WBCN switched to digital only on August 12, 2009, with two digital-only automated streams, one on the HD2 channel of WBZ-FM continuing the modern rock format, the other Free Form BCN, airing an eclectic mix of rock, related genres, and a lot of new music - essentially the WBCN of 1968 to 1988, brought into the 21st century.

WBCN's celebrated local music specialty show, Boston Emissions—along with The Rumble—moved to former sister station WZLX, now owned by iHeartMedia, in 2009.

The call sign stood for the Boston Concert Network (along with Hartford's WHCN, New York City's WNCN, and Providence's WXCN).

By June 1968, the station's air staff included Mississippi, Peter Wolf (who was just starting with the J. Geils Band), Tommy Hadges, Jim Parry, Al Perry, and Sam Kopper was joined by Steven "The Seagull" Segal.

In December 1968, Peter Wolf left to take the J. Geils Band full-time and, introduced to the station by Jim Parry, Charles Laquidara was hired to take over the 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. air shift.

Bo resigned shortly thereafter when his name appeared on a UPI news wire as one of several people being indicted by then-Attorney General John Mitchell—a charge which was later dropped.

Along with Andrew Kopkind, John Scagliotti, Bill Lichtenstein, and Marsha Steinberg, the news department evolved radically, introducing such novel concepts as a show oriented toward prison inmates, health warnings about the hazards of street drugs, a lost pet-finding service called the Cat and Dog Report, a travelers' aid service called the Travelers' Friend, live updates on the traffic problems at Woodstock, and by 1970, live-to-air concert broadcasts.

However, there was always tension between the artistic expression of the DJs, and management's need to run a business, resulting in the unionization of the station with the United Electrical Workers in 1971.

In late summer of 1969, WBCN somehow obtained a reel-to-reel tape of a reference acetate of a potential album song lineup prepared by Beatles' engineer Glyn Johns on March 10, 1969.

Although WBCN was not the only radio station, or even the first station, to air material from the Get Back sessions — WKBW in Buffalo was the first, and the tapes also aired on WEBN in Cincinnati, WBAI in New York City, and KCOK in St. Louis — WBCN's broadcast of the tapes has been immortalized because it was preserved on a high-quality reel, which spawned several widely circulated Beatles bootlegs.

Unlike most rock stations of the era, WBCN still allowed a degree of individual DJ control of the music.

Their playlist in general was more varied than many of their competitors, there was some focus on local music (also see the WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble), and the station was known nationwide for breaking acts (The Cars, 'Til Tuesday, U2) and setting trends.

In the period around 1975, John Garabedian, now recognized for the nationally syndicated Open House Party (which was once heard locally on WXKS-FM), was an afternoon DJ on WBCN.

Laquidara had Billy West on the show on a daily basis, as well as Karlos, the first computer-generated (using Digital Equipment's DECtalk) on-air personality in radio history.

Legendary Boston stripper Princess Cheyenne hosted a Sunday night sex advice show that eventually led to one of her appearances in Playboy Magazine in April 1986.

The old DJs, station IDs, and classic rock were gutted, replaced by an alternative music format featuring new, younger jocks.

The station lost some of its longtime listeners (who migrated to the now co-owned WZLX, where former WBCN DJs Laquidara and Carter Alan had gone), but quickly gained credibility among many younger people.

The station by this time was playing some hard rock and Nu metal acts such as Godsmack, Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park.

By the fall of 2002, certain classic artists, such as Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and Ozzy Osbourne, were added back in the station's playlist rotation.

During the autumn months, WBCN became more focused on sports as the station broadcast the games of the NFL's New England Patriots beginning in 1995.

In early 2006, with the Howard Stern morning drive time show gone due to Stern moving to Sirius Satellite Radio, WBCN experienced a plummet in Arbitron ratings that the station had not observed since the late 1970s and early 1980s, when it fell behind then rock format competitor WCOZ.

Other nominees included KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, KTBZ-FM in Houston, KITS, in San Francisco, KNDD in Seattle, and WWDC in Washington, D.C.[8] In December 2008, the station ceased airing Opie & Anthony in morning drive and moved Toucher and Rich from afternoons.

Gil Santos, former WBZ sports reporter, did play-by-play, while Gino Cappelletti, former Patriots star, provided color commentary.

That song was in heavy rotation on WBCN during the months leading up to CBS Radio's announcement of the station's demise, and continued until the four-day farewell began.

As part of the switch, the WBMX call letters were parked on 1660 AM in Charlotte from July 29, 2009, until WBCN signed off for the last time at 104.1 in Boston on August 12, 2009.

On February 2, 2017, CBS announced that they would be selling their radio division to Entercom, whose existing properties in the Boston area included WBCN's long-time rival, WAAF.

[14][15] However, the combined company would have to shed some of its Boston stations to satisfy Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice requirements.

[17] On November 1, 2017, Beasley Media Group announced that it would trade WMJX to Entercom, in exchange for WBZ-FM (WBZ, WZLX, WRKO, and WKAF were acquired by iHeartMedia).

[21][22] Shortly after the transfer to Beasley was completed, WBCN was replaced with "Hubcast", a replay of segments and podcasts from air personalities from "The Sports Hub".

[25] On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom (which locally owned WEEI, WEEI-FM, WRKO, WKAF, and WAAF).