WMSN
WMSN: All Campus Radio
The lower level of the Student Services Building was home WMSN, the flagship station of the Michigan State Radio Network. WMSN provided a complete schedule of broadcast programming and boasted the best equipment and the largest record library of any student station on campus.
Though many of us started our careers in the dorm stations, most passed through WMSN’s studios on our way to the real world. While the dorm stations were single studio operations, WMSN had production facilities, a full news and sports department, an Associated Press wire subscription and a unique deal with ABC, allowing us to use the radio news feeds without having to run the commercials.Walt Sorg was part of the original WMSN mafia. “I’ll never forget the first-ever broadcast on WMSN.” he remembers. “The main control room was still under construction, so they used the production studio. One of the turntables was a variable-speed monster, and they never got the speed exactly at 45 rpm (and tried to adjust it during records). The DJ was Jeff “Poopsie” Stevens, who now uses the airname Tim Skubick. The newscaster was David Shinn (when last seen by me, Dave was a bureaucrat deep in the bowels of the Michigan Department of State).”
“Our early stars were Ken Gimble (went on to big career in radio management), John Records Landecker (he’s back in Chicago doing mornings at the oldies station), John DeGroot (now a yacht broker in Florida after creating a string of successful FM stations in northern Michigan), and Dan Carlisle, who moved on to WRIF and places beyond. I also had the honor of turning down a proposal from Bob Kurtz to do a sports show on WBRS. He’s been play-by-play for the Minnesota Twins and Vikings, and the Boston Bruins. I think he’s with the cable sports channel in Boston these days. And Bob Page is with MSG cable in the Big Apple.”
In the days when Top-40 ruled, WMSN produced music surveys, charting the hits according to student tastes. Each campus radio station had it’s own music director and the major record companies provided the network with the same record service that commercial stations enjoyed, and the MSN record libraries were equal to or better than many of the local broadcast operations.
There were the traditional remote broadcasts from the MSU bookstore at the start of each term. A remote unit, complete with turntables, microphones and mixing equipment fed the broadcasts live over a network of copper wire which connected the MSN headquarters at Student Services with key points around the campus. MSN sports coverage included live play-by-play of Spartan Hockey and several other college sports, launching professional careers for the likes of Mario Impemba, Pat Foley, and Matt McConnell. Enterprising reporters produced a weekly intramural sports report, highlighting scores and stories from the huge array of cross campus contests that took place nightly.
MSN news covered history from a unique “inside” perspective. Mike Clark was tear gassed as he carried his MSN News recorder down Grand River to cover the 1969 student riots. MSN was on the scene again in May of 1972, during a student demonstration against the Vietnam War. When Dr. Ralph Abernathy, Jessie Jackson and other historic figures of the time were on campus, their voices were invariably heard on the carrier currents of the Michigan State Network. MSN reporters regularly provided feeds to the AP and were sometimes called to report live on other broadcast stations around the State.
Campus Radio alum and MSN newsman Rusty Hills recalled one particularly memorable ASMSU meeting. “Matt Mills and I used to broadcast these things (yawn?), and, at one of the more political meetings, a young activist … led a charge to disrupt the meeting. Since the table at which Matt and I were broadcasting sat between the ASMSU members and the audience, the protestors were forced to jump on, or hurdle our broadcast booth … at which point, in the midst of a mini-riot, Matt stops broadcasting and yells out, ‘Don’t touch the microphones’ … re-establishing order for approximately 8 seconds, after which pandemonium again let loose and the meeting promptly shut down.
Ah, those were the days …”
Occasionally, MSN would convince artists to allow us to broadcast their concerts live on the network. Such was the case with comedian Robert Klein, on the in 1975 to promote his “Child of the 60′s” album. Klein was performing at the Northwind Stables nightclub on Grand River Avenue when Jim Marshall connected our Shure five-pot mixer to the Stables’ PA system. About five minutes into the act, Klein gave the network a great plug and asked Jim if we had a mic on the crowd so the radio audience could hear the laughter. Naturally, we didn’t, and Jim – not missing a beat – said, “You’ll have to laugh at your own jokes.” It got one of the night’s biggest laughs.
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The WMSN softball team, May, 1971. Another WMSN tradition, which continues today at WDBM is the fielding of a station softball team. Intramural sports could be serious business at MSU, but the MSN teams always played for the fun of it. Currently, the WDBM team holds an annual grudge match with the State News for media softball supremacy.
