University of Dayton Magazine article on WVUD

[Swampy Meadows]

In case your copy hasn't landed in the mailbox yet, here is a link to the superb piece in the latest issue of Dayton magazine on "The Radio Station" where I am proud to have started my career in 1972:

http://udquickly.udayton.edu/udmagaz...ck-revolution/

[bobber]

Wow, I worked there from 65-66. Bob Burkey and Dennis (Patterson?) sorry, senior moment, were there among others. At that time we were almost like an NPR station: classical and semi-classical, some folk music on the weekends, and some talk too (Casper Citron, recorded out of NY).

I thought no one remembered the old VUD.

[The Gem]

I grew up in the 1970's listening to WVUD. I used to be one of those people that taped The Wax Museum. Good stuff.

[moville]

Hey Swamp, thanks . . . Ann's reading it now . . . she worked there from '70 to '72.

[Chris R]

WVUD bit the big one about the year I started school. Its too bad as I would have loved to have been involved. Glad you were able to add some insight Swamper. It was a great article. I loved the nostalgic pics with the white man afros, polyester, and turntables.

So they sold the station around 1992 for $3.x million to fund other things. Was the station losing money and becoming unsustainable? Or was it a stupid move at the behest of stupid people that simply didnt know any better? Or was the radio competition killing the station?

Hindsight is always 20/20, but for those involved on the inside, it would be interesting to hear how it all eventually came to an end. Athenas Bridal? Good God. They are still around. They must be selling a lot of wedding and prom dresses to stay in biz.

[Levelbest]

SWEEET. John Taylor (Yaglenski was too long) here I did middays and weekends from 1986-89. #1 ranked 25-54 adults too - LOL. Honestly some of the best memories of my life working there. So many stories to tell - that if we ever have a beer together, I'll be glad to share.

Chris, even though it was Lite FM - it was a heckuva opportunity to work for a 50,000 watt commercial fm station in what was (at the time) a top 50 radio market. The funds from the sale of the station funded the big humanities building. There is/was a display there that pays tribute to it.

WVUD was *THE* reason I went to UD. Period. Would have loved to have worked there in the Rock days or heck, even the Hits days... but don't regret a second of my experience.

[Swampy Meadows]

Chris quite honestly I don't know why UD ever sold WVUD. They certainly didn't need the money. Biersack wasn't involved any longer and the station was his baby. When I worked at CNN in the '90s I came down for a Communication Arts Career Day with a bunch of other Comm Arts alums. I told the guys and gals all about VUD and what a tremendous asset it was. Afterwards a guy came up to me and said that they were still learning how to splice reel-to-reel tape like we did back in the early '70's. So the University certainly didn't spend the proceeds on equipment.

I do know that at one point Great Trails Broadcasting offered UD $1 million for the 99.9 license, plus they would give them the 92.9 frequency that became WGTZ. UD said thanks but no thanks.

[Chris R]

Was it 92.1 or 92.9? Was WGTZ the old "Z-93" or was that another station? I remember that station when I was a kid.

Reading about how WVUD was cutting edge with stereophonics and Dolby-B, it sounded like it really had great initial leadership by folks who were "in it to win it" so to speak and put the investments in it to make it something other than just going through the motions.

So whats the main difference now betwen WVUD and WUDR? Size? Wattage? Format? Funding? Genre? Leadership? Student talent? Instruction?

Im pretty ignorant on UDs radio stations. But I always got the impression that back in the day WVUD was like a legitimate Dayton radio station going after market share, and not just some school station that broadcasts an exclusive interview with Dr Creep.

[Levelbest]

WVUD - Commercial FM License - 50,000 watt blowtorch. It was legitimate. Like I said, I was #1 Arbitron rated 25-54 12-3pm - the goal was to get ratings and make money!

WUDR / WDCR - Student Run, Carrier Current (ran thru wiring), then Low Power FM - 10 watt/internet - Non Commercial.

[Levelbest]

Originally Posted by Swampy Meadows Chris quite honestly I don't know why UD ever sold WVUD. They certainly didn't need the money. Biersack wasn't involved any longer and the station was his baby. When I worked at CNN in the '90s I came down for a Communication Arts Career Day with a bunch of other Comm Arts alums. I told the guys and gals all about VUD and what a tremendous asset it was. Afterwards a guy came up to me and said that they were still learning how to splice reel-to-reel tape like we did back in the early '70's. So the University certainly didn't spend the proceeds on equipment. I do know that at one point Great Trails Broadcasting offered UD $1 million for the 99.9 license, plus they would give them the 92.1 frequency that became WGTZ. UD said thanks but no thanks.

To build buildings. That was it. I also think the administration didn't want to be in the real radio business anymore and felt it was tough integrating professional broadcasters and students. There was a bit of friction there from those who worked in "real" radio and were being told they now had to integrate students into the lineup. The last PD that I worked with there was a total JACKHOLE. That said, it was a tremendous asset and it was a crying shame that it was sold. UD was one of about 3-5 schools in the country that had a commercial FM license. It made it very unique.

[Swampy Meadows]

92.9, Chris. I even looked it up to be sure then forgot to change the frequency. Old Timers Disease--it's a beyotch!

[bobber]

Originally Posted by Levelbest WVUD - Commercial FM License - 50,000 watt blowtorch. It was legitimate. Like I said, I was #1 Arbitron rated 25-54 12-3pm - the goal was to get ratings and make money! WUDR / WDCR - Student Run, Carrier Current (ran thru wiring), then Low Power FM - 10 watt/internet - Non Commercial.

I don't think the emphasis was there to sell time back in the mid-60s. We had Penny Oldsmobile sponsor the hourly news and the Kenley Players (remember them?) would buy time during the summer to publicize their shows. But mainly we ran a lot of PSA's and very few commercials.

But you are right, Level. She was a 50K monster. And a sleeping giant. And I really enjoyed the people I worked with. They were all first-rate.

[Chris R]

That just means IM OLD TOO for remembering it. Z-93 introduced me to the Pet Shop Boys and Mr. Mister. You dont forget certain things.

50,000 Watts. That sounds like a lot. Whats 700WLW? The sale of WVUD sounds like the guy that sold his Ferrari 250 GTO in 1968 for $8,500. What were they thinking?

What would it cost to buy a WVUD equivalent station today?

[Swampy Meadows]

a 50,000 watt clear channel AM signal is far superior to a 50,000 watt FM. WLW covers 30-something states at night; an FM signal is line of sight and has much less range.

Bobber: The Penny Olds account was a trade deal; they got ads and we got an Olds as the "station car." Boy did we abuse those suckers. Used to gas 'em up at the pumps behind the power building. Nobody ever added/changed the oil which shortened the engine life consdierably, I'm sure.

[Levelbest]

Some history from 1992 - I saved this when I saw it. Sorry for bumping the format of the site... if I could resize in HTML, I would...



and WDCR - When we tried to bring back rock...

[TerryK_67]

I was at UD from the fall of 63 thru spring of 68. I was not involved in any way with the radio station, but I do remember it being on the 3rd floor of Kennedy Union . I also recall a "listening room", complete with light effects that was cool.... never anything like that back then!

[Chris R]

I forgot about the AM/FM thing. Good point Swamp.

[Levelbest]

Originally Posted by Chris R That just means IM OLD TOO for remembering it. Z-93 introduced me to the Pet Shop Boys and Mr. Mister. You dont forget certain things.

I hung with Dr. Dave a few time from Z-93. Dude was a little odd. Loved himself. I seem to remember him having a purple t top corvette with a overdone stereo system from a place I can't remember off 35 and woodman drive which used to be the "go to" stereo shop in town.

Hahahaha - just found this: http://www.daytonbroadcasthalloffame.com/wgtz.html

[Levelbest]

Just a tiny bit more detail - hope I am not boring anyone - but I just sent to the Dayton Radio History folks (along with the article Swampy posted). They said they didn't yet have a page for WVUD because they didn't have enough sources. Also sent them the article I posted but added this:

When I started working at WVUD in the summer of 1986, the station had just changed from https://flic.kr/p/mrEsTh the Bright 99.9 (Hits) to DeLightful 100 (MOR). Prior to Bright, I think they used the 100 and had a slightly different hits moniker - maybe hits? DeLightful 100 actually had a feather in the logo - it was that Lite.

DeLightful 100 was programmed by Drake Chenault. We used 4 reel to reel machines to rotate 100's, 200's, 300's and 400's which designated the category of music. Trying to remember but I think the 100's were currents, the 200's newer AC, 300's oldies and 400's were the stock ultra light AC library. When the format switched, we only had 2 live day-parts (morning drive and afternoon drive). The rest was pre-recorded voice and only certain students who had been there a while were allowed to record the Official Weather Forecast from the National Weather Service which would run at the :50 break.

Within the first 6 months or so, the University got the word that students weren't being involved in on-air work which lead to the mandate to get people on the air. Literally, the day before I did my first live shift at WVUD, I was told I would never be on the air because I sounded too east coast. The next day, Chuck Gillespie, the program director told me I was going live - and so I did.

About a year in (1987), the MOR format gave way to a more traditional LiteFM format and the station was christened Lite 100, WVUD. Drake Chenault was dropped and we went cart based with a typical variety of artists. The format was more modern and allowed for re-currents to be integrated quickly, something DeLightful didn't allow for.

Around the same time, I moved to mid-days scheduling all my classes around my work at WVUD and was promoted to Assistant PD.

Chuck Gillespie had been doing mornings at that time and eventually hired Dayton radio veteran Bob Sweeney to do mornings and moved to afternoon. He was joined by another Dayton veteran traffic man Major Dick Smith along with Charles VanZant (who I still hear at WHIO) on news. Charles replaced Toni Miller (Antionette Stumiller) who had the news job previously. The rest of the day was filled with students who for the most part were live.

Eventually Chuck was fired and Reed Kittredge was hired to replace him as PD. Reed didn't know how to relate well to students well and I honestly believe his hiring was the beginning of the end for WVUD.

A few other notes - when I went to work there, the GM was Lenny Eliason and eventually he was replaced by Mike McGough - a guy who twice later would help me get gigs in radio.

It's important WVUD be remembered for what it was and what it gave to the community and the people who worked there.

[Southwest]

Loved me some VUD in the 70s. After listening to all the great album rock of the day, we'd spend what little cash we had on those albums at The Forest record shop at Wayne Ave. and Utah Ct. near campus.

Also fondly remember the daily 5 minute segments at noon from the legendary Fr. Norbert Burns on "The Challenge of Modern Day Marriage."

[jack72]

We took VUD for granted in the early 70's, especially because I spent my summers and holidays at home in Cleveland. Cleveland had two very progressive FM music stations. Little did I know that VUD was one of very few in the nation to be doing what it was doing. Hats off to all the guys and gals who where part of making that happen. It was a big part of our college experience and our music experience.

Anyone else remember how the Forest Bookstore would get a sampling of the newest and most progressive albums. Usually just one copy. They set them out at about 9:00 PM on Friday night. I remember buying one in 1970 by some guy I never heard of named Elton John.

[udpumpkin]

Originally Posted by Chris R 50,000 Watts. That sounds like a lot. Whats 700WLW? The sale of WVUD sounds like the guy that sold his Ferrari 250 GTO in 1968 for $8,500. What were they thinking? What would it cost to buy a WVUD equivalent station today?

My guess is that the $3mm quoted that UD got was not a bad deal with the benefit of hindsight.

Here is a somewhat dated article talking about the decline in University radio stations:

https://chronicle.com/article/Whats-...Radio-/127945/

The economics of free-to-air radio broadcasting must be tough these days with so many entertainment alternatives. I don't think I have listened to an over-the-air radio station in five years.

I'll admit it is tough to place a value on the intangibles that come from getting students involved in a major operation, though.