Now an empty place where the rock was
Mistress Carrie reflects on three decades at WAAF
Mistress Carrie feels like she’s lost her best friend.
Carrie, the heart and soul of the former Boston rock station WAAF, was at the Brighton studios Monday collecting her belongings after the new Christian music owners abruptly pulled the plug at midnight Saturday, ending a 50-year run.
Carrie, who has never revealed her last name, had been at WAAF (107.3 FM) for nearly three decades, spending 22 of those years on the air full-time. She grew up in Leominster listening to the station.
“For me, it would have been easier to be fired and still have the radio station I loved to listen to,” Carrie told me. “I would feel much better if I could still get in the car and listen to WAAF even if I didn’t work here anymore.”
At age 18, Carrie was hired by WAAF as an intern. She applied to be Opie and Anthony’s producer in early 1998 before the shock jocks were fired from WAAF. She didn’t get the job, but her demo landed Carrie her own part-time disc jockey gig.
Most recently, Carrie, now 47, was on the air 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. When her shift ended Tuesday, Carrie said General Manager Mark Hannon and program director Joe Calgaro told her WAAF was going off the air. Entercom had sold the station to the Educational Media Foundation for $10.7 million, the latest unceremonious ending for a Boston rock station.
Carrie and host Mike Hsu were given the airwaves for a long goodbye broadcast Thursday and Friday that featured a parade of former on-air hosts and rock stars. “That is a gift that we were given that we will never be able to repay,” Carrie said.
Carrie is most proud of her trips embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. She introduced Metallica on stage at Gillette Stadium and shared her personal life with listeners, including having her face reconstructed after a motorcycle crash.
“It’s like being awake and attending your own wake and funeral — that you are there to hear all the nice things people would say about you if you were dead,” Carrie said. “It was overwhelming.”
A lot of thought went into the last song played on WAAF. In the end, “Black Sabbath” by Black Sabbath was the most fitting way to end the station’s legendary run.
“It was devastating,” said Carrie, who cried as it played. “I didn’t want it to end.”
About 150 former employees gathered in the hall and a crowd of WAAF listeners were in the parking lot. They toasted WAAF with champagne. “I’m just hoping to find something that I’m as passionate about as I am about the station that I loved for 29 years,” she told me before thanking listeners. “We love you.”