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Thom Lane – DJ/Las Vegas Denizen

March 15, 2016 - Site Contributors
Thom Lane – DJ/Las Vegas Denizen

Employment councilors tell us to have a five year job plan in today’s market. What happened to me in the years 1978-82 are nothing that could be planed, just riding the luminous tail of a comet. I applied to the non commercial radio station at MIT to revive my radio career and wound in a radical musical/cultural evolution.

The students were in class and the morning block of programming was available to community people, as an experienced radio guy I was made the producer. The Late Risers Club exposed an eruption of creativity looking for an outlet. It attracted a roster of DJ’s and welcomed in local cultural people, their contributions had a long lasting impact on the Boston scene. We instituted a format of local band tapes, American punk/new wave bands that were ignored on commercial radio, import records from the UK, electronic dance beats and a flavoring of reggae and ska music. The Boston music community tuned us in daily.

The scene grew with a number of night clubs featuring a expanding list of diverse alternative bands.The new American bands and the British heavy weights. At this time I had a regular shift at the Channel club a funky road house, then Spit the ultimate punk disco and later Man Ray the sexually ambiguous club in Cambridge. Commercial radio recognized the new format and Y102 in Lynn changed format and later was purchased by the Boston Phoenix and became WFNX. I actually was able to scratch out a living riding the crest of the New Wave.

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