WBCN

WBCN is a New England commercial alternative rock radio station based in Boston, Massachusetts and is owned by by media conglomerate Viacom. It competes with two other Massachusetts alternative stations, WFNX and WAAF.

Before the middle 1960s, the station played classical music exclusively. The call letters stood for the Boston station of the Concert Network. One of the on-air personalities at that time was Ron Della Chiesa, who also served as music host and program director. Della Chiesa is still active in classical music broadcasting on WGBH.

The station changed to the alternative music format around 1967. It also began supporting non-mainstream investigative reporting and such novel concepts as a show oriented toward prison inmates, health warnings about the hazards of street drugs, and live updates on the traffic problems at Woodstock.

In the early 1980s, Carter Alan, the station's musical director, heavily promoted then-unknown band U2, helping the group break into the United States.