NorthEast Radio Watch 6/13/2022: Good Night, David Allan Boucher

In this week’s issue… Boston’s night voice signing off –  iHeart cuts jobs – Sterling: less far, less gone – New Montreal AM launches, at last

By SCOTT FYBUSH

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*There’s not much recognizable on late-night MASSACHUSETTS radio from forty years ago. The talk hosts of that era, such as David Brudnoy, are long gone. The days of screaming night jocks on top 40? Distant history in the age of voicetracking, as are freeform rock jocks playing whatever comes to mind.

But if you resurrected Joe Random Boston Radio Listener from 1982 and handed him a radio (after first bringing him up to date on the Sox and the Pats and blowing their minds), there’s one thing he’d recognize immediately: WMJX (Magic 106.7) and its legendary evening DJ, David Allan Boucher.

More correctly: the recognizable part is the voice, with its deep tones and long pauses – because in the 40 years that Boucher has put Boston to bed with his “Bedtime Magic” show, he’s always kept his face a secret.

Now his voice will also be disappearing from WMJX; last week, Boucher told listeners he’s getting ready to retire.

“I’m very grateful to the generations of friends who spend so many years with us every night. Without them…there wouldn’t have been a show,” he announced on the air and on social media.

It’s not yet clear exactly what happens after Boucher’s exit. As Audacy continues to push national programming, it seems unlikely that there will be a local replacement at WMJX. Audacy says it will have some special tribute programming for Boucher as he winds down his on-air tenure after he returns later this month from a short vacation.