So close was that relationship that Commissioner Ilyas Bhatti invited Phoenix publisher and WFNX chairman Stephen Mindich to join him in cutting the ribbon when the newly renovated Hatch Shell was inaugurated several years ago. Just last year, at the request of Commissioner David Balfour, WFNX sponsored a series of concerts at MDC beaches because the MDC felt those facilities were underappreciated.
What a difference a few months can make.
On January 19 of this year, MDC deputy director Michael Testa invited the Phoenix and WFNX to submit a proposal for a series of concerts designed to draw larger crowds than in years past.
It was Testa's and Balfour's belief that the previous commissioner's booking policies had been too conservative. The MDC, said Testa, wanted to encourage larger and more diverse crowds at Hatch Shell events.
On January 25, the Phoenix and WFNX submitted a written proposal suggesting:
* Eight early-evening "New Music" concerts, which would attract 18- to 34-year-olds, to be held on Thursdays. (In past years, most concerts were held on weekend afternoons.) It was agreed that the series would reflect the depth and breadth of the 'FNX playlist -- from ska and reggae to alternative to techno -- but would stop short of presenting hard-driving bands with punk overtones.On February 7, Testa approved this proposal in a phone call to the Phoenix.* Eight jazz concerts to be held on Sunday evenings from 5 to 7, hosted by Jeff Turton of 'FNX's highly respected Sunday-morning jazz show. Turton would book the acts. The MDC has traditionally had trouble booking jazz acts, and it came to rely on its relationship with 'FNX to bring jazz to the stage.
* A "Welcome Back Weekend" concert to be held in the early evening of Friday, September 6, aimed at attracting students returning to local colleges. 'FNX offered to book the band, and, as with the "New Music Series," it promised to ensure that the act would be appropriate for the venue.
At about this time, WODS announced that would be moving its popular oldies concert series -- which regularly attracted 15,000 a night -- from City Hall Plaza to the Hatch Shell.
At this news, City Hall went ballistic. It felt snookered by Testa, a former employee, and by 'ODS -- which, until then, had been providing City Hall with a high-profile, high-quality event.
The city objected to moving the 'ODS concerts because it contended that City Hall Plaza -- with direct T links and its concentration of merchants in Faneuil Hall, the Waterfront, and the North End -- was a perfect venue for concerts of that size.
Another reason: political face. City Hall's loss was the MDC's gain.
In the wake of the 'ODS move, powerful Beacon Hill and Back Bay civic organizations began to mobilize. At that point in time, 'ODS rock-and-roll concerts -- not the Phoenix and 'FNX concerts -- were the object of concern.
But, feeling the pressure, the MDC needed a way out.
"Testa sold out WFNX and the Phoenix," said one city councilor familiar with the negotiations. "The community groups were screaming for blood, and Testa, who had long-standing ties to WODS, swapped the new-music series for the oldies. It's as simple as that."
Except that the MDC never bothered to tell the Phoenix.
In the wake of the organized protest by the Beacon Hill and Back Bay groups, Phoenix Media/Communications Group president H. Barry Morris and executive vice-president Arthur Fishelman asked the MDC if they thought it would be in the best interest of the concert series for the paper and radio station to explain their case to the public.
Testa urged a low-key approach, suggesting the affair would be best handled quietly.
Then, in early April, Testa called back.
"Nothing was confirmed," he said. "All plans were under reconsideration."
That came as a surprise.
In the following days, Mindich called Governor Weld to ask him to intervene. (The call was never returned.)
Phoenix editor Peter Kadzis spoke with City Councilors Richard Iannella and Thomas Keane, interviewing them should the paper decide to do a story. Both said they thought that the MDC had overreached itself; the busy summer schedule for the Hatch Shell, they felt, was too aggressive. In principle, both said they were open to a compromise in which all parties would agree to run fewer concerts.
On May 6, a Phoenix/WFNX delegation made up of Mindich, Morris, and Fishelman met with Balfour, Testa, and other MDC aides and officials.
At that meeting, the Phoenix repeated earlier offers to scale back its concert series and suggested a series of across-the-board compromises that would take into account neighborhood concerns while giving the public a wide range of music this summer.
Balfour said that no final decision had yet been made, and he even invited the Phoenix to submit a new set of concert dates.
Balfour then told the Phoenix that the politicians were the real problem, and that it was with the politicians that the Phoenix should be trying to reach an accommodation. Balfour also pointed out that State Representative Paul Demakis, who represents the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, would be the toughest nut to crack, adding that he was "a real asshole."
When Mindich and Morris met with Demakis, he did indeed prove to be unwavering. (Demakis had previously warned that there was "little chance he'd change his mind" because he had "so little room to maneuver.")
Keane attended that meeting at Demakis's invitation. He said that he was pleased that the WFNX series had been canceled, but he was still opposed to the WODS concerts, which he feared might cause more trouble.
When Mindich told both officials point-blank that he intended to have the Phoenix and WFNX editorialize in favor of the concerts to counter -- albeit belatedly -- what he deemed to be the disproportionate level of influence wielded by a number of local civic groups over public land, Keane then turned to the daily newspapers.
Wednesday's stories on the front page of the Herald (CITY, STATION CLASH OVER CONCERTS) and the front page of the Globe's Metro section (ESPLANADE CONCERTS CUT; STAGE SET FOR FIGHT) were, the Phoenix was told, the result of calls to those papers by Keane and the MDC.