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Date: | Mon, 17 Oct 1994 20:42:48 EDT |
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Concerning the WNAC Aeolian-Skinner:
The 4/36 organ was installed in Radio Station WNAC, Boston, in 1941. It
replaced a 2-manual 14-rank Wurlitzer which is now playing in the Stoneham
(MA) Town Hall. The organ had a fairly complete set of tuned percussions and
traps.
The organist at WNAC who selected A-S to replace the Wurlitzer was Francis J.
Cronin, former organist at the Capital Theatre, Boston, which boasted a 1922
4/41 E. M. Skinner. The WNAC organ was custom-built to Cronin's
specifications. He favored more of a straight organ approach to the theatre
organ. However, the orchestral voices and tremulants were not typical of
EITHER the usual theatre organ or symphonic organ. It was one-of-a-kind. It
was largely straight, but there was some unification.
I have heard air checks of Cronin's live radio broadcasts made shortly before
he died. He was a master orchestral organist and improvisor. Cronin also
accompanied various live programs, including featured vocalists.
After his death (can't remember the year), the organ fell silent and went
into storage. After many years in storage, the organ was installed in a
church in Needham, MA, in the late '60s or early '70s--minus percussion.
There was been some revoicing and augmentation of the upper work, but it
still sounds great. I last heard it around 1984.
--Mark
Jacksonville, Florida
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