WCRW, as mentioned in my previous post, was a closed circuit carrier current radio station. It was not actually on the air. But as the station replaced its 1950s (or earlier) equipment and new student leadership took over both engineering and programming, somehow our station connected with a local FM station WPIC in Sharon, Pa.

The management there offered our staff three 2-hour blocks during which we could air pre-recorded radio shows. Three nights a week, from 7-9 PM Westminster College was finally on the air! I shared announcing duty with another student Harry Gardner on a program we called “Twilight Time,” not coincidentally the title of our theme song composed by The Three Suns. It was a magazine format show, with music, short segments devoted to campus news, some “News on the Light Side” (compiled by my roommate Barry Cox), and maybe a book review now and then.

WPIC’s management was pleased with what we came up with, so their initial risk paid off. And for us students, it was exciting to have actual listeners. At least we were told we had listeners. I don’t recall any fan mail.

Tom Wensel, Jeff Kellam, Rick Packer, and Mark Klinger

The programming was much more sophisticated than the informal slapping of 45 rpm records (the ones with the big holes, you recall) onto turntables. In producing our programs there was accountability. As in real radio, we had a responsibility to take the production seriously. Looking back all these decades later, this was good training for anyone who intended to make broadcasting a career. (It’s worth noting that many campus radio stations were pretty much just “fun and games,” with far more independence than oversight, meaning that the jocks (deejays) would be ill-prepared for the broadcast profession. (The “morning zoo” format was years away, by the way.)

Kudos to Mark Klinger our program director and Tom Wensel our engineer. Rick Packer also had a lead role in the radio station’s moving from air “play” to FM broadcasting. The station’s next step would be getting its own transmitter and tower and call letters: WKPS. (Wensel, Klinger, Packer, and the faculty advisor Richard Stevens gave initials to the station that would be Westminster’s voice shortly after I graduated. I was told “Kellam” shared the K. But I suspect they were just being nice.)

Next time, graduating from college radio, just a little late. Thanks to my radio involvement, I had flunked out.