My FM Metal Music Life in the Early 70s

December 19, 1969, I got my  driver's license. I was so happy with that monumental event that I have celebrate the anniversary of my driver's license every year even though I barely celebrate my birthday.  

Among the many ways having a driver's license gave me independence, it meant I had control of the car radio.  My dad listened to sports and the news when we drove to and from work--I worked summers and Saturdays in the grocery warehouse where he worked.  Now, alone in the car, I could listen to music.

But not my favorite music. Most cars only had AM radios in the 1960s and well into the 1970s. In the car, I could listen to 68 WRKO Boston like everyone else.  

Late at night, I could hang a 3-meter long wire out my second-floor, north-facing bedroom window and listen to The Stones, The Who, The Doors, Boston Band Aerosmith, and other new metal bands that were never played on WRKO.  The two stations that played metal were WBCN and WHRB.  (Broadcast FM signals have a 2.8-to-3.2-meter wavelength.) 

WBCN was founded in 1968 calling itself "The American Revolution."  They played rock all the time mixed with news and antiwar messages.  WHRB played classical and had news broadcasts during the day, but had late-night and overnight broadcasts that played Led Zeppelin, Iron Butterfly, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Cream, Uriah Heep, Steppenwolf, and others.  

It would be years before I owned a car with an FM radio.  And by the time I had FM I also had a cassette player and did not usually listen to broadcast radio.  

Metal dropped out of my music listening until it returned with a jolt in 2007 when I re-enlisted in the Army.  Many of the 20-year-olds in my unit listened to speed metal, death metal and related genres.  After the brilliant lyrics of early Zeppelin and Uriah Heep, this 21st century metal was awful.  

During Covid I was riding and walking alone a lot.  I usually listen to podcasts but decided to listen to Zeppelin and read the lyrics. Brilliant and beautiful.  It was like catching up with an old friend.  

Riding along listening "Heartbreaker," "Whole Lotta Love," "Bring it on Home," and the rest of those songs took me back Stoneham, listening to my favorite music on a little FM radio.  That music came from WHRB on Harvard's campus and from WBCN on State Street south of the Boston Common. 

Now I can listen to music from any time and anywhere on iTunes.  But it was fun to carefully tune the little radio to 95.3 and see what the late night student DJ would spin.