One of my “funnest” early jobs in radio was a morning shift of classical music on a university run FM station in upstate New York in the mid 70s.
The station (in these pre satellite/automation days) signed on at 6 am. I ran pretty short on sleep as a college student back then. (Not today, by the way. These days I am a world class sleeper/napper and am not good for much of anything past 8:30 pm.) I can remember turning on the transmitter at about 5:50 am and sometimes dozing at the console for a few minutes before we began.
The station was situated in a small town near the Canadian border. We’d sometimes receive cards and letters from the Canadian listeners on the other side of the St. Lawrence River.
There was a little tension in those days between the fine arts aficionados who were all about the music and the “radio” people who also thought the program should include, in addition to the music, some relevant morning information content including news, weather, traffic tie ups (there was one on occasion,) and the usual time and temperature type stuff. Sometimes these “arguments” became a little intense. (Though tame by today’s standards…but that’s another discussion.)
We’d play shorter form pieces from composers such as Bach, Telemann, Vivaldi, Rossini, Dvorak, and others. I learned about the music and it was great fun.
I read today that classical music and orchestras have struggled some in recent years as much of that music from hundreds of years ago has tried to maintain its appeal to young folks who grew up listening to Ms Swift, Adele, and Beyoncé. (There are contemporary classical artists as well.)
So, what got me to thinking about this? By chance this morning I was listening to WQXR out of New York on the way to work. Streamed it through my iPhone in the car. The presentation was relaxed, warm and just a little informal. Not stuffy at all. Maybe back in the 70s we were just a bit ahead of the curve.
Good to hear from you. Yes, those were fun years. I still do some radio with a co-host. We're on 3 Indiana LPFMs and, of course, online as well. It's just enough to keep those pesky radio dreams at bay. I still have a day job as a LCSW at a healthcare organization. I'll retire one day. Thanks for your note!!!
Hi Dick:
Allan Sniffen here. I was two years behind you at St. Lawrence and did that same morning shift on WSLU a year after you did it. It was fun reading your memories of it -- it wasn't any different a year later. It felt like "dialing for dollars" turning that transmitter on in the morning.
Then, of course there was the challenge of pronouncing the artist names correctly off the back of the album covers or get a call from Rick Hutto.
My heart was in Top 40 radio -- a totally different radio thing. I did hit radio for until 1990 until I gave it up to focus on my "real job" of practicing dentistry. But I'm back at it again today running an Internet station. You know what they say -- once it's in your blood.
Anyway, thanks for the WSLU memory :)