WUSC AM/FM Radio Alumni Association

Official History from WUSC-FM Operations Manual

Original WUSC Alumni Association History Page (Started in 2001)

To whoever uses this manual:

WARNING! THIS MANUAL IS IMCOMPLETE! As soon as the last period (.) was typed, this manual was obsolete. As staffs change at WUSC, so does station policy and procedure. It is my hope that those who use this book will update it as changes do occur. If not, you might as well put the book on the shelf now and not even bother to dust it.

But there are some sections of this book that will never change. Many people feel that history is not important, yet I've always believed that before you move ahead, you must be aware of where you have been. Many people worked very hard to get WUSC AM converted to WUSC FM, and I feel that they should be remembered for their efforts. So, read the history at least once, and be thankful that you never had to put up with the old AM equipment breaking down every five minutes.

The main purpose of the station is to serve, and hopefully this idea will never change regardless of staff changes. If this goal is deserted, the station might as well pull the plug for good. As the station grows, in years, in power, in staff, it should serve the community in more frequency and more diverse ways.

I sincerely wish the future staffs of WUSC FM good luck and smooth sailing. Above all, have a good time, and don't take yourself too seriously.

Sincerely yours,

Andy Ellis - Station Manager, 1976-78

It all began in 1947¹, or so the story goes, when the University of South Carolina's own little carrier current station signed on the air. It was called WUSC AM * and was proudly located at 640 K.C.² on the dial. It was just a little operation run by students who wanted to learn something about radio first-hand. Up until the early 1970's the station played middle-of-the-road music** and that for only a few hours a day. Station Manager John Rockholtz, 1968, wrote to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to inquire of AM power increase and was told that FM would be the only possible way to raise the power and reach of the station. However, the FCC had no frequencies available at that time. In 1971, the station switched to a progressive format and expanded hours. Yet, there was still a frustration with the closed-circuit system. It did not work that well, and it did not broadcast very far into the city.

In 1974, Ed Turner, Jim Farrell, Dean Robert Alexander, and a host of others marched to the office of President William Patterson to obtain permission to search for an open frequency to convert WUSC-AM to WUSC-FM. Permission was granted and the hunt was on. After checking with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) it was discovered that frequency 91.9 MHz was open and available.

Next, Turner, Farrell, and the station engineers drew up a list of the needed equipment to make the conversion. This list included such items as a 10-Watt exciter, two antenna bays, and an emergency broadcast system. A proposed budget was also drawn up and approved by the University administration. All the while WUSC AM was still operating with its carrier current system failing miserably, yet the station remained on the air [operating as] AM until Christmas of 1976.

Around this same time, the radio station belonging to the College of Journalism at the University was considering the possibility of joining the South Carolina Educational Radio Network. This left the avenue for WUSC AM to go FM open to move ahead. The next step was for the station to hire Ed Perry and FM Associates to help with the actual licensing process. Ed Perry and FM Associates is a Massachusetts-based firm that specialized in educational station licensing. With the help of Ed Perry, it was determined where the antenna site would be, the station power, make of transmitter to purchase, as well as much of the other data needed by the FCC.

Due to some problems from a station in Batesburg, the antenna site had to be moved. At that time, it was determined that the new site would be on top of Columbia Hall located at the corners of Barnwell and Pendleton Streets. After all of the information was finally gathered, the station applied to the FCC for a building permit [to begin building the new radio station]. Now, there was little to do except sit back and wait.

And wait, and wait, and wait. During this time, station personnel began training and working to improve programming and the quality of on-air announcers. Then Ed Turner graduated, leaving Andy Ellis responsible for the remainder of the conversion process and paperwork. It was not until late 1976 when the FCC granted WUSC a building permit (the delay was due to an overload of CB license requests). At that time, the transmitter and antenna bays were ordered from Low Power Broadcasting Company. Then it was time to wait again.

More equipment was ordered (such as an Emergency Broadcast System) and all of the construction work that could be done without the transmitter present was completed. And then in January 1977 the transmitter arrived. It was installed, and engineer Ralph Arnold conducted the tests. We were at last ready to go! All that remained was for Jon Clemmensen and Andy Ellis to run to the post office and get that final letter off to the FCC.

At 7:00 a.m. on Monday, January 17, 1977, the station started to get a bit crowded with people anxiously awaiting the 8:00 a.m. sign on. And finally at 8:00 a.m. the transmitter was switched on and the sign-on cart was played for the first time to the city of Columbia.

Since that first morning, the station has come quite a long way, and the future holds quite a promising life. The fact that must remain prevalent to each and every person who works at the station is that WUSC is here to serve, not just to entertain. WUSC has three main purposes for existing:

1. WUSC should serve as a public relations liaison between the Columbia community and the USC community. In other words, WUSC should keep the non-student public alert to the news and activities of the campus. The citizens of this state pay the bills of the University, and therefore, have a right to know what their money is doing.
2. WUSC should provide students, faculty, and staff of the University of South Carolina with unique entertainment unavailable from other city radio stations, news pertaining to their campus community, some education, and information that is informative and valuable.
3. WUSC should provide the students of the University of South Carolina with an opportunity to gain skills in actual radio station operations. These skills can be coupled with classroom training (for Journalism/Broadcast majors) or as an additional skill. WUSC should also provide the students with the experience of working with other people in a simulated business situation. It is hoped that this experience will make the student not only more mature, but also more marketable in the business world after college.

In the role of public relations liaison, WUSC has a responsibility that does not apply to other student media. Whereas the other media are contained on campus, WUSC is presented to the entire Columbia area. It is possible that WUSC is the only contact that some Columbia residents have with the University at all. This is why the station should try to cover campus events whenever possible. This duty has been carried out as proven by such broadcasts as: the British Union Debates, and coverage of the Lady Gamecocks basketball games. At the same time, WUSC should try to bring cultural elements of the community to the campus. WUSC has done this by airing such programs as live coverage of the Columbia Philharmonic concerts.

WUSC has a responsibility to the students, faculty, and staff of the University. As an educational station, WUSC must present programming not offered by commercial stations in town. There is not a progressive station in Columbia, therefore, WUSC chose to present a progressive format. (Later, WUSC would opt to present an "alternative" format, as opposed to a "progressive" one.) In the presentation of news, the station should make every effort to hunt out campus news. The wire service will provide national, international, state, and local news (also, local stations provide this same news), yet there is no outside source for campus news. As the campus station, it is the station's duty to provide campus news.

Obviously, as an educational station, WUSC must provide some education. In this regard there Is one point that must remain constant in the program director's mind; WUSC is sitting in a hot-bed of information sources. A university is always full of experts on various fields. The station should always utilize the available resources. For example, if the station desires to air movie reviews, who would be more qualified to do so than a professor who teaches a course in film? It is the station's responsibility to find these people, and not wait for them to come to the station. WUSC should view itself as an outlet through which the University community can express, teach, and inform its audience.

In this same regard, WUSC has a responsibility to present public service announcements. These announcements should and must apply to the station's audience. The audience may be any or none of the Columbia community. Since alternative programming may appeal to one person at a given time, and not to another, WUSC-FM must presume everyone listens to the station.

The third purpose of WUSC is to give students experience in the field of broadcasting. If a student enters WUSC, makes and effort and truly makes a contribution to the station, that person should learn quite a bit about broadcasting. Certainly, WUSC cannot be an exact replica of a true commercial radio station operation, but WUSC can teach the fundamentals of broadcasting.

WUSC is not affiliated with any college of the University. It is a student organization, and should always be looked upon as an extracurricular activity for the students. The staffs of WUSC must always remember that the student's academic work comes before the student's work at WUSC. The station provides the student with experience that will benefit him or her in the real world, yet so will the knowledge gained from the classroom.

Finally, WUSC should be a place where a student can have some fun. The average student working at the station is not there for the purpose of making big bucks. As long as the people at WUSC do not take themselves too seriously, a positive atmosphere will exist. That is possibly the most important element of WUSC-FM.

* Actually, the FM band did not even exist at that time, so they simply called it WUSC.

** This is not correct. In 1967-68, WUSC-AM aired a morning program (6am - 9am) featuring Top 40 music and requests (Temptations, Vanilla Fudge, Glen Yarborough). Sports programming or music aired from 3pm - 6/7pm, then news. From 6/7pm to 8pm various music shows ran, from 8pm to 11pm MOR and requests were taken. From 11pm to 1am, easy listening was aired³.

¹Retyped page from 1947 USC yearbook. Carolina's Baby, Pg. 190.

Campus radio station WUSC is the length and shadow of Mackie Quave.

It was in "Mackie's" radio class that the idea was first conceived to have a real campus radio station at the university of South Carolina. Excitement ran high for awhile and students looked forward to broadcasting by the New Year (1946). But alas! Hoyt Crider, President of the group, was graduated and the"great" idea died.

Then in February of 1946, on the train as students were returning from between semester holidays, Sigmund Liberman asked the editor of the Gamecock what had happened to the radio station. No one knew. Both decided something should be done.

Thus it was that Sid Wise, Dick Newell, Virginia Raysor, and Mackie Quave started doing something. Sid did most of the work and plans went forward for the establishment of WUSC with the constant cooperation and help of Dean John Chase.

The administration procured a location - the old slave quarters behind Wauchope House. Equipment was ordered, and in spite of countless problems and difficulties, the first broadcast was scheduled for late spring at Drayton Hall. Victor Barrett did a magnificent job as business manager and campaign organizer. Sid Liberman took over the programming of the first program. Then in June, Sid, Vic, Virginia, and Mackie traveled to New York and were guests of the Collegiate Broadcasting Convention.

That's how a radio station is born. But Carolina's newest and greatest offspring is nothing more than a child!

The officers for this year were: Bill Bennett, President; Lacy Butler, Vice President; Gene Spears, Treasurer.

² The following is from the 1950 USC Yearbook. "Carolina Radio Station WUSC - The Voice of the Carolina Campus." P. 209

This is WUSC, your Gamecock station, which is in its fourth year of broadcasting activities. WUSC beams its programs especially for the entertainment and interest of the students. The station serves as a medium in training those students interested in radio as a profession.

The Carolina Broadcasting Company operates on a frequency of 640 k. c. with carrier current transmission and is a member of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, a network of college stations throughout the country.

From the soft, lilting "music to study by" to the ultra sounds of "adventures in modern jazz", WUSC produces a wide variety of programs. News, request programs, remote shows, and sports events are some of the many other features of the station.

The "Voice of the Carolina Campus" is looking forward to the prospects of new studios in the future, which will enable it to branch out into more phases of radio; and allow its fine engineering department sufficient facilities for giving Carolina students better reception.

³ The following is from the 1949 USC Yearbook. "Carolina Radio Station WUSC" P. 206

1949 found WUSC in it's third year of actual broadcasting and well on the way to achieving its main objectives - to bring the campus a good swift means of entertainment and education to suit the tastes of the students; and to provide a training ground for those students who would like and plan to enter commercial radio after graduation.

The "Voice Of The Carolina Campus" is a member of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, a network of college stations throughout the country. Though its remote facilities, WUSC was able to bring to an increased listening audience programs from any point on the campus.

Feature programs included platter shows, forums, campus commentaries, news, and such remotes as "The Smoky Felder Piano Show" and "Y Canteen" originating in Flinn Hall. Student body meetings and athletic events were also aired.

The dreamy strains of "Music To Study By", emanating nightly from the ivy-covered "former" slave quarters, lulled many students away from their books by offering a type of music not usually heard on commercial stations. WUSC also increased its broadcasting hours by adding an early morning devotional program, a wake-up show, and a midnight jamboree on weekends.