One of the biggest supporters of New England music for the past quarter century is Marblehead resident Douglas Mascott, host of “Trax of the Town,” who marked his 25 years in broadcasting on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
One of the biggest supporters of New England music for the past quarter century is Marblehead resident Douglas Mascott, host of “Trax of the Town” every Sunday, 9 a.m. to noon on Salem State College’s WMWM, 91.7 FM.
On Tuesday, Feb. 17, Mascott marked 25 years in broadcasting, as evidenced by the FCC license he keeps in a frame, which was issued on that date in 1984.
For the first four years, Mascott spun jazz and other genres of music, but in the 21 years since, he has focused on mostly local recordings.
But “local” is hardly limiting, as Mascott’s programming runs the gamut from the hard rock of Aerosmith, Boston and the J. Geils Band to folk artists Livingston Taylor, James Taylor or James’ son Ben, singing with Carly Simon. The only rule for membership in Mascott’s “club” is that you at one point in time called New England your home.
Mascott brings a certain democracy to the airwaves as well, inviting anyone who performs or records locally to be part of Trax of the Town.
Along with playing three hours of pure local music on WMWM, the show also has guest DJs, like Mike Paolucci and Bob Nelson (who hosts The Juke Box on WMWM, which follows Mascott’s show), interviews with local celebrities like Bobby Hebb, the composer/singer of the song “Sunny”; Peter Calo, guitarist for Carly Simon; Sal Baglio of The Stompers, Louis St. August from MASS, Jon Macey of Fox Pass, Gloucester’s Willie Loco Alexander and many others, as well as up-and-coming singer-songwriters such as Jennifer Tobiasz, Springfield-area rappers YGO and KeelyB, and Larry Oak.
The beauty of the program is that Mascott gives every regional artist a chance for airplay, which few stations can boast.
“I give anybody a chance, from the 50-cent cassette to the $10-million-production CD,” Mascott explained. “As long as you have it, I’ll play it.”
Mascott was born in the Lynn Hospital — not the Union, but the facility that was torn down and became a Stop & Shop. Still, Mascott considers himself essentially a lifelong Marbleheader, as his family moved to town within about a year of his birth.
Before his 25 years in broadcasting, Mascott got his start on CB radio as a kid. He was on it before he went to school, after school, at night during the 1970s
The interest remained strong after Mascott enrolled at Curry College in the early 1980s and joined the radio station in 1984. Back then, doing so required an FCC license, so Mascott applied, got his license and did his first show on a Sunday morning at 6 a.m.
“It was a jazz show that went 6 a.m. to noon,” he recalled. “The first song I played on my show was Chuck Mangione’s ‘Feel So Good,’ and I remember playing the theme from ‘Taxi’ by Bob James, as well as a song called ‘Money Talks’ by local legends Roomful of Blues.”
During his college years Mascott also did an oldies show and many other shows before settling in with the local-music show on WMLN. He also served as promotions assistant during his years at Curry, later becoming promotions director at Curry College Radio.
Mascott also had some training in commercial radio.
“Many, many years ago, I engineered at WVVE, ‘The Wave: Your Good-Time Oldies Station,’ in Mystic, North Stonington, Conn.,” Mascott said. “My friend Sean Murphy was with WQGN, and he hooked me up with WVVE. Sean is now PSA director at ION TV in Connecticut and Rhode Island. At ‘The Wave,’ I made the sure the Saturday-night programming flowed smoothly and played the commercials.”
Mascott also interned at WZOU (now known as JAM’N 94.5) in the promotions department with Bev Tilden. It became “The Zoo” after it was WCOZ, a mainstream rock station in the 1980s.
“I answered the phones for DJ Karen Blake and met a lot of people at WZOU and the news-radio sister station when they were over on Stuart Street in Boston,” Mascott said.
Trax of the Town also aired on WNSH until 2007 and may soon return to the Hamilton-based radio station, another local outlet to which Mascott traces his roots. Among other assignments, he once performed man-on-the-street interviews during the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon at the Liberty Tree Mall.
“I did call-ins from the carnival that they used to have,” Mascott explained. “Basically I just started by hanging out with the DJs in the mid-1980s. The station was at Pickering Wharf, where I got my real start with my own show.”
Mascott’s familiar voice can also be heard during his appearances at benefit gigs or even promoting shows at local-area clubs. Like area legends Harvey Wharfield, Little Walter and Magic 106.7/WPLM DJ Audrey Constant (an alum of WNSH), Mascott is familiar to many people in the North Shore area.
To send your music for airplay consideration, Mascott can be reached at Traxofthetown@yahoo.com, Trax of the Town, P.O. Box 1307, Marblehead, MA 01945.
