WBRS
WBRS: The Brody Radio Service – Where it all began.
In the 1970s, WBRS was home away from the dorm for dozens of Brody-ites. Some of the people at WBRS from those years included Marc Conlin, Walt Sorg (Donn Allen), Brian Costley (Brian Charles), Mike Benner (who I listen to on occasion now on KRTH, Los Angeles), Rex Decker, Mike Skolnick, Ray Walsh, Bob Berry, Don Scott (who became station manager in the 71-72 
year), and Jim Daggy (alias Marvin Flower and Refram Refrignuq), who always seemed to be there to fill a jock slot or fix a technical problem. The biggest change for WBRS came over winter break in 68-69, when we spent almost the entire year’s budget to completely rebuild the old original control room, which was falling apart, and rewire the station. Most fun was Radio Roulette on Friday nights, a free-for-all of trivia questions, phone call-ins and prize giveaways, with the Brody dorms competing against each other for most correct answers. Radio Roulette eventually went all-campus, with dorms competing for the trivia championship honors. This also helped to fuel a heated rivalry between the dorm stations as to who was the best on campus.
A lot of WBRS people were really dedicated to the radio career, and groups would get together to go into Detroit to take the test for the FCC Third Class Permit, with broadcast endorsement, a needed piece of paper if you wanted to work as a DJ in commercial radio in those days. The addition of ABC Network News was a great moment for the station too. The station gained a new stature (and more freebies from the local merchants) an improved status for the DJs (better demo reels), and gave an enhanced service to the listeners. The DJ’s show now had to be backtimed, something no one had to pay attention to before. At first, there was a lot of use of instrumentals at the end of the hour. Then there was the “Hey Jude” into the news trick. (It went on so long, it could be faded out just about any time into the 7+ minutes). At WMSN, most remembered moments will be the non-stop marathon reading of the birthdays and assigned lottery numbers for Richard Nixon’s new draft as they were coming down the AP wire service, followed by a playing of Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant and other draft-related songs of the day. The phones wouldn’t stop ringing. There was a new professionally-done jingle package. And carpeting the walls for sound-proofing. And the “underground music” played late at night featuring the longer cuts and new artists that you just couldn’t get on most commercial stations back then. Marc Conlin was network general manager at that time, following John DeGroot. The people who made up campus radio then, from the the dorm stations to WMSN, and at the network level including the separate MSN news and sports team, were serious, dedicated students who wanted to make campus radio the best it could be for the student listeners of MSU. Between the fun, which it was, and the work they put in, MSU student radio is a tribute to the many people who cared about the stations and called them home over the years.
Editor’s Note: Dave Altmeyer contributed to this remembrance.
