WBCN advertisement, February, 1971
"The American Revolution" is a feature-length documentary film produced for festival, theatrical, and broadcast release.
Long before Facebook and MySpace, "progressive rock" radio was a powerful cultural, political and social medium that connected its listeners.
"The American Revolution" chronicles free-form, progressive rock radio station WBCN-FM, in Boston, during the years 1968 to 1975, examining the station's role in both covering and promoting the profound cultural, social, and political changes that took place during that era.
"The American Revolution" will show a new generation of young people, how, in the late-1960s and early-1970s, powerful social change was facilitated through the convergence of media, politics and culture, including music, creating a movement that helped end a war and drove two unpopular sitting presidents from office. The story of "The American Revolution" is particularly important at a time when young people, and the public in general, report a growing sense of disconnection from the media, and as we witness the decaying of the role that the media plays in serving as a watchdog of government and providing a platform for social criticism and change.
The production will incorporate the actual sights, sounds, stories, news clips, and first-person accounts of those who worked at and ran the radio station during those years, as well as the musicians, photographers, writers, listeners and others who were a part of WBCN's extended interactive universe. The film will highlight for today's young people how the use of media combined with the efforts of social activists and artists, particularly musicians, helped promote positive social, political and cultural change.
The film is also designed to be the first "open source" documentary, as part of its core mission, by engaging listeners and others who may have photos, audio tapes, film, memorabilia, and first-person accounts regarding that era, both in Boston and nationally, to share them for possible use in the film. By doing so, the film, like the station itself, will provide a chance for creative collaboration between producers and viewers.
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