Category: Station News

Some of the most memorable music in the last century has been written to accompany film and television.  Composers like Bernard Hermann, Henry Mancini, Johnny (later John) Williams all created unforgettable scores. 

Every Sunday night at 9:00, WBOM presents “Cinephonic” – two hours of the best music from film and television soundtracks.  Tune in to hear those sweeping majestic symphonies created especially for the big screen, but also catch the incidental music from your favorite television shows; those small stabs that instantly bring you back to your favorite characters in love, or in peril (or often in both) right before the commercial break.

Not every movie has an official soundtrack album.  Most television music never gets past underlying re-runs.  However, with the Internet, we have been able to locate a lot of music that might have otherwise been forgotten.  If you have a favorite movie or television show that is under-represented, email us at radio.wbom@gmail.com.  Let us know the name of the movie or the series then tune in next week… same full-service-time, same full-service-channel.

When Bell Labs first taught an IBM computer how to “sing”, they had no idea what they were unleashing on the world.  While the first video games only had a smattering of beeps or buzzing to accompany the graphic action, it wasn’t long before you could hear arcades before you could see them.  At home, the earliest consoles and home computers features ways to get sound and make music. 

As the technology advanced, the sound got better.  Simple one-voice melodies were replaced by lush soundtracks rivaling anything from a Hollywood production.  At the same time, the computer became an instrument in and of itself.  It can emulate real instruments, but also create new and interesting sounds unlike anything made before. 

Tune in to “Bits and Bytes” on Thursday nights at 11:00.  We play the best music exclusive to video games, and also treat you to music that was never released on any media other than computer code. 

New Age music is designed to promote relaxation, mindfulness, and emotional well-being. It often blends acoustic instruments like piano, flute, and guitar with electronic textures such as ambient synth pads and sequencer-based rhythms. The music is typically slow-paced and atmospheric, making it popular for meditation, yoga, massage, and stress relief.

Ambient music is a genre that emphasizes atmosphere and tone over traditional structure or rhythm. It often features slow-moving textures, minimal melodies, and subtle sound design. It’s like sonic wallpaper: meant to evoke a mood, a place, or a feeling, rather than tell a story.

“Akasha” is a Sanskrit word meaning “space” or “atmosphere”. It’s associated with the fifth element in various spiritual and philosophical traditions. It represents a subtle, all-encompassing energy or substance that pervades all things and is considered to be the source from which all other elements arise.

And when coming up with a name for our new show featuring the best in ambient and new age music, “Akasha” was the perfect choice. Tune in (or tune out) on Sunday nights at 11pm to our latest addition to Full Service Radio.

Friday nights on WBOM are getting edgier.

Is “edgier” a word?

We don’t care.

It’s that kind of in-your-face attitude that you can find with Stu Patterson’s new show, Cafe Zed. He plays punk music, but – as he puts it – “only the good stuff”.

Starting with the sixties proto-punk of The Stooges and MC5, Cafe Zed plays the classics from the likes of the Sex Pistols and The Jam, the lesser-known but no-less-respected bands like Nomeansno and Pegboy, and much much more from the last six decades.

You can tune in and rock out to Cafe Zed Friday nights at 9:00.

If you’d like to request a song, you can e-mail radio.wbom@gmail.com, but – be warned – it better be a pretty f^&*ing good one (Air Supply need not apply).

WBOM plays music primarily in English throughout the day, but our new show – Lingua Franca – features the best music from around the world.

We’ve been having a lot of fun programming the show and we are trying to add music in as many languages as possible. So far, the playlist includes music in Albanian, Arabic, Ashanti, Bengali, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hawaiian, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Pinoy, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Sami, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa, and Zulu. It’s interesting to hear the “hit” sounds from around the world. We’ve also been surprised to discover familiar songs in English in other languages – whether they originated in another language or were covered later.

Tune into Lingua Franca Saturday and Sunday nights around 8 pm – immediately after The Inner Groove on Saturday, and Performance on Sunday.

If you have a song you’d like us to add to the mix, let us know about it. Email us at radio.wbom@gmail.com with the language it is in.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the last two months of the MPAC season were canceled, and financial pressures forced the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center to put two of its buildings up for sale.  One of the buildings was 406 N. Main Street, where the WBOM studios were located. 

Over the last two months, WBOM has been moving to its new studio located in the Starr Center (415 N. Church Street).  The move has been difficult – both physically and emotionally – but it is now complete.  The new studio is now up and running.

WBOM began at 406 N. Main Street as a pair of empty rooms.  It completed its run there as four studios, filled with equipment and many, many memories.  The new studio – named “Studio V” to celebrate and continue the legacy from the old building – has the equipment now.  New memories will be forthcoming.