WIDB History Chapter 19

Stuff Finally Happens

   Compared to the extensive audition and training process for jocks, there was little attention paid to newspeople. There was no active news director. Compared to the music format, the news format was vague. WIDB was supposed to have five minutes of news each hour. There was a UPI wire service machine, but no production studio to record or edit interviews. Sources for news copy included newspapers. As sign-on approached, it appeared doubtful Howie and Tom could fill the 112 newscasts each week. Howie announced that jocks would do the news themselves if the newsperson did not show up.
   This was the overall picture in early April, 1970. Remember, just two months before, WIDB had just been kicked out of Boomer. 56 days later, WIDB was ready to officially sign on. On Sunday, April 12, 1970 interested persons assembled at the station. At 1 pm, that day, Jerry describes the scene: "As I watched the room was filled with people who built this station and their friends, some watching and waiting, others hurrying around with purpose to make sure last minute all things were go. As the clock was nearing the appointed hour, the air was saturated with the electricity of excitement, people were reporting our test tones received from distant locations, the records and carts were being cued. Discussion was made that I should make the first announcement on the station. I deferred that to honor our programming departments terrific effort. And then, sounds were coming out of the "Air" speaker. And WIDB was real."

   At 1 pm, Tom Scheithe, (using his air name of Tom Sutherland), with Dan Mordini at the board, played from the 2001 soundtrack, "Also Spach Zanthrustra," followed by the station ID "WIDB, Carbondale IS together," followed by "Vehicle," by the Ides of March. WIDB was officially born. (Selected excerpts of WIDB's first day of broadcast--audio file).

   This was the schedule April 12, 1970 on WIDB:

1pm Sign on
1pm-5pm Tom Sutherland (Scheithe)
5pm-8pm Jeffrey Thomas (Esposito)
8pm-10pm Charlie Howard (Muren)
10-11pm Howie Karlin hosting pgm. on musical "Hair"
11pm-1am Underground with Harvey Michaels (Welstein)
1am Sign off

   Other jocks during the first few weeks of WIDB included David R. Eads, Eric Jay Toll, Tom "Woody's World" Mosgers, Jim Hoffman, Bob Hubsch, Al Greenfield, Frank Mazzocco, and Nick Ciprianni. Newspersons included Ron Roeser, Al Phillips, and some jocks. There were a lot of engineers/board operators, such as Jeff Brodsky, Ralph Hanson, Tim Burgeson, Ira Saltzman, Irv Korey, and Mike Bass. There was an almost complete lack of women. No one planned this, and no one took pride in it. It started to change almost immediately. But, at the beginning, there were almost no female members.

   The dream had been realized; WIDB was a reality. All of the administrative work by Jerry, the wiring work by Dan and Bruce, the construction efforts, the auditions, the equipment purchases, the setbacks and victories, led to the ultimate goal: when the mike was on, whatever was said could be heard in (almost) all dorm rooms on campus. This was a first at SIU.

end of Chapter 19