Boston Venue: The Channel Story
The true and complete story of the legendary Channel Nightclub in Boston, from beginning to inglorious end.
Episodes
May 5, 2021 • 23 mins
In the long-awaited conclusion of Boston Venue: The Channel Story, the club is going to be auctioned off in bankruptcy--again. Just like everything else in this sordid tale, nothing adds up, the mob is always lurking, and the end of the club--and a life--is imminent.
This is the second part of the tenth and final episode of Boston Venue: The Channel Story, Season 1, the true story of Boston’s legendary live music club, The Channel...
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October 10, 2020 • 24 mins
In Part One of Episode 10, new money and new partners have forced Harry Booras OUT of The Channel. But the new regime quickly found themselves underwater as the local mob started skimming 80% of the revenue while stiffing vendors, artists and staff. Harry and his brother Peter try to save the club, but guns and cocaine--not to mention a psychotic mafia member--complicate matters.
This is the first part of the tenth and final episo...
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March 26, 2020 • 27 mins
Heavy Metal was a mainstay at The Channel. In 2015 VH1 named it one of the Top 10 venues for heavy metal ever. National acts including Metallica, Slayer, Motorhead and Alice in Chains played the club. Locals including Wargasm, Meliah Rage and Extreme rocked to packed houses. Yet expenses kept going up, and The Channel needed an infusion of new cash to survive. An old acquaintance reemerged to help bail out the club. He ended up hav...
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February 13, 2020 • 29 mins
Crafting each episode of Boston Venue: The Channel Story is a painstaking process involving hours of research, combing through a ton of archival material. Occasionally, some incredible hidden gems pop up...like this long-lost interview with reggae icon Peter Tosh. Harry Booras and author Kevin Aylmer drove to New York City one day in the late 80’s to meet with Tosh, albeit each with their own agenda.
You heard a small portion of t...
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January 7, 2020 • 22 mins
By the mid-80s, The Channel was a successful venue. Big-name acts played The Channel in lieu of theatre and even arena shows. The legendary Roy Orbison played his final shows at the club. Bo Diddley and Ron Wood brought their “Gunslinger’s Tour.” Management increasingly relied on alcohol sales to subsidize the ever-growing costs. Rent was climbing. Slam-dancing was a regular occurrence, as were rising insurance costs. Ownership was...
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November 12, 2019 • 41 mins
From the beginning, black music was a primary feature of The Channel’s eclectic lineup of headliners. Episode 7 explores The Channel’s embrace of early hip-hop, reggae, funk and R&B acts--and the impact it had on a still racially segregated Boston, where outsiders feared going to South Boston and black audiences in particular feared visiting Southie for any reason. The Channel’s embrace of this music, along with inside accounts...
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October 27, 2019 • 40 mins
Putting together each episode of Boston Venue: The Channel Story is a painstaking process involving hours of research and hours more coordinating and conducting interviews with the artists, journalists, DJs and scenesters that were there. As a bonus between Episode 6 and Episode 7, we’re giving you a chance to listen to the raw interviews Boston journalist and Boston Venue contributing writer Nate Homan conducted with hardcore lege...
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September 18, 2019 • 28 mins
Episode 6 dives deep into the pit with a focus on the hardcore punk scene of the ‘80s. The Channel’s embrace of the genre, along with details only the people who were there can provide, is the highlight of this special episode. You’ll hear about the punk phenomenon that transformed popular music and has had a profound effect on our culture that stands to this day. You’ll hear stories from performers, managers, promoters, club owner...
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August 10, 2019 • 27 mins
The Channel became a musical melting pot in a city still divided by parochial neighborhoods and lingering racial animosities. A club on a desolate stretch of the Boston waterfront became a hub for rock ‘n’ roll, punk, hardcore, straight-edge, and a rapidly developing ska scene. Radio stations were battling for dominance. Politicians were looking to score points by using The Channel to further their agendas. And another local club o...
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July 7, 2019 • 27 mins
The Channel finds itself in the midst of a decade of profound change in Boston. Live music was a major part of that cultural shift. In the halls and streets of power, long-entrenched attitudes and traditions are being challenged by new players with new, sometimes radical ideas. The Channel was a part of those changes, engendering diversity while dealing with music industry bigwigs, rebellious bouncers, and ambitious mob capos…
Thi...
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May 31, 2019 • 25 mins
In its first 60 days, The Channel had a run of winning shows featuring a schedule of first tier rock ‘n’ roll headliners including Levon Helm, Joe Cocker and Johnny Thunders. But booking national touring bands into The Channel wasn’t easy. Entrenched promoters didn’t want the competition. Local radio held an outsize influence on the success--or failure--of each show. Getting acts like The B-52’s and Gang of Four booked took a combi...
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April 30, 2019 • 24 mins
Spring, 1980 on the desolate South Boston waterfront. Harry Booras and his partners have spent a long winter scrambling to get the doors to the club open. There’s a lot of money going out, and none coming in. Staff needs to be hired, bands need to be booked, and promotions need to be launched. At the same time, crooked cops and local tough guys start showing up looking for a piece of the action. These guys can smell money and fear....
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April 3, 2019 • 26 mins
Boston, 1980. A hungry young entrepreneur named Harry Booras is ready to make the jump from a gig with an air-freight company into the nightclub business. Before long, he’s set to open the largest entertainment club in Boston...in a part of Boston most people avoided, in a venue notorious for failure. What could possibly go wrong?
This is the first chapter of the true and complete story of Boston’s legendary The Channel nightclub....
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March 6, 2019 • 1 min
This upcoming podcast tells the true and complete story of Boston's legendary Channel nightclub, from the gritty beginnings, through the glory days, and the bitter end, when Boston mobsters leave the club in ruins--and one man dead.
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