When I read the story published in The Herald of Arkansas State University, my mind raced back to the days I was in college back in the early 1980s. I was one of the many in my class of 1985 to have seen KASU as it was & as it is now. I started as a green Freshman attending my "Intro to Broadcasting" classes in the KASU building. It looked like a large metal building...nothing fancy...a simple peaked roof... all on one floor. It was dwarfed by the large buildings that surrounded it, one of which was the Dean B. Ellis Library.Then we saw the construction begin on ASU's new College of Communications, which would house the new studios of KASU and ASU-TV. After it was finished, and just in time for my senior year, I had the privlege of using the new state-of-the-art studios for the 100,000 watt voice of Arkansas State. One of the bragging rights I was told by the KASU staffers was that the station was the one to depend on when severe weather hit Northeast Arkansas. Jonesboro, AR was the capitol of "Tornado Alley" & KASU stayed 10 minutes ahead of the National Weather Service with it's comprehensive weather coverage.
When I wasn't playing Music of The Masters or KASU
, I was recording a news voicer for their (then) news director, Jim Cathey or I was in my dorm room listening to the soothing Classical numbers that permeated the station's airwaves.One of my earliest memories of KASU was in my 2nd semester as a Freshman. My Radio Production Prof asked me to find Doug Rogers (KASU's chief engineer) & have him find something for class. Everyone at KASU held themselves as people who had some degree of "class" and Doug "Don't call me Mister Rogers" Rogers held the most of it. When I found Doug & made my request on behalf of my class, he studied me carfully over the top brim of his black "nerd" glasses; His round face bearing strained in concentration. He finally said, "You must be new." I responded, "Yes, this is my first year here." He smiled & said, "You're going to be mine one day!" & proceeded to retrieve what I had came after.
I learned not just the basics about broadcasting from my experience at KASU, but to respect the medium of broadcasting itself. I learned professionalism as well as the knowledge of using the "Fifth Estate" to serve the public interest. One instance involved my repeated lapse of memory in properly pronouncing the conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Each time I would intro the cut on the air, my brain would just go into suspended animation & I would say, "conducted by Leonard Bern-STEEN". In a flash, the studio phone would ring with my prof correcting me. "Bern-STINE! Bern-STINE!! Like a beer stein!" Never forgot it since.
Likewise, my prof at KASU would also invite public comment on the announcers on the air. I got a few. The critical ones were always sealed in an envelope & pinned to the bulletin board in the radio studio. The letters of praise or compliments were posted for all to see on the bulletin board. The one complementary letter I received was from a lady who was a faithful KASU listener to my Music of The Masters program. She wrote that I had such urbane speech in my pronounciation for Mozart. I correctly pronounced it as Mot-zart instead of "Mozzart, as other incorrectly did.
I had to look up the word, "urbane" since I wasn't sure she was complimenting my work.
So, happy 50th, KASU! You are the crowning jewel in broadcast excellence & a tribute to every institution that teaches broadcasting!
