February 03, 1990

WBMT Playlist

My high school, Masconomet Regional High School, has a FM radio station: WBMT 88.3 FM. At the time WBMT had a 740-watt transmitter, so it wasn't just an in-school project- the whole North Shore of Boston could hear WBMT. I joined the station when I was a sophomore, played the 45 of "Say It Isn't So" by Hall & Oates as my first song, and I was hooked. I stayed on WBMT, playing "The North Shore's Best Rock" all through high school. I would occasionally begin my show by playing the theme to "Mister Rogers Neighborhood", only to "blow up" the record into "Panama" from Van Halen (see below).

The format was AOR, which stands for "album-oriented rock". AOR is basically classic rock, plus new rock music. This was the format of WBCN in the 1980s, for example. This playlist is from an eight hour double-shift I pulled one Saturday. I had just turned 18, and I was about to graduate in 4 months. Eight hours is a brutally long shift, so I played "double-shots" all day to make the song selection a little easier. Here's a partial playlist.

  • "The Star-Spangled Banner"
  • Sign-On Announcements
  • Underwriters List
  • Community Calendar
  • Concert Calendar
  • "Mr Rogers Neighborhood" Theme
  • "Panama"/"Jump" Van Halen
  • "Live and Let Die"/"My Brave Face" Paul McCartney
  • "The Long Run"/"Already Gone" The Eagles
  • "Nobody Told Me"/"God" John Lennon
  • "God Part II (remix)"/"Pride" U2
  • Bobcat Goldthwait: "Childbirth"
  • "Kickstart My Heart" Motley Crue
  • "Who Are You" The Who
  • "You're Only Human"/"That's Not Her Style" Billy Joel
  • Dennis Miller: "National Enquirer"
  • "You Shook Me All Night Long"/"Back In Black" AC/DC
  • "Things Can Only Get Better"/"No One Is To Blame" Howard Jones
  • "Sldegehammer"/"Shock The Monkey" Peter Gabriel