Irwin Cory Traffic Report – May 1972

This is a rare example of “ad-hoc” on-air production that got recorded and survived.
In 1972, SIU was still on quarters, not semesters. Spring Quarter started in March and finished about June 10. Robbie did the morning show (7-10am) every other day during the week. This included holidays, so on Monday, May 30, 1972 (Memorial Day), after a long night of partying, Robbie had to get his butt down to the station and do his show.
Long before the “Morning Zoo” concept was invented, some of the members would drop in on Robbie’s show to do various bits.

One of them was “traffic reports” done by “Flying Officer Irwin Corey.”
Officer Corey (actually Jim Rohr) had noticed how the old UPI (news) teletype machine had a rhythmic sound just like a helicopter. So, Jim decided to get on the telephone and lean into the clickity-clacking UPI machine and do his traffic reports “live from the WIDB ‘copter.” (And it really sounded good, too!) Remember, it was Memorial Day, and Jim had enjoyed a long party night too.
There was no plan or script; he made it up as he went along.

To provide background, Mae Smith and Neely were female-only dorms, and men were not allowed to remain overnight. Men who did had to use the stairways and exit the emergency (side) doors. “VTI,” was later renamed as the “School of Technical Careers.”

The only problem with using the UPI machine was that it would suddenly and unpredictably stop typing. Totally improvising, Jim runs out of material just as this happens. Listen to how he responds on this aircheck from WIDB, 8:40 am, May 30, 1972.

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