for for i think the four years earlier that was run by our friend rich and then you know shortly after we graduated there was another show called rotting arm and before we got to you fitzburg there is and and while we were there i think the first year or so sonica bottoming kind of played play that's in there there were shows that kind of catered more specifically to that vein of of aggressive music but it wasn't so much part of what we were doing. Kate (42:10.383) And I had heard various reports, I've not dug into this, that Fitchburg was on the old like like 30s, 40s, 50s blues circuit. Did you ever hear any stories about that or like older? Like I'm, this is just something I've started like investigating a little bit. Just because metal has these sort of like bluesy connections. Like it just occurred. Mark Fields (42:35.561) right, yeah. No, that's news to me. I'd be curious to hear more. Mike Baronas (42:37.408) Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, Al probably would have had an idea, Al from, or no, what was the name of the owner of Club 490? It was Al, okay, I'm sorry, yes. He probably would have had an idea. God rest his soul, what a sweet guy he was, No, no, no, just, you know, God bless him, he was a nice man. Kate (42:39.265) I'm Mark Fields (42:50.487) Yeah, Al Esper. Yeah. Kate (42:56.632) I'll keep digging. I'll see what I find. Mark Fields (42:59.989) Did I hear correctly the Fitchburg - I'm sorry. Mark Fields (43:06.467) yeah, he was a great man. He did the community a tremendous service. Did I hear correctly that Fitchburg has taken ownership of the decaying theater downtown and is resurrecting that? Kate (43:19.234) Yes, so we'll see what happens when we have a new president that's going to be taking over the project. They did get some funding from the NEH to build a black box theater. I think the plans to rehab the theater itself are shelved because it's such a physical morass to do that. But they are going to, one of the trustees gifted the whole block. Mark Fields (43:41.143) Mm Kate (43:45.856) So that whole block down there is now Fitchburg State to be determined what it's going to be. So we'll see what happens. Mark Fields (43:53.549) Okay. Mark Fields (43:58.019) My favorite band Diva once played the that theater. didn't even know until many, many, many years later that they'd come through on their 1980 tour and played played the theater while it was still in operation. Mike Baronas (44:02.666) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Kate (44:11.214) I was gonna say it must have closed down not long after. Mark Fields (44:15.543) Yeah, I think it first shut it around the mid 1980s and it was closed by the time that we got there and then just fell into disrepair. Kate (44:23.68) Yeah, I one of my I would a friend of mine has been in it since you know, like before they started even you know, shoring up things and speaking of horror. Mark Fields (44:35.147) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've seen some images from inside there that are pretty haunting. Mike Baronas (44:35.38) Hahaha. Kate (44:40.3) Yeah, definitely haunted for sure. So what am I missing in the history of WXPL? What do you want to be known about your time at the station for students, future listeners, DJs? Mike Baronas (45:03.924) Huh. Mike Baronas (45:08.968) Well, it's different now. I was asking Mark before we jumped on if XPL is still in operation. Is it, in fact? Kate (45:23.84) It is. There's just about six students involved. COVID was really hard. So it's still building back from COVID, but the students that are involved are very dedicated. Mike Baronas (45:24.649) it is. Mike Baronas (45:28.286) Right. Right. Mark Fields (45:29.611) Oof. Yeah. Mike Baronas (45:32.36) Yeah. Yeah, no, and you know, music fans are in general, you know, it was it was kind of disheartening to see last time I know I took a walkthrough to go there and just see a laptop and not see, you know, the CD players and the cart machines and the, you know, turntables and things like that. You know, the art of being a DJ. Mark Fields (45:32.77) Yeah. Mark Fields (45:57.365) live without a net, right? Just kind of like... Mike Baronas (45:58.654) Yeah, it's kind of it kind of went away. I mean, but that's just that's that's technology. It happens everywhere. You know, but you know, those six students that are doing it, you know, keep it up. mean, I did what I wanted to do. I made my dreams come true. It sounds tacky, corny. But yeah, I I met every band I ever wanted to meet apart from one, ACDC. So yeah, if you work hard enough, can, you know, you can make it in this business. There's no money in it for you. There's no money in it for you. No, you'll collect a lot of, you know. Kate (46:21.39) you Kate (46:35.64) Do it. Mark Fields (46:37.731) I think good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think for me good. Mike Baronas (46:45.512) records and stuff. Kate (46:47.585) I'm Mark Fields (46:49.793) Looking back, I'm really happy and humbled to have... I'm honored to have had any sort of part in exposing people to exciting music that may have made their lives better. I hope that anything that I did didn't take anyone down a destructive path. Because you don't know, you're putting content out there and it affects people differently. So I've given a little bit of thought to that and I just, you know, kind of surrender it and hope that a net good came from my efforts there. I had the time of my life those four years discovering all this exciting music as a broke college student not paying for anything because the physical copies of records and CDs just was sent to us without question for free. And we got to, you know, we got on the guest list for countless. shows that we wouldn't have been able to otherwise attend on our meager means. So looking back, was a tremendously rich time in my life. And I'm also thankful for the friendships that were formed and some that I still have today with people who share a love for this type of music. Kate (48:14.326) love it. Mike, can I get a scan of your folder? Mike Baronas (48:17.972) Yes. Mike Baronas (48:23.104) of course. Yeah, I can take a high res photos. I mean, do you want you want some of this stuff? I have you know what I have? I have a picture of the guitar player from orgasm hanging from a pipe with the spray painted orgasm that I put on the wall. Do you want stuff like that? I can give you all that kind of stuff. I have garbage like that. I've saved it. I don't know how or why I've saved stuff like that, but I'll. Mark Fields (48:24.055) Ha ha ha ha! Kate (48:44.163) Yes. Mark Fields (48:46.429) Ha ha ha, yeah! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! For this moment, Ha ha ha ha ha! Mike Baronas (48:52.468) I'll go through. if you can do something with it, I'm more than happy. It would be my pleasure. It would be my pleasure. Kate (49:00.098) Yes. I'm building an archive. Yeah. I'm building an archive. It's online. Mostly it's digital. Because I'm using, so I work with the Library of Congress and recording radio history, is, you know, most of it lives like in folders on your desk. It's not in traditional archives. And so the project is focused on preserving this history. And so the model is that people get to keep their stuff. They get to keep their tapes. They get to keep their artifacts. But we do digital copies and put them in the digital archive. And the Library of Congress will actually, I'm working on a project that they will actually archive sound. And they'll come and digitize it. Mike Baronas (49:47.39) Mark, you have to get her our station IDs. Mark Fields (49:54.115) Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, yeah. Haha, that's cool, Jerry! Hahaha! Mike Baronas (49:55.498) Can you get our list of station IDs? that's gold. That's gold, Jerry. That's gold. Kate (50:00.835) You Mike Baronas (50:07.582) Yeah, no, that's... Kate (50:07.69) Yeah, and the way we deal with it, the Library of Congress, is because a lot of it are radio shows with copyright material. They house it locally, so researchers can come and listen to it at the National Division of Recorded Sound. And so any sound files would be kind of walled off, but any like the playlists, the photos, you as long as you like have the rights, we can put it on our digital archive. Mark Fields (50:36.375) Yeah, I think these, they were station IDs that we captured during interviews. So they were recorded specifically for our program, not just the station. Kate (50:47.63) That'd be amazing. Yeah, so those could probably just go right up. Mike Baronas (50:51.956) Yeah, I don't think many of them have any. Some of them, a couple of them probably have some background music. Some of the ones that were done at record companies and whatnot, but most of them were done in person. Yeah. And yeah, to have those available. That would be a trip. Kate (51:10.476) be awesome. Let's see. All right. Well, I'm going to stop recording. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 51:17 Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 03:03 Getting Involved with WXPL 06:34 Starting the Big O Show 08:18 Connecting with Record Labels and Bands 11:37 Thriving Metal Scene 14:02 WXPL's Role in the Metal Scene 18:29 Working at WXPL 20:48 Separate Metal Playlist 23:07 Listenership and Typical Audience 26:07 Memorable Moments and Friendships 28:05 The Golden Era of Heavy Music 30:07 The Changing Music Industry 32:07 Community and Friendship in the Music Scene Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral History with Mike Baronas and Mark Fields Description An account of the resource Summary Mike Baronas and Mark Fields discuss their involvement with WXPL at Fitchburg State University. Mike was drawn to Fitchburg State because of its radio station, while Mark was interested in the graphic arts technology program. They both had a passion for metal music and wanted to share it with others. They started the Big O show, which became one of the most popular shows on the station. They were connected with record labels and bands, and their playlist consisted mostly of independent metal releases. The metal scene was thriving at the time, with different cities producing prominent bands. The station had a separate metal playlist and had a dedicated listenership, mostly junior high and high school students. The experience at WXPL was a highlight of their college experience, and they formed lasting friendships with bands and musicians. Mark Fields and Mike Baronas reflect on their time at WXPL, a college radio station in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, during the 1980s and early 1990s. They discuss their experiences interviewing and meeting influential musicians, the impact of the music they played on listeners, and the changes in the music industry over the years. They also talk about their post-radio careers and their continued love for physical music media. The conversation highlights the golden era of heavy music in the 1980s and the importance of community and friendship in the music scene. Takeaways Mike and Mark were drawn to Fitchburg State because of its radio station and their passion for metal music. They started the Big O show, which became one of the most popular shows on WXPL. They were connected with record labels and bands, and their playlist consisted mostly of independent metal releases. The metal scene was thriving at the time, with different cities producing prominent bands. WXPL had a dedicated listenership, mostly junior high and high school students. Their experience at WXPL was a highlight of their college experience, and they formed lasting friendships with bands and musicians. Meeting and interviewing influential musicians was a rare and exciting experience for Mark Fields and Mike Baronas during their time at WXPL. The 1980s was a golden era for heavy music, and WXPL played a crucial role in exposing listeners to new and exciting bands. Physical media, such as CDs and vinyl records, still hold value for Mark and Mike, who appreciate the tangible and archival aspects of owning music. The music industry has changed significantly over the years, making it harder for bands to make a living solely from their music. The sense of community and friendship formed during their time at WXPL remains a cherished aspect of Mark and Mike's lives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 9, 2024 Celtic Frost (artist) Megadeth (artist) metal Metallica (artist) oral history record labels Slayer (artist) The Big O Show Wargasm (artist) https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/0ab4c9acc21bd13ba7a7284b350f58fe.mp3 86687ecbf69f9aeea223f7601a6e10cb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource WXLP-FM 91.3 at Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA Description An account of the resource Collected artifacts and oral histories with alumni of the station. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Katherine Jewell Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Tom Benham Location The location of the interview Online via riverside.fm Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound (NOTE: Transcript is AI generated, to be updated) Kate Jewell (00:01.183) All right, it is August 12th, 2024. I'm Kate Jewell, recording from Belmont, Massachusetts, and I am here with Tom Benham. Is that correct? Okay. So, can you... I don't know, where do you wanna start? Tom Benham (00:13.304) That's correct. Tom Benham (00:23.47) Well, I mean, you know, I'll give you my my high school background that segues to college. So I mean, in high school, I grew up in Western Mass, pretty decent. And so let me back up, I graduated high school in 87. In Western Mass, so you live in Mass, so know, so Amherst, other than the Pixies, obviously, sure. But, but Joey, Joey Santiago, right. But, you know, Western Mass is pretty is pretty alternative for a small Kate Jewell (00:27.465) Sounds good. Tom Benham (00:51.693) population size. I it's not just the kids who go to UMass and take off and go back home to their parents. I mean, I grew up in East Hampton, which is Northampton, sister of Northampton. My mother grew up in Northampton, so I'm three generations of Western Mass. know, growing up, know, sister's five years older than me, so I went to see Rush Foghat and the James Gang at Springfield Civic Center in 1976, give or take. You know, Geddy Lee had a big hat on. was there with the opening act. I'm assuming Fogout was probably the headliner, if I would've guessed. Can't find that ticket stuff, but I've been looking for it for years. I was six. My parents were terrified because everyone was smoking dope, and my father was a straight edge. He was sitting way in the boot. It's pretty much, to say it's small, it's like the size of Worcester. It's pretty small, but it's still there. And then... You know, my sister was kind of, you know, new age, know, Duran Duran, like everybody else was like, my God, Simon, he's so beautiful. So I'm like, I don't like this. But, you know, so I started getting into, you know, Adam and the Ants, right? And a little bit more English pop, and everybody liked The Clash. Clash was a little bit, when I was 10, 11, The Clash was too heavy for me. I don't know why. And then, you know, getting to be 11, 10, 12, 13, you know, my neighbor was... could play like six instruments. He's extremely alternative. He was into the Dead Kennedys, Sex Pistols. I never really got into the Dead Kennedys, but Sex Pistols immediately like, this is something I really liked. were already, mean, was already dead. mean, they had already broken up. had their two albums and Nevermind the Bullocks. mean, just the yellow album was on my wall. Kate Jewell (02:34.441) Hmm. Tom Benham (02:42.442) So you started evolving with Pistols Were the Lead, kind of like Nirvana, we'll get to Nirvana in second, right? Or by Juleby. You start with Sex Pistols, then underneath that you have The Damn, know, The Clash were a different ballpark. The Clash, globally I guess probably had more, you would know better than I do, maybe The Clash were more popular than Sex Pistols, but not in 77, right? Not in 77. And then getting into bands that... Kate Jewell (02:48.275) you Tom Benham (03:09.821) really, really followed the sex pistols as well throughout the late 70s, early 80s. then, you know, going to college, we were at a standpoint that, you know, the new age was kind of going away. You know, MTV was slowly going away too. So, know, tears for fears, know, everybody wants to rule the world. 11 year old knows the songs of Tears for Fierce. I wasn't even that into Tears for Fierce then. I was just like, and then my parents or my kids are like, have you seen them? Cause I've seen everybody. And I'm like, no, but the singer passed away what, three years ago. So I said, no, I can't see them. I couldn't see them, but I, but I've seen everybody. pretty much wanted to. And then so in high school it was, know, punk rock was sadly already run its course, right? So the class broke up, big audio dynamite. Kate Jewell (04:03.635) Yep. Tom Benham (04:07.9) I saw them three times. actually enjoyed Big Idol Diamond because they had the ska and the reggae and you know, Mick Jones is Australian, talented. Yeah, they were kind of interesting. And then, you know, got into things, I mean, like the cult. Silently, but since I'm recording this, I mean, I'm a huge Billy Idol fan. I was, know, Generation X was my band. That band didn't last long either. And then the running joke still to this day, I like to say Billy Idol. Kate Jewell (04:14.565) is more experimental. Kate Jewell (04:34.409) you Tom Benham (04:37.904) at the MGM last fall when they were in Boston. He probably went to it. It was right down the street from you. So yeah, I was MGM in Boston, went to see him and it's hilarious. mean, you he's still smiling. He still looks the same almost. Yeah, yeah, he has. Yeah, he's put on a few pounds because he was a skinny English bloke from London. But so anyway, so, know, so I was I was chastised by my really hard, you know, sex pistol friends. generation X. Kate Jewell (04:41.842) I that. Kate Jewell (04:49.148) Well preserved. Tom Benham (05:05.413) He's kind of a pretty boy. He's got no talent. I'm like, yeah, but then MTV, mean, Mony Mony, which is a terrible cover, but Mony Mony just blew him out of the water. you know, Dancing With Myself, you know, the video that he holds and he goes like this and gets electrocuted and he falls in the car. What? mean, Wedding was even, White Wedding's even better, but it's kind of kind of very gothic. It's kind of a very gory words just in general. But Dancing With Myself, he's like screaming and he gets electrocuted. It's so cool. So. You know, growing up in East Hampton, we didn't have MTV until like 1981. My cousins in North Hampton got it in 1980. I know I'm backing up a little bit, but my cousins, so I would go over there on Saturdays because my mother and my aunt were best friends. So every Saturday they'd do pizza and we would watch MTV for five straight hours, you know? And I do remember the one outing that they had told us that Michael Jackson's thriller is gonna be on. Kate Jewell (05:40.028) Mm -hmm. Yeah, that's what it did. Tom Benham (06:01.957) I don't mean like Michael Jackson at all, but I wanted to see the video because it's 12 minutes and it's fantastic video, right? So, and then MTV was just slowly plugging along and we were kind of moving away from MTV by that time, all the Western mass punks, you know, and all the alternative kids, because there was MTV was now, you know, obviously Madonna. We like, we like, we kind of like Prince, you know, Prince was still pretty cool. and I don't, I don't blame him for not selling out if you, I don't blame him for commercializing, you know, So then, you know, we kind of moved away from, you know, MTV. I couldn't find it today, even if I knew where it existed. So then, you know, we went into just underground bands that would come out and we could see anything we want. And then going to college, I went to Fitchburg State, you know, so on that... Well, I mean, sight unseen, first of all. My sister went to Salem State. Kate Jewell (06:49.215) Yeah, brought you to Fitchburg State? Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (06:59.396) And my dad's like, you're not going there. I'm like, Salem's really cool city, this is 19. My sister graduated in 1983 in Salem. So Salem's a little bit different city than it was now. And, you know, my parents were divorced. Didn't have a lot of money. I got into Northeastern, it was $14 ,000 a year. mother's like, my God, 14 grand. You know, and then. Bridgewater State, West Coast State was too close to home because my father knew I would turn into a townie, like I said, three generations. West Coast State was too close to home. Bridgewater State, Salem State out, Framingham State. Couldn't figure out where it was. And then, you know, me and my girlfriend a couple of weekends snuck out and drove to Fitchburg and drove through the campus and we're like, this is the coolest school in the world. And kind of sight unseen. Like, that's, I mean, I got in, got my major, the financial aid. mean, this is what I paid freshman year. That's part of the reason. Kate Jewell (07:30.409) Mm -hmm. Kate Jewell (07:53.033) Yeah. Tom Benham (07:54.327) You know, the room and dorm room and board, my parents and I, my paper route, my parents, you know, we hadn't, I had no student loans undergrad zero. cause I worked so hard in the summers landscaping or whatever I did, but you know, Fitzbury state was cost effective then. And then, you know, freshman year, you know, I, didn't join the radio station until my sophomore year. Cause my dad's like, great, great, great. Don't do anything. That's fun. You know, study on the weekends or come home on the weekends, stay out of trouble. so I lived in the coed dorm. called Russell Towers. But at the cafeteria, they would be playing WXPL all the time. And the radius, 91 .3, which you know, so talking to Nick, right? So 91 .3 was called radio station. it was, you know, and we will get there in a second. And, you know, I remember hearing Big I do a Dynamite in the cafeteria. You know, it made a medicine show or something. Covered wagon medicine show. No one in the cafeteria knew who the hell they were and I was singing away. And then seeing some of the punk rock kids, the alternative kids, the goth kids walking around campus, finally, know, one thing I did freshman year is I played intramural street hockey. My father wouldn't let me do anything because he was afraid of my grades. My grades were terrible anyways. But in the sophomore year, I went to the first open house. You know, I toured the old radio station, which was in the library, third floor of the library. And I'm sure the librarians enjoy this half being there. you know, and then I, you know, I said, you know, I really wanted to do some of this. This is what I want to do. And I was, I was brought, I was brought on to some of the public relations, public relations coordinator or something, but I was on the executive team because no one else wanted the position. So on the executive teams were all the really smart music. Either they were educated, Pittsburgh basically had, you know, communications majors and everything else. Kate Jewell (09:24.799) you Kate Jewell (09:40.233) Mm Tom Benham (09:50.888) Nurses too, nursing majors are great too. So all my friends were communications majors. I was a business major because I couldn't play an instrument. I don't have good hearing. can't sing. You've heard me singing. I can't sing to save my life, but I love the music and I love the scene. And they were very alternative. Monday through Friday from eight to four, the student radio station was blaring through through G Lobby, is our campus center. and also through the cafeteria. And was the rule that you couldn't go change the channel because the radio station paid for the PA system and the school paid for the PA system in G -Lab. So wherever you are on campus, if you were in a non -educational building, you could hear the radio station. So I would hear it breakfast and lunch and the music was fantastic. And then at four o 'clock to six o 'clock, they would do more poppy, not top 40 yet, but they also had They also had more of a, they had some reggae during that time. They also had some early rap at that time too, from four to six. And at six it was scheduled shows. was goth, hardcore, punk, you name it. We had, you know, we had, we had a, we had a, I remember, we'll talk about this in a second, but when I was station manager, they had, we had a kid who was into like the fifties. His father was into Elvis and Beach Boys and. He had this massive album, remember albums, he had this massive collection. So we didn't have any of those in the building in the radio station. So he'd bring in milk crates and two hours a night from five to seven or six to eight. I remember he had two years of playing fifties and sixties music and people loved it. People kept, why did you guys do that? like, he's a good kid. He interned, he put it in his dues. This is what he wanted to do. We're like, sure, whatever. So throw him on the program good. So that was, so I joined sophomore year and then. You don't hang around going to the parties, going to see all the bands. Like I said, everybody in the radio station for the most part were communication majors, you know, and they all were there in different walks of life all throughout Massachusetts. So the good and bad about going to a state school is every kid's from Massachusetts at the time. And even the hockey players, they're not from Sweden or from Finland like they are now. You know, at the time, you know, and again, I graduated in 91 at the time in the late 80s, early 90s, every kid was from Kate Jewell (12:04.605) Yeah. Tom Benham (12:12.241) was from Massachusetts, you know, and you could tell they're from Boston, they had a Boston accent. You know, but it was kind of cool because you could see everyone pretty in the radio, everyone pretty much had a really, really heavy edge to music, which I really enjoyed. Then my junior year I ran for assistant station manager to Craig Albano, my best friend still to this day. And I learned everything about, I possibly could about the radio station from Kate Jewell (12:16.7) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (12:40.986) from sitting with the music director reporting into CMJ, you know, to go into, we went to a couple of conferences. It wasn't CMJ though, it was a local one. But to learning how to do, you know, we had advertising, it wasn't advertising, but you know, how to raise money, you know, for the donut shop down the street to promote a show. But also to, know, sitting with the music directors, when they call in, they pick up the phone and they would call Epic or they'd call, you know, a music label saying, listen, you know, we are, this is our top 50. This is where, this is where Bob Mool is going to land this week. You know, can we get some posters or can we get some extra CDs? Because CDs weren't there at the time. So, you know, we'd have buckets, you know, they'd send us buckets of posters. And then we would beg for concert tickets, right? So. You know, for Western Mass, Pearl Street was the only place we could get tickets to, you know? But Pearl Street, because I lived out there, people would say, my mother's house, we'd go see a show and just go home. Or we'd drive back to Fitchburg, which is only an hour from Northampton. And then, you know, obviously the Channel, Avalon, Spit, we'd get tickets for all the shows that weren't high -profile shows, right? Kate Jewell (13:41.897) Mm -hmm. Kate Jewell (13:47.165) you Tom Benham (14:01.242) The music directors though, they can pretty much go to any pretty much show They wanted to on the East Coast if they really begged and pleaded So and I learned I learned the business I learned the economic side You know, remember our phone bills like $250 a month one month because they were just people because the music directors was making calls because that's how they they got Records in the door and then eventually because we had a brand name by my senior year You know tape they would just send us stuff. Well, we have all we would have to do is report into CMJ you know, every other week, or maybe it every, I think it was every other week. And matter of fact, even in the summer, my junior year in the summer, we stayed open. We continued to play music, you know, but that, by that time CDs were there so we could play a whole CD and just hit repeat, stay in the building and do something else. So, year was great. My junior year was even better. You know, we had some people who been there two or three years. Kate Jewell (14:37.659) Tom Benham (14:57.85) And the radio station was very, very overcrowded. We probably had one year 85 people. The next year we had like 105 signed up. So we were overcrowded. And the summer of my junior year, in Craig Albanos, fourth year, his summer, we were up there. We went to the administration and said, hey, we are overgrowing this space. It's ungodly, small. here's our membership. It went from 60 to 80, it's 105. And they actually gave us an opportunity to move out of the library to... an old part of the administrative building when the nursing building is called Thompson Hall. And it was this big space. mean, we literally had the old studio, the first one they ever built was a size of my bedroom and another bedroom. then so was small bedroom with a twin size bed, a production studio with a twin size bed, and then a small office would be like a kitchenette. There was three rooms. And in between that, all the albums would be stacked. And these are albums too. So they'd be stacked to the ceilings. And we're talking 10 ,000 albums. Kate Jewell (15:32.392) Mm Tom Benham (15:57.68) It was old, was dusty, was dingy, it was great. Other than the library being too loud. So they let us go to Thompson Hall. And we really had the whole reign of the building. I had my own separate key to get into the building, which they didn't know about. They moved out of Thompson Hall a couple years ago. And it had this massive old, it was an old mail room. And we actually, we moved into it and we did, we, Kate Jewell (15:57.948) you. Kate Jewell (16:13.079) you Tom Benham (16:26.583) We partnered up with the facilities manager. And one reason or another, we hit it off and they actually put some money into renovating it for us. They put in shells for CDs because before there was just mailboxes. So they pulled them out and they had a carpenter come in and build up these CD racks. could put 5 ,000 CDs in it. we already had a lot of the equipment anyways. We got a grant for a new mixing board, my senior year, five grand, I think the mixing board was the time. Kate Jewell (16:39.293) This is it. Tom Benham (16:55.638) You know, but by the way, we had to start buying new equipment. So we went to the school. The school paid us through student activity fees. So that's how we got funded. So to pay our bills, how do we pay our bills? So the student activity fee, which is like 10 bucks a student per semester, whatever it was, it wasn't a lot. We ended up getting usually seven or $8 ,000 a year. And then my senior year, when I went in front of the SGA, Student Government Association, I said, I need 15 because we're moving. We don't have the equipment. And they Kate Jewell (17:02.109) Mm -hmm. Kate Jewell (17:21.193) you Tom Benham (17:22.773) they generously found an additional like 6 ,000. So we ended up having like a $14 ,000 budget. knowing how the marketplace was shifting and it's just coming from the music directors and the assistant music directors, like we're not getting albums anymore. We're getting CDs. That's all we're going to get. And the production studio has turntable, turntable, turntable, turntable, the reel. And we still had reel the reels. We still recorded reel the reel. And they sounded great by the way. So, you know, we had to come up with, you know, Kate Jewell (17:38.089) Mm Kate Jewell (17:42.377) you Yeah. Tom Benham (17:51.125) $2 ,000 by four CD players that were commercial grade heavy use, you know, which we didn't have Got the new mixing board. We had a volunteer engineer who we paid very very little from University of Lowell college radio guy Who would come in off hours? you know, we'd be we'd be there 10 o 'clock at night to midnight till 2 o 'clock in the morning That's summer getting ready for the kickoff in the fall. We moved very quickly and I lived up there in the summer. So did Craig so we literally Whoever was around the campus that summer of 80 in summer of 90, we would literally go every single day and move stuff out of the library into the basement. It was fantastic. It was big enough we could have bands play, know, small bands play in the recording studio, even larger bands in the on -air studio. And then had a big office space too. then you could start hanging out there, you know. Before that it was so small you could probably have six people in the office and that would be it. the on -air studios on the left and the offices in the middle and the recording studios on the right. There was so much space in between. You could have 30 people just hanging out talking, know, just talking about money, talking about music, talking about shows. And it was really cool way to meet people. So we met more people that way too. And then we also got the opportunity to stay on the air till 2 a in the morning, which we actually did three days a week. But you can guess what it is. was, you know, it was a heavy alternative and it was the metal. And our metal mic Kate Jewell (18:55.887) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (19:16.251) Mike Baronis and Mark Fields and Mike Baronis. you meet with, did you talk to either one of them? you did? Okay. I could, yeah, yeah, exactly. The goatee in the eyes. So they had the big old thrash show, you know, and their personalities were exactly as you can imagine. I was worried that you were going to be able to talk to them because we were trying to figure out how to get a hold of them. So the metal guy, they were like cult heroes. Kate Jewell (19:22.176) I talked with them the other day and it got all of their promos. Tom Benham (19:46.194) I got down the street in Main Street, Pittsburgh, and with those guys to go check out the record store. And people were like, my God, that's Mike and Mark from XBF, from the big old thrash. So, you know, so, and they were on there. I don't know how they did it, but they were on the air 10 to two. You know, at least two nights a week, maybe three. We had a hardcore show, the thrash show, the metal show. There wasn't really punk at the time anymore. Punk was long gone. But they had a cult following, know, so it was kind of funny. And I really respected those guys too. And on a side note, they actually brought me to ministry at Fitzbrick State. I think after I graduated, I went to ministry there. Yeah, like 94, 93. I'm like, hey, I'll go. Jesus built my hot rods. It's only song I knew. And they were so cool. Like they had already moved away from... Kate Jewell (20:19.465) Yeah. Kate Jewell (20:35.055) Yeah, no video. Tom Benham (20:43.665) Metallica, was Megadeth, it was Skinny Puppy, it was really hard stuff. Metallica was starting to turn into Bon Jovi. Nirvana Bleach was in rotation, but I was already out of school when Nirvana, 92, 93, when they really took off. So we had Bleach in rotation, it wasn't played a lot too. Kate Jewell (20:49.311) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (21:09.904) Husker do was really, I mentioned Hot Bob and Bull, Husker do was huge. And then we had the weekend shows, which were a bit lighter, but we were on the earth Monday through Sunday. Every day we had every slot filled between 8 a and 2 a in those three days a week. And we had a lot of training. So wasn't like Susie who lives in Chelmsford. Kate Jewell (21:14.814) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (21:37.936) who wants to play Kiss 108 songs. You're not gonna do that. We're an alternative music station. You're more than welcome to learn a new genre, and a lot of them did. And you're more than welcome to hang out with us. But as far as getting your own show and bringing your own music, we have rotations that we have to play. We have a heavy, medium, and a light. If you play six that are in the heavy rotation in first 45 minutes and then... Kate Jewell (21:40.095) you Tom Benham (22:06.351) And we had a checklist of things you had to play and you had to write what you played, right? So Peter Gabriel in your eyes, you can't play it in your eyes. Someone wrote in the back of the aisle, makes me cry every time and they circle, they put a little Aralton in your eyes. I'm like, this is so lame. Can't play that. You can't even play it at 2 a I don't know why Sony ever sent it to us. We had like 10 ,000 hours. Kate Jewell (22:15.444) you Tom Benham (22:35.782) And then we had some really good at the early good really really good Between four and eight and I didn't appreciate enough of the time while the rap rap lot of the rap shows were really good some of the kids were really really interest We're really really good at it And they had deeds with that Kate Jewell (22:45.535) Mm Kate Jewell (22:49.151) Do remember who those DJs were? Do you remember who those DJs were? Like were they specifically focused on rap or was it like kind of mixed into their show or there's only rap? Tom Benham (22:56.918) No, no, was only rap. yeah. I should probably find a program guide. Funny, funny, so every year we do a program guide in the spring and the running, I don't know if Mike and Mike told you this, but the funny joke is like during we were printing out the program and I was typing the people's titles of the shows, mine was Bangalift. I don't know why. Just because I worked in the library and every time people came into the library, the Dewey Card catalog is always over there Bangalift. So people heard me say it. So that was my show name. And my nickname was Sid because Kate Jewell (23:21.801) you Tom Benham (23:27.085) Back at the time I had Spike Tear, bleach blonde Spike Tear, get sex pistols. So just kind of, so least everybody still calls me Sid. Anyways, the program guy, we were typing up the titles and Mike and Mark was called the big old thrash. And I didn't have the R and I had the H and I called it the big old trash show. And Mike's a big guy and he was so pissed off at me. It the big old trash show. So yes, it's 30 years ago now. But... Kate Jewell (23:45.801) You Tom Benham (23:55.821) That's the kind of camaraderie we all had. Of the 105 kids that were part of the station, 85 % of them every week did their show, went to parties, went to go see concerts, came down a couple of times a week just to see what was going on, sitting on back to their dorm to study. They'd come down and read a book and hang out with us. moving out of the library helped quite a bit. Kate Jewell (24:22.417) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (24:22.89) you know, because we had the space and we had, we'd have to worry about, you know, the librarian coming in saying, you turned on that noise. I mean, we had, we had, we had education. was an educational building above us, but it was old. They didn't use it much. So, we, we had, we, I'll use the word free range really did, but it was so close to the campus center. Like you go through a tunnel for the academic buildings, a lot of tunnels with fish because it snowed a lot. So they built them. So you go through a tunnel to get to the campus center. So if you want to get something eat, just go back through the tunnel and come back to this radio station. So we did that. The one sad thing we didn't have is we didn't have the radius. We only had a 50 -mile radius, 100 -watt transmitter. And I was on the roof of the library. And when we moved the station, we didn't move the transmitter, because I'm not an engineer. So we literally had to have like 400 feet of wire from the old studio into the new studio and through some old pipes. It worked fine. Kate Jewell (25:03.135) Mm. Tom Benham (25:18.41) But you would lose, once you get to route two, you would lose the connection or you would lose the sound on the radio. So that's one that we never could do. We couldn't figure out how do you go to 1 ,000 watts, how do you go to 10 ,000 watts? Like JUL, MUA, mean, MUA's UMass Amherst is fantastic. Because I grew up listening to MUA. JUL, you will fantastic stations. And they had bigger wattage, they had a bigger budget. Kate Jewell (25:41.311) Mm Tom Benham (25:48.778) They, you know, but so we were always envious of that. But, but no, was, mean, and I'm not the music guy like everybody else is, but, know, I remember, you know, going, like just saw a food fighters for the first time three weeks ago, bucket list, right? But, you know, I saw Nirvana, Walt Simonson, November 13th, 1993, you know, and none of us were in college anymore. Kate Jewell (26:05.523) Mm Tom Benham (26:16.873) and why they play at Fitzbrick State, I have no idea. you know, because in your role was already, you know, long gone, was Heart Shaped Box. So it was like a reunion. My friends were still at school and they shouldn't have been, they should have been graduated by then. But some of the people had the six year plan, the five year plan. You know, we all went to the show and then we all hung out at whoever's apartment we could that still lived there, stayed there overnight. And the show got over like 10 .30, know, Nirvana. And there were 55, 60 minute shows. Kate Jewell (26:26.302) Yeah. Kate Jewell (26:31.493) you Tom Benham (26:46.632) But it was really, cool. And that was kind of the end of me going up there. So, you know, I was up there from, you know, 91, no, 88, 88 to 87 and to 93. And then we all moved back home and got jobs. And but all that I guess where I'm going with all that music influence from from 90, 91, 93 was when you move into the city of Boston, you have FNX, you know, and that that was us. We beat FNX to Foo Fight. We beat FNX to, you know, Sugar. You know, we, you know, all. You know, obviously, you know, they were always three months behind us because they were still advertising, you know, so. But I remember, like even listening to sports radio 98 .5 the other day, heard Hardy talk about sugar, copper, blue. We would play that over and over and over again. Fantastic. You know, even even. Kate Jewell (27:21.213) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (27:40.487) first birthday show. lot of my friends got free tickets to go. I think it was probably at Gillette. 1990 maybe was the first birthday show and no one knew it was going to be a big deal, but it was a festival and people were like, it's going to be 15 bands. Why not go? When we got out, we were seeing the festivals kind of like they have now, but it was, what was the one in 93, 94, 95? Like Cole played, remember Ice T played. Kate Jewell (27:48.072) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (28:11.15) Soundgarden played, there's a lot of festivals like Great Woods, which is now what the Xfinity Center, whatever it is. But it still all the same kids and all the same friends going to see the shows together. You we were in our early 20s. We had moved out of Fitchburg, we all moved home. A lot of us were in Boston. I was in Boston. We went to a lot of shows. In Lansdowne Street, whatever was on Lansdowne Street, we'd go before the Ural House crowd come in. So you see, like, remember, I mean, I remember seeing Big Eye of Dynamite at Avalon. You know, it was like, Kate Jewell (28:16.095) Mm Kate Jewell (28:33.193) Yeah. Tom Benham (28:38.502) 8 o 'clock show, they got off at 1030. And when we got out at 11, all these fancy cars from other BU kids, we're going to go to go to Europe. We call it Europe trash or Europe house, whatever it was. And I used to valet cars on Lansdowne Street. So I would go from a show to valet in these college kids cars. And one kid had a Ferrari. His nickname was Princey. I'm like, I'm sure it is. Be nice to him. I'm yeah, I'm going to be nice to him. So I learned how to drive all these fancy cars. But, you know, for those 10 years, pretty much that's, before we all got really adults and got married and moved away, we were still hanging around together, still seeing shows together. That's what the music did, right? So it was all really about getting along. The common goal is to share different types of music. I grew up in a community that was heavy Polish. I never got a Polish show. Kate Jewell (29:32.197) You Tom Benham (29:34.104) But we had every other show you can imagine. It was really, really It was fun, know, lifelong friends. I said, the stage manager, Craig, is my best friend. I still talk to Nick. That's why I'm glad you talked to Mike and Mark, because they're just legends at the school. And I'm sure their stories are much heavier than mine. Mike went to CMJ on his own. I remember when he was a junior in college. Kate Jewell (29:51.721) Yeah. Tom Benham (30:02.764) exciting. So Mark didn't go with him and he was just hanging out with a bunch of other metalheads from the United States from College Music Journal. It was cool. It was really cool. he, those guys are great. know, everybody, everybody in the organization. And I was just a normal kid who couldn't play an instrument. Like all my friends were in bands. They all could play like my good friend, my good friend Mark, Mark Small was very, very talented. And then he was in a band with Nick, who was in a band with my other roommate, Rock. Kate Jewell (30:19.305) Mm Tom Benham (30:30.98) his name is Mike, we call them Rock. Hey, you Rock. And know, some of my friends have stayed in the industry, some have not. I Casey St. Ange was married to the drummer of Lump, Mark's band, and they're still married, and she lives in California, and she works for Busy Phillips, and she stayed in the industry. She was a stage at Davey Lenerman, put in her time, went to work for Rosie, and then worked for Cohen, and then... Kate Jewell (30:33.119) you Tom Benham (31:00.139) She's with Busy Phillips. she's staying in the industry. Some people have got out of it. I've got out of it. I work in a nonprofit. But it was a lot of fun, too. So when you hear music like Tears of Fear is on the radio, we didn't play that. But when I was in middle school and high school, it wasn't college radio. But I remember still hearing that. And my younger kids would say, do you guys even have Bon Jovi rotation? No, I didn't have Bon Jovi rotation. Kate Jewell (31:01.884) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (31:29.546) I tell you what, one of the rap shows, I don't know if anybody told you, one of the rap shows, so one of the Knight Brothers, not Jordan, not the other one, he wasn't in the band, but he was in the radio station. So I don't remember his name, but he was playing New Kids on the Block, because he had a rap show, so I tried to pass it. But he had been there a long, he's probably three or four years old than I was, but when I was a sophomore, he was a senior, he was playing New Kids on our radio station, and this is probably... 889 and it wasn't, please don't go girl. It wasn't that song. It wasn't Joey Lawrence, know, 105 pounds of him, you know, was five feet tall. wasn't, it wasn't that song, but he was, he was playing new kids. He's like, my brothers are going to make a big way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. They are. Yeah. You watch, you watch. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, I mean, we were wrong. Played a Fenway the other day, but, and again, and again, I remember, I remember, you know, those days people just walking in with milk crates, you know, Kate Jewell (32:20.414) Yeah. Tom Benham (32:27.579) They had to play what was in rotation. So whenever the metal guy said for metal rotation you had to play this or the alternative guys or the music director, you know, got to play these six things the first hour and then the five things. Then there's editor's choice, if you will, or artist's choice. If people are walking in with two milkers, but you're never going to fit them in a two hour show. Kate Jewell (32:48.108) Was there a certain qualifications that you have to get a specialty show where you could kind of go by your own format? how did that work? Tom Benham (32:55.2) Yeah, I mean the eight to four was alternative and that's all it was. So, one of my, my sophomore year, I got eight o 'clock in the morning, Monday morning. and I interned, with someone who was always late every single day. So I literally went to the production studio, turned on the switch, turned on the board and I, and then we, we played our carts. Our carts were our intros. Good. You're now listening to WXPO. We are located 160 Hammond Street, 160 Peristry on the third floor of the Hammond building. Kate Jewell (33:04.894) You Tom Benham (33:25.536) So we had to our scrammer too. You know, we also went through re -licensing. We had to do our license over. That was a big deal when I was my junior year. That was kind of heavy. That was kind of scary. We were afraid we going to lose our license because I've never done it before. And then we had some idiots when I was on the executive team that would swear and do something stupid. We had to put them on suspension. we had, I'll call it employee handbook, we had a guideline. So you had to do four hours of training and then would intern. Kate Jewell (33:39.807) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (33:52.991) Unless you're at another college and came over here, my friend Kevin was at U Lowell, so he just came over here and got his own show. But no, 8 to 4 was alternative. There was no if, and, buts, about it Monday through Friday. Sundays were different. But 8 to 4, and then you're right, you had to hang around the music director or the metal director or the assistant music director to really show that you deserve a metal show or a hardcore show or a punk rock show or a reggae show. Kate Jewell (33:55.423) Mm Tom Benham (34:23.078) Even the 50s show, like he didn't get it right out of the gate because he had a box of 1950s albums. No, was, so you had to put in your dues. And usually it was for a full year. I don't think I got my own show until my junior year. So my second full year. And it was, was, was, was, it was from four to six. So was, was, I had that cause we also did the radio station college sports. So my other roommate was the, Kate Jewell (34:30.175) you Kate Jewell (34:48.507) Tom Benham (34:50.942) wrote for the college newspaper, The Strobe, but he was really into sports. He was our sports director. So I blocked that show selfishly because we could do college hockey and college basketball and college football on Sundays too, on Saturdays when they had it. So my show was usually given up and I would swap out with one of the other directors for the hockey season for the hockey team. And we probably did 10 games a year. We did all throughout the playoffs, a couple of basketball games. We did all the football games. Kate Jewell (35:14.375) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (35:21.357) Which is kind of cool too. And you know, my roommate did a fantastic job. He passed away a couple years ago, unfortunately, but he was a great sports director and he stayed with it. He worked for like, he worked for a small community newspaper in Bill Rica as like a sports writer. You per diem, you don't think he made any money doing it, but he's like doing it. So yeah, so, but no, the show's like, no, this is what you have to play. If you sneak in, you know, if you sneak in, like. One of the kids was really into Rush. Where are we going to put Rush in rotation? And every once in a while he would do a B -side from one of Rush's albums that was ungodly old. we would catch it. Someone would say something to his boss and he's supposed to play Rush at 3 .30. I know, but it's a B -side. No one knows the song. So I remember the kid, I forgot his name, really nice kid. And was real cool kid. He stayed with the station. He got with the program. He really wanted to be on the air. And I didn't care about being on the air per se. I really knew how to do it. I knew how to run the equipment. I knew what it cost. But I just want to sit back and listen to music. I enjoyed going to the shows too. It was a lot of fun. I never picked up an instrument and I still don't regret it. like, eh, it wasn't just me. But I enjoyed being a small part of a big, big team. And you needed people who had different skills. I didn't have the music skills. Kate Jewell (36:41.534) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (36:47.547) But I had the organization skills and I had the business skills to be able to run, you know, run a 105 person small college radio station. And again, we were on the air every single day. know, Sundays were noon, I think. don't think we got on because Saturday nights were rough. Especially in Fisburg. But yeah, mean, so Sunday I think were noon. But it was great. It was great. was, you know, I wouldn't trade it for the world. you know, looking back on it, you know, I Kate Jewell (37:01.989) you Tom Benham (37:17.27) I graduated on time. I was there four years and I was out. But I still went up there even my fifth year and sixth year because I still had friends there. Still on the radio station. I would still go down to hang out. I had money in my pocket and no one had a job. So I actually had money. they held it. Can you buy this round? I'm like, beers are two bucks for God's sakes. In the pub at school? No lie. On a side note, and that's not happening. Well, the pub had a lot of bands. Actually, our pub in the building had a lot of bands. And they had a limited alcohol license, it or not. They had a wine cooler and they had a beer. That's all they had. And the beers were 60 cent drafts. And they were glass. And one day there was a small flight. So they had to go to plastic and they went to silver cups. I digress. But we had bands right outside the pub in the common area, the Hammond building. We had them in the gym too. Didn't work very well in the gym. And O Positive played. You might have heard that. So O Positive played. you know, in our common area in the Hammond building in the campus center, you know, junior year, and it was just probably only 400 kids. couldn't fit anybody in there. It was small. And the drummer came out and hung out with us afterwards. We had a party afterwards, and he hung out with us. Got to know my roommate, Mike, very, very well. And, you know, we would see them at shows. would wave to us, know. Tribe was huge. We had Tribe coming in. Another other local band come in and we interviewed them and they had played for us too. So and now tribe Eric is now part of a Japan Local band my friend Chuck is the drummer for a Japan So they all hung around together and they started knowing other friends and that was cool. It was great. It was a great time Kate Jewell (39:02.793) So how did the radio station fit in on campus? What was either with the administration or other students? What was that like? Tom Benham (39:08.832) Yeah, yeah, well, I will tell you this. I knew the president by first name. Strategically, though, for a couple of reasons, selfishly, because I needed a reference when I graduated and actually wrote me a reference. And then secondly, no, was was, you know, they were loud, a little bit different. When we were in the library, it was, you know, I worked in the library. So the library director was my boss and he would come to me and really nice guy. Really, but he would say, listen, I know, I know, I know. And then when we moved out of there, it was like being paroled for them and us. And no, think I think everybody respected us because we worked so well with the administration just to understanding, you know, how we can be, you know, looked at not looked upon as these outcasts. These kids are wearing black and, you know, there wasn't a lot of tattoos and piercing them because it just wasn't popular then, too. But. Kate Jewell (39:43.636) you Tom Benham (40:04.618) There was goth, so there was a lot of makeup, and there was a lot of people dressing alternative. Not like Kurt Cobain, more of someone you see in Dockin. But no, I think the the important people in the administration, campus security, the president's office, the facilities team was very, important to us. And then I think... Kate Jewell (40:07.305) Mm -hmm. Kate Jewell (40:15.612) Yeah. Tom Benham (40:34.186) You know, my two years when I was in the two leadership positions, when I was the assistant manager and then the general manager, my senior, so that's the highest position. Yeah, the president called me one day, President Maher, I don't know how he got my apartment phone. I have no idea, but he got it. He hey, Tom, I want to talk to you about something. Give me a call. I ran him down there during his, he had open office hours, believe it or not, a president of a college had open office hours. It was like Tuesday between one and two and no one ever went. And I used to go once a month. just for a variety of reasons. then I saw one of them, went in, he's like, hey, you I've heard complaints about noise. I've heard complaints that you guys are there after hours. You know, gotta knock it off. I'm like, yeah, no worries. know, I'll, yeah, I get it, And I was so involved, you know, talking to him. He wrote me a recommendation to go to, to get a job. And I'm like, crap, the library director wrote me one, which is nice. Kate Jewell (41:15.583) care of it. Tom Benham (41:29.907) And my grades weren't very good, so he actually wrote another thing. So this is so funny. He wrote on my recommendation, Tom has a satisfactory 2 .91 GPA in his four years at Fitchburg State. How do know what my GPA is? I don't even know what my GPA is. I don't even care. Yeah, so it was good. And like every other school, too, you'd have some years that you'd have some really good friends that would disappear and not come back for variety of reasons. Kate Jewell (41:56.582) Bye. Tom Benham (41:58.991) My good friend Pete, who grew up really close to me, we used to drive home together on weekends when we'd go home. Freshman sophomore year, he was my right hand. Junior year, where's Pete? He's not here. I don't know what happened to him. See how kids drop out, they transfer. A couple people transferred. I remember one of the students who was a freshman, was in Rogo Ghetto, she transferred to Northeastern. Good for her, and we had a going away party for her. But yeah, that was the sad part. Kate Jewell (42:10.505) You Tom Benham (42:27.635) Then I think I told you, it hit me pretty as brick when I graduated in 91, like in May 91, I moved out of my Fishburg apartment, I moved into the city, and my friends are still going back to school because I graduated on time. And my parents are like, you're not staying a fifth year because we're not paying anymore. So I had to get out of time. So I kept going up there. Eventually, when you get older, you move away. then it was all FNX, a little bit of BCN. The River Rains were pretty cool. We used to go to those too. La La Palooza, yeah, La La Palooza, the summers were, the summer La La Palooza's were really good, you know, nothing was at the garden this summer. Everything was at, you know, everything was at Great Woods, you know. And I actually live in Franklin, which is three towns from Great Woods. I haven't been to a show there in forever. That's not I want to see. But yeah, I mean, was, was, I mean, the students, actually the students, yeah, I would assume. Kate Jewell (43:15.412) Yeah. Tom Benham (43:28.305) I'm sure the students probably, I don't know if they were really jocks per se. know, the state college kids, athletics was different when we were in college in 89, 90, 91. All the kids were from Massachusetts, because I knew all the hockey players, because I play high school hockey, so I really got into hockey. You baseball players, basketball players, my roommate was a basketball player, freshman, sophomore, so they're all from Massachusetts. they didn't really look down upon us, I don't think. I think they knew we were a little bit different. They didn't want to join our crowd, but that's fine. I went to a lot of the basketball games because my roommate didn't play much. My roommate was on the team and I liked sports. I was different in the radio station because there's not a lot of kids. And we actually started to find a side note. We actually did a fundraiser every summer. We did a softball game against one of the fraternities and it was horrible against even more horrible. Kate Jewell (44:03.069) Mm -hmm. Tom Benham (44:25.978) baseball and high school too, so I knew how to play. So we organized just as a fundraiser and it was hilarious. And they did for three or four years. yeah, and the fraternities, yeah, mean, probably, no, they did their own thing too. We had some kids in the radio station that weren't fraternities, the Sorority, sure. Pretty big, they had a pretty decent fraternity scene in Sorority scene at Fishburg. You know, it's not a real pledge society probably, but they had a pretty Kate Jewell (44:49.278) Mm Tom Benham (44:54.959) Like, I don't know, they're not recognized by the school. So they didn't get any funding from the school. We were recognized by the school. But they had a pretty decent, we got a few of their parties, you know, but they wouldn't have bands in the basement. know, my roommate, Craig, had a humongous basement. He would have bands in his basement. And one year, friend Brad's band dressed up as Kiss, and they went and put Kiss songs. Halloween. You got to be 300 kids in this house that's falling apart. Kate Jewell (45:03.507) Mm Tom Benham (45:23.979) massive firehouse here, but we all fit in there. Yeah, it was cool. I mean, then people would go up and Craig is, hey, when can I play in your, when you guys having a party again, when can I play in your basement? Craig's like, my landlord just found out about this. I'm at, I said, maybe two weeks, not this weekend. You know, and I dressed up as Fred Schneider from B -52s that Halloween. So, and then my friend was a redhead, so she dressed up as Kate Pearson. Kate Jewell (45:40.819) Let it go. Tom Benham (45:49.089) So yeah, it was cool. mean, it was a good time. Yeah, I had some friends in the business school that were part of fraternities. we didn't pick out the fraternities, didn't pick on us. There wasn't any hazing. mean, maybe there was looks and stuff, but there's no cyber bullying. There's no social media. There's no internet. I there's no cell phones. I mean, everything was done. We would sell tickets. One of my friends used to sell tickets to his parties. Kate Jewell (46:09.618) You Tom Benham (46:18.893) He's right on a piece of paper, $5 cover. And he said, here, go sell these for me. And he cut them up during class. I, sell your own tickets. So I know it was cool. Yeah, I think, I mean, the station was clean. We kept it clean. We had tons of trash because we always had stuff in the mail and posters and stuff. We were respectful for the janitors. I knew right out of the gate facilities is going to be really critical to us. Kate Jewell (46:47.038) Mm Tom Benham (46:47.303) They will shut us down just for any reason whatsoever. Same with administration too. We got organization in the year, two years I was there. We got it my junior year and then the year after I graduated, so I wasn't officially there anymore. We got for those two years too. We would DJ as requested for their parties too. Then we charged them a Condor Box or something. think we used the radio stations DJ, portable DJ equipment. We would DJ events too. For anyone who would ask and then the some of the other kids were really really good DJs I mean a lot of the other a lot of the rap kids and the urban kids Had their own had their own network and they would go home on the weekends and they borrow 50 albums I'm like just sign them out take them bring them back. Go ahead. I don't care make some money on the side They're really smart, too. So but yes, I think that's probably that's probably right Kate Jewell (47:35.06) Yeah. Kate Jewell (47:44.797) So how did the station or that experience kind of stay with you into your professional life? you see connections between the two? Or are they tangible or more amorphous? Tom Benham (47:55.263) Yeah, my professional life, kicked off my organizational skills, my leadership skills, because I was this skinny white kid from Western Mass. I was middle -class like everybody else was in school. I had a girlfriend in high school that we broke up when we went to college, so was kind of lonely. think a lot of the other kids are probably the same. They moved away from home, obviously, for the first time. Like I said, my freshman year, didn't do anything just to study. Even my grades weren't good. And I went home a lot on the weekends because I was homesick. And then my father and I were talking about my sophomore year. I didn't have a car then. I think my car broke down. So kind of made me stay there and maybe just join some clubs. I think there's a lot of kids who are the same way. Freshman year, I think it's hard for people to find what club they want to. It's fun, though, like orientation weekend. in the quad outside and if it was raining, we'd be inside and we'd be blasting music and then the frats would have tables and SGA would have tables. Even the athletic department would have a table and we'd be there with posters and banners and you know, we have all the promotional stuff. Come on over, you want a t -shirt? T -shirts obviously. We have painter's hats, we had frisbees, you know, and so we were an easy draw for the kids who were not sure what they wanted to do. They didn't want to do a frat for variety of reasons. They didn't want to do student government. And obviously in the radio station, had no qualms or any type of person who wants to join, you know, even if you like country music and you know a lot about country music. I don't think anyone here knows anything about country join. Like I said, the fifties, we had two years of 50 shows and it was fantastic shows. couldn't believe it. And because I was my father growing up, he would Blair that music. He loved Elvis too, would Blair it over and over again in my head. So a lot of the songs, I know this, I know this, I know this. So yeah, I think it was good because we all, everyone became from, whatever kind of person you were, we were welcome there. And I wish I made it more welcome. I wish we did more things than we're just the alternative golf medal kids. I wish we had more opportunities to do things too. Not including top 40, that was out. we're gonna do that. Kate Jewell (50:16.137) Yeah. Tom Benham (50:20.424) You know, one of my friends, Eni Gobiel, is now the director of the airport for Atlanta airport. He's director of one of the directors there. Big job. You know, he was a tall, good looking blonde kid and he had good interview skills. He talked like, hi, my name's Eni Gobiel from WXPL. And he ended up being in Providence on a morning talk show. He was on radio for years and he ended up moving to Atlanta and he got out of radio just probably 10 years ago. And I remember Andy interviewed President John Silver from BU who was running for governor. And he came to the event and Andy's sitting next to me and Andy had the Morantz recorder, which is like the size of a laptop and he had a microphone. he asked Governor -elect John Silver, hey, what are you going to do about the cost of education? And he's like, I'm not taking any questions from people in the press. He's like, no, I'm a student here. And he's like, he made him answer that question. And then Andy. Andy followed out with President Maher, followed out with John Silver out of the auditorium and they were blasting questions back at him like a real radio, like a CNN reporter would walk out, know, like Manu Nobly when he walks out of his, you know, with Marjorie Tarraglini, he would, let her, he let her go off and Andy was just, that's great Mr. Silver, that's great Mr. Silver, thank you very much. I was like, my, Andy gets it, Andy's gonna go for it. I mean, he did, he did really very far. But it's far, my career, you know, I think it was, it started my organizational skills, you know. And also being more open -minded too. mean, growing up in Western Mass, we didn't have a big, much of a culture swing at all. So it was interesting meeting people throughout Massachusetts. And now it's different. State schools are different. I think there's probably a lot of small state schools have a lot of just state students. But like I said, the athletics, if there's 500 kids that play sports, 400 are not going to be from Massachusetts anymore. You know, because even division three at college athletics is pretty, it's a pretty big deal. Kate Jewell (52:19.401) Mm hmm. So where are you now in terms of music and radio? Tom Benham (52:27.717) Yeah, I heard somebody at 98 .5 Sports Hub say yesterday that they're not in radio or not at music anymore. I don't, I mean, I listen to Sports Hub. mean music. mean, Yeah, I mean, so I'm, you my last bucket list show was to go see Foo Fighters and I just saw them. And I know it took so long to see them, but you know, I wasn't going to go to a festival. I was going to go to Boston Colum to see them. It's too expensive and I couldn't figure out how to get there, you know? Fenway, you know, been there a million times. That's my only second concert there because it's a terrible venue. But I saw Bruce Springsteen's, that's the first concert there. I saw that 1999, 2000, 2001, probably 2001 at Fenway. Now they have shows all the time there. No, I mean, I don't, yeah, it's kind of sad. mean, like Green Day was here last week, right? Or two days ago. and Smash and Pumpkin is open for them. I go to Smash and Pumpkin here every year, so I go to see them every year. They always come back to Boston. We're gonna go see, you know, Jane's Addictions in Boston a month and a half, not even, pretty soon. So I'll see the old 90s alternative bands, if they're still alive, if they're still with us, they're still together. I, no, I just don't, and I heard the guy on the radio say this the other day. I'm like, that's me, but that's okay. Yeah, I just, just, I just, it's okay. mean, Billy Idol comes around. I'm going to go see Billy Idol no matter what. other than that, yeah, I mean, no, I just, it's not, I don't, I don't know what it turned to. I don't, you know, I don't, I don't know where to find music. BCN's no longer with us. AAF I don't listen to because I can't stand Greg Hill. cause I'm in the car. So there's only 98 .5 sports up kiss 108, which I'm not going to listen to. then. And then, you know, then then Greg Hill's show and I'm not going to listen to Greg Hill. He's a great man, by the way, and just great work for the community. I just don't like I don't like his music. I don't like his politics either, for that matter. But but but yeah, no, it's just yeah, it's it's interesting. just know it's not. I mean, I have a thousand albums in my basement, easily a thousand, probably 700 CDs, some of them in the radio stations, some of them are mine. We used to get four of everything like. Kate Jewell (54:43.294) Mm Tom Benham (54:49.921) I don't even know who this band is, but I'll take it. We had records like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We had Christmas records. And we also had Bobby Orr, the best one, because I was a hockey guy. We had a Bobby Orr album, like 1972. I don't know how it got in there, but it was in there. What I don't know, and here's the sad thing, is when they moved out of the basement into the back into the campus center, which is very small, it's room, room, and a room. Kate Jewell (54:54.879) but in life. Kate Jewell (55:17.469) Mm Tom Benham (55:19.073) It's where it belongs though. It needs to be in the campus center. it's like 90210 when you walk by the studio booth, there's a glass booth and someone's talking, you know, instead of being in the basement away from everybody, it's where it belongs. It belongs in the campus center. So kids can walk by and see Joey or Johnny or Susie talk about, this is the rotation. This is the latest track from, know, from Mudhoney. What do you guys feel? Do you like it? Give me a thumbs up when you walk by, you know, things like that. But, Kate Jewell (55:26.717) Mm -hmm. Kate Jewell (55:44.905) you Tom Benham (55:49.721) When they moved to, we have easily 10 ,000 albums. I don't know where they are. Where are they? I suppose they stored them at the school, stored them and put them somewhere. I could probably dig around and ask questions, but I don't really know anybody there anymore. I have a thousand. We usually have more than 10 ,000 because I have like a thousand. Yeah. Yeah. I probably, maybe not in this house, but my mother's house that I grew up in probably has four or 500 and I probably have 400 here. Kate Jewell (55:54.185) Yeah. Kate Jewell (56:05.791) I'm sure I can find out. Tom Benham (56:19.069) And the CDs are just in buckets. You know, look at them. Like, that's cool. That's cool. That's cool. You know, who's got a CD player anymore? I have one in my car that's old in my car, but no one's got CD players anymore. You know, so yeah, am I disappointed? No, just, you know, it's just not my time. It's not my turn, you know? And my son, my son, he's on his own musical track. He went with me to see Food Fighters and he likes Food Fighters. He knows enough about it, you know? Kate Jewell (56:31.572) Yeah, same. Kate Jewell (56:38.289) you Tom Benham (56:47.582) Like I said, my 11 -year -old new Tear for Fear is like, how do know the words to that? That's so cool. And they play it a lot. They still play it a lot. Nah, it's OK. It's fine. Kate Jewell (56:57.501) That's how things go. Well, you hit all of my topics and any final thoughts for the record? Tom Benham (57:07.998) No, no, mean, I, it's great. you know, I left my friends there. I saw one of the metal kids, Dan McDermott at the edit Japan show and I'm not on social media anymore. So I don't really know who's doing what or anyone. And I lost my cell phone. So all my contacts are gone. So people get to hold me through LinkedIn, believe it or not. But I saw Dan and another metal kid, Mike and his name is Mike. And I haven't seen him in 30 years at edit Japan show. And I knew Dan cause I could see him. And he goes to all the shows, him and his wife go to a lot of shows. He lives in Southern New Hampshire. And I walked up to him and he didn't really recognize me. Dan, that's it. He's like, my God, it's it. And I hadn't, you know, and we talked like a half hour laughing hilariously, you know, when's the last show we went together? I'm like, duh, Ministry. You went to that? Yeah, I went to that. Yeah, the sad thing is like the only thing in college is like The Wallace Civic Center where the hockey team plays, the school now owns that. The city used to own it, but the school bought it from the city. And the city didn't do a lot of concerts at that arena. Like I said, Ministry was there, Nirvana was there, I don't know how they ended up there, but they it, which is great. But there wasn't any big shows that were, know, we'd go to Worcester, Worcester Center wasn't far. And obviously we'd go to Worcester too. But there wasn't anything, you know, that we could walk to on campus, because you could walk to the rink from. Kate Jewell (58:14.974) Mm Kate Jewell (58:32.103) Mm Tom Benham (58:37.38) from the dorms. all these shows were smaller underground bands or just local bands too. there was, and I'll leave you with this too, actually, there wasn't a lot of college kids and bands. You know, they weren't all communication majors. They all didn't belong to the radio station. It definitely helped them, obviously, because you can meet different musicians and add a musician and terminate musician and, you know, and change of genre if you want to. there wasn't, there wasn't the There wasn't enough big shows in the air. So everywhere we went, we'd have to have a car. A lot of us didn't have cars. If we want to go out and have a good time, someone's got to be a designated driver. It's kind of pain in ass. Kate Jewell (59:18.472) Walkable is accessible. Tom Benham (59:20.571) Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That's a challenge going to Fitchburg. It's a mental nowhere. one other thing too. Another thing too about Fitchburg, you know, it was so close to New Hampshire when they lifted the Blue Laws, we could actually get beer on Sundays. And I turned 21 when that law went into effect. like, this is the greatest thing in the world. we could, know, they were selling beers on Sundays in Fitchburg and like four towns over they weren't. So I'm like, this is cool. So if you ran out on Saturday, you didn't have to worry because it'd be open on Sunday. Kate Jewell (59:24.979) Yeah. Kate Jewell (59:51.06) Big deal. Tom Benham (59:51.076) Yeah, was good time. Kate Jewell (59:56.216) All right, I'm gonna stop. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 59:58 Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 02:13 Love for Alternative and Punk Rock Music 04:03 Attending Concerts and Experiencing the Music Scene 08:51 Involvement with the Radio Station at Fitchburg State University 13:06 Camaraderie and Passion among the DJs 17:51 Challenges and Impact of the Radio Station 29:07 The Power of Music and Community 30:30 Concerts and Shared Experiences 32:48 The Diversity of Shows in a College Radio Station 36:47 Developing Organizational and Leadership Skills through College Radio Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tom Benham Oral History Description An account of the resource Summary Tom Benham discusses his music background and his involvement with the radio station at Fitchburg State University. He talks about his love for alternative and punk rock music, his experiences attending concerts, and the impact of MTV on the music scene. Tom also shares his role in the radio station, the challenges they faced with their limited transmitter range, and the camaraderie among the DJs. The conversation revolves around the experience of being part of a college radio station and the impact it had on the participants' lives. They discuss the sense of community and friendship that developed through their shared love of music. They reminisce about attending concerts together and the excitement of seeing bands like O Positive and Tribe. They also talk about the structure of the radio station and the different shows they had, including alternative, metal, and 50s music. The conversation ends with reflections on how the college radio experience shaped their organizational and leadership skills. concerts independent releases oral history organizational skills record labels The Big O Show https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/721c36f9800f576ee557409b3e868757.mp3 c9bc39af3b4223f511cf8382708fb75a https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/635d8b1a4d89f543af9c1ef3e92ceec6.mp3 3d62a34bea498acfe5a7cf8939a8d1d3 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/423f7b54ef27c950cd489e23ca717deb.mp3 749f76b7d687852e8b8314e139f27d99 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/a446b058fb24850fa3d7ee24e0d3e2a9.mp3 40356cf7ce86d5a57e4623f99d14b11b https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/e7e0c71965e37ee8d8d62b167fb3674c.mp3 27ae126249cc95ae0f7313aaa34724df https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/03a87f9a35affa041c961055a34a037e.mp3 e14b96648eab4d7638b57d9e97ffc254 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/a1e449f015d4cadf8e64537b710b8297.mp3 958335cb1c6bae833235bb5f24e1d8cc https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/9a4c220a6bc22ab584fabd092b4a8a08.mp3 6330eaba1a2b055467ea489ca05770e0 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/bb6ef40d7887ecb93c7a0c4f4813b304.mp3 8f51cedd5668716170457ed98b86d5c0 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/1c1c1959db8098898692ad6f12e21dec.mp3 bd1a6b3c922f36f9afe6cb99ff1c9655 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/d4f2db37e2a78f4b7a54f3e249ad1d7a.mp3 5a521ce960019948f07254f03e8c40c4 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/84f476ee3f74f7402a8684348efea87e.mp3 cb4e3cf004889dc36726e460fd2bb30b https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/118a044da165a9d1f733448ecacb4461.mp3 328d7671da1e254e772fb773ddb6df3e https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/ad4390d67e0a2c26d72021a8e5f1feea.mp3 19cefd5333109642a046f50321b5757d https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/4be949409ceda987289677c987d7f235.mp3 2209eb20976e5c59f23e6005321db5ec https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/95419172ca01bb59026d9738ea20a392.mp3 a1e1d65780b74dc3371b45bcd63a9183 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/34672125fbc72f43a1bd223222ee5efa.mp3 041030e062647562f37b0277719d9c7d https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/5736d77b6b825a6d34c02e1849077177.mp3 6b7bc34cbd2ef1ce2062b95f3b48d064 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/6895176a3326db3915c36274f67c675c.mp3 3432e0fdbfb70bbd44251bb45609bc95 https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/4036196c81b4e4496c603fd1dfcf4585.mp3 788e07da0e1ba6d73448214e70984085 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM The Big O Thrash Show Collection, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource Promos and other materials for the Big O Thrash Show Description An account of the resource This collection contains playlists, show recordings and excerpts, production sounds, promotional material, best-of lists, and promos recorded by Mark Fields and Mike Baronas for their metal show at WXPL, Fitchburg State University, between 1989 and 1992. From Mark Fields: "The Big 'O' Thrash Show eventually shortened its name to "The Big 'O' as other forms of heavy styles we liked (death metal, grindcore) emerged and gained popularity. Also, discussing the show ... with our friend Mark "Goz" Goslin, we verified that the show continued under his direction for 2 years after we left, and that Scott McCooe carried it forward for at least another year beyond that." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Might contain copyrighted background music. Please notify if any concerns. Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data cassette tapes Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) various Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Big O - 320kbps mp2 from cassettes, promos and background sounds (multiple) Subject The topic of the resource Cassette digitizations of sound effects and clips Description An account of the resource Digitized clips from cassettes of sound effects, sound clips, and promos used in the production of the Big O Thrash Show/ The Big O between 1987 and 1992. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mark Fields and Mike Baronas Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Please note that these clips may contained copyright material that has not yet been identified. Please contact the archive with any claims to rights to have audio removed from online repository. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource cassette tapes. https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/f9b2a741a64701474ece7c803ae1b0fb.mp3 9a92a21aa3c245f1e373eccad58971cc Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource WXLP-FM 91.3 at Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA Description An account of the resource Collected artifacts and oral histories with alumni of the station. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Katherine Jewell Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Nick Lorenzen Location The location of the interview online via riverside.fm Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Kate Jewell (00:00.288) uploads to the cloud. it'll so if there's any internet blips, it will keep recording, which is nice. It's like a squad caster kind of app. does video too. Anyways, so I am Katherine Jewel. I am recording on August 21st, 2024 from Belmont, Massachusetts. And this is an interview as part of the WXPL archival project and could potentially be used as part of a podcast. And would you please introduce yourself? Nick (00:35.054) Yeah, hi, I'm Nick Lorenzen. I'm Fitchburg State class of 1992 and was a WXPL DJ. I currently live in the greater Boston area with my wife and son, two cats and a turtle, and I'm a communications consultant. Kate Jewell (00:50.464) Perfect. So could you tell me a little bit about how you got to Fitchburg State and then eventually to WXPL? Nick (00:58.135) Sure, when I was in high school, wanted to make movies. I wanted to be a filmmaker. And so I applied to Southern USC, Rutgers, Hofstra, and Fitchburg State. My father was an art professor at Fitchburg State College. And then my father informed me quite succinctly that because he was a professor at Fitchburg State College, Even though I had gotten into all the schools, I was going to Fitchburg State College because it was tuition free. And when you're 17 and you, know, my creativity's been stifled, my options are limited. Like I was such a snot about it in hindsight to my dad. What a jerk. And then I got to Fitchburg State and you know, long story short about the experience, like the communications department is amazing. And I was lucky and blessed to you know, be able to go to school and not graduate with debt, first of all. But then the summer before I started college, my brother got involved. was at the school too, and he got involved with WXPL. And so he said, for the first time, he thought in a while anyway, they were on the air that summer and they were looking for DJs. So loving music and being a big Alternna music fan of which they were very few people I could talk to at Lemister High School in the 80s. I said yeah, and I went and got my license. At the time I was working at Strawberry's Records and Tapes, because that's what you did if you love music. You worked at the record store in the mall. And so I got to WXPL that summer, that's when I first met Craig Albano. And he showed me the ropes, and I was my first time on the air. I was nervous and loved it. was horrible and said hi to this girl I wanted to make out with and didn't. All this stuff you're not supposed to do on radio. I acted like I was in my basement talking to my friends. And so I just got involved with, freshman year came around, I got part of the schedule, I actually had my own show, I think it was the only freshman to have my own show. Kate Jewell (03:05.165) you Nick (03:24.874) that year, but I think it was just because of the summer experience. And that's, I remember Mike Panagini had a show right after mine. And that's how got to know him. And little did I know like a couple of years later, I would kind of meet him again. And he's been my best friend ever since. But it was, it was great. You know, as a kid, a 17 year old starting college. who likes the replacements and who's going to do a new order and echoing the bunny man and R .E and the clash and got there of course via the Springsteen, I call it the Springsteen U2 highway, you know, in the 80s. It kind of led me to the more than obscure stuff. Then obscure, now almost ubiquitous. yeah, so that's kind how I got involved with XPL. And I would come in and out for years, but... Kate Jewell (04:05.109) you Nick (04:21.757) Yeah, it was excellent. It great place to friends I still have to this day. Kate Jewell (04:27.146) So what kind of show did you develop while you were there? How did you look at the programming? How did you fit in with the programming? Sort of talk about the music a little bit. Nick (04:35.08) So the music was, my take, and this is where I met Mark Small. I saw him in the studio wearing a Dinosaur Jr. shirt, and I was like, again, it's freshman year, this might have been sophomore year at this point, and I didn't really know many people who knew who Dinosaur Jr. was in 1987, 88, and not only did he know him, he referred to Jay Maskus as Jay. You know, meaning like there was an era of familiarity and I'd come to find out that Mark was in a punk band after high school called Cancer's Growth and he toured with like Black Flag and Fugazi and all kinds of people. So anyway, so I got to know him a little bit better and then we started doing a show. It was a little more... of the stuff that I was really listening to, was, you know, the playlist was, you know, think about this is the late eighties, turn to the eighties to the nineties. So there was everything from like, positive and tribe, big local bands, to, you know, your REM, your happy Mondays, your stone roses, things that, I think still get referred to as college rock. And I was starting to get into more guitar driven, Kate Jewell (05:56.512) Mm Nick (06:01.458) you know, now I just call it like fuzz pop, you know what I mean? But like at the time it was so in Mark and I think nurtured that in each other. he definitely taught me about bands. didn't know, you know, like, so we started playing things like, well, we started playing Husker do, and we started playing, you know, mission of Burma, fugazi, dinosaur junior, Sonic use. He'd introduced me to all kinds of bands, some of which I can't even remember. But we did kind of a little bit of one of the heavier shows that wasn't metal or like industrial. It still kind of like alternative pop -ish music, but it was a little heavier, you know? that's kind of like, that was my role in terms of what I played, in terms of how it fit into the tone of the station's music. Kate Jewell (06:46.506) you Kate Jewell (06:59.178) So what moments stand out either on or off air that really defined your experiences there? Nick (07:07.044) Well, I mean off air it's you know like through WXPL. Well first on air, I remember having a cold and Mike Panagini said, my god you sound just like Kevin Kinney with your cold. So it was first time I ever sang publicly. I went and did a song with Mike from Kevin Kinney's album on the air on someone else's show. I remember that. I remember being like, people used to joke that I was the head of SNARK at the station. And my friend Mike Degras, whose nickname was Elbow, because everyone has to have friends with great college nicknames, right? And it was literally just doesn't make sense. He looked like Elroy Jetson. Someone called him Elroy. Then someone just called him Elbow. And next thing you know, for four years, he's Elbow. But he's particularly caustic if you weren't a good person. Kate Jewell (07:51.443) Yes. Nick (08:06.5) I like to say he used his powers for good. And so I remember one year during the quiz, one of the people, one of the, you know, the orientation for the station, the fall, first fall meeting, someone said, one of the questions was, what is your biggest fear? And not one, but two different people who we found out didn't know each other said, making a mistake while Nick and Elbow are in the So I remember like that's when I kind of learned like I should probably just chill out a little bit that stuff And off the air I remember when the station hosted the mighty mighty boss tones who played and I Got up on stage and sang sweet emotion When they covered it and then cut to 2013 My friend Brian was working for the Jimmy Kimmel show when we went there, and this is when Dickie Barrett still worked there. Brian had reminded him about everything. so Dickie Barrett comes over to me and my wife and he said, hey, this a -hole ruined my concert at Fitchburg State 20 years ago. I hear he's your problem now. So like all kinds of memories. then like probably the biggest thing associated with it is Kate Jewell (09:23.026) you Nick (09:30.261) you know, twofold is one, junior year after I had like had a pretty tumultuous sophomore year, I had medical issues and had surgery. so junior year was kind of like almost like a reboot for me. And then I, you know, hooked up, I was still friends with Mark. And then he moved in with Chuck Ferreira and Mike Panagini into an apartment, a famous apartment where Craig Albano lived. previously and used to throw parties for my station manager. And so I got to know them and they started playing music and I had a bass. They were all musicians and I had a bass. So we started forming a band in the basement and Chuck would, we'd kick Chuck out because he never came to practice because he was doing other stuff. But then we got to know Kate Jewell (10:25.472) I heard there was a girl involved. Nick (10:26.964) Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think girl's the wrong term. I think an older woman was involved. To be clear about it, but anyway, so we got to, I basically, there was a party in the basement and this other band Furious George played and I loved their drummer and I didn't know him, but those guys knew him. And so we asked him, Matt Debenham to be in our band. And so next thing you know, we're in that band. We're in that band for like four or five years and we play real shows around Boston. We were on a bill with Green Day at one point in 1993. They never showed because of a blizzard, but that's how we got to know Ben Diley from the Lemonheads because they were on that pill. then, so made friends for life. Mike Panagini, who we nicknamed as Rock. Rock and I were co best men's and met and his wife, Casey St. Ange's. wedding. Casey now does the busy Phillips podcast stuff. Fitchburg native, arguably the most famous person from Fitchburg state, that I know of anyway. but you know, it's just a close knit group of friends and we've stayed friends forever. And I mean, the Smalls, Mark Small and the Pantogenes and Chuck and me and Matt and Casey are on the West coast, but Like we're all like family, you know, like we consider ourselves family. And in that extent, and then there's like outer rungs of that, you know, that extend and social media only reinforced that because it's got us back together. this is another example of, mean, when you mentioned you reached out to me and I was like, guess I only know like 40 people I could tell you about like, because who Kate Jewell (12:19.121) you Nick (12:19.838) We're still mostly in touch, you know, and beyond in touch. we're, like we live near each other and I don't think that's on accident, you know? So it's made the best friends in my life and really glad I didn't go to USC. Kate Jewell (12:30.634) you. Kate Jewell (12:36.48) I love that. I am too, because you have left quite the legacy for Fitchburg State. So how did being at the radio station and being in a band and doing all of these things fit with your academic work on campus? How did those two things go together or not? Nick (12:41.479) Hahaha Nick (12:56.727) no, they, they, they, they, they did. I was a, you know, a communications major. I majored in film at some point. I, I changed my, major to human services and then I, you know, it should be telling about my later work, but I just didn't, quite know what I wanted to do. And I wasn't quite like the, the gear head that I thought all the other film students were, you know? And so I ended up getting an internship. I found my own internship. Kate Jewell (13:23.136) Mm Nick (13:27.004) at a casting agency. So I worked on that side of it. I mean, I remember as you know, there's a 12 credit internship still right like for communications department that has to you have to do it in order to graduate unpaid. So I would get up on in the mornings and drive to Cambridge and park multiple Kate Jewell (13:39.016) Yep Nick (13:54.555) places illegally for the day, come back at least three nights a week practice with the band and then go back to home because I was still commuting living in Leamingster with my mom and my brother. so at that point things were kind of smooth because you know before the band and everything the radio station was not a problem. fitting in with like even know film shoots and college film shoots and things like that. In fact, you know as you can imagine there's a decent amount of overlap between the TV and film majors and the radio station. So a lot of times you know you'd be like hey I can't make that because I have my show or I can't make my show can you do it because you know that project we all have to do for so -and -so professor for Gunther Hoos or George Borer like you know so it was it was pretty easy to balance I felt. Kate Jewell (14:52.842) How did you feel that the radio station fit in with the university culture writ large? Nick (14:56.922) You know in late 80s early 90s was a lot of I Mean I mean the new kids on the block were huge You know what I mean and not only were the new kids on the block huge, but their brother was DJ at XPL the Knights Dave Knight I remember and I think probably someone's told you this that you spoken with already that WXP is thanked on the back of hanging tough and I remember because their first concert they were first played on WXBL because of Jordan and Jonathan's brother Dave and their first concert was at an underage dance club called Tracks America in Levenster which I used to go to in high school because you know I like dancing and girls but overall I think it's summed up it's so funny because I think you still looked at as weirdos because this is still like you know acid wash jeans and pegged pants and And alternative music wasn't the music. It started to change a little at the end, like after Nirvana, REM and Jane's Addiction and things like that, and the Bostons. That started to change, but early on, we were just like, those are the weirdos. In high school, I was a pretty popular kid, and I hung out with popular people. In college, I... Kate Jewell (16:04.725) Yeah. Nick (16:24.189) absolutely was not and it was better. It was more honest, I think, with myself. I remember Mark and I, and granted, at this point in time, we weren't into Bauhaus or Susan the Banshees. We were into the replacements and firehose and flannel shirts and jeans. I remember, but I was still friends with lot of different kinds of people at the school. Kate Jewell (16:49.418) Mm -hmm. Nick (16:54.111) some guy I know who I liked who's in a fraternity invited us to a party, invited me to a party and I was like, I bring my buddy? Cause we were doing something else at night and he's like, yeah, sure. So we get there and I mean, we're literally just like t -shirts, jeans, you know? And it's the guy who invited me to his party and Mark and I are filling up beers at the keg and I hear someone say to another guy, hear someone, Jarhead wearing a big backwards baseball cap like I am now Say to another guy with light blue jeans and white sneakers. Hey, how come the freaks drink for free? Like that and it's like like it's like it's not like I'm like I got my I don't even have a piercing at this point Like it's like so I think people thought of us still that way Except that we were It was such a diverse group actually, you know, really ran the gamut. Andy Gobeel, who went on to be a newscaster, who started doing news there. I mean, he was amazing. Just, it was much more diverse than I think the college writ large thought, but I don't, I still think they thought we were like the weirdos. And we embraced it kinda. Kate Jewell (18:11.73) Mm -hmm. Kate Jewell (18:15.136) So how did the radio station intersect with the local music scene, the community, like looking outside of Fitchburg State? Do you have a sense of who your listeners were, how it fit in with the music business? Nick (18:26.996) We, I mean, people doing the show, I had my regular listeners and you'd find out by these teenage kids would call and request stuff, know? And it was like, that's cool, you know? But I mean, some shows, like the Big O with Rat Show, I mean, my God, they were literally important in the metal industry if you got... their endorsement. This little station in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, wore endorsements from the Big O Thrasho like a badge for people who were played on it or involved in it. you know, they helped put the station on the map. And I remember my freshman year, my brother and Craig Albano, actually, think, I mean, we had a station ID from Pete Townsend. You know what I mean? who called us Pittsburgh State College first and then corrected himself. it was just like, think, Fitchburg and Leamingster didn't really have anything like that. So I knew an increasing amount of people who were listening by like the end of my tenure at Fitchburg State. I mean, in that time, that was the time when culture kind of changed anyway. You you went from, I mean, there was Seattle. Wright and Lollapalooza and so and then Eastern Border, the first area skateboard shop opened in Fishburg and that was a big deal, you know? And so you get these little, you know, skate punk kids and stuff and a lot of them would listen and call our show and of course a lot of them would want to listen to the harder shows like Sonic Lobotomy or the Big O Thras show and stuff like that. But we had our sense of, you have a little bit of a connection in the community, but mostly still there was probably people on campus listening. Nick (20:23.91) But the real reach beyond this station was to putting us on the map as a station that played quality music and cared about good music and artists and certain shows, again, like Big O Thrasher really nurtured that. Kate Jewell (20:43.498) So for you personally, how, so you've talked about how it cemented these friendships and these relationships that have been perennial. How did the experiences that you had at the radio station skill wise, on air, off air, translated into other areas of your life professionally? Like, what did you, what do you find to be the legacies of that experience for you? Nick (21:06.256) It got me comfortable. My mom says I was always comfortable talking. She says I was born with VD, verbal diarrhea. she's like, but just like anyone, you get nervous and anxious about it at times. I think it made me confident. First of it made me confident that my choices, there's people out there who also. enjoyed the same type of music I did. So that was huge. Validation, that's a huge validation when you're 18, 19 years old. Two, it helped me understand, you know, being responsible, like running a studio, you know, while it's on the air. Back then you were like queuing up the record, you know, like so it started in time. It wasn't hit a button, hit a button. was switch, hit, go, mute, you know, all that stuff. So it that level, it actually helped me feel more confident in film class, because like I said, I wasn't a big gear head when I entered college. I wanted to be part of the more creative aspects of things, it made me feel more technically savvy. And it made me feel, it also made me realize that I wanted to, show business is the wrong word, but I wanted to do something that connects to the public, and I ended up. working for The Late Show and then getting a job at CBS News. And that was a huge important part of that, I think. I don't think I would have known how much that kind of work meant to me from just film class alone. was really, I opened it be like, this is great. I'm talking and people are listening and I'm playing music and people like it and I'm doing stuff and I'm interacting with the public and we're doing. PSA's that are important like it really just carved out a part of me that said like you should You should be broadcasting something Kate Jewell (23:12.704) So what kind of work were you doing at those shows? Like, I think a lot of times people miss the fact that it's not just about, you know, knowing how to use this piece of equipment. That it's this bigger kind of X factor that you get out of this experience. Nick (23:21.909) yeah, no it's... Nick (23:26.828) Yeah, no, it's the sense that you're part of something bigger than yourself too. mean, that was like the real first experience who was at XPL doing that. it's, you know, at the Late Show, I would temp at CBS News in the morning and go over to the Late Show for taping in the afternoon, and was in charge of, and that's when I would warm up the audience and break out all my, you know. favorite Steve Martin jokes when people were heckling me. Like, I remember my first beer, you know, like, and stuff like that. You know, but like, you had the, and everyone there who was working there had that confidence, you know, and they got it from somewhere or else you weren't doing that. You weren't working that show. Cause, and then I remember I was working in the morning on April of 95 at 48 hours. And that's when the federal building in Oklahoma City was blown up. And I spent the next three days chartering planes and booking flights and sending equipment and getting tickets for Dan Rather and things like that. And it was a real sense of, it was an elevation of that feeling from the radio station that you're part of something bigger than yourself, you know? And that kind of spurred me on to wanting that career. I was at CBS News for five years and covered a lot of horrible things that happened in the 90s from Columbine to Flight 800 to the Unabomber to numerous school shootings beyond Columbine like Paducah, Kentucky and Arkansas and mean just, you know, grim stuff but it was the opportunity of a lifetime in many respects and it's still like probably the best job I ever had. never would have ever happened, not only just experience -wise, recognizing what I wanted to do wise, but also just human connection -wise, if I hadn't worked at the radio station. Kate Jewell (25:39.39) that. That's amazing. So what do want people to know? Maybe current students, the university, the Fitchburg community, music fans. What do you want them to know about WXPL and your time there? Nick (25:55.95) well, it's almost two different things for me. It's like, you know, about my time there, it's like we were our, my generation did some important stuff that elevated the station's profile, not beyond Fitchburg, beyond even nationally in some weird aspects in some weird ways globally. and highlighted the importance and how a little station that could, could have a big impact on a lot of people. in terms of what I hope people continue to, and I know there's far more interest in it now than there was say 20 years ago, I think anyway, from my view from the cheap seats anyway. It seems that way, that you have an amazing resource for this radio station and it can be such a powerful thing, but it's only gonna be as powerful as you make it and value it. If you work there, you treat it like it's a real station. Don't treat it like I did my first day. You know, we're talking to your friends and be like, yeah, we're going over to Steve's later. know, like it'll be valued and appreciated as much as you give people a reason to value and appreciate it. And for people who aren't at the station, give it a chance. This is a time where music is more homogenized and corporate than... even before the changes that happened when I was there. I saw a video, I forget where it was, there was someone was talking about bands that spent time at number one. And it was like in the 80s and the 90s, was like bands spent a band, not an artist or a duet or two solo people or whatever. Bands spent like over 140 and over 150 weeks at number one. at some point during that decade. Since 2020, have been, I heard, three weeks where a band has been number one. And one of them was like a super group and one of them was like a temporary group. And so there was only one band. can't remember who it is and I don't know who they are if I remember it anyway. it's like, so at a time when that's what your options are, know, trust your colleagues and your peers and your Nick (28:23.567) your fellow students to like maybe turn you on to something great, you know, and you never know what's going to open your mind and lead you down avenues to find things that you think are cool or bring you enjoyment. Kate Jewell (28:37.344) There's a motorcycle going by outside. Nick (28:40.198) Someone's mowing their lawn here, you know, that's what happens. Kate Jewell (28:43.968) That's good. Stop picking it up. That's good. Yeah, there's like construction. That's ridiculous. All right. Any final thoughts? Stories that I've heard to you since. Nick (28:53.262) W - WXPL is great. It's an important thing that people should really understand its place in the fabric of the history of the college and how this little station had a big impact on people who liked cool music at a time when they needed it. Kate Jewell (29:18.72) Fantastic. All right, Nick, thank you so much. Nick (29:21.682) Thank you and good luck with everything else. Let me know if you want to talk to anyone. Have you talked to Indiegobiel? Kate Jewell (29:29.084) no, not yet. I think we follow each other on Twitter. So I've been meaning to reach out to him that Nick (29:34.746) He'd be good, he'd be good, because that's a totally different perspective, but like he, he, he like was the first person I knew who did like a legit newscast in college, you know, and I was like, that's the nerdy news guy, and he's a freaking great dude, you know? And then there's people like Dan McDermott, I don't know if you talked to him, like he, he, I mean he did, he showed, like I said before, like it was more diverse than people at the station thought. I mean, Dan. Kate Jewell (29:54.56) Not yet. Nick (30:03.171) you know, play Dockin and Rat and his name was Denimal, you know, it was like almost antithetical to the rest of us, you know, it's like, and I thought he was such a dweeb in college and now he's like one of my good friends who I really, you know, like and he's just a music lover, you know, so anyway, thanks for the opportunity and good luck with everything. All right. Kate Jewell (30:23.05) Thank you. Thank you. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 30:24 Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 02:55 The Journey from High School to WXPL 06:01 WXPL's Impact on the Local Music Scene 12:20 Valuing and Appreciating WXPL 21:06 Skills and Confidence Gained from WXPL 25:55 WXPL's Influence on Nick's Broadcasting Career Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nick Lorenzen Oral History Description An account of the resource Interview by Katherine Jewell with Nick Lorenzen, Class of 1992, about WXPL. Summary Nick Lorenzen, a former WXPL DJ, shares his journey from high school to Fitchburg State College and his involvement with WXPL. He discusses how the radio station shaped his friendships, musical taste, and career aspirations. Nick highlights the importance of WXPL in the local music scene and its impact on the community. He emphasizes the value of the station and encourages current students to treat it as a real station and explore diverse music. Nick also reflects on the skills and confidence he gained from his time at WXPL, which translated into his professional life in the broadcasting industry. WXPL played a significant role in shaping Nick Lorenzen's friendships, musical taste, and career aspirations. The radio station had a strong impact on the local music scene and connected with listeners who appreciated alternative music. Nick emphasizes the importance of valuing and appreciating WXPL as a powerful resource for discovering new music. His experiences at WXPL helped him develop skills in communication, technical operations, and being part of something bigger than himself. Nick's time at WXPL influenced his career path in the broadcasting industry and instilled a passion for connecting with the public through media. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 21, 2024 oral history https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/af473c413ab55dbcb6deaaf82c3282cb.wav 291fc1b9a9bc77d1a6113a90a2096e01 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM The Big O Thrash Show Collection, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource Promos and other materials for the Big O Thrash Show Description An account of the resource This collection contains playlists, show recordings and excerpts, production sounds, promotional material, best-of lists, and promos recorded by Mark Fields and Mike Baronas for their metal show at WXPL, Fitchburg State University, between 1989 and 1992. From Mark Fields: "The Big 'O' Thrash Show eventually shortened its name to "The Big 'O' as other forms of heavy styles we liked (death metal, grindcore) emerged and gained popularity. Also, discussing the show ... with our friend Mark "Goz" Goslin, we verified that the show continued under his direction for 2 years after we left, and that Scott McCooe carried it forward for at least another year beyond that." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Might contain copyrighted background music. Please notify if any concerns. Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) :05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Reed MIND FUNK 'my man Mark' Celtic Frost (artist) Mind Funk (artist) https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/f6e1e51bc8fefe3e4e9e48a299981ebb.wav ba187019b315ab27464d12c98010166a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM The Big O Thrash Show Collection, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource Promos and other materials for the Big O Thrash Show Description An account of the resource This collection contains playlists, show recordings and excerpts, production sounds, promotional material, best-of lists, and promos recorded by Mark Fields and Mike Baronas for their metal show at WXPL, Fitchburg State University, between 1989 and 1992. From Mark Fields: "The Big 'O' Thrash Show eventually shortened its name to "The Big 'O' as other forms of heavy styles we liked (death metal, grindcore) emerged and gained popularity. Also, discussing the show ... with our friend Mark "Goz" Goslin, we verified that the show continued under his direction for 2 years after we left, and that Scott McCooe carried it forward for at least another year beyond that." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Might contain copyrighted background music. Please notify if any concerns. Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) :05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Reed MIND FUNK 'my buddy Mike' Celtic Frost (artist) Mind Funk (artist) https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/1872ad0563f5821031f429f807b58794.wav 4cd2603265fc21a8a7141436e83dbeb3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM The Big O Thrash Show Collection, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource Promos and other materials for the Big O Thrash Show Description An account of the resource This collection contains playlists, show recordings and excerpts, production sounds, promotional material, best-of lists, and promos recorded by Mark Fields and Mike Baronas for their metal show at WXPL, Fitchburg State University, between 1989 and 1992. From Mark Fields: "The Big 'O' Thrash Show eventually shortened its name to "The Big 'O' as other forms of heavy styles we liked (death metal, grindcore) emerged and gained popularity. Also, discussing the show ... with our friend Mark "Goz" Goslin, we verified that the show continued under his direction for 2 years after we left, and that Scott McCooe carried it forward for at least another year beyond that." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Might contain copyrighted background music. Please notify if any concerns. Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) :09 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Reed MIND FUNK 'Mike and Mark' 2 Celtic Frost (artist) https://www.wrvuhistory.org/files/original/be45c655b7e12a621b8ed3dfabddc84e.wav 4c8e7def8c6bf19068b247a46a32d52d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource WXPL-FM The Big O Thrash Show Collection, Fitchburg State University Subject The topic of the resource Promos and other materials for the Big O Thrash Show Description An account of the resource This collection contains playlists, show recordings and excerpts, production sounds, promotional material, best-of lists, and promos recorded by Mark Fields and Mike Baronas for their metal show at WXPL, Fitchburg State University, between 1989 and 1992. From Mark Fields: "The Big 'O' Thrash Show eventually shortened its name to "The Big 'O' as other forms of heavy styles we liked (death metal, grindcore) emerged and gained popularity. Also, discussing the show ... with our friend Mark "Goz" Goslin, we verified that the show continued under his direction for 2 years after we left, and that Scott McCooe carried it forward for at least another year beyond that." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Katherine Jewell Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Might contain copyrighted background music. Please notify if any concerns. Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) :05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Reed MIND FUNK 'Mike and Mark' 1 Celtic Frost (artist)