The film follows a compelling cast of characters whose lives intersect via the radio station and music, anti-war activism, civil rights struggles and the women’s and LGBTQ liberation movements, resulting in the transformation of the roles and rights of women, gays and lesbians and African Americans.

 

Special Sneak Peaks from the Edit Room:

 

Help complete "WBCN and The American Revolution" for entry this fall into major film festivals!   

 

With your generous support, we've conducted additional interviews with Noam Chomsky, WBCN's Andy Beaubien and others and completed a rough cut of "WBCN and The American Revolution."

 

We're working hard to complete the final cut of this non-profit production, with music, graphics and archival material.  Your tax-deductible support for these efforts to finish the film is critical and greatly appreciated.

 

Noam Chomsky interviewed (left). Assistant editor Tim Meagher at the AVID (right).  

 

The film continues to get unprecedented media coverage for a documentary not yet released. WBZ's Bradley Jay featured a live two-hour interview with producer Bill Lichtenstein about the film (click here to listen) and Bill spoke with WGBH-FM about the music of the era and the film (click here to listen).

 

Additionally, producers have signed a deal with MIT Press to publish a book based on the film, filled with first-person accounts and original color images.

 

And -- with your tax-deductible donation, receive a premium including a replica WBCN Peace Sign Bumper Sticker; "Ugly Radio is Dead" poster; or your choice of an original photo by photographer Jeff Albertson.

 

Choose from one of Jeff Albertson's photos (clockwise from upper left): John Lennon and Chuck Berry; Bonnie Raitt; Deborah Harry; Elton John and Al Kooper (backstage at the Boston Tea Party); Jackson Browne; Bruce Springsteen; Duane Allman; Bette Midler; Talking Heads; The Cars; Bob Marley.

 

A portion of the non-profit proceeds of the film will support the Fred Taylor Endowed Scholarship Fund at the Berklee College of Music, and scholarships in the name of Danny Schechter at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

 

 

WBCN and The American Revolution is a new, feature-length documentary film that takes viewers on a dazzling, rock and roll roller-coaster ride to witness the dramatic and historic political, social and cultural events during the late-1960s and early-70s during what was one of the most volatile and transformative eras in this nation’s history.  The film is propelled by dramatic first-person accounts, original sights and sounds of the era, and a powerful soundtrack of some of the most evocative and memorable music ever created.

 

This non-profit production tells the previously untold story of the radical, underground radio station WBCN-FM, set against the profound social, political and cultural changes that took place in Boston and nationally, at a time during which virtually every major political and musical figure crossed paths with Boston -- and with WBCN. 

 

Born on March 15, 1968, in makeshift studios in the dressing room of the legendary rock hall, the Boston Tea Party, WBCN aired its unprecedented mix of new and eclectic music and subversive politics, and almost immediately caught the ears of radio listeners, including the hundreds of thousands of college and high school students in the greater Boston area.  The station’s impact soon spilled over nationally.

The film shows viewers how Boston, which was overshadowed in 1967 by the exploding, LSD-fueled psychedelic scenes in both San Francisco, during the “Summer of Love,” and in New York City’s East Village, would emerge in 1968 and continue through the early 70s as a central crossroad of the counterculture and political activism.

 

We see and hear the explosion of new forms of music and artists who would go on to have superstar careers, many of whom were launched at the legendary Boston Tea Party dance hall, where WBCN is born in the backroom in 1968.

 

At the same time, we witness the emergence of the anti-draft and later the anti-Vietnam War protests; the early days of the Second Wave of feminism and the Gay Liberation movements; militant civil rights struggles, and the beginning of the anti-Apartheid movement; environmental awareness; and other efforts to create social and political change and liberation in what had previously been America’s largely white, male-dominated society, all set against the powerful musical and cultural ferment of the day.

 

And at the hub of it was WBCN.

 

The story of the station and the era will be told through a rich audio and visual filmic experience expertly and powerfully crafted from the actual sights and sounds of the era, as captured by some of the leading filmmakers and photographers of the time, which producers have gathered in an unprecedented archival collection of over 100,000 items shared for the film, woven together with compelling first-person accounts.

 

The film also features new, never before distributed film shot by Andy Warhol and Cinema Verite innovator Ricky Leacock, as well as original images from Peter Simon, Jeff Albertson and other leading photographers.

 

The film captures the extraordinary history of WBCN, which in its early days called itself “The American Revolution," through the personal and political journeys of a compelling cast of characters who are connected to the radio station, and whose lives intersect through militant anti-war activism, civil rights struggles, and the beginnings of the women’s and LGBTQ liberation movements. 

 

Virtually every leading political and musical figure during the era crossed paths with Boston - and, in turn, with WBCN including such frequent on-air guests as Professors Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn; Abbie Hoffman; Jane Fonda; Allen Ginsberg; and John Lennon; among others.

 

Meanwhile, WBCN helped launch the careers of many soon to be supergroups, including those who intersected with the station in its early days in the dressing room at the Boston Tea Party, including the Who; Led Zeppelin; Fleetwood Mac; and Velvet Underground, and blues and jazz greats who were being heard by mass audiences for the first time, including B.B. King; Muddy Waters; and Miles Davis.

 

Later, with airplay and live appearances, the station jump-started the careers of Bruce Springsteen; Patti Smith; Aerosmith; the Cars; and Bob Marley and the Wailers, helping to launch reggae in America.

 

The film's dramatic and engaging first-person accounts are juxtaposed against a wealth of never before seen powerful and stunning photographs and film of the critical events and public figures of the times, taken by many of the era's leading photojournalists and documentary filmmakers.

 

The documentary film represents the vision of producer, Bill Lichtenstein, who worked starting at WBCN in 1970, at age 14, as a newscaster and later as on-air announcer.  At WBCN, he helped pioneer the station’s innovative air sound including with his audio montages of actualities, music and comedy for the news and other programs.  Bill later worked for seven years at ABC News as a three-time Emmy-nominated investigative producer and since 1990 as founder and president of the Peabody Award-winning LCMedia. As a print and broadcast journalist, he has won more than 60 major media awards.

 

The film is being completed for entry this fall into major film festivals (South by Southwest and Tribeca among others) and is slated for an initial limited theatrical release and airing on public TV. 

Charles Laquidara in WBCN's record library circa 1970.

 

Help us complete this landmark documentary with your pledge now for completion this fall for entry into major 2018 - 2019 film festivals.

 

At a time when it's never been easier to communicate, but never been more difficult to be heard, it's a timely and critical story to be told.

 

We did it one time.

And we can do it, again!

But not without your help!

 

Please help us finish WBCN and The American Revolution with your tax-deductible pledge now toward our completion funds through our 501(c)(3) non-profit fiscal sponsor, the Center for Independent Documentary.