A People’s History of WDCV ’75-’79: A Guide to Music

Some others of our 70s alums shared their memories of being on air. They talked about the friendships that were created and lasted with other DJs! We hope the station still has this welcoming and fun community atmosphere today 🙂

 

Thanks to all the alums for sharing their stories! Want to share yours? Add to the People’s History of WDCV.

Gil Negrete ‘75, Lisa Rossbacher ‘75

Bill Zapcic ’77, Debby Batchelder Seme ‘77

Michael Kaye ‘78, Gary Davis ‘78, David Wolf ‘78

Andy Hermann ‘79, Ed Gregorowicz ‘79, Andrew Kaplan ‘79

Gil Negrete ‘75

What was the name of your radio show and what time slot did it air?

“Soft Parade  ; Sundays 8 pm-12 am”

What was your involvement with WDCV?

“Started DJing in the fall of 1973 when I first transferred to Dickinson”

Do you have any stories, memories or secrets related to WDCV that you would like to share with us?

“‘This is WDCV-FM, 88.3 , in Carlisle. You’re listening to The Soft Parade and I’m Gil. Tell a friend.’ That was my intro spoken over the Dave Mason track “Side Tracked.” I ended each show with “All My Loving” by The Beatles.”

Lisa Rossbacher ‘75

What was the name of your radio show and what time slot did it air?

“My show was on a weekday afternoon — 4-6 p.m.  The scheduling must have been challenging, because I was a geology major and had labs almost every afternoon.”

What was your involvement with WDCV?

“I probably started my freshman or sophomore year as a DJ.  I also served as news editor for a while.”

Do you have any stories, memories or secrets related to WDCV that you would like to share with us?

“I still remember taping some of the ads:  “Shirts!  That’s the word at Carlisle Cleaners!”

One of the albums that was released during the time I worked at WDCV was Henry Gross’s eponymous album (“Henry Gross”) in 1972.  I used to play one of the cuts (“Morning Star”) frequently during my show.  I recently located Henry, told him how much I had liked that song, and asked how to get a copy.  He graciously sent me the .mp3 file of the song — and I’m delighted to be in contact with him.”

Bill Zapcic ’77

What was the name of your radio show and what time slot did it air?

“The Morning Show, MTWF, 6 to 10 a.m.”

Do you have any stories, memories or secrets related to WDCV that you would like to share with us?

“I was on the air the night the original FM transmitter — in Bosler attic — melted down and went off the air.”

 

Debby Batchelder Seme ‘77

What was your involvement with WDCV?

“I was only a DJ the second semester of my freshman year.  A law was passed requiring all DJs to get certification/licensing and I just never found the time to get it, so I gave it up.” 

Do you have any stories, memories or secrets related to WDCV that you would like to share with us?

“I just remember the fun of being able to create what we now would call a “playlist” and an upperclassman telling me how much she enjoyed what I played.”

Some Colleges have sold their broadcast licenses in recent years.  We are grateful Dickinson still supports us and cares about College Radio.  Do you think college radio is still important?  Tell us why!

“Absolutely – it’s essential that local radio stations continue to exist, especially college stations. Local news has taken a hit in recent years with many local papers going out of business and communities have lost a precious resource of local news and information as a result.”

Michael Kaye ‘78

What was the name of your radio show and what time slot did it air?

“Mostly Jazz – usually Friday early evenings (as far as I remember)”

Do you have any stories, memories or secrets related to WDCV that you would like to share with us?

“I met a lot of upper class students who became good friends through doing my radio show on Friday evening.  One of them stopped by the station one Friday evening and said he liked the music I was playing and invited me to come to their dorm floor later that evening when my show as over.  We did that and developed a big group of friends as a result. One of the benefits to doing a radio show is we got early exposure to all sorts of new music when albums were released and the station got promo copies.  It was a great way to discover new music and bands.”

Some Colleges have sold their broadcast licenses in recent years.  We are grateful Dickinson still supports us and cares about College Radio.  Do you think college radio is still important?  Tell us why!

“One of the best advantages is college radio is commercial free and plays all sorts of music, including new releases, before they might be available to the public.”

Gary Davis ‘78

What was the name of your radio show and what time slot did it air?

“Babbling Bob and Laughing Gary (on at various times)”

What was your involvement with WDCV?

“I started out as a news reader. I eventually became a DJ.”

Some Colleges have sold their broadcast licenses in recent years.  We are grateful Dickinson still supports us and cares about College Radio.  Do you think college radio is still important?  Tell us why!

“Yes. It provides great experiences to develop your speaking skills, and it’s enjoyable. My first job after Dickinson was working as a reporter/newscaster in local radio.”

 

David Wolf ‘78

What was the name of your radio show and what time slot did it air?

“Greensleeves-Howler Codpiece Hour – Sunday nights at 10 p.m.”

What was your involvement with WDCV?

“I joined the station in 1974, my freshman year. I started as a DJ and then became Music Director.  I was there at the beginning of British New Wave and Springsteen (who performed in the cafeteria in 1975?).   Amazing show. I then started a comedy show with my great friend and brother from Theta Chi, David High.  There’s a poster of the two of us in your hallway on a cloudy day when we did an outdoor DJ session!   Awesome photo!! Dave High and I continued to be friends after graduation in 1978, and he moved to Philadelphia to be my roommate.  Unfortunately, he passed away about 10 years ago. I have great memories of the station and still have some duplicate station LPs in my collection. The benefit of being Music Director.”

Do you have any stories, memories or secrets related to WDCV that you would like to share with us?

“The Greensleeves-Howler (my name is Wolf, get it?) Comedy Hour started with a ridiculous theme song where I would play jaw harp.  We did self-written skits and played a lot of Monty Python records. I can’t say that we were any good, but we had a lot of fun, and got a lot of groans from our college girlfriends.”

Some Colleges have sold their broadcast licenses in recent years.  We are grateful Dickinson still supports us and cares about College Radio.  Do you think college radio is still important?  Tell us why!

“Yes indeed.  My son also became a DJ at Muhlenberg.   He loved it as much as I did.  Community radio is very important to deal with local issues, provide local news, and give the students and community a very local voice.”

 

Andy Hermann ‘79 

What was the name of your radio show and what time slot did it air?

“I had several shows during several evening and late night time slots during my years at Dickinson from 1975 – 1979.  Some were jazz shows, some were rock/folk/jazz/progressive shows.”

What was your involvement with WDCV?

“Besides being a DJ during all four of my years at Dickinson, I was Music Director during my junior and senior years and part of the leadership of the station.”

Do you have any stories, memories or secrets related to WDCV that you would like to share with us?

“The only negative memories are of trying to get all of the time slots filled each week by student djs.  Otherwise, everything was pretty cool, especially having the opportunity to listen to new music as it came into the station from record company promotional departments (and playing the good stuff during shows), and also having the opportunity to learn about and appreciate all kinds of different music from all the records albums we had stored on our shelves.

I tried to encourage all of our djs to review new albums on 3 x 5 cards and tape them to the album covers for the benefit of other djs.”

 

Ed Gregorowicz ‘79

What was the name of your radio show and what time slot did it air?

“I had a show that aired from 10 PM until 2 AM without a regular name.  Each night at midnite I would play and review a new album.  After midnite, I played mostly soft rock like Eagles, JD Souther, Poco, Pure Prairie League, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, Al Stewart, America, etc.”

What was your involvement with WDCV?

“I was on WDCV all of my 4 years at Dickinson.  In addition to my radio show, I was also the Sports Director, and I did the broadcast of away basketball and football games.  We would travel on the team bus and set up in the press box or location via a phone hook-up.”

Do you have any stories, memories or secrets related to WDCV that you would like to share with us?

“Spinning LP’s was a fun experience, and my hours in the WDCV studio were among my best times at Dickinson.  I can remember putting on a long song and going over to the laundry room, which was on the same level of the HUB, to do my laundry during the late hours of my show.  I also remember an interview I did over the air with Dickinson’s ling time football coach Wilber “Goby” Gobrecht.  I wish that I had tapes from some of the old shows and interviews.  Two of my most vivid memories are when WDCV sponsored the concert at Dickinson that was headlined by Roger McGuinn of the Birds with an unknown warm-up act named Jimmy Buffett, who I got to meet.   I recall that Jimmy stole the show that evening.  Also, as Sports Director I got press passes to attend the annual the Philadelphia Phillies winter caravans where I met and interviewed many Philadelphia Phillies players for WDCV.”

 

Andrew Kaplan ‘79

What was the name of your radio show and what time slot did it air?

“I had a radio show for 4 years at WDCV. I can not remember if it had a name, but we did introduce a lot of new music and played favorites for the Dickinson Community.”

What was your involvement with WDCV?

“I started DJing and Sportscasting in my first semester freshman year.  Over the 4 year period, I broadcasted Dickinson Football and Basketball games including the first Women’s BB game to be aired. We also had sports trivia show. 

I also used my experience at WDCV to became an intern at WNBC Radio at 30 Rock in NYC.  I worked there for two summers including one for my boss Bob Pittman who went on to be one of the leaders in the entertainment industry.”

Do you have any stories, memories or secrets related to WDCV that you would like to share with us?

“Some of the stories of WDCV which could be longer:

Broadcast the first women’s varsity BB game. 

Was at the station after a morning class called Nuclear Energy Friend or Foe,  when the newswire story about the emergency of 3 mile Island came over and alerted my physics professor teaching the class who then alerted the college staff. 

Was at Johns Hopkins broadcasting the football game, when I fight broke out with about 2 minutes left in the game. Punches were flying so I turned into a boxing/fight broadcaster…then the refs ended the game without playing the final minutes.”