It was spring of 1980. At about 12:45am while at a Gatsby's show, P.D. Mr. Levi called the radio station in Wright I for reasons unremembered. The 1am jock, Tam, was in a panic: The basement of Wright I was flooded, a hint of smoke was in the air and there were firemen everywhere. It was theorized that young hoodlum dorm residents threw ignited paper down the trash shoot, but this was never confirmed. The sprinklers went off and the race was on. Mr. Levi ran back to Gatsby's, informed everyone, and they all headed back to the station.
When they arrived, all the equipment was still powered up and water, though not deep, saturated all low-lying areas. With the firemen's help, the water was removed and clean-up began. But everything on the ground was wet, including 150 albums from the jazz collection, most ruined. Clean-up took about 2 hours and, after a night uptown, the participants were tired and not happy. Those participants included Al Linton, Randy Lynch, Kandi Kline, Dan Charnotta, Mr Levi, Steve Kravitz, Brian Colin, Rich Bonn, Steve Fandle, Espo(?), Brian Gerval, and others unremembered at this time. At one point, Fandle and Charnotta were sent to Midland's to get some beer. It took them an hour and a half to return.
After the panic subsided and fatigue set in, the beer arrived. To celebrate the saving of the station, all felt the right was earned, allowing them to trash the station out. Colin took marker to wall first. All followed. It took about an hour to fill the wall with fire references. One of the most bizarre nights ever recalled.
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photos & text: Mr. Levi
