WBZ Anniversaries

There have been many milestones during WBZ's years on the air.  To celebrate our first decade hundreds of 'BZ listeners came to the Hotel Bradford. Guests were treated to the sounds of popular bandleaders and even some members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  For WBZ's 25th anniversary in a scene reminiscent of the well known "War of the Worlds Broadcast"  WBZ decided to re-create a news broadcast, as it might have sounded years earlier.  Unfortunately, many people didn't realize it was a re-enactment. Newsman Arch MacDonald read about a fire at Mount Holyoke College. Area firehouses were deluged with calls from worried listeners who feared the college was on fire. The rest of the program went more peacefully, with visits from early WBZ broadcasters Thornton W. Burgess, hockey announcer Frank Ryan, and Scottish vocalist Sandy MacFarlane.