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★ Shows
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___ •rauramjr, April 7, 1M3 - THE CHARLOTTE POST - Page IB.
WGiy*8 Morning “Main Man!”
Earl Boston Pumps Vitality Into Bloodstream
By Loretta Manago
Post Staff Writer
It’s one thing when you
have to get up in the
morning, ready and able to
function with the world, but
it’s another thing altogeth
er when you’re responsible
for making hundreds of
listeners eager to leave the
warm security of their
beds.
That’s the awesome job
of radio station WGIV’s an
nouncer-engineer Earl
Boston. Each morning,
Monday through Friday
from 6 a.m. until 10 a.m.,
Boston’s voice can be
heard over the airwaves
pumping vitality into the
bloodstream of listless
individuals. “I try to take
the listeners out of their ‘I
don’t want to get up syn
drome,”’ remarked
Boston. Having armed
himself with a “crazy,
zanny type of wit,” Boston
asserted his first priority
as an announcer is putting
a smile on a person’s face.
Regular segments of
“The Great Awakening,”
as his show is titled, in
clude a half-hour aerobics
class and .the Brain Storm
question of the day, an idea
produced by Boston’s co
worker Ron Davis. Light
heartedly Boston interject
ed, “Without Ron’s input in
"The Great Awakening’ I’d
still be asleep.”
From his hometown
Boston, Mass., Boston
seemed almost destined to
come to Charlotte and
more importantly to work
at WGIV. During the early
stages of his announcing
career while he was an
intern tor radio station
WILD, Boston met Sonny
Jo White. White bad begun
his radio announcing
career at WGIV and would
often talk to Boston of the
station’s proud history and
growth. Later as Boston
' became more firmly com
mitted to the idea of be
coming a radio announcer,
he discovered that "WGIV
has a national respect for
being a black power
. house."
While at college Boston
had no intentions in pur
suing a career in radio. As
a student at Graham
Junior College, Boston had
decided to study electrical
engineering. He never gave
any gravity to the idea of
EARL BOSTON
".Turning city on
radio announcing even
though in his spare time
he spun records for local
parties and enrolled at
Graham he was an an
nouncer-engineer for the
school’s station, WKLB.
Working at WILD,
Boston’s thoughts shifted
towards a career in radio.
His first responsibility at
WILD as a librarian ex
posed him to. the basics of
the operation of a radio
station. It was when he
began producing commer
cials at the station and
heard a playback of his
voice that he thought,
“Hey, I can do that.’’
Adding to his other re
sponsibilities at WILD
Boston worked his way up
to the position of annomc
erengineer for the after
noon drive show and al- -
teroate announcer.
At various times when
Boston wasn’t working at a
radio station, he had his
own business, a mobile disc
jockey service. In this en
terprise Boston supplied
dance music for progres
sions 1 organizations
throughout the Boston
area. And always there
were the stints at various
clubs in the Boston area.
His work emcompasses
more than just spinning
discs, Boston roles includ
ed being the master of
ceremonies, supervisor
and equipment mainten
ance engineer. There was
hardly time when Boston
wasn’t polishing his an
nouncer skills. Through the
different clubs Boston pro
ficiently developed his one
on one communicative
skills with his audience.
Each station Boston
worked for, WILD in Bos
ton, WCAS in Cambridge,
Mass, and KYOK an am
stereo station in Houston,
Texas to him “represents
his growth as an announ
cer.”
He has involved himself
in benefit discos for worthy
causes and in 1980 he re
ceived a trophy in the
category of Best Club DJ at
Boston’s Celebrity Awards
Show.
Although Boston has set
many goals for himself, his
ultimate goal he stressed
“was to own his own sta
tion.”
With the energy and
drive Boston possesses,
rest assured that his goal
will be reached, like every
thing else he’s set his mind
on to reach.
Preservation Tour Scheduled
The Old Wilmington Pre
servation Tour is an annual
tour of private homes and
buildings in the Historic
District of Wilmington.
Sponsored by the Residents
of Old Wilmington, Inc. as
an attraction of the Azalea
Festival, the tour raises
funds for the Residents’
projects in the Historic
District.
This year’s tour will be
held on Saturday and,
Sunday, April &-10, begin
ning at 2 p.m. each day, in
the Murchison House
garden, 305 S. Third Street
on the comer of Third and
Ann. Queen Azalea will of
ficially open the tour at a
ribbon-cutting ceremony
the first day of the tour at 2
p.m. The homes are open
until 5 p.m.
Ticket price is $6.
The tickets are available
before the tour at the Aza
lea Festival office, Han
over Shopping Center on
Oleander Drive, across the
street from Independence
Mall.
West Charlotte
To Present
Muacal Comedy
West Charlotte Hign
School will present the mu
sical comedy, “The Fanta
sticks,” on April 27-29.
This musical romance is
the most popular play in
American theatre history.
(It celebrates its 23rd anni
versary performance at
the same New York theatre
on May 1.) Ticket prices
are $3 for adults and $1.50
for students. The show will
be performed at 8 pm.
nightly in the West Char
lotte auditorium. Tickets
may be purchased at the
door.;
For more information,
contact Dr. Charles La
Borde at 391-0157 during
school hours or at 553-2608
after 5:30 p.m.
Equal' Rights
Congress To
Present Film
By Eileen Hanson
Special To The Post
The Charlotte Equal
Rights Congress will pre
sent an excellent film on
the Klan and the movement
for equality in the South,
Tuesday, April 19, at 7:30
p.m. at the West Charlotte
Center, 2400 Kendell Drive.
The film, "Resurgence:
The Movement for Equal
ity Vs. the Ku Klux Klan,”
is a 50-minute documen
tary in color, focusing on
the rapid growth of the
KKK as part of the reac
tion against the movement
for an integrated, united
and eventually unionized
Southern working class.
The film moves from a
Nazi rally in Benson, N.C.
to the picketline at San
derson Farms poultry
plant in Laurel, Miss., and
back to the streets of
Greensboro where five
anti-Klan demonstrators
were killed by a Klan
Nazi caravan in 1979. The
film features ERC field
organizer Ted Quant of
New Orleans, who has ap
peared at several
Charlotte-ERC forums.
Following the film there
will be discussion of cur
rent equality struggles in
Charlotte and the South,
including the case of Eddie
James Carthan and the
Tchula 7 in Mississippi.