WMMS presents this transformation, and its ambiguities, in a highly influential microcosm. Late 1960s rock had refused Top 40 radio formats, with underground stations proclaiming themselves “freeform.” The anti-commercial insistence concealed far less progressive tendencies, including a severing of rock from contemporary black-music making and female audiences. Still, the most complicated dynamic involved the class position of the young white men who anchored the format that did emerge. AOR’s insistent populism fantasized the music as both maverick and massive—amplified rebellion. But with
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