And Now, The News
From the beginning, campus radio was a place where a student with a yen for broadcast journalism could learn the trade. MSN wasn’t as big an operation as the State News. The budget for all news an sports activities was only about a tenth of what the Michigan State student publication had. But for people who wanted a taste of what it was like to gather, prepare and disseminate the news, it was enough.
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At the outset, newscasters shared the same WBRS studios where disc jockeys spun the vynal. But by the time the WMSN studios opened in the Student Services Building, the news department had their own facilities, including the Associated Press broadcast wire, and an affiliation with the ABC radio networks.
ABC in the 1970s had developed a narrow-casting approach to journalism that lead to the launch of news formats designed to serve specific market segments. MSN utilized the American Entertainment Radio Network which fed news at five minutes before the top of the hour and featured commentary from the likes of Howard Cosell and Geraldo Rivera.
MSN News recorded history as it passed through East Lansing. Student unrest, Presidential visits, state and local government and human interest stories were covered in-depth and with comment as news staffers took their EV 635-A microphones to where things happened.
Despite the ebb and flow of committed news talent MSN managed to maintain a vibrant news commitment, thanks to people like Mike Clark, Skip Berance, Dennis Kauff, Chuck Goudie, Gary Mescher and others. Today’s student radio continues to address journalistic issues. Impact-89′s “MSU Up Close” public affairs programming compares favorably to WMSN’s “Elypsis”, WMCD’s “Face The Station” and WEAK’s “Zodiac News”.
