On The Air

I was a dee-jay (ahem, "radio host") for 13 years (1990-2003) on WMBR-FM (88.1 mHz), the all-volunteer, student-run radio station of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, MA. Drummer George Schuller and record promoter Al Julian, then both on-air hosts, got me interested, and Dave Palmater engineered for me for years until I passed the (by then much simplified) engineering test. Back the all producer-announcers, community members and students alike, aired a weekly 2-hour show. I regarded my program as a public service, an educational resource.

For 10 years, I hosted an eclectic all-jazz show, "Changes". Then I decided to reinvent my format. "Why not include classical music," I figured, "since I've sung in choruses since I was 11?" So "Crosscurrents" attempted an uneasy synthesis of jazz and classical music, with occasional dashes of "world", electronica, and other genres, like tributes to the birds and Frank Zappa or string quartet specials.

I got kicks co-hosting a Saturday-night jazz show with Jack Lazare (of Milkman's Matinee fame) on WHDH-AM in the 80s, and making rare guest spots, as on Ron Della Chiesa's Music America (WGBH-FM).

I also wrote articles on the dedicated work of fellow radio hosts:

Willis Conover (Voice of America), Steve Schwartz (WGBH-FM), Ray Smith (WGBH-FM), Downbeat Magazine

Eric Jackson (WGBH-FM), Michael Haggerty (WHRB-FM), Jeff Turton (WFNX-FM), New England Jazz Radio News

Tony Cennamo (WBUR-FM), Mae Cramer (WGBH-FM), Boston Herald.

Please tune into MIT’s marvelously eclectic student-run station, WMBR-FM {audio link at www. wmbr.mit. org}. WMBR’s jazz programming concentrates around weekday afternoons, 2 - 6pm. "Crosscurrents" airs -- always live -- Thursdays, 2 - 4pm.

Sample playlists illustrate my eclectic approach to presenting jazz (and lately also ‘contemporary classical’) music. My celebration of Bach’s 250th anniversary, for example, interwove performances of Well-tempered Clavier by Helmut Walcha and John Lewis, and Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations with Uri Caine’s. Annual specials include a Mass. Audubon Tribute to the Birds each May.

I’ve been diligent seeking out guests to interview live — never taped. It’s usually a jazz artist visiting a local jazz-club (Scullers, Regattabar, Ryle’s, etc.) and/or a musician in Boston’s top-notch resident musical community. Please review my guest list.

Musicians Interviewed on WMBR 

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Fred Bouchard
78 Farnham Street
Belmont MA 02478 USA
617-484-6692
frederickbouchard@gmail.com