Comments on: Dick Summer & the Nightlife Show on WBZ Radio 103 Boston | August, 1964

By: martha thomas

martha thomas — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:03:26 +0000

I remember WBZ so well in the sixties. Juicy Brucey and of course Dick Summer. I would put my transister radio under my pillow and listen to Dick Summer. One night I heard a ghost story or something.I was scared to death. WBZ was the station to listen to in those days. So boring today with all news all the time. Remember the lineup-Carl deSuze, Jay Dunne( I was his hygienist once) Jefferson Kaye Contact, Bruce Bradley and Dick Summer. Thanks guys, you made my summers, as I walked the beach at Wells looking for boys, ya ya boys. why did Ringo sing that?

By: Norman Roscher

Norman Roscher — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:54:09 +0000

I remember that Irving the 2nd, Venus Flytrap Supreme..SUPERPLANT password was ….”one hen, two ducks, three squawking geese, four limerick oysters, five corpulent porpoises,six pairs of Don Albartos sneakers, seven thousand masadonians in full battle array, eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacreat crypts of Egypt, nine apathetic sympathetic diabolical men on roller skates with a marked propensity, procrastination and sloth….ten lyrical spherical diabolical denizens of the deep who all stall around the quo of the quay of queasy at the very same time….” heck…I think I’ve screwed up the last part..
help me remember!!!

By: Fat Paulie

Fat Paulie — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:19:32 +0000

An honer to post after THE MAN himself. A heartfelt Thank You for creating the soundtrack of my youth. This clip brings back so many fond memories that I cant begin to note. I will say that Dick was a pioneer in radio at a time when bland was the order of the day. The exposure to the folk-blues scene,’The Boston Sound’ and assorted esoterica like Frank Zappa were miles away from anything Boston had to offer until WBCN hit the air.
I still remember having to turn the radio station back to WMEX because my older brother thought it was his radio and it had to be set to Arnie ‘Woo-Woo’ Ginzberg and the Night-Train Show.
Not that Arnie wasn’t great in his own way…But thanks again Dick for saving me.

By: dick Summer

dick Summer — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:54:46 +0000

These letters put me on the floor. Thank you. I was just taking down our Christmas tree, when a friend of mine sent me a note suggesting I look here. It was like a present I almost missed left under the tree. My e-mail is Dick@DickSummer.com if anybody would like to write. The website is http://www.dicksummer.com. It has a (free) weekly blog and podcast. I don’t do the web for business…it’s just a way to keep in touch with some good folks.

Happy 2010.

Dick Summer

By: Michele Walker

Michele Walker — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:47:46 +0000

I remember very well Dick Summer’s campaign to ‘wear a dime – be a nag’… I’ve forgotten now waht the NAG stood for! But you bet I sent into the station for my free little plastic ‘dime holder’ that fit on a chain andI wore it faithfully – just in case I might need to call for someone in trouble.

WBZ was the best. My 3 friends and I used to go all the way to Harvard Square to hang out around the station. We got to be friends with Bruce Bradley (whose show came before Dick Summer’s) and disovered that he lived in the same town as we did. We ended up taking a huge stack of letters home to match up with an equally huge bunch of mail from England. Our job was to match up US/UK penpals. Does anybody remember getting a UK penpal that way?

There will never be a pop music radio era to equal those truly ‘wonder’ years.

By: Austin Wertheimer

Austin Wertheimer — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:18:35 +0000

All these people must be my age . . . Yes – 8th grade under the covers in Painesville, Ohio, 30 miles east of Cleveland. Dick Summer and the Nite Lite show, WBZ Boston, 50 thousand watts. Only on the nights when the atmosphere promoted good reception. I had a pencil mark on the radio dial to line up the needle at the same spot each time. And it had to be right on, or, like my buddy said above, you would get other stations transmitting from who knows where. I loved his subtle, sophisticated voice. It was my first exposure to the East Coast, and I vowed I would live in Boston some day. (Fortunately, my wish came through.) I just recently thought of you again, Dick, and found this great site. In homage to you and the cultural shifts you introduced , thanks.

By: Tom Burke

Tom Burke — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:02:00 +0000

Dick was a “radio hero” of mine in the early ’60’s on WBZ. There really was nobody like him. I vividly recall his remotes at Paragon Park, Natasket Beach, in Hull, MA……he was in a trailer in the middle of an amusement park, playing current Top-40 rock…..in the Summer…….how can you get any better than that???

His nightime gigs on WBZ, later in the ’60’s were also great. He had the ability to create an atmosphere that just fit, in terms of the time of night and the times in which he broadcast.

It probably was Dick that caused me to think about braodcasting as a career, as I was intrigued by radio voices. Dick’s voice is one-of-a-kind, and his voiceovers are legendary and seemingly forever…..

I chatted by phone with Dick a few years ago……far more of a thrill for me than for him, because I was able to talk to a true hero of my teen days.

-Tom Burke
Mobile, AL
redcross19@yahoo.com

By: Dave Cantor

Dave Cantor — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:42:03 +0000

Shouldn’t the title on the Dick Summer article have the word (or phrase) “Night Light” and not “NightLife”?

Dave C.
Groton, CT

By: David

David — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:28:53 +0000

Dick Summers frequently played a song from the Fantasticks performed by the Great Serafin, who I believe was a street singer in Boston. I seem to remmeber that he loved the passion of this singer.
Listeners to Boston radio in the 60s were very fortunate to have many outstanding personalities.

By: ernie

ernie — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:10:56 +0000

I believe this was in response to a Phil Ochs’song “A small circle of friends” that Dick played occasionally