By Jim Botticelli, Creator of Dirty Old Boston

In Dirty Old Boston, WMEX-AM was the only station for kids. WBZ and later WRKO were richer and more powerful, but this little station located right outside Kenmore Square launched in 1934 and kept on keeping on. Legend has it that Billie Holiday was broadcast remotely for audiences at home from an unspecified Boston Nightclub. The smart money is on the old Hi Hat in the South End, in the days when South End jazz clubs were commonplace.

The Beautiful and Sad Billie Holiday

In 1941, noted jazz scholar Nat Hentoff, author of "Boston Boy: Growing Up With Jazz and other Rebellious Passions", launched his first jazz show on WMEX, giving listeners nearly a decade of listening before heading to New York where he became a widely respected author, reporter, reviewer and critic of all things Jazz.

Keyboardist John Kiley, Fenway Park organist from 1954-1989, performed live on WMEX in the 40s and 50s, playing audience call-in favorites by request, live, on the spot, earning him a stellar rep and a gig any keyboardist would salivate to sequester.

In 1957, following an ownership change, WMEX changed  to a rock-and-roll format, one of the first in the US to do so, and began airing the now legendary Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg, whose nightly rock-and-roll broadcasts on 1600 WBOS were already very popular. Ginsburg got a boost from Revere rocker Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon who recorded  Arnie a legendary theme song.

With other personalities such as Emperor Fenway, Melvin X Melvin and Dandy Dan Donovan, the station was the go-to for Boston youth. Ginsburg frequently ran record hops in Legion halls and community centers for local high-schoolers and famously created the "Ginsburger" for sponsor Adventure Car Hop.