As we near the end of November, we took the time to speak with Ron Spangler, one of the current hosts of Late Risers’ Club! You can hear LRC every weekday from 10am-12pm on WMBR.
* How has WMBR changed since you first joined?
RON: It’s been 30 years, and I was away for awhile in the middle of it. There have been so many changes I don’t know where to begin. I did my OTA training on the original A-Control board, so that’s one. Digital music distribution is new to me as well. We used to be limited to whatever the labels would send us but with Bandcamp etc that’s totally changed, and there is so much good music being released all over the world now that I can access from my sofa. I love that, but there’s never enough airtime to play it all.
The scene is completely different as well. When I started, WMBR was about breaking new music that no one else would play, with some of that getting picked up by the commercial stations like WFNX and WBCN. We also were a training ground (and side-gig) for some of the DJs on those stations. Now we’re the only ones left standing. That’s sobering, in a way, but doesn’t stop this whole thing being a lot of fun. I especially love hearing from people well outside of the broadcast range who can listen now via live stream.
* Have you ever hosted any radio shows at WMBR other than LRC?
R: I co-produced Pipeline! for a few years, with Ted and Andy Hong, and I had a weekday afternoon show for a year or so called “Sonic Reducer” which was supposed to be all proto-punk except I really didn’t know what I was doing there. And Joanie and I did a metal show called Hell Comes to Your House.
* Favourite WMBR memory?
R: Definitely it was seeing the WMBR house band (Ted, Anne Slinn, Henrry Holtzman – I think they called themselves Penguin) open for Nirvana in the basement at Senior House.
* What song(s) have you been listening to most from the New Releases shelf?
R: Anything off the new Darts record Me.Ow., Gnod’s Paper Error, Staten Island Queen by the Prissteens, I like that new Patsy record a lot and Bikini Beach too. I’m sure I left a bunch out and don’t ask me to choose a favorite. 
By Fred Allen AKA F-Bomb Fri Dec 1st 2017 at 9:00 pm
I remember Ron when he was just a skinny kid with a little more hair. They grow up so fast.?
And he’s a pretty cool guy to have around. Even though he will get mad that I said that.
By Ted Young Fri Dec 8th 2017 at 9:07 am
The band that Anne, Henry and I were in was called “Little Debbie”.
By Jon Bernhardt Fri Dec 8th 2017 at 10:05 am
Ron seems to have erased from his memory his long pre-LRC stint on the Breakfast of Champions.