00:00:00:00	00:00:00:27	cc
00:00:00:27	00:00:04:09	Good afternoon, I'd like to
00:00:04:09	00:00:06:23	say thank you for coming to our
00:00:06:23	00:00:08:00	program, "The Nostalgia of
00:00:08:00	00:00:09:09	Radio."
00:00:09:09	00:00:11:07	My name is Elizabeth Choi, I
00:00:11:07	00:00:13:04	am an MATC student intern who
00:00:13:04	00:00:14:16	has been interning here at the
00:00:14:16	00:00:17:16	senior center this year.
00:00:17:16	00:00:19:01	I would like to say thank you to
00:00:19:01	00:00:20:21	the Wisconsin Humanities Council
00:00:20:21	00:00:23:01	for awarding us this grant to
00:00:23:01	00:00:25:10	make this program possible.
00:00:25:10	00:00:26:27	Today I would like to introduce
00:00:26:27	00:00:29:24	to you Mr. Randall Davidson, who
00:00:29:24	00:00:31:01	received a bachelor's and
00:00:31:01	00:00:33:05	master's degree in business
00:00:33:05	00:00:35:00	administration from the
00:00:35:00	00:00:38:00	University of Wisconsin-Madison.
00:00:38:00	00:00:42:25	UW-Oshkosh station WRST FM was
00:00:42:25	00:00:45:13	where he began his radio career
00:00:45:13	00:00:47:15	and he later worked as a disc
00:00:47:15	00:00:49:24	jockey and sportscaster at
00:00:49:24	00:00:54:13	commercial station at WHBY-AM in
00:00:54:13	00:00:57:03	Appleton.
00:00:57:03	00:00:59:12	Randall Davidson spent 18 years
00:00:59:12	00:01:02:00	with the Wisconsin Public Radio
00:01:02:00	00:01:04:01	in Madison where he was a news
00:01:04:01	00:01:06:16	producer and the network's
00:01:06:16	00:01:08:25	afternoon newscaster.
00:01:08:25	00:01:10:14	He also was the network's chief
00:01:10:14	00:01:13:08	announcer, training new
00:01:13:08	00:01:15:10	announcers and filling in on
00:01:15:10	00:01:18:10	music programs where needed.
00:01:18:10	00:01:21:02	Most often on "Simply Folk," the
00:01:21:02	00:01:22:28	network's weekly folk music
00:01:22:28	00:01:24:13	program.
00:01:24:13	00:01:26:03	Randall Davidson is currently at
00:01:26:03	00:01:29:19	the University of Oshkosh as a
00:01:29:19	00:01:32:11	director of radio service.
00:01:32:11	00:01:34:02	Let's give a round of applause
00:01:34:02	00:01:36:10	for Mr. Randall Davidson.
00:01:36:10	00:01:38:10	(applause)
00:01:44:06	00:01:45:09	>> Well, I'd like to
00:01:45:09	00:01:46:17	thank everyone for coming out
00:01:46:17	00:01:48:04	today on this nice spring day to
00:01:48:04	00:01:50:14	talk a little bit about radio.
00:01:50:14	00:01:51:22	I'm here primarily to talk about
00:01:51:22	00:01:54:16	the history of your hometown
00:01:54:16	00:01:57:15	public radio station WHA.
00:01:57:15	00:01:58:25	I worked at Wisconsin Public
00:01:58:25	00:02:00:04	Radio as they said during the
00:02:00:04	00:02:02:00	introduction for 18 years and
00:02:02:00	00:02:03:12	kind of along the way became the
00:02:03:12	00:02:05:23	historian of the network.
00:02:05:23	00:02:07:07	Mostly because of an interest in
00:02:07:07	00:02:08:15	history, but lots of times we
00:02:08:15	00:02:10:03	get questions from listeners
00:02:10:03	00:02:11:28	about early programs, programs
00:02:11:28	00:02:13:07	of the past, and I seemed to
00:02:13:07	00:02:14:10	know where things were in the
00:02:14:10	00:02:15:24	libraries and I would look them
00:02:15:24	00:02:19:21	up to answer these questions.
00:02:19:21	00:02:21:07	And if you know Jean Feraca, one
00:02:21:07	00:02:22:10	of the talk show hosts of
00:02:22:10	00:02:24:04	Wisconsin Public Radio, about
00:02:24:04	00:02:25:11	six or seven years ago she took
00:02:25:11	00:02:27:26	a year off to write a memoir of
00:02:27:26	00:02:31:01	her experiences in radio and
00:02:31:01	00:02:33:09	during the year she was gone I
00:02:33:09	00:02:34:14	ran into her one day on the
00:02:34:14	00:02:37:01	street in Madison and she was
00:02:37:01	00:02:38:24	happy to see because she said,
00:02:38:24	00:02:39:25	"You've got to get down to the
00:02:39:25	00:02:41:01	publisher.
00:02:41:01	00:02:42:03	She said, "They're anxious to
00:02:42:03	00:02:43:04	talk to you."
00:02:43:04	00:02:44:04	And I said, "About what?"
00:02:44:04	00:02:45:03	And she said, "Well, I told
00:02:45:03	00:02:46:14	them this guy at WHA knows all
00:02:46:14	00:02:47:18	this history and they want to
00:02:47:18	00:02:48:17	know if you want to write a
00:02:48:17	00:02:49:20	book."
00:02:49:20	00:02:50:25	And so I went down to UW
00:02:50:25	00:02:52:19	Press, on Monroe Street, and I
00:02:52:19	00:02:54:26	met with them, and they agreed
00:02:54:26	00:02:56:04	to commission me to write a
00:02:56:04	00:02:57:25	history of WHA radio and the
00:02:57:25	00:02:59:22	network that grew into Wisconsin
00:02:59:22	00:03:02:02	Public Radio and it's called
00:03:02:02	00:03:04:06	"9XM Talking: WHA Radio and the
00:03:04:06	00:03:05:19	Wisconsin Idea," came out in
00:03:05:19	00:03:11:03	2006 and it tells the story, a
00:03:11:03	00:03:13:11	very good Wisconsin story of how
00:03:13:11	00:03:16:02	the state and university used
00:03:16:02	00:03:19:03	radio to benefit people.
00:03:19:03	00:03:20:07	We have to go back to the early
00:03:20:07	00:03:22:28	days of the 20th century when
00:03:22:28	00:03:25:24	the notion of sending messages
00:03:25:24	00:03:27:05	through the air using radio
00:03:27:05	00:03:28:11	waves was a cutting-edge
00:03:28:11	00:03:30:03	technology and this was
00:03:30:03	00:03:31:05	something that's being studied
00:03:31:05	00:03:32:07	on university campuses,
00:03:32:07	00:03:34:12	including Madison.
00:03:34:12	00:03:35:24	And what was being sent through
00:03:35:24	00:03:37:14	the air was telegraphic
00:03:37:14	00:03:39:10	messages, it wasn't voice yet,
00:03:39:10	00:03:40:14	it was the dots and dashes of
00:03:40:14	00:03:42:16	Morse code.
00:03:42:16	00:03:44:08	And industry and the military
00:03:44:08	00:03:45:14	figured this was only going to
00:03:45:14	00:03:47:15	be useful for point-to-point
00:03:47:15	00:03:49:13	messages where you couldn't
00:03:49:13	00:03:51:01	string a wire, say to a
00:03:51:01	00:03:52:18	mountaintop or to a ship at sea
00:03:52:18	00:03:54:24	or a moving train.
00:03:54:24	00:03:56:10	But they were hobbyists back
00:03:56:10	00:03:58:23	then, who would listen to these
00:03:58:23	00:03:59:25	messages through the air.
00:03:59:25	00:04:01:26	They'd build a homemade receiver
00:04:01:26	00:04:02:23	and you could listen to these
00:04:02:23	00:04:04:13	messages right through the air
00:04:04:13	00:04:05:15	and eavesdrop on them, in
00:04:05:15	00:04:07:05	essence.
00:04:07:05	00:04:08:15	And some researchers, including
00:04:08:15	00:04:09:28	those here at the university,
00:04:09:28	00:04:11:05	realized there's an efficiency
00:04:11:05	00:04:12:11	here.
00:04:12:11	00:04:13:19	You can send one message to many
00:04:13:19	00:04:16:05	people efficiently and there's
00:04:16:05	00:04:17:21	no added cost to pick up an
00:04:17:21	00:04:20:11	additional receptor of the
00:04:20:11	00:04:22:11	message.
00:04:22:11	00:04:23:16	The cost is all borne by the
00:04:23:16	00:04:24:25	person receiving it, there's no
00:04:24:25	00:04:25:29	extra cost to the production
00:04:25:29	00:04:27:01	end.
00:04:27:01	00:04:29:06	There's this real efficiency and
00:04:29:06	00:04:30:23	that's kind of where the use of
00:04:30:23	00:04:33:05	the word broadcasting comes in.
00:04:33:05	00:04:34:16	Broadcasting was a word before
00:04:34:16	00:04:36:13	radio.
00:04:36:13	00:04:37:20	If you look up the word in an
00:04:37:20	00:04:38:27	old dictionary, let's say from
00:04:38:27	00:04:40:01	about 1900, the word broadcast
00:04:40:01	00:04:41:14	is in there.
00:04:41:14	00:04:42:20	It's an agriculture term it
00:04:42:20	00:04:44:29	means scattering seeds.
00:04:44:29	00:04:47:09	And it was appropriated by radio
00:04:47:09	00:04:49:22	as the word for sending one
00:04:49:22	00:04:52:09	message to many people at once.
00:04:52:09	00:04:54:03	On this campus at the University
00:04:54:03	00:04:56:10	of Wisconsin-Madison there was a
00:04:56:10	00:04:57:17	physics professor named Earl
00:04:57:17	00:04:59:07	Terry who's the real hero of
00:04:59:07	00:05:01:15	this story.
00:05:01:15	00:05:04:24	He got hooked on radio and its
00:05:04:24	00:05:06:10	possibilities early on as he was
00:05:06:10	00:05:08:08	studying it.
00:05:08:08	00:05:09:21	And at the same time that he was
00:05:09:21	00:05:11:04	studying radio on this campus
00:05:11:04	00:05:12:12	and other researchers were doing
00:05:12:12	00:05:14:09	the same, there was this idea in
00:05:14:09	00:05:16:29	Madison of the Wisconsin idea.
00:05:16:29	00:05:18:05	This is the notion that a
00:05:18:05	00:05:20:06	university isn't just for the
00:05:20:06	00:05:21:19	benefit of the students but it's
00:05:21:19	00:05:22:26	for the benefit for all
00:05:22:26	00:05:24:10	citizens.
00:05:24:10	00:05:25:26	And these two things happened at
00:05:25:26	00:05:26:28	the same time, the Wisconsin
00:05:26:28	00:05:28:13	idea and the development of
00:05:28:13	00:05:30:17	radio kind of happened kind of
00:05:30:17	00:05:31:25	on parallel tracks at the same
00:05:31:25	00:05:33:11	time.
00:05:33:11	00:05:35:05	And this idea was going around
00:05:35:05	00:05:36:15	campus, this notion of serving
00:05:36:15	00:05:38:21	people, Earl Terry and his home
00:05:38:21	00:05:39:25	built radio station that his
00:05:39:25	00:05:41:21	students built, said, what can
00:05:41:21	00:05:42:28	we do with this?
00:05:42:28	00:05:44:04	What kind of message can we send
00:05:44:04	00:05:46:20	that everyone can benefit from?
00:05:46:20	00:05:47:28	And they decided to send out the
00:05:47:28	00:05:50:05	weather in Morse code.
00:05:50:05	00:05:51:12	And that was something they got
00:05:51:12	00:05:52:15	from the Weather Bureau, which
00:05:52:15	00:05:53:25	was in North Hall on campus at
00:05:53:25	00:05:56:03	that time, they got permission.
00:05:56:03	00:05:59:16	On December 4th, 1916, this
00:05:59:16	00:06:00:24	experimental station with the
00:06:00:24	00:06:02:21	call letters 9XM began sending
00:06:02:21	00:06:04:06	out the weather forecast in
00:06:04:06	00:06:06:04	Morse code at 11 o'clock in the
00:06:06:04	00:06:07:12	morning, Monday through
00:06:07:12	00:06:08:20	Saturday.
00:06:08:20	00:06:10:01	For the benefit of anyone who
00:06:10:01	00:06:11:11	could receive it, the state
00:06:11:11	00:06:13:21	forecast of Wisconsin.
00:06:13:21	00:06:14:23	And people as part of the
00:06:14:23	00:06:16:05	message, they encouraged people
00:06:16:05	00:06:17:26	to write it down, transcribe
00:06:17:26	00:06:19:20	this, take it somewhere in your
00:06:19:20	00:06:21:16	town so everybody can benefit,
00:06:21:16	00:06:23:10	not just you but everybody.
00:06:23:10	00:06:25:03	Take it to the general store, to
00:06:25:03	00:06:27:07	the bank, to the post office, to
00:06:27:07	00:06:28:15	the fire station, somewhere
00:06:28:15	00:06:30:04	where you can post it outside
00:06:30:04	00:06:31:21	and people can see it.
00:06:31:21	00:06:33:08	We know one town, there was a
00:06:33:08	00:06:34:23	single radio receiver, a
00:06:34:23	00:06:37:01	hobbyist had a radio they built,
00:06:37:01	00:06:38:13	received this message, he'd take
00:06:38:13	00:06:40:10	it to the telephone exchange,
00:06:40:10	00:06:41:05	and the operator would ring
00:06:41:05	00:06:42:10	everybody on the circuit and
00:06:42:10	00:06:43:19	read them the weather forecast.
00:06:43:19	00:06:45:03	(laughter)
00:06:45:03	00:06:46:11	And this worked
00:06:46:11	00:06:47:24	pretty well.
00:06:47:24	00:06:48:26	To the extent if you knew Morse
00:06:48:26	00:06:50:07	code.
00:06:50:07	00:06:51:09	And this was reported at 11
00:06:51:09	00:06:52:12	o'clock in the morning, I should
00:06:52:12	00:06:53:17	mention, it was because 11
00:06:53:17	00:06:55:02	o'clock was when the most
00:06:55:02	00:06:57:12	popular show on radio in 1916
00:06:57:12	00:06:59:10	ended.
00:06:59:10	00:07:00:26	From 10:55 to 11:00 every
00:07:00:26	00:07:03:17	morning the Navy sent out the
00:07:03:17	00:07:05:14	time in Morse code.
00:07:05:14	00:07:06:20	You have to have exact time for
00:07:06:20	00:07:08:14	navigation, they would do this
00:07:08:14	00:07:09:19	so ships at sea could
00:07:09:19	00:07:11:24	synchronize their clocks.
00:07:11:24	00:07:13:08	And from 10:55 to 11:00 central
00:07:13:08	00:07:14:14	time they would send out the
00:07:14:14	00:07:17:08	time but hobbyists loved this.
00:07:17:08	00:07:18:12	High schools would set up
00:07:18:12	00:07:19:13	receiver so you could get the
00:07:19:13	00:07:21:08	exact time.
00:07:21:08	00:07:23:00	Jewelers, in particular, would
00:07:23:00	00:07:24:03	set up receivers so they could
00:07:24:03	00:07:25:13	set the watches of their
00:07:25:13	00:07:26:29	customers.
00:07:26:29	00:07:28:18	And so at 10:55 you'd tune into
00:07:28:18	00:07:30:08	the radio and get the time, then
00:07:30:08	00:07:31:21	you'd dial down to where 9XM
00:07:31:21	00:07:33:18	was, get the weather forecast,
00:07:33:18	00:07:34:20	and that's all the radio you
00:07:34:20	00:07:35:28	were gonna get that day.
00:07:35:28	00:07:37:24	That's all there was.
00:07:37:24	00:07:39:06	So this worked pretty well but
00:07:39:06	00:07:40:24	you had to know Morse code.
00:07:40:24	00:07:42:01	And to be sure more people knew
00:07:42:01	00:07:43:08	Morse code then than probably do
00:07:43:08	00:07:44:25	now, there were railroad
00:07:44:25	00:07:46:04	operators and people who worked
00:07:46:04	00:07:47:05	for the telegraph companies and
00:07:47:05	00:07:48:20	so forth.
00:07:48:20	00:07:49:23	But almost immediately they
00:07:49:23	00:07:50:25	stared experimenting with
00:07:50:25	00:07:52:20	sending sound through the air.
00:07:52:20	00:07:53:17	This would be something
00:07:53:17	00:07:55:16	everybody could use.
00:07:55:16	00:07:57:13	And experiments took place on
00:07:57:13	00:07:58:15	campus at the University of
00:07:58:15	00:08:01:09	Wisconsin, and sending at least
00:08:01:09	00:08:02:11	the sound of phonograph records,
00:08:02:11	00:08:03:12	not the human voice, but at
00:08:03:12	00:08:05:10	least recorded music.
00:08:05:10	00:08:07:11	And Professor Terry had it to
00:08:07:11	00:08:09:11	the point where it was working.
00:08:09:11	00:08:11:02	He could send music through the
00:08:11:02	00:08:13:10	air pretty well.
00:08:13:10	00:08:14:24	So he called all his colleagues
00:08:14:24	00:08:16:00	from the physics department to
00:08:16:00	00:08:17:12	have a party at his house.
00:08:17:12	00:08:18:08	And the deans were there and
00:08:18:08	00:08:20:12	their wives and he said, "For
00:08:20:12	00:08:22:08	the first broadcast," and this
00:08:22:08	00:08:25:08	was early 1917.
00:08:25:08	00:08:26:18	He said, he called down to
00:08:26:18	00:08:27:07	Science Hall where the
00:08:27:07	00:08:29:12	radio station was at that time,
00:08:29:12	00:08:31:00	he said to the operator, we're
00:08:31:00	00:08:32:22	all ready.
00:08:32:22	00:08:34:08	And the guy played a record and
00:08:34:08	00:08:36:07	he received it at home.
00:08:36:07	00:08:38:02	And to his dismay nobody was
00:08:38:02	00:08:39:04	impressed.
00:08:39:04	00:08:40:08	They thought it was some kind of
00:08:40:08	00:08:41:20	trick.
00:08:41:20	00:08:43:11	But a woman at the party,
00:08:43:11	00:08:45:13	thirty-two years later, wrote a
00:08:45:13	00:08:47:06	letter to our general manager at
00:08:47:06	00:08:49:22	WHA and said she remembered the
00:08:49:22	00:08:51:19	music that was played.
00:08:51:19	00:08:53:16	A song by Ethelbert Nevin called
00:08:53:16	00:08:55:12	"Narcissus."
00:08:55:12	00:08:57:26	A classical recording, very
00:08:57:26	00:09:00:08	recognizable.
00:09:00:08	00:09:01:22	And I, a few years ago, bought
00:09:01:22	00:09:03:11	from a collector a 1913
00:09:03:11	00:09:05:10	recording of "Narcissus" on
00:09:05:10	00:09:06:25	Victor Records, which was one of
00:09:06:25	00:09:08:08	only three commercial recordings
00:09:08:08	00:09:10:06	available before 1917.
00:09:10:06	00:09:12:21	We got one from a collector, and
00:09:12:21	00:09:13:27	it's in a display case at
00:09:13:27	00:09:15:09	Wisconsin Public Radio now,
00:09:15:09	00:09:16:14	probably the first piece of
00:09:16:14	00:09:17:23	music we every played on the
00:09:17:23	00:09:19:21	radio.
00:09:19:21	00:09:20:29	And if you look at the Wisconsin
00:09:20:29	00:09:22:16	Public Radio website they say,
00:09:22:16	00:09:24:13	they always cite 1917 as their
00:09:24:13	00:09:26:15	start date because that's when
00:09:26:15	00:09:29:13	they started broadcasting sound.
00:09:29:13	00:09:30:28	But then the United States
00:09:30:28	00:09:32:27	entered World War I, and this
00:09:32:27	00:09:34:09	new technology radio was kind of
00:09:34:09	00:09:35:26	an unknown.
00:09:35:26	00:09:37:02	There was really concern on the
00:09:37:02	00:09:38:09	part of the federal government
00:09:38:09	00:09:39:26	that the enemy would get some
00:09:39:26	00:09:41:18	vital information from the few
00:09:41:18	00:09:42:27	little meager stations in the
00:09:42:27	00:09:44:06	United States that were
00:09:44:06	00:09:46:05	operating.
00:09:46:05	00:09:47:19	And the rule went down from
00:09:47:19	00:09:48:28	Washington that you had to
00:09:48:28	00:09:51:13	dismantle all radio transmitters
00:09:51:13	00:09:52:19	and all receivers, any, if you
00:09:52:19	00:09:53:22	had a radio in your home you had
00:09:53:22	00:09:54:24	to take it apart.
00:09:54:24	00:09:56:01	You were not allowed to have a
00:09:56:01	00:09:57:06	radio during World War I.
00:09:57:06	00:09:58:21	It was against the law.
00:09:58:21	00:09:59:21	To be sure there weren't that
00:09:59:21	00:10:00:24	many, you couldn't buy
00:10:00:24	00:10:02:06	commercial radios then, there
00:10:02:06	00:10:03:22	were only 12 radios in Madison
00:10:03:22	00:10:05:09	in 1917.
00:10:05:09	00:10:06:24	Everyone knew who they were, so
00:10:06:24	00:10:08:05	it was pretty easy to track down
00:10:08:05	00:10:10:01	who they were.
00:10:10:01	00:10:11:09	But Earl Terry wanted special
00:10:11:09	00:10:12:17	permission to stay on the air,
00:10:12:17	00:10:13:20	he started doing special
00:10:13:20	00:10:15:03	experiments with the Navy.
00:10:15:03	00:10:16:08	And he said I have to have this
00:10:16:08	00:10:17:19	transmitter running if I'm going
00:10:17:19	00:10:19:01	to continue these experiments,
00:10:19:01	00:10:20:20	he got special permission to
00:10:20:20	00:10:21:27	keep 9XM on the air during the
00:10:21:27	00:10:23:12	war when almost everybody else
00:10:23:12	00:10:25:04	was off.
00:10:25:04	00:10:26:10	And that's one of the claims
00:10:26:10	00:10:28:01	that WHA has to longevity, being
00:10:28:01	00:10:29:16	one of the oldest stations is
00:10:29:16	00:10:30:25	that it was on during the war
00:10:30:25	00:10:32:14	when everybody else pretty much
00:10:32:14	00:10:34:21	was off.
00:10:34:21	00:10:35:22	As the war progressed the
00:10:35:22	00:10:38:01	experiments became more and more
00:10:38:01	00:10:39:13	voice broadcasts and less Morse
00:10:39:13	00:10:40:24	code.
00:10:40:24	00:10:42:23	By the end of the war, 1919,
00:10:42:23	00:10:43:28	human voice had been clearly
00:10:43:28	00:10:46:21	transmitted by the station and
00:10:46:21	00:10:47:25	they were doing experiments at
00:10:47:25	00:10:51:22	night, after the middle of 1919,
00:10:51:22	00:10:53:05	people were able to reassemble
00:10:53:05	00:10:55:03	their radios and start listening
00:10:55:03	00:10:56:06	again.
00:10:56:06	00:10:57:12	So there was an audience out
00:10:57:12	00:10:58:12	there.
00:10:58:12	00:10:59:15	They resumed doing the weather
00:10:59:15	00:11:00:18	forecast, they added the farm
00:11:00:18	00:11:02:23	markets in Morse code but in
00:11:02:23	00:11:03:25	night, particularly, they'd do
00:11:03:25	00:11:05:17	experiments with sound.
00:11:05:17	00:11:06:18	And anybody from the physics
00:11:06:18	00:11:07:18	department who could play any
00:11:07:18	00:11:08:24	kind of musical instrument would
00:11:08:24	00:11:09:26	find themselves dragged down
00:11:09:26	00:11:11:03	there.
00:11:11:03	00:11:12:10	Play your violin on the air,
00:11:12:10	00:11:13:15	play the harmonica, we want to
00:11:13:15	00:11:14:21	see what it sounds like.
00:11:14:21	00:11:15:25	And when they couldn't find a
00:11:15:25	00:11:17:03	physics professor or a student
00:11:17:03	00:11:18:06	to play an instrument, they'd
00:11:18:06	00:11:19:16	play records.
00:11:19:16	00:11:20:23	And there was no electronic way
00:11:20:23	00:11:22:00	to play a record then, you just
00:11:22:00	00:11:23:07	held the microphone in front of
00:11:23:07	00:11:24:25	the speaker horn of a Victrola.
00:11:24:25	00:11:25:24	That's how you played a record
00:11:25:24	00:11:27:11	on the radio then.
00:11:27:11	00:11:28:17	And one night, we have a story
00:11:28:17	00:11:29:21	that they were playing the new
00:11:29:21	00:11:31:06	fight song, "On Wisconsin," on a
00:11:31:06	00:11:33:10	record as, for testing, testing
00:11:33:10	00:11:34:27	the transmitter.
00:11:34:27	00:11:36:22	And they played it, adjusted
00:11:36:22	00:11:37:27	something in the transmitter,
00:11:37:27	00:11:39:15	they played it again, and they
00:11:39:15	00:11:40:23	adjusted something else and they
00:11:40:23	00:11:43:00	played it again, and they heard
00:11:43:00	00:11:44:12	from a listener who got tired of
00:11:44:12	00:11:46:08	this program and they offered to
00:11:46:08	00:11:47:10	buy the station a different
00:11:47:10	00:11:49:01	record to go with the "On
00:11:49:01	00:11:50:27	Wisconsin" record, so even then
00:11:50:27	00:11:52:09	there were listeners who were
00:11:52:09	00:11:54:16	listening and also felt free
00:11:54:16	00:11:56:08	call in and complain about what
00:11:56:08	00:11:57:15	was going on over the air.
00:11:57:15	00:11:59:25	(laughter)
00:11:59:25	00:12:01:26	By late 1920, the
00:12:01:26	00:12:03:12	station had been rebuilt to the
00:12:03:12	00:12:04:24	point that it was doing a
00:12:04:24	00:12:07:19	regular evening broadcast of
00:12:07:19	00:12:09:24	music on phonograph records,
00:12:09:24	00:12:11:14	primarily for testing, but it
00:12:11:14	00:12:14:29	was non-coded radio broadcasting
00:12:14:29	00:12:16:29	on a schedule for the public,
00:12:16:29	00:12:18:18	which is one of the things you
00:12:18:18	00:12:19:23	need to have a claim on being
00:12:19:23	00:12:21:14	the oldest station.
00:12:21:14	00:12:22:24	By January 1921 they
00:12:22:24	00:12:24:17	reinstituted the weather
00:12:24:17	00:12:26:15	forecast at noon.
00:12:26:15	00:12:27:20	It was kind of a hybrid.
00:12:27:20	00:12:28:27	They'd do it in Morse code at a
00:12:28:27	00:12:30:29	regular speed, Morse code at a
00:12:30:29	00:12:33:09	slow speed, and then they'd just
00:12:33:09	00:12:35:00	say it three times for people
00:12:35:00	00:12:37:04	that could receive sound.
00:12:37:04	00:12:38:10	And that was the broadcast
00:12:38:10	00:12:39:12	schedule, Monday through
00:12:39:12	00:12:40:13	Saturday, do those things at
00:12:40:13	00:12:41:14	noon and that was pretty much
00:12:41:14	00:12:42:16	it.
00:12:42:16	00:12:43:20	But by the end of the first
00:12:43:20	00:12:44:23	month, Friday night, they've
00:12:44:23	00:12:45:27	added classical music, on
00:12:45:27	00:12:47:01	records.
00:12:47:01	00:12:48:08	And pretty soon they added a
00:12:48:08	00:12:49:24	professor to talk about the
00:12:49:24	00:12:52:00	music and kind of interpret it.
00:12:52:00	00:12:53:01	And it's one of the first
00:12:53:01	00:12:54:23	examples of adult education by
00:12:54:23	00:12:59:12	radio in the United States.
00:12:59:12	00:13:01:10	1921 progressed and in the fall
00:13:01:10	00:13:02:15	they added the farm markets to
00:13:02:15	00:13:04:02	the noontime program.
00:13:04:02	00:13:05:07	The department of markets got
00:13:05:07	00:13:07:05	involved, so another agency of
00:13:07:05	00:13:08:09	state government is now involved
00:13:08:09	00:13:09:23	at the radio station.
00:13:09:23	00:13:10:19	So there's weather and farm
00:13:10:19	00:13:12:16	markets and then this Friday
00:13:12:16	00:13:13:16	night program of classical
00:13:13:16	00:13:14:22	music.
00:13:14:22	00:13:15:25	Which had a studio audience.
00:13:15:25	00:13:16:23	People would go down to Sterling
00:13:16:23	00:13:17:21	Hall, where the station was by
00:13:17:21	00:13:18:20	this time, and they'd stand
00:13:18:20	00:13:19:19	quietly in the hall and take
00:13:19:19	00:13:20:22	turns peeking in through the
00:13:20:22	00:13:22:24	door as the professor was
00:13:22:24	00:13:23:27	talking about classical music
00:13:23:27	00:13:27:13	over the radio.
00:13:27:13	00:13:30:18	As 1922 dawned, the station got
00:13:30:18	00:13:34:04	its call letters, WHA, the 9XM
00:13:34:04	00:13:35:18	designation was abandoned.
00:13:35:18	00:13:36:21	It was no longer an experimental
00:13:36:21	00:13:37:26	station, it was now a fully
00:13:37:26	00:13:39:04	licensed station.
00:13:39:04	00:13:40:07	It and the station at the
00:13:40:07	00:13:41:10	University of Minnesota were the
00:13:41:10	00:13:42:29	first two to receive licenses
00:13:42:29	00:13:45:19	for educational broadcasting.
00:13:45:19	00:13:46:27	At the beginning of 1922, there
00:13:46:27	00:13:48:04	were only about 28 radio
00:13:48:04	00:13:49:25	stations in the United States,
00:13:49:25	00:13:50:28	by the end of 1922 there were
00:13:50:28	00:13:52:21	600.
00:13:52:21	00:13:55:27	It grew like mad over 1922.
00:13:55:27	00:13:57:16	They added the AM band to expand
00:13:57:16	00:13:58:25	more frequencies, they started
00:13:58:25	00:14:00:21	with just two, but even at that,
00:14:00:21	00:14:03:20	stations had to share.
00:14:03:20	00:14:05:17	WHA was sharing frequency with
00:14:05:17	00:14:07:16	stations in Chicago, with a
00:14:07:16	00:14:10:01	station in Indiana, with
00:14:10:01	00:14:11:04	stations in Omaha, with stations
00:14:11:04	00:14:12:15	in South Dakota.
00:14:12:15	00:14:13:14	They'd have to negotiate with
00:14:13:14	00:14:14:17	these stations, I want these
00:14:14:17	00:14:16:16	hours, you can have these hours.
00:14:16:16	00:14:18:19	At this time entire cities would
00:14:18:19	00:14:20:05	go silent.
00:14:20:05	00:14:21:27	On Monday night in Chicago was
00:14:21:27	00:14:23:22	Chicago's silent night, where
00:14:23:22	00:14:24:29	all the stations in Chicago went
00:14:24:29	00:14:27:04	off the air so people in Chicago
00:14:27:04	00:14:28:12	could pick up these new
00:14:28:12	00:14:29:15	stations.
00:14:29:15	00:14:30:22	You can't imagine they'd do that
00:14:30:22	00:14:31:27	nowadays, a station would agree
00:14:31:27	00:14:33:13	to go off the air voluntarily
00:14:33:13	00:14:35:02	for an entire evening and give
00:14:35:02	00:14:36:10	up that revenue.
00:14:36:10	00:14:37:23	But back then it was enough of a
00:14:37:23	00:14:38:27	hobby that people wanted to
00:14:38:27	00:14:41:13	listen to distant stations.
00:14:41:13	00:14:42:23	WHA was sharing its frequency
00:14:42:23	00:14:44:02	throughout the 20s, and every
00:14:44:02	00:14:45:24	time we get a good one, a
00:14:45:24	00:14:47:14	commercial station would kind of
00:14:47:14	00:14:48:24	glom onto their frequency and
00:14:48:24	00:14:50:02	want to share it with them.
00:14:50:02	00:14:51:07	And then they'd move again, and
00:14:51:07	00:14:52:12	then another bunch of stations,
00:14:52:12	00:14:53:27	it would cause a cascade of
00:14:53:27	00:14:56:07	moving on the dial WHA had a
00:14:56:07	00:14:57:11	whole bunch of different
00:14:57:11	00:14:59:02	frequencies in the 20s, and by
00:14:59:02	00:15:01:12	1927, was limited to just two
00:15:01:12	00:15:02:21	hours on Monday night.
00:15:02:21	00:15:03:26	That was the entire broadcast
00:15:03:26	00:15:05:18	schedule for WHA radio in
00:15:05:18	00:15:07:09	Madison, 7:30-9:30 on Monday
00:15:07:09	00:15:09:03	night was it.
00:15:09:03	00:15:10:02	And because they were sharing
00:15:10:02	00:15:11:25	their frequency so much.
00:15:11:25	00:15:13:26	And this was just a disaster for
00:15:13:26	00:15:15:06	the station, they used to have
00:15:15:06	00:15:16:12	this frequency pretty much to
00:15:16:12	00:15:18:00	themselves and could broadcast
00:15:18:00	00:15:21:29	to great distances so Earl Terry
00:15:21:29	00:15:23:03	negotiated with the federal
00:15:23:03	00:15:24:08	government and they said, you
00:15:24:08	00:15:26:15	can have 940 on the dial, at a
00:15:26:15	00:15:28:28	thousand watts in Madison, but
00:15:28:28	00:15:30:10	you only have during the
00:15:30:10	00:15:31:07	daytime.
00:15:31:07	00:15:32:09	Because at night AM signals
00:15:32:09	00:15:33:25	bounce and you can demonstrate
00:15:33:25	00:15:36:12	this tonight, after sundown,
00:15:36:12	00:15:39:01	tune the radio to 990 on the AM
00:15:39:01	00:15:40:06	band you'll hear Winnipeg nice
00:15:40:06	00:15:41:08	and clear.
00:15:41:08	00:15:42:14	'Cause the signals are bouncing
00:15:42:14	00:15:43:22	here.
00:15:43:22	00:15:46:16	But he wanted to be back on the
00:15:46:16	00:15:48:15	air with a good signal, they had
00:15:48:15	00:15:49:15	to abandon nighttime
00:15:49:15	00:15:51:00	broadcasting.
00:15:51:00	00:15:52:07	And so he agreed, he signed the
00:15:52:07	00:15:55:13	papers on April 30, 1929, and it
00:15:55:13	00:15:56:17	was the last thing he ever did
00:15:56:17	00:15:57:23	for the station he founded.
00:15:57:23	00:15:58:28	He went home that night and he
00:15:58:28	00:16:00:05	died.
00:16:00:05	00:16:04:26	Fifty years old, rather young,
00:16:04:26	00:16:06:14	and through bad advice, we don't
00:16:06:14	00:16:08:05	know why, his wife took all of
00:16:08:05	00:16:09:10	his research notes, all of his
00:16:09:10	00:16:11:13	papers, and just put them on the
00:16:11:13	00:16:13:13	curb, disposed of them.
00:16:13:13	00:16:14:21	So for my research it was very
00:16:14:21	00:16:15:29	difficult, very little of his
00:16:15:29	00:16:17:07	primary writings, other than
00:16:17:07	00:16:19:23	some of the speeches he gave and
00:16:19:23	00:16:21:07	some carbon copies of letters,
00:16:21:07	00:16:22:28	but very little of his voice.
00:16:22:28	00:16:24:05	Some of the textbooks he wrote,
00:16:24:05	00:16:25:10	though, are still in print.
00:16:25:10	00:16:26:17	He was that talented a
00:16:26:17	00:16:27:29	researcher.
00:16:27:29	00:16:29:00	In fact, one of them was just
00:16:29:00	00:16:30:01	reprinted, one on electricity
00:16:30:01	00:16:31:04	and magnetism was just reprinted
00:16:31:04	00:16:33:07	a couple years ago.
00:16:33:07	00:16:34:17	And so unfortunately he died
00:16:34:17	00:16:35:23	when he did, because in the fall
00:16:35:23	00:16:37:02	of 1929 is when the station
00:16:37:02	00:16:38:25	really took off.
00:16:38:25	00:16:40:16	The programming really took
00:16:40:16	00:16:43:08	fire, the farm program became
00:16:43:08	00:16:44:21	really firmly established as a
00:16:44:21	00:16:46:05	noontime program.
00:16:46:05	00:16:47:09	The homemaker segments of the
00:16:47:09	00:16:48:17	farm show were split off as a
00:16:48:17	00:16:51:26	separate program in the morning.
00:16:51:26	00:16:53:00	More of the programs started
00:16:53:00	00:16:54:12	being used, more state agencies
00:16:54:12	00:16:56:21	got involved.
00:16:56:21	00:16:57:22	The farm show and the homemaker
00:16:57:22	00:17:00:13	show were split apart in 1929,
00:17:00:13	00:17:01:17	they were finally recombined in
00:17:01:17	00:17:04:07	1978 to a show called "Wisconsin
00:17:04:07	00:17:06:07	Here and Now" which was later
00:17:06:07	00:17:08:26	taken over completely by Larry
00:17:08:26	00:17:10:17	Mueller, who is still on the
00:17:10:17	00:17:12:00	air.
00:17:12:00	00:17:13:08	He is the descendant of the farm
00:17:13:08	00:17:15:00	and homemaker programming, in
00:17:15:00	00:17:17:02	fact he teaches, when he was
00:17:17:02	00:17:18:11	teaching at the UW he was
00:17:18:11	00:17:19:13	teaching a course called "Farm
00:17:19:13	00:17:20:29	and Home Broadcasting."
00:17:20:29	00:17:22:06	He's the descendant of that
00:17:22:06	00:17:23:17	farm show.
00:17:23:17	00:17:25:12	There have been only three hosts
00:17:25:12	00:17:28:09	of that show since 1935.
00:17:28:09	00:17:30:14	Larry's been on since 1967, he's
00:17:30:14	00:17:32:01	still on every weekday at 11:00
00:17:32:01	00:17:33:11	to 12:30 hosting his call-in
00:17:33:11	00:17:35:15	show.
00:17:35:15	00:17:37:04	Before him, Maury White was the
00:17:37:04	00:17:40:03	host, he gave up the job in 1967
00:17:40:03	00:17:42:00	when he became a dean, but he
00:17:42:00	00:17:43:27	hosted back to 1950, I met him a
00:17:43:27	00:17:46:00	couple years ago.
00:17:46:00	00:17:47:07	And his predecessor, a guy named
00:17:47:07	00:17:49:07	Milton Bliss, I met Milton a
00:17:49:07	00:17:50:19	couple years ago as well, about
00:17:50:19	00:17:52:17	two years ago I met him.
00:17:52:17	00:17:53:25	Milton at the time was the
00:17:53:25	00:17:56:11	oldest student on the UW campus.
00:17:56:11	00:17:58:22	He was 96 at the time.
00:17:58:22	00:18:01:22	He was host from 1935 to 1950.
00:18:01:22	00:18:02:26	So not a lot of turnover at
00:18:02:26	00:18:04:03	Wisconsin Public Radio, you have
00:18:04:03	00:18:05:12	hosts that stay in for a long
00:18:05:12	00:18:06:25	time.
00:18:06:25	00:18:07:26	I'll tell you a little aside
00:18:07:26	00:18:08:28	about the farm show.
00:18:08:28	00:18:10:01	This is one of the
00:18:10:01	00:18:11:16	stock-and-trades of the WHA
00:18:11:16	00:18:13:22	program schedule, was service to
00:18:13:22	00:18:15:13	farmers and homemakers with
00:18:15:13	00:18:16:22	university experts, people you
00:18:16:22	00:18:17:26	could trust, they're not trying
00:18:17:26	00:18:19:10	to sell anything.
00:18:19:10	00:18:20:13	They're there to give you good
00:18:20:13	00:18:22:22	information.
00:18:22:22	00:18:24:02	And right before Milton took
00:18:24:02	00:18:26:04	over his predecessor Kenneth
00:18:26:04	00:18:28:09	Gapin, they were doing the farm
00:18:28:09	00:18:29:14	markets and they noticed in
00:18:29:14	00:18:30:24	November of 1944 that pork
00:18:30:24	00:18:33:16	prices had taken a big jump.
00:18:33:16	00:18:35:06	And he though, you know, people
00:18:35:06	00:18:36:15	are going to be butchering hogs
00:18:36:15	00:18:37:23	who haven't done it in a long
00:18:37:23	00:18:38:27	time, or maybe have never done
00:18:38:27	00:18:40:24	it, we should butcher a hog on
00:18:40:24	00:18:43:22	the radio.
00:18:43:22	00:18:45:22	And this got approved, they
00:18:45:22	00:18:47:06	strung a line from the radio
00:18:47:06	00:18:48:16	station over to the swine barn
00:18:48:16	00:18:50:24	on campus, got a livestock --
00:18:50:24	00:18:52:01	and then right over the lunch
00:18:52:01	00:18:53:28	hour, butchered a hog right on
00:18:53:28	00:18:54:22	the radio.
00:18:54:22	00:18:56:09	Cut up the carcass, told you how
00:18:56:09	00:18:57:19	to can it, you couldn't do that
00:18:57:19	00:18:58:28	today.
00:18:58:28	00:19:01:08	You'd get calls, you know.
00:19:01:08	00:19:04:05	(laughter)
00:19:04:05	00:19:05:12	But that was what the
00:19:05:12	00:19:06:15	show was all about, to present
00:19:06:15	00:19:08:06	information to rural Wisconsin,
00:19:08:06	00:19:09:12	same with the homemaker's show,
00:19:09:12	00:19:11:24	was the best advice in
00:19:11:24	00:19:13:10	homemaking.
00:19:13:10	00:19:15:18	Nutrition, child-rearing,
00:19:15:18	00:19:17:22	budgeting, crafts in the home,
00:19:17:22	00:19:19:24	things like that.
00:19:19:24	00:19:20:26	Another couple programs that
00:19:20:26	00:19:22:04	were very popular in the early
00:19:22:04	00:19:24:21	days, one started in 1931, the
00:19:24:21	00:19:26:14	Wisconsin School of the Air.
00:19:26:14	00:19:27:17	I'm going to ask for a show of
00:19:27:17	00:19:28:20	hands of people who did School
00:19:28:20	00:19:30:02	of the Air?
00:19:30:02	00:19:32:03	A couple, sang along with the
00:19:32:03	00:19:34:08	radio, drew art with the radio,
00:19:34:08	00:19:36:06	always get a few.
00:19:36:06	00:19:40:07	This was started kind of in
00:19:40:07	00:19:41:16	reaction to the fact that there
00:19:41:16	00:19:43:01	were about 6600 one-room
00:19:43:01	00:19:44:22	schoolhouses in Wisconsin in
00:19:44:22	00:19:46:25	1931.
00:19:46:25	00:19:48:04	About 1600 of them had fewer
00:19:48:04	00:19:49:17	than a dozen students in them,
00:19:49:17	00:19:51:10	isolated, and one teacher, and
00:19:51:10	00:19:53:20	how neat it would be to bring in
00:19:53:20	00:19:55:22	a radio and have a world-class
00:19:55:22	00:19:59:11	educator present a music class.
00:19:59:11	00:20:00:19	An art class.
00:20:00:19	00:20:02:00	A conservation class.
00:20:02:00	00:20:04:14	A class of literature, to your
00:20:04:14	00:20:05:18	students.
00:20:05:18	00:20:07:08	Half the class, all the class,
00:20:07:08	00:20:10:17	whatever it might be, but by the
00:20:10:17	00:20:11:29	first year we had ten shows on
00:20:11:29	00:20:13:00	the air.
00:20:13:00	00:20:14:07	For all different ages.
00:20:14:07	00:20:15:08	There were shows for little
00:20:15:08	00:20:16:18	kids, there were shows for high
00:20:16:18	00:20:18:15	schoolers, you could have half
00:20:18:15	00:20:19:23	the class listen, you could have
00:20:19:23	00:20:21:09	the entire class listen.
00:20:21:09	00:20:22:25	And we got all kinds of great
00:20:22:25	00:20:24:02	accolades at WHA for this
00:20:24:02	00:20:25:10	programming.
00:20:25:10	00:20:26:18	One in particular, we got a
00:20:26:18	00:20:28:10	letter from a woman, teacher in
00:20:28:10	00:20:29:19	a one-room schoolhouse.
00:20:29:19	00:20:31:27	She went to tune up her radio
00:20:31:27	00:20:33:07	for "Journeys in Music Land,"
00:20:33:07	00:20:34:16	Pop Gordon, the music show on
00:20:34:16	00:20:35:24	Wednesday afternoons, and the
00:20:35:24	00:20:37:13	radio wouldn't fire up.
00:20:37:13	00:20:38:19	It was burned out.
00:20:38:19	00:20:39:24	And she didn't want the students
00:20:39:24	00:20:40:25	to miss.
00:20:40:25	00:20:41:27	So she had them all stand up,
00:20:41:27	00:20:43:02	put their coats on, they marched
00:20:43:02	00:20:44:06	outside and stood by the side of
00:20:44:06	00:20:45:10	the road until they saw a car go
00:20:45:10	00:20:46:10	by that had a radio antenna on
00:20:46:10	00:20:47:23	it.
00:20:47:23	00:20:49:01	(laughter)
00:20:49:01	00:20:50:02	And they waved them
00:20:50:02	00:20:51:12	down, and had him come into the
00:20:51:12	00:20:52:16	parking lot, and they said, can
00:20:52:16	00:20:53:18	we use your radio for the next
00:20:53:18	00:20:54:25	half hour?
00:20:54:25	00:20:56:02	And the guy said, I guess, and
00:20:56:02	00:20:57:05	he opened the door of the car
00:20:57:05	00:20:58:13	and the kids stood all around
00:20:58:13	00:20:59:12	the car and sang along with the
00:20:59:12	00:21:01:03	radio, and the driver sang along
00:21:01:03	00:21:02:18	too, she said.
00:21:02:18	00:21:03:25	So that was kind of a nice
00:21:03:25	00:21:05:01	story.
00:21:05:01	00:21:06:05	Also we did a conservation show
00:21:06:05	00:21:07:08	called "The Field with Ranger
00:21:07:08	00:21:08:15	Mac."
00:21:08:15	00:21:10:01	Ranger Mac had been a
00:21:10:01	00:21:11:12	forester, he was head of 4H in
00:21:11:12	00:21:12:18	Wisconsin.
00:21:12:18	00:21:14:10	He got his school kids to plant
00:21:14:10	00:21:16:25	over 7 million trees over the
00:21:16:25	00:21:18:10	course of the running of his
00:21:18:10	00:21:19:12	show.
00:21:19:12	00:21:20:17	He believed that once you
00:21:20:17	00:21:21:23	planted a tree you'd always take
00:21:21:23	00:21:22:28	care of trees.
00:21:22:28	00:21:24:02	And the students that listened
00:21:24:02	00:21:25:08	to his show took his advice to
00:21:25:08	00:21:27:21	heart and planted trees in their
00:21:27:21	00:21:30:10	schoolyards and on their home
00:21:30:10	00:21:32:11	grounds, too, at their families
00:21:32:11	00:21:34:00	farms.
00:21:34:00	00:21:35:06	There are millions of trees in
00:21:35:06	00:21:36:14	Wisconsin growing at this time
00:21:36:14	00:21:37:21	that were planted by his
00:21:37:21	00:21:39:05	schoolchildren.
00:21:39:05	00:21:40:16	But he caused some problems,
00:21:40:16	00:21:41:22	too.
00:21:41:22	00:21:43:02	Very irate parents showed up at
00:21:43:02	00:21:44:26	his school and confronted the
00:21:44:26	00:21:46:03	teacher and wanted to talk to
00:21:46:03	00:21:47:29	Ranger Mac.
00:21:47:29	00:21:49:06	And she said, well, he's not
00:21:49:06	00:21:50:14	here, he's on the radio from
00:21:50:14	00:21:51:16	Madison.
00:21:51:16	00:21:52:20	What's the problem?
00:21:52:20	00:21:54:16	"Well," he said, "I take my kids
00:21:54:16	00:21:56:09	out hunting every weekend."
00:21:56:09	00:21:57:15	I guess that meant whether it
00:21:57:15	00:21:59:12	was hunting season or not.
00:21:59:12	00:22:00:26	And he said the previous weekend
00:22:00:26	00:22:02:05	his son had refused to go with
00:22:02:05	00:22:04:12	him, saying, Ranger Mac says
00:22:04:12	00:22:07:06	you're not playing fair.
00:22:07:06	00:22:08:27	Kids had learned over the radio
00:22:08:27	00:22:10:05	the value of having a hunting
00:22:10:05	00:22:12:22	season end and conservation of
00:22:12:22	00:22:14:07	game resources from that
00:22:14:07	00:22:15:27	program.
00:22:15:27	00:22:17:03	These shows continued for a long
00:22:17:03	00:22:18:05	time.
00:22:18:05	00:22:19:12	When I was in the sixth grade,
00:22:19:12	00:22:20:27	1970, my grade school in Neenah,
00:22:20:27	00:22:22:06	we sang along, even though we
00:22:22:06	00:22:23:10	had a music teacher, we sang
00:22:23:10	00:22:25:14	along with the show "Let's Sing"
00:22:25:14	00:22:27:05	on the radio.
00:22:27:05	00:22:28:12	The principal would plug his FM
00:22:28:12	00:22:29:26	radio in his office into the
00:22:29:26	00:22:31:01	sixth grade classrooms, we had
00:22:31:01	00:22:32:18	the book from Madison that we
00:22:32:18	00:22:35:07	took out, and we'd sing along.
00:22:35:07	00:22:36:28	The host was Norm Clayton, he
00:22:36:28	00:22:38:05	passed away just a couple of
00:22:38:05	00:22:39:05	years ago, the other host was
00:22:39:05	00:22:41:01	Lois Dick, I met her just a
00:22:41:01	00:22:43:05	couple years ago, she even sang
00:22:43:05	00:22:44:25	for me when I interviewed her in
00:22:44:25	00:22:46:01	the studio, it was very nice.
00:22:46:01	00:22:47:06	And the guy who played the piano
00:22:47:06	00:22:48:11	was Don Voegeli.
00:22:48:11	00:22:49:23	Don wrote the theme for "All
00:22:49:23	00:22:51:11	Things Considered."
00:22:51:11	00:22:52:20	You hear it every weekday
00:22:52:20	00:22:54:01	afternoon, that theme you hear
00:22:54:01	00:22:55:08	for "All Things Considered," he
00:22:55:08	00:22:56:22	wrote that and gave it to NPR
00:22:56:22	00:22:58:14	without royalties, so they could
00:22:58:14	00:22:59:20	use it as the theme for that
00:22:59:20	00:23:00:27	show.
00:23:00:27	00:23:01:29	That was a guy who worked at WHA
00:23:01:29	00:23:03:20	in Madison.
00:23:03:20	00:23:04:22	The companion to the School of
00:23:04:22	00:23:06:12	the Air was College of the Air,
00:23:06:12	00:23:07:23	this was something that really
00:23:07:23	00:23:08:28	ties in well to the Wisconsin
00:23:08:28	00:23:10:06	idea.
00:23:10:06	00:23:11:21	The notion of adult education
00:23:11:21	00:23:12:25	presenting the riches of the
00:23:12:25	00:23:14:22	University of Wisconsin to
00:23:14:22	00:23:16:20	everybody for free.
00:23:16:20	00:23:18:02	And the timing was really good.
00:23:18:02	00:23:20:02	They started this in 1933.
00:23:20:02	00:23:21:14	Social scientists back then were
00:23:21:14	00:23:23:14	really concerned that there
00:23:23:14	00:23:24:22	would be an entire generation of
00:23:24:22	00:23:26:28	young people lost to college
00:23:26:28	00:23:28:00	because they didn't have any
00:23:28:00	00:23:29:06	money to go because of the
00:23:29:06	00:23:31:01	depression.
00:23:31:01	00:23:32:09	And they thought, we'll put
00:23:32:09	00:23:33:20	these shows on the air, people
00:23:33:20	00:23:34:28	can listen to them, not for
00:23:34:28	00:23:36:07	credit, but just to keep
00:23:36:07	00:23:37:22	interested in learning.
00:23:37:22	00:23:38:25	And so maybe when times get
00:23:38:25	00:23:40:24	better they'll be able to go
00:23:40:24	00:23:42:17	back to college and they'll stay
00:23:42:17	00:23:45:12	current with their studies.
00:23:45:12	00:23:46:13	So the College of the Air got
00:23:46:13	00:23:48:01	underway in 1933, eventually ten
00:23:48:01	00:23:49:09	programs as well, morning and
00:23:49:09	00:23:50:22	afternoon.
00:23:50:22	00:23:52:24	It's kind of, has a remnant on
00:23:52:24	00:23:54:16	the air to this day, at four
00:23:54:16	00:23:56:12	o'clock this afternoon on WHA
00:23:56:12	00:23:57:23	it's the University of the Air,
00:23:57:23	00:23:59:10	Norman Gilliland hosts it, along
00:23:59:10	00:24:01:08	with Emily Auerbach and every
00:24:01:08	00:24:02:22	Sunday afternoon they bring in a
00:24:02:22	00:24:04:05	university professor and they
00:24:04:05	00:24:05:13	talk about their area of
00:24:05:13	00:24:06:22	expertise for an hour.
00:24:06:22	00:24:10:01	And you get kind of cutting-edge
00:24:10:01	00:24:11:21	scholarship for free over the
00:24:11:21	00:24:12:27	radio, just like in the old
00:24:12:27	00:24:14:25	days.
00:24:14:25	00:24:16:19	So there's those four programs
00:24:16:19	00:24:17:29	and then there's a fifth one,
00:24:17:29	00:24:19:15	which is also still on, which is
00:24:19:15	00:24:21:15	"Chapter a Day."
00:24:21:15	00:24:23:03	And "Chapter a Day," this is
00:24:23:03	00:24:24:07	the one that caused the most
00:24:24:07	00:24:25:10	problems for me when I was
00:24:25:10	00:24:28:29	writing the book because I kind
00:24:28:29	00:24:30:20	of debunked one of the beloved
00:24:30:20	00:24:33:07	legends of WHA, that it started
00:24:33:07	00:24:34:26	in 1927, that it's been on since
00:24:34:26	00:24:39:00	1927, and it hasn't been, sad to
00:24:39:00	00:24:41:04	say.
00:24:41:04	00:24:43:20	The legend goes that in 1927 a
00:24:43:20	00:24:46:24	guest didn't show up and in a
00:24:46:24	00:24:48:03	panic the guy on the air, just
00:24:48:03	00:24:49:14	to fill the half hour, grabbed a
00:24:49:14	00:24:50:18	book he checked out of the
00:24:50:18	00:24:51:26	library and read it for a half
00:24:51:26	00:24:53:09	hour.
00:24:53:09	00:24:54:12	And then I guess people wanted
00:24:54:12	00:24:55:17	to know what happened next in
00:24:55:17	00:24:56:17	that book, and there you go,
00:24:56:17	00:24:59:01	there's your program.
00:24:59:01	00:25:00:29	Unfortunately, the program
00:25:00:29	00:25:02:09	records from back then aren't
00:25:02:09	00:25:03:16	terrifically complete, but the
00:25:03:16	00:25:04:21	ones we have don't have any
00:25:04:21	00:25:05:24	reference to this programming in
00:25:05:24	00:25:07:02	it.
00:25:07:02	00:25:08:05	The first reference I have to a
00:25:08:05	00:25:10:02	show called "Chapter a Day" was
00:25:10:02	00:25:12:06	in the summer of 1932.
00:25:12:06	00:25:13:14	A student named Mary Ann Smith,
00:25:13:14	00:25:14:24	who had a book called "David's
00:25:14:24	00:25:16:20	Day" on the air.
00:25:16:20	00:25:17:28	And when "Chapter a Day" started
00:25:17:28	00:25:19:07	it was doing just new releases
00:25:19:07	00:25:20:05	of literature.
00:25:20:05	00:25:21:08	"David's Day" had just been
00:25:21:08	00:25:22:12	published.
00:25:22:12	00:25:23:23	And so that was the book that we
00:25:23:23	00:25:24:27	believe was the first one read
00:25:24:27	00:25:27:02	on "Chapter a Day."
00:25:27:02	00:25:29:06	I bought a copy of it used
00:25:29:06	00:25:32:14	online and I brought into work
00:25:32:14	00:25:34:17	when I was still working at WPR
00:25:34:17	00:25:35:24	and brought it in to Jim
00:25:35:24	00:25:36:26	Fleming, who's one of the
00:25:36:26	00:25:38:06	readers, and he read the first
00:25:38:06	00:25:39:10	paragraph in his "Chapter a Day"
00:25:39:10	00:25:40:16	voice, which I thought was the
00:25:40:16	00:25:41:25	coolest thing ever.
00:25:41:25	00:25:43:05	It was just really neat.
00:25:43:05	00:25:44:10	But it's actually been on sine
00:25:44:10	00:25:46:05	1932 kind of as a summer show,
00:25:46:05	00:25:48:13	it's been on continuously since
00:25:48:13	00:25:50:08	April of 1939.
00:25:50:08	00:25:51:13	So it's still one of the oldest
00:25:51:13	00:25:54:03	radio shows in the world and
00:25:54:03	00:25:55:25	what a simple concept to have
00:25:55:25	00:25:57:21	someone read a book to you, 25
00:25:57:21	00:25:59:22	minutes at a time.
00:25:59:22	00:26:01:00	Carl Schmidt is still involved
00:26:01:00	00:26:02:01	with the show.
00:26:02:01	00:26:03:10	Carl's been involved with the
00:26:03:10	00:26:06:18	station since around 1940 and he
00:26:06:18	00:26:08:06	still comes up and reads a book
00:26:08:06	00:26:10:13	now and again for the program.
00:26:10:13	00:26:12:23	I've watched Carl in the studio.
00:26:12:23	00:26:14:20	He can read pretty much for
00:26:14:20	00:26:16:01	about 25 minutes and not
00:26:16:01	00:26:17:14	stumble.
00:26:17:14	00:26:19:21	He's probably the best guy in
00:26:19:21	00:26:20:28	the history of mankind at doing
00:26:20:28	00:26:22:03	this.
00:26:22:03	00:26:23:09	He's really, really good.
00:26:23:09	00:26:24:12	And that show's still on the
00:26:24:12	00:26:25:23	air, still has a devoted
00:26:25:23	00:26:27:02	following, and it's a really,
00:26:27:02	00:26:28:13	really nice thing.
00:26:28:13	00:26:29:19	If you're gonna hang onto one
00:26:29:19	00:26:30:22	thing from the past, what a nice
00:26:30:22	00:26:32:18	thing to hang onto.
00:26:32:18	00:26:33:20	So those were kind of the
00:26:33:20	00:26:34:24	lynchpins of the programming
00:26:34:24	00:26:37:01	schedule.
00:26:37:01	00:26:38:26	The network, though, it wasn't
00:26:38:26	00:26:40:06	much of a network in the early
00:26:40:06	00:26:41:10	days.
00:26:41:10	00:26:42:16	It was WHA in Madison and then
00:26:42:16	00:26:43:22	there was this kind of odd
00:26:43:22	00:26:44:26	station up in Stevens Point,
00:26:44:26	00:26:46:11	WLBL, the other AM station in
00:26:46:11	00:26:47:15	the network, you hardly ever
00:26:47:15	00:26:49:00	hear about them.
00:26:49:00	00:26:49:28	And for me this was the most
00:26:49:28	00:26:50:29	fun.
00:26:50:29	00:26:52:01	There had been no research done
00:26:52:01	00:26:53:28	on WLBL.
00:26:53:28	00:26:55:04	So everything I found out was
00:26:55:04	00:26:56:29	kind of new for everybody to
00:26:56:29	00:26:58:09	learn.
00:26:58:09	00:27:00:02	WLBL was also owned by the state
00:27:00:02	00:27:02:19	of Wisconsin, but not by an
00:27:02:19	00:27:04:04	educational institution.
00:27:04:04	00:27:05:06	It was owned by the department
00:27:05:06	00:27:06:15	of markets, which later became
00:27:06:15	00:27:07:25	part of the department of
00:27:07:25	00:27:09:03	agriculture.
00:27:09:03	00:27:10:11	And its mission was to present
00:27:10:11	00:27:11:13	farm market programming.
00:27:11:13	00:27:12:18	That's what their job was, they
00:27:12:18	00:27:13:22	were there to present farm
00:27:13:22	00:27:14:24	market programming throughout
00:27:14:24	00:27:16:07	the day but they have a whole
00:27:16:07	00:27:17:13	day to fill, they started
00:27:17:13	00:27:18:26	putting in other things.
00:27:18:26	00:27:20:14	And by the early 30s had added a
00:27:20:14	00:27:22:03	program line from Madison, they
00:27:22:03	00:27:23:02	were carrying some of the
00:27:23:02	00:27:24:04	Madison programming.
00:27:24:04	00:27:25:11	Farm show, the homemaker show,
00:27:25:11	00:27:26:16	School of the Air, College of
00:27:26:16	00:27:28:06	the Air, they were carrying
00:27:28:06	00:27:29:11	those in Stevens Point.
00:27:29:11	00:27:30:17	But doing lots of local
00:27:30:17	00:27:32:06	programming.
00:27:32:06	00:27:33:29	WLBL kind of had a different way
00:27:33:29	00:27:36:00	of looking at service to the
00:27:36:00	00:27:39:13	public than WHA in Madison did.
00:27:39:13	00:27:40:29	They would try many, many
00:27:40:29	00:27:42:02	different things.
00:27:42:02	00:27:43:17	They had a, we have almost no
00:27:43:17	00:27:46:19	recordings from WLBL but we have
00:27:46:19	00:27:48:10	program listings with
00:27:48:10	00:27:50:26	tantalizing titles, that I would
00:27:50:26	00:27:52:09	love to find recordings of these
00:27:52:09	00:27:53:12	shows.
00:27:53:12	00:27:54:15	They had a bunch of music shows,
00:27:54:15	00:27:55:26	they had "Hillbilly Selections,"
00:27:55:26	00:27:57:01	which is, they had country music
00:27:57:01	00:27:58:11	in the 30s, that's really early
00:27:58:11	00:28:00:04	for country music.
00:28:00:04	00:28:01:19	"Rumba Time," "Tea Time Dance
00:28:01:19	00:28:04:22	Party," "South Sea Serenade,"
00:28:04:22	00:28:06:01	and then a bunch of spoken-word
00:28:06:01	00:28:07:25	programs that you wonder what
00:28:07:25	00:28:08:19	they were.
00:28:08:19	00:28:10:24	The "Drink More Milk Club,"
00:28:10:24	00:28:13:02	"Rent Control on the Air," which
00:28:13:02	00:28:15:01	I think might be listings of
00:28:15:01	00:28:16:15	vacant apartments.
00:28:16:15	00:28:19:15	A really strange one called
00:28:19:15	00:28:21:13	"Postal Oddities," which was a
00:28:21:13	00:28:24:16	regular show, and my favorite,
00:28:24:16	00:28:26:22	9:15 on Saturday mornings, on
00:28:26:22	00:28:29:16	WLBL in Stevens Point, "Bicycle
00:28:29:16	00:28:31:07	Traffic Report."
00:28:31:07	00:28:35:13	(laughter)
00:28:35:13	00:28:36:25	I have no idea,
00:28:36:25	00:28:38:00	well, I can imagine what this
00:28:38:00	00:28:39:07	is.
00:28:39:07	00:28:40:06	If you ran a stop sign on your
00:28:40:06	00:28:41:19	bicycle in Stevens Point,
00:28:41:19	00:28:42:29	evidently, you had to face the
00:28:42:29	00:28:44:13	judge on the radio on Saturday
00:28:44:13	00:28:45:17	morning.
00:28:45:17	00:28:46:27	I imagine adherence to bicycle
00:28:46:27	00:28:49:01	laws in Stevens Point was pretty
00:28:49:01	00:28:52:23	severe, so a wonderful thing.
00:28:52:23	00:28:53:29	WLBL carried the Green Bay
00:28:53:29	00:28:55:07	Packers.
00:28:55:07	00:28:56:16	Nobody knew this.
00:28:56:16	00:28:58:08	This was a completely, even the
00:28:58:08	00:28:59:13	Packers didn't know it.
00:28:59:13	00:29:00:22	I called the Packers' front
00:29:00:22	00:29:02:11	office, and they had no record
00:29:02:11	00:29:03:19	of this.
00:29:03:19	00:29:04:25	WTMJ in Milwaukee which
00:29:04:25	00:29:06:00	originated the broadcast had no
00:29:06:00	00:29:07:02	record of this, I had to send
00:29:07:02	00:29:08:13	them materials of the history of
00:29:08:13	00:29:09:15	this.
00:29:09:15	00:29:12:16	From 1933 to 1938 WLBL carried
00:29:12:16	00:29:15:07	the Packers and I guess had to
00:29:15:07	00:29:17:10	block the commercials because
00:29:17:10	00:29:19:27	they were sponsored by, the --
00:29:19:27	00:29:21:06	Oil and Grease Company was the
00:29:21:06	00:29:22:15	sponsor of the broadcast back
00:29:22:15	00:29:23:26	then.
00:29:23:26	00:29:25:01	But in 1933 there were only
00:29:25:01	00:29:26:09	three radio stations in
00:29:26:09	00:29:27:18	Wisconsin carrying the Packers.
00:29:27:18	00:29:28:26	WTMJ in Milwaukee, WLBL in
00:29:28:26	00:29:30:00	Stevens Point, and a commercial
00:29:30:00	00:29:31:06	station in La Crosse.
00:29:31:06	00:29:32:11	That was it.
00:29:32:11	00:29:33:14	That's how unimportant the NFL
00:29:33:14	00:29:37:10	was in the early 30s.
00:29:37:10	00:29:39:13	So WLBL was the other station I
00:29:39:13	00:29:42:09	should mention also, I got to
00:29:42:09	00:29:43:23	give thanks to the Educational
00:29:43:23	00:29:44:27	Communications Board which owns
00:29:44:27	00:29:46:16	the station now.
00:29:46:16	00:29:47:23	They gave me permission to get
00:29:47:23	00:29:49:15	into the building.
00:29:49:15	00:29:51:03	I called up there, and it's the
00:29:51:03	00:29:52:12	oldest building of Wisconsin
00:29:52:12	00:29:55:14	Public Radio stations, 1937.
00:29:55:14	00:29:56:28	And I called the engineer and I
00:29:56:28	00:29:58:14	said, "Can you let me in there?
00:29:58:14	00:29:59:20	I'd like to look around."
00:29:59:20	00:30:01:07	"Sure," he says.
00:30:01:07	00:30:02:08	I said, "Was there anything
00:30:02:08	00:30:04:05	historic in there?"
00:30:04:05	00:30:05:16	"No.
00:30:05:16	00:30:06:18	Well," he says, "There's that
00:30:06:18	00:30:07:22	file cabinet full of stuff from
00:30:07:22	00:30:09:21	the 30s."
00:30:09:21	00:30:11:21	Well, like that!
00:30:11:21	00:30:13:09	So I went up there, and I
00:30:13:09	00:30:14:18	mentioned this across the hall
00:30:14:18	00:30:16:09	from my office at Wisconsin
00:30:16:09	00:30:18:15	Public Radio to Wisconsin Public
00:30:18:15	00:30:19:19	Television that I was going up
00:30:19:19	00:30:20:27	there.
00:30:20:27	00:30:22:13	Well, Art Hackett and a
00:30:22:13	00:30:23:18	videographer joined me up there
00:30:23:18	00:30:24:24	because they wanted to see what
00:30:24:24	00:30:26:13	I was going to find when I
00:30:26:13	00:30:27:20	opened up this file cabinet.
00:30:27:20	00:30:29:02	Kind of like Al Capone's vault,
00:30:29:02	00:30:30:08	you know?
00:30:30:08	00:30:31:11	Didn't know what kind of
00:30:31:11	00:30:32:22	treasures there might be.
00:30:32:22	00:30:34:04	So I got in there, and with the
00:30:34:04	00:30:35:16	cameras rolling, I opened the
00:30:35:16	00:30:38:01	cabinet, and one of the first
00:30:38:01	00:30:39:14	things I pull out is a memo from
00:30:39:14	00:30:41:11	one of the engineers asking for
00:30:41:11	00:30:42:18	time off to get his hernia
00:30:42:18	00:30:43:13	fixed.
00:30:43:13	00:30:44:21	(laughter)
00:30:44:21	00:30:46:00	So there's a real
00:30:46:00	00:30:47:02	valuable relic.
00:30:47:02	00:30:48:03	But there were some valuable
00:30:48:03	00:30:49:08	things in there.
00:30:49:08	00:30:50:18	The ECB did let me kind of
00:30:50:18	00:30:51:21	inventory them and get them out
00:30:51:21	00:30:52:22	of there, and they're in
00:30:52:22	00:30:54:03	climate-controlled storage now
00:30:54:03	00:30:55:05	at the headquarters here in
00:30:55:05	00:30:56:11	Madison so the record of that
00:30:56:11	00:30:58:14	station has been preserved.
00:30:58:14	00:31:01:09	But WLBL and WHA were it for the
00:31:01:09	00:31:03:16	network, both AM stations, both
00:31:03:16	00:31:05:06	into daytime only, you couldn't
00:31:05:06	00:31:06:12	pick up either one of them in
00:31:06:12	00:31:08:01	the Fox Valley or in Milwaukee
00:31:08:01	00:31:09:19	really well, or in the southwest
00:31:09:19	00:31:12:02	or in the far northwest.
00:31:12:02	00:31:13:14	And there was no money to build
00:31:13:14	00:31:16:19	new stations but then this idea
00:31:16:19	00:31:18:24	of FM came along.
00:31:18:24	00:31:20:28	And here's something that WHA
00:31:20:28	00:31:22:29	could use.
00:31:22:29	00:31:26:12	Build FM stations and just kind
00:31:26:12	00:31:27:18	of relay the signal around this
00:31:27:18	00:31:28:29	state.
00:31:28:29	00:31:30:02	Not to have people at all these
00:31:30:02	00:31:31:09	stations, no studios or
00:31:31:09	00:31:32:15	programming, just engineers and
00:31:32:15	00:31:35:03	a transmitter and the station in
00:31:35:03	00:31:36:09	Madison would transmit over 88.
00:31:36:09	00:31:38:08	7, it'd be picked up over the
00:31:38:08	00:31:39:25	air in Delafield at that
00:31:39:25	00:31:41:14	frequency, retransmitted at 90.
00:31:41:14	00:31:43:20	7 and then be picked off the air
00:31:43:20	00:31:45:16	in Chilton, they'd retransmit it
00:31:45:16	00:31:46:22	at 89.
00:31:46:22	00:31:47:22	3 and it would be picked off the
00:31:47:22	00:31:48:29	air in Wausau.
00:31:48:29	00:31:50:00	And it would go around the state
00:31:50:00	00:31:51:01	like this.
00:31:51:01	00:31:52:04	And they did tests and by the
00:31:52:04	00:31:53:07	time they had the whole network
00:31:53:07	00:31:55:16	built, by 1952, the tests at the
00:31:55:16	00:31:56:29	far end up in -- showed that the
00:31:56:29	00:31:57:29	sound quality up there was just
00:31:57:29	00:31:58:28	as good as when it left Madison,
00:31:58:28	00:32:01:08	you couldn't tell the difference
00:32:01:08	00:32:03:19	and it also gave rights to a
00:32:03:19	00:32:05:24	special piece of programming.
00:32:05:24	00:32:06:27	We had engineers there, why
00:32:06:27	00:32:07:29	don't we use them?
00:32:07:29	00:32:09:25	Well, we'll have 'em do weather.
00:32:09:25	00:32:11:01	They'll take turns doing the
00:32:11:01	00:32:12:01	weather.
00:32:12:01	00:32:13:03	So in the mornings and
00:32:13:03	00:32:14:08	afternoons, they'd have the
00:32:14:08	00:32:15:21	engineers come on, in sequence,
00:32:15:21	00:32:18:00	and give local conditions.
00:32:18:00	00:32:19:17	Cloudy skies in Delafield,
00:32:19:17	00:32:21:21	temperature 38 degrees, or they
00:32:21:21	00:32:23:01	did how the fish are biting, or
00:32:23:01	00:32:24:03	how the crops are growing or
00:32:24:03	00:32:25:09	whatever.
00:32:25:09	00:32:26:12	And they'd go all the way around
00:32:26:12	00:32:27:17	to Highland and they'd throw it
00:32:27:17	00:32:29:03	to the airport in Madison for
00:32:29:03	00:32:30:20	the weather forecast.
00:32:30:20	00:32:32:25	And they did this twice a day.
00:32:32:25	00:32:34:18	People loved this.
00:32:34:18	00:32:35:28	Vacationers would drive out of
00:32:35:28	00:32:37:01	their way to find these
00:32:37:01	00:32:38:12	transmitters, which are in
00:32:38:12	00:32:39:27	remote locations, to meet these
00:32:39:27	00:32:40:28	engineers that they'd hear on
00:32:40:28	00:32:42:03	the weather roundup.
00:32:42:03	00:32:43:19	And the engineers loved it, they
00:32:43:19	00:32:44:25	don't get to be on the radio
00:32:44:25	00:32:46:04	ever, and if you hear some of
00:32:46:04	00:32:47:13	the tapes, there's reasons why
00:32:47:13	00:32:49:07	they're not on the radio ever.
00:32:49:07	00:32:50:14	They have some peculiar voices,
00:32:50:14	00:32:51:19	but they're fun to listen to.
00:32:51:19	00:32:53:00	So we had the weather roundup
00:32:53:00	00:32:54:25	and we had this network of FM
00:32:54:25	00:32:57:07	stations around the state.
00:32:57:07	00:32:58:10	The two AM stations are still
00:32:58:10	00:32:59:14	going.
00:32:59:14	00:33:00:18	Now everybody in Wisconsin can
00:33:00:18	00:33:01:24	benefit.
00:33:01:24	00:33:03:01	They can all hear the service
00:33:03:01	00:33:06:13	clearly and without static and
00:33:06:13	00:33:08:00	it can be on at night.
00:33:08:00	00:33:09:28	FM can be on at night.
00:33:09:28	00:33:11:28	And now they can do news
00:33:11:28	00:33:13:00	specials, presidential
00:33:13:00	00:33:14:13	addresses, they can do nighttime
00:33:14:13	00:33:16:08	education for working people.
00:33:16:08	00:33:17:06	They couldn't do that when they
00:33:17:06	00:33:18:25	were on just during the daytime.
00:33:18:25	00:33:20:18	So that's kind of the backbone
00:33:20:18	00:33:21:25	of stations that became
00:33:21:25	00:33:24:02	Wisconsin Public Radio.
00:33:24:02	00:33:25:10	There were these eight FM
00:33:25:10	00:33:26:21	stations, later a ninth, and
00:33:26:21	00:33:28:20	then the two AMs and that was
00:33:28:20	00:33:30:06	kind of the network for many,
00:33:30:06	00:33:31:10	many years.
00:33:31:10	00:33:33:17	With these five major programs.
00:33:33:17	00:33:34:14	The farm show, the homemaker
00:33:34:14	00:33:35:21	show, "School of the Air,"
00:33:35:21	00:33:36:22	"College of the Air," and
00:33:36:22	00:33:37:19	"Chapter a Day."
00:33:37:19	00:33:38:22	And then filled in with lots
00:33:38:22	00:33:40:03	of classical music, lots of
00:33:40:03	00:33:41:06	public affairs shows,
00:33:41:06	00:33:44:12	documentaries, things like that.
00:33:44:12	00:33:45:26	And that's the network that
00:33:45:26	00:33:48:06	formed the basis of Wisconsin
00:33:48:06	00:33:52:09	Public Radio.
00:33:52:09	00:33:53:20	Things have moved on since,
00:33:53:20	00:33:55:02	we've added more stations, they
00:33:55:02	00:33:56:26	had to add some more because
00:33:56:26	00:33:57:27	they went to two program
00:33:57:27	00:34:00:24	services in the early 80s.
00:34:00:24	00:34:02:13	They went to one service being
00:34:02:13	00:34:04:04	mostly talk, and one service
00:34:04:04	00:34:05:17	being mostly classical and then
00:34:05:17	00:34:07:12	the NPR newsmagazines.
00:34:07:12	00:34:09:26	There are now more services
00:34:09:26	00:34:11:05	because we have HD radio in many
00:34:11:05	00:34:12:15	of the markets, you can get
00:34:12:15	00:34:13:24	24-hour classical here in
00:34:13:24	00:34:15:11	Madison if you have an HD radio
00:34:15:11	00:34:18:02	on WRN's digital channel.
00:34:18:02	00:34:19:29	So there's more to come, there's
00:34:19:29	00:34:21:14	podcasting, there's streaming of
00:34:21:14	00:34:23:08	audio, and then the entire
00:34:23:08	00:34:24:23	enterprise of public television,
00:34:24:23	00:34:26:10	which sprung up.
00:34:26:10	00:34:27:17	Kind of built on the backbone of
00:34:27:17	00:34:29:05	the radio service.
00:34:29:05	00:34:30:07	A lot of the same programs, a
00:34:30:07	00:34:31:11	lot of the same people were on
00:34:31:11	00:34:32:27	both services.
00:34:32:27	00:34:36:25	I'll give away the end of my
00:34:36:25	00:34:39:01	book, and then take questions.
00:34:39:01	00:34:41:18	I couldn't finish this book
00:34:41:18	00:34:42:24	without addressing that
00:34:42:24	00:34:44:04	historical marker that's bolted
00:34:44:04	00:34:45:09	to the side of the building that
00:34:45:09	00:34:46:12	says "The Oldest Station in the
00:34:46:12	00:34:48:09	Nation."
00:34:48:09	00:34:49:17	It always bothered me, even
00:34:49:17	00:34:50:21	before I was in broadcasting, I
00:34:50:21	00:34:51:29	went to school in Madison before
00:34:51:29	00:34:53:08	I was a broadcaster and I see
00:34:53:08	00:34:55:13	this historical marker and it
00:34:55:13	00:34:58:09	just seemed kind of squishy.
00:34:58:09	00:34:59:25	It didn't seem solid, and if
00:34:59:25	00:35:01:19	it's true, why isn't in all the
00:35:01:19	00:35:03:11	books, why don't all the
00:35:03:11	00:35:05:14	broadcasting textbooks say it
00:35:05:14	00:35:07:19	clearly?
00:35:07:19	00:35:08:28	And so when I approached this
00:35:08:28	00:35:10:22	project, I said, I'm gonna take
00:35:10:22	00:35:12:04	a look at all the research, I'm
00:35:12:04	00:35:14:28	gonna lay it out there, and kind
00:35:14:28	00:35:16:25	of give my conclusion and let
00:35:16:25	00:35:18:08	others draw theirs.
00:35:18:08	00:35:20:09	But the trick is, you've got to
00:35:20:09	00:35:21:09	define your terms.
00:35:21:09	00:35:24:07	That's always the loophole.
00:35:24:07	00:35:26:18	To be a radio broadcast service,
00:35:26:18	00:35:28:18	you've got to be first by radio.
00:35:28:18	00:35:29:28	There were a lot of broadcasting
00:35:29:28	00:35:31:05	services prior to radio that
00:35:31:05	00:35:33:15	were on telephone lines.
00:35:33:15	00:35:35:02	You could essentially get cable
00:35:35:02	00:35:36:05	radio in your home way back in
00:35:36:05	00:35:37:24	1912.
00:35:37:24	00:35:38:26	Newark, New Jersey had 5,000
00:35:38:26	00:35:40:02	subscribers.
00:35:40:02	00:35:41:04	People would listen to a little
00:35:41:04	00:35:42:07	earpiece and get programming all
00:35:42:07	00:35:43:14	day.
00:35:43:14	00:35:44:21	But that's not radio.
00:35:44:21	00:35:46:17	So it has to be radio.
00:35:46:17	00:35:48:03	It has to be non-coded.
00:35:48:03	00:35:49:14	Can't be Morse code, so that's
00:35:49:14	00:35:50:27	the second thing.
00:35:50:27	00:35:52:24	It has to be fully public.
00:35:52:24	00:35:56:00	It can't be something just
00:35:56:00	00:35:57:25	through the Army, let's say.
00:35:57:25	00:35:58:24	And it has to have some kind of
00:35:58:24	00:35:59:23	radio schedule.
00:35:59:23	00:36:00:28	Has to have those things going
00:36:00:28	00:36:02:04	for it.
00:36:02:04	00:36:03:07	That's the rules.
00:36:03:07	00:36:04:29	And if you follow those rules it
00:36:04:29	00:36:06:27	looks pretty clear like WHA's
00:36:06:27	00:36:09:11	probably the second-oldest
00:36:09:11	00:36:10:22	continuously operating one in
00:36:10:22	00:36:12:06	America.
00:36:12:06	00:36:13:25	KBK in Pittsburgh, which of
00:36:13:25	00:36:15:04	course gets all the credit, they
00:36:15:04	00:36:18:12	went on back in 1920 with the
00:36:18:12	00:36:20:03	election night returns when
00:36:20:03	00:36:21:15	Warren Harding was elected
00:36:21:15	00:36:22:29	president.
00:36:22:29	00:36:24:10	That's their first day of
00:36:24:10	00:36:25:10	broadcasting.
00:36:25:10	00:36:26:20	That's pretty clear, there are
00:36:26:20	00:36:28:02	records, they were on then, it's
00:36:28:02	00:36:30:29	pretty obvious.
00:36:30:29	00:36:34:03	We, WHA was clearly on December
00:36:34:03	00:36:35:11	3rd, 1921.
00:36:35:11	00:36:37:08	That's really solid, too.
00:36:37:08	00:36:38:16	But as I mentioned, there were a
00:36:38:16	00:36:40:24	couple once-a-week programs of
00:36:40:24	00:36:42:04	phonograph music on Saturday
00:36:42:04	00:36:43:15	nights.
00:36:43:15	00:36:44:20	Which we did for testing, but
00:36:44:20	00:36:45:27	they were for the public,
00:36:45:27	00:36:46:28	they're sound, not coded, it's
00:36:46:28	00:36:48:11	radio, it's on a schedule.
00:36:48:11	00:36:51:18	And the records I found in the
00:36:51:18	00:36:52:17	archive seem to indicate that
00:36:52:17	00:36:55:13	started November 7th 1920, five
00:36:55:13	00:36:57:05	days later, so we missed it by
00:36:57:05	00:36:59:23	five days, darn.
00:36:59:23	00:37:01:11	Neither one of the stations was
00:37:01:11	00:37:02:19	the first.
00:37:02:19	00:37:04:05	The first station, and this is
00:37:04:05	00:37:05:12	new research that's come out
00:37:05:12	00:37:06:17	while I was writing the book
00:37:06:17	00:37:07:26	actually.
00:37:07:26	00:37:10:23	KCBS in San Fransisco, its
00:37:10:23	00:37:14:20	ancestor station started in 1909
00:37:14:20	00:37:15:24	and had a regular program
00:37:15:24	00:37:17:01	schedule pretty clearly, voice
00:37:17:01	00:37:20:14	broadcast schedule by 1912.
00:37:20:14	00:37:22:08	In fact, there was a film made,
00:37:22:08	00:37:23:11	a silent film made, inside the
00:37:23:11	00:37:25:10	station in 1912.
00:37:25:10	00:37:26:11	The founder of the station had a
00:37:26:11	00:37:27:16	young bride with a baby, who'd
00:37:27:16	00:37:29:16	just had a baby.
00:37:29:16	00:37:30:26	She brought the baby in and held
00:37:30:26	00:37:32:04	him up to the microphone, so
00:37:32:04	00:37:33:03	people could hear what a baby
00:37:33:03	00:37:35:15	sounds like on the radio.
00:37:35:15	00:37:36:25	And so there's, actually there's
00:37:36:25	00:37:38:06	a frame of film that exists from
00:37:38:06	00:37:39:22	that.
00:37:39:22	00:37:41:14	So they were pretty clearly on
00:37:41:14	00:37:42:23	first, but they had a big gap
00:37:42:23	00:37:43:26	where they were off the air
00:37:43:26	00:37:44:28	after the war.
00:37:44:28	00:37:45:29	They didn't get back on as soon
00:37:45:29	00:37:47:07	as they could.
00:37:47:07	00:37:48:25	So it looks like KBK is first,
00:37:48:25	00:37:50:16	WHA second, but oldest
00:37:50:16	00:37:52:14	non-commercial station, and it's
00:37:52:14	00:37:53:26	had its license continuously
00:37:53:26	00:37:55:03	since 1915.
00:37:55:03	00:37:56:11	University of Wisconsin has held
00:37:56:11	00:37:58:00	the license to WHA that whole
00:37:58:00	00:37:59:02	time.
00:37:59:02	00:38:01:01	So that's a very long record of
00:38:01:01	00:38:02:28	service by the university to the
00:38:02:28	00:38:04:25	people of Wisconsin.
00:38:04:25	00:38:06:16	And everybody came after that.
00:38:06:16	00:38:08:01	So I'm plenty happy to say that
00:38:08:01	00:38:09:12	WHA is the second-oldest one in
00:38:09:12	00:38:11:24	the country.
00:38:11:24	00:38:13:03	That historical marker actually
00:38:13:03	00:38:16:00	was written by WHA's PR
00:38:16:00	00:38:17:24	director, and of course the
00:38:17:24	00:38:19:04	Historical Society then took it
00:38:19:04	00:38:20:24	as gospel.
00:38:20:24	00:38:22:00	And people took it as, the
00:38:22:00	00:38:23:05	Historical Society produced the
00:38:23:05	00:38:24:22	marker, it must be true.
00:38:24:22	00:38:25:23	So there's kind of a circular
00:38:25:23	00:38:27:04	logic kind of thing to that.
00:38:27:04	00:38:28:09	But as I said, I'm plenty happy
00:38:28:09	00:38:29:27	saying that WHA is the
00:38:29:27	00:38:31:08	second-oldest in the country.
00:38:31:08	00:38:32:22	First oldest among educational
00:38:32:22	00:38:34:05	broadcasters.
00:38:34:05	00:38:35:08	I will take questions and I'll
00:38:35:08	00:38:36:11	repeat them so everyone can
00:38:36:11	00:38:37:11	hear.
00:38:37:11	00:38:38:17	Anyone have a question about the
00:38:38:17	00:38:40:01	past or the present or anything
00:38:40:01	00:38:41:23	else like that?
00:38:41:23	00:38:43:23	>> (inaudible)
00:38:46:16	00:38:47:23	>> The question
00:38:47:23	00:38:49:01	is, do we share programming with
00:38:49:01	00:38:50:09	other stations?
00:38:50:09	00:38:51:16	We do right now, Wisconsin
00:38:51:16	00:38:52:20	Public Radio produces four shows
00:38:52:20	00:38:53:27	for national distribution.
00:38:53:27	00:38:55:01	Most widely-known is "Whaddya
00:38:55:01	00:38:56:03	Know?"
00:38:56:03	00:38:57:15	But they did in earlier days
00:38:57:15	00:38:58:22	as part of the National
00:38:58:22	00:39:00:04	Association of Educational
00:39:00:04	00:39:01:26	Broadcasters, and we produced
00:39:01:26	00:39:03:15	shows on tape and they were sent
00:39:03:15	00:39:04:22	around to other stations.
00:39:04:22	00:39:06:05	We took shows from others, we
00:39:06:05	00:39:08:00	sent shows to others, the big
00:39:08:00	00:39:09:09	famous one they did was a series
00:39:09:09	00:39:11:07	on the Dead Sea scrolls.
00:39:11:07	00:39:12:13	That was one we did that was
00:39:12:13	00:39:14:01	really popular.
00:39:14:01	00:39:15:24	Another one that was really
00:39:15:24	00:39:17:28	popular, Dr. John Schindler from
00:39:17:28	00:39:20:16	Monroe had been on, did a thing
00:39:20:16	00:39:22:08	on psychosomatic illness one day
00:39:22:08	00:39:24:28	in 1949, a one-hour speech.
00:39:24:28	00:39:26:08	Everybody wanted to hear that,
00:39:26:08	00:39:27:23	it was carried by many stations
00:39:27:23	00:39:28:24	around the country.
00:39:28:24	00:39:30:12	He turned it into a book, "How
00:39:30:12	00:39:32:13	to Live 100 Years Happily," and
00:39:32:13	00:39:33:14	it was published in many
00:39:33:14	00:39:35:26	languages, and many, many years
00:39:35:26	00:39:37:11	later when I was hiring
00:39:37:11	00:39:39:01	announcers, I hired his
00:39:39:01	00:39:40:08	granddaughter to be an announcer
00:39:40:08	00:39:42:02	at WHA, so there's some
00:39:42:02	00:39:44:04	continuity there as well.
00:39:44:04	00:39:46:00	So, but there's always been
00:39:46:00	00:39:47:07	shared programming.
00:39:47:07	00:39:48:17	We actually shared the farm show
00:39:48:17	00:39:50:09	back in 1929 with WTMJ
00:39:50:09	00:39:52:21	Milwaukee.
00:39:52:21	00:39:54:10	>> When you were researching
00:39:54:10	00:39:55:18	this, did you come across the
00:39:55:18	00:39:58:25	name Willy Forest?
00:39:58:25	00:39:59:29	>> Willy Forest?
00:39:59:29	00:40:01:17	Was he involved at WHA?
00:40:01:17	00:40:05:17	>> Well, yeah, in fact he was so
00:40:05:17	00:40:07:12	excited about it that he quit
00:40:07:12	00:40:10:11	college and he put WIBU on the
00:40:10:11	00:40:13:11	air and then he got a --
00:40:13:11	00:40:18:09	license.
00:40:18:09	00:40:21:00	Right before the war, and he
00:40:21:00	00:40:24:13	couldn't get any tower, and he
00:40:24:13	00:40:26:19	put that on right after the war.
00:40:26:19	00:40:29:19	(inaudible)
00:40:44:28	00:40:45:29	And someone said,
00:40:45:29	00:40:47:09	"Willy, you got a license for
00:40:47:09	00:40:48:25	this here station?"
00:40:48:25	00:40:50:19	And he says, "what?"
00:40:50:19	00:40:51:28	The guy says, "well yeah, you
00:40:51:28	00:40:54:08	gotta have a license," and he
00:40:54:08	00:40:56:07	says, "how do you get one?"
00:40:56:07	00:40:58:17	"You gotta write to the radio
00:40:58:17	00:41:00:20	commission."
00:41:00:20	00:41:04:00	So he sent them a postcard.
00:41:04:00	00:41:05:25	And they sent back a sheet of
00:41:05:25	00:41:09:02	paper to fill out for the
00:41:09:02	00:41:12:24	license.
00:41:12:24	00:41:23:01	And 40-some years later --.
00:41:23:01	00:41:25:07	>> In the early days they were
00:41:25:07	00:41:26:19	much looser with regard to
00:41:26:19	00:41:29:02	licensing in the early days.
00:41:29:02	00:41:30:25	Where WHA's tower is now, just
00:41:30:25	00:41:32:11	on the edge of the arboretum in
00:41:32:11	00:41:35:08	Madison, that tower site was
00:41:35:08	00:41:36:24	actually owned by the Wisconsin
00:41:36:24	00:41:38:22	State Journal.
00:41:38:22	00:41:39:28	The Wisconsin State Journal had
00:41:39:28	00:41:43:08	their own radio station, WISJ,
00:41:43:08	00:41:44:13	and what they had done is they
00:41:44:13	00:41:45:28	had bought the college station
00:41:45:28	00:41:47:10	in Beloit.
00:41:47:10	00:41:48:18	And just moved it to Madison,
00:41:48:18	00:41:50:05	you could do that then.
00:41:50:05	00:41:51:14	It's almost impossible to move
00:41:51:14	00:41:52:26	an AM station now, but they
00:41:52:26	00:41:54:06	bought that, and they merged
00:41:54:06	00:41:57:28	their facilities with WIBA, and
00:41:57:28	00:41:59:12	took the best of both and built
00:41:59:12	00:42:01:10	one really well-resourced
00:42:01:10	00:42:02:19	station.
00:42:02:19	00:42:03:27	They had these towers left over,
00:42:03:27	00:42:06:00	out there by the arboretum, WHA
00:42:06:00	00:42:07:11	bought them, got special
00:42:07:11	00:42:09:29	allocations to buy those towers
00:42:09:29	00:42:13:00	and they remained in use till
00:42:13:00	00:42:14:24	probably 1970 and then the one
00:42:14:24	00:42:16:04	that was just taken down last
00:42:16:04	00:42:18:10	year went up at that time.
00:42:18:10	00:42:19:21	So just put a new tower up there
00:42:19:21	00:42:21:00	just in the last six months,
00:42:21:00	00:42:22:17	probably.
00:42:22:17	00:42:23:20	But that tower site was
00:42:23:20	00:42:25:01	originally owned by a commercial
00:42:25:01	00:42:26:07	broadcaster that, again, you
00:42:26:07	00:42:27:11	didn't need much in the way of
00:42:27:11	00:42:28:11	licensing back in the early
00:42:28:11	00:42:29:20	days.
00:42:29:20	00:42:30:21	Other questions?
00:42:30:21	00:42:31:20	Yeah?
00:42:31:20	00:42:33:08	>>(inaudible)
00:42:33:08	00:42:34:09	>> How are the
00:42:34:09	00:42:35:20	call letters determined?
00:42:35:20	00:42:36:23	In the early days they were just
00:42:36:23	00:42:38:18	assigned to you on kind of a
00:42:38:18	00:42:40:07	scheme, usually the stations to
00:42:40:07	00:42:42:12	the east start with Ws, and the
00:42:42:12	00:42:44:14	ones to the west start with Ks.
00:42:44:14	00:42:45:27	Canada's all start with Cs,
00:42:45:27	00:42:47:19	Mexico's all start with X.
00:42:47:19	00:42:49:08	Kind of by mutual assent they
00:42:49:08	00:42:51:09	kind of agreed to this.
00:42:51:09	00:42:52:20	It wasn't till 1924 that you
00:42:52:20	00:42:54:01	could request call letters that
00:42:54:01	00:42:56:16	had some kind of meaning to you.
00:42:56:16	00:42:57:19	So everyone says, WHA, what does
00:42:57:19	00:42:58:17	it stand for?
00:42:58:17	00:43:00:03	It doesn't stand for anything.
00:43:00:03	00:43:02:17	They did try in future years to
00:43:02:17	00:43:03:26	get all their call letters to
00:43:03:26	00:43:05:15	line up, to start with
00:43:05:15	00:43:07:06	WH-something, but all the
00:43:07:06	00:43:08:24	legends about "Wisconsin Hails
00:43:08:24	00:43:10:22	America" or "Wisconsin Hogs
00:43:10:22	00:43:13:14	Agriculture," it's not true.
00:43:13:14	00:43:14:20	And the thing that's the proof
00:43:14:20	00:43:16:17	of that is that in 1929 they
00:43:16:17	00:43:19:20	made a real, real push to get a
00:43:19:20	00:43:20:23	station in Columbia, South
00:43:20:23	00:43:23:13	Carolina to give up WIS.
00:43:23:13	00:43:24:27	They really wanted WIS for the
00:43:24:27	00:43:26:12	state stations up here.
00:43:26:12	00:43:27:29	WLBLs were actually picked for
00:43:27:29	00:43:30:17	that reason, it's "Wisconsin
00:43:30:17	00:43:32:17	Land of Beautiful Lakes."
00:43:32:17	00:43:33:24	And it's picked for that
00:43:33:24	00:43:35:01	reason.
00:43:35:01	00:43:36:13	The last really full-power FM
00:43:36:13	00:43:40:00	station built before this last
00:43:40:00	00:43:42:25	round of stations was WHBM in
00:43:42:25	00:43:44:29	Park Falls, there's the WH, and
00:43:44:29	00:43:46:22	the HBM was in honor of Harold B
00:43:46:22	00:43:48:24	McCarty, who was the station
00:43:48:24	00:43:50:23	manager from the 30s to the 60s
00:43:50:23	00:43:52:07	and had just died.
00:43:52:07	00:43:53:13	And so it's to honor his memory
00:43:53:13	00:43:54:20	that those call letters were
00:43:54:20	00:43:56:02	picked.
00:43:56:02	00:43:57:13	>> I noticed that WHA is three
00:43:57:13	00:43:58:29	letters and the rest are four
00:43:58:29	00:44:00:07	letters, why don't they have
00:44:00:07	00:44:01:19	four letters?
00:44:01:19	00:44:02:25	>> Why didn't the call letters
00:44:02:25	00:44:04:26	go to four?
00:44:04:26	00:44:05:28	They were available as four
00:44:05:28	00:44:08:00	right away, they gave out threes
00:44:08:00	00:44:10:08	early on and were gonna run out
00:44:10:08	00:44:11:11	of them.
00:44:11:11	00:44:13:06	So as soon as 9XM went away, the
00:44:13:06	00:44:15:03	9 stood for the Midwest, X was
00:44:15:03	00:44:16:16	experimental, M stood for
00:44:16:16	00:44:18:15	Madison.
00:44:18:15	00:44:19:16	Well you can see the problem
00:44:19:16	00:44:20:23	immediately.
00:44:20:23	00:44:21:26	An experimental station in
00:44:21:26	00:44:23:17	Minneapolis, they can't be 9XM
00:44:23:17	00:44:24:21	because 9XM's in use.
00:44:24:21	00:44:26:13	So they became 9XI.
00:44:26:13	00:44:28:14	And this was not a useable
00:44:28:14	00:44:29:25	system, so they went to these
00:44:29:25	00:44:31:25	call letters and when the first
00:44:31:25	00:44:33:24	one was KDKA in Pittsburgh and
00:44:33:24	00:44:36:09	they had no place to put it,
00:44:36:09	00:44:37:18	there was no place for a
00:44:37:18	00:44:39:04	broadcasting station in the
00:44:39:04	00:44:40:12	licensing scheme of things so
00:44:40:12	00:44:41:18	they just put it in as part of
00:44:41:18	00:44:43:10	the license categories for
00:44:43:10	00:44:44:28	ship-to-shore stations.
00:44:44:28	00:44:45:28	And that's why, even though
00:44:45:28	00:44:46:28	they're in the east they have a
00:44:46:28	00:44:48:05	K.
00:44:48:05	00:44:50:24	>> (inaudible)
00:44:50:24	00:44:52:02	>> There's Ws in
00:44:52:02	00:44:53:11	the west, there's some Ks in the
00:44:53:11	00:44:54:15	east.
00:44:54:15	00:44:55:13	There's a K in Wisconsin,
00:44:55:13	00:44:56:15	there's two actually, there's
00:44:56:15	00:44:57:19	KWS in Superior, which is a
00:44:57:19	00:44:58:25	Wisconsin Public Radio Station,
00:44:58:25	00:45:01:21	and it stands for UW Superior,
00:45:01:21	00:45:03:04	and there's a K in Fon du Lac, a
00:45:03:04	00:45:05:13	pioneer station in Wisconsin
00:45:05:13	00:45:07:05	that still uses its K.
00:45:07:05	00:45:12:20	>> (inaudible)
00:45:12:20	00:45:14:26	>> When did FM begin?
00:45:14:26	00:45:16:07	For Wisconsin Public Radio, they
00:45:16:07	00:45:19:26	got going in 1947 the first one,
00:45:19:26	00:45:21:03	the last one of the original
00:45:21:03	00:45:23:13	eight was built in 1952.
00:45:23:13	00:45:24:21	And so by the end of '52 they
00:45:24:21	00:45:26:04	had the whole state network in
00:45:26:04	00:45:27:04	place.
00:45:27:04	00:45:28:02	There had been FM before World
00:45:28:02	00:45:30:05	War II that was down in 40 and
00:45:30:05	00:45:31:13	50, between 40 and 50 on the
00:45:31:13	00:45:33:19	dial.
00:45:33:19	00:45:36:28	>> (inaudible)
00:45:36:28	00:45:38:04	>> FM dates to
00:45:38:04	00:45:41:07	much earlier.
00:45:41:07	00:45:42:16	And it was very popular in the
00:45:42:16	00:45:44:02	northeast, in New England.
00:45:44:02	00:45:45:04	And there were a quarter million
00:45:45:04	00:45:46:15	receivers in New England, a
00:45:46:15	00:45:47:21	thing called the Yankee Network
00:45:47:21	00:45:48:23	there.
00:45:48:23	00:45:50:12	And after the war, people that
00:45:50:12	00:45:52:03	had money invested in AM kind of
00:45:52:03	00:45:53:01	lobbied to say, you've got to
00:45:53:01	00:45:55:27	move this FM somewhere else.
00:45:55:27	00:45:58:06	So that's why non-commercial
00:45:58:06	00:45:59:23	radio was able to jump in,
00:45:59:23	00:46:01:18	because there was, everyone was
00:46:01:18	00:46:03:13	shy about getting into FM,
00:46:03:13	00:46:04:11	non-commercial broadcasters
00:46:04:11	00:46:05:14	loved it.
00:46:05:14	00:46:06:21	You could get right in and do
00:46:06:21	00:46:08:00	stuff with it.
00:46:08:00	00:46:23:01	>> (inaudible)
00:46:23:01	00:46:24:03	>> Sure.
00:46:24:03	00:46:25:10	Even when I worked in commercial
00:46:25:10	00:46:26:14	radio we did school closings.
00:46:26:14	00:46:28:10	And we had to give, you gave
00:46:28:10	00:46:31:09	each school principal a code to
00:46:31:09	00:46:32:27	call in, this guy would say,
00:46:32:27	00:46:34:03	"I'm from Pierce Middle School,
00:46:34:03	00:46:35:12	schools are closed today," and
00:46:35:12	00:46:37:09	you'd say, "What's the code?"
00:46:37:09	00:46:38:13	And if it's a kid calling in
00:46:38:13	00:46:39:24	to cancel school because there's
00:46:39:24	00:46:40:28	a test today, they don't know
00:46:40:28	00:46:42:01	the code!
00:46:42:01	00:46:43:07	(laughter)
00:46:43:07	00:46:44:15	But we'd give each
00:46:44:15	00:46:45:25	person, we had a little list in
00:46:45:25	00:46:46:23	the studio of all the codes for
00:46:46:23	00:46:47:29	each school.
00:46:47:29	00:46:49:03	And that way that prevents kids
00:46:49:03	00:46:50:03	from closing school
00:46:50:03	00:46:51:07	inadvertently, or on purpose,
00:46:51:07	00:46:52:13	but we don't go on the air and
00:46:52:13	00:46:53:25	close schools then without the
00:46:53:25	00:46:54:28	okay.
00:46:54:28	00:46:56:07	But yeah, radio still does that,
00:46:56:07	00:46:57:24	local radio will still do school
00:46:57:24	00:46:59:06	closings.
00:46:59:06	00:47:00:16	And now they'll do them on their
00:47:00:16	00:47:02:00	website, it's the easiest thing
00:47:02:00	00:47:04:05	in the world.
00:47:04:05	00:47:10:07	>> (inaudible)
00:47:10:07	00:47:11:25	>> AM stands for
00:47:11:25	00:47:13:26	amplitude modulation.
00:47:13:26	00:47:15:07	And FM stands for frequency
00:47:15:07	00:47:16:13	modulation.
00:47:16:13	00:47:17:27	It's just the way the signals
00:47:17:27	00:47:19:01	are transmitted, the radio
00:47:19:01	00:47:19:29	waves.
00:47:19:29	00:47:21:05	One goes this way, one goes this
00:47:21:05	00:47:22:13	way.
00:47:22:13	00:47:23:27	The thing with AM, it's affected
00:47:23:27	00:47:25:03	by static, it's affected by
00:47:25:03	00:47:26:27	lightning and electrical stuff.
00:47:26:27	00:47:29:06	FM isn't by and large.
00:47:29:06	00:47:30:18	AM, though, has this peculiar
00:47:30:18	00:47:31:23	thing where it bounces off the
00:47:31:23	00:47:34:07	atmosphere after sundown.
00:47:34:07	00:47:35:11	And that's why AM stations you
00:47:35:11	00:47:37:09	have to go low-power or go off
00:47:37:09	00:47:38:28	at sundown, a lot of them.
00:47:38:28	00:47:41:10	Whereas FM stations can be on
00:47:41:10	00:47:43:28	all the time, at the same power,
00:47:43:28	00:47:45:13	but FM is line of site.
00:47:45:13	00:47:47:00	It's from the antennas on the
00:47:47:00	00:47:48:28	tower to the horizon.
00:47:48:28	00:47:50:10	And that's as far as an FM
00:47:50:10	00:47:51:10	station will go, they do not
00:47:51:10	00:47:52:25	bounce at night.
00:47:52:25	00:47:53:25	But it's tremendous fun to
00:47:53:25	00:47:55:13	listen to AM radio at night at
00:47:55:13	00:47:56:20	great distances, and the ones
00:47:56:20	00:47:58:18	that can stay on full power,
00:47:58:18	00:48:00:16	their technical term is clear
00:48:00:16	00:48:01:12	channel.
00:48:01:12	00:48:02:14	It's not the company Clear
00:48:02:14	00:48:04:02	Channel, the company picked that
00:48:04:02	00:48:05:05	name because there's this
00:48:05:05	00:48:07:01	technical term, "clear channel."
00:48:07:01	00:48:09:02	A clear channel AM station can
00:48:09:02	00:48:10:14	stay on full power, and it's a
00:48:10:14	00:48:12:01	high-power station, can stay on
00:48:12:01	00:48:14:05	all the time at the high power
00:48:14:05	00:48:15:15	and cover a big chunk of the
00:48:15:15	00:48:17:13	continent.
00:48:17:13	00:48:18:23	And they're shared between the
00:48:18:23	00:48:20:03	country.
00:48:20:03	00:48:21:14	800 for example is Canadian
00:48:21:14	00:48:24:02	clear frequency, so at night you
00:48:24:02	00:48:26:00	can hear 800s from Canada.
00:48:26:00	00:48:28:21	There's a big one in -- CKLW,
00:48:28:21	00:48:31:18	which is a big powerful on 800
00:48:31:18	00:48:33:02	on AM band, but there's ones in
00:48:33:02	00:48:34:11	the United States that are full
00:48:34:11	00:48:35:24	power.
00:48:35:24	00:48:37:08	Mexico had a bunch of them and
00:48:37:08	00:48:38:19	that's how border radio got
00:48:38:19	00:48:39:21	going.
00:48:39:21	00:48:41:00	You'd have these high-power
00:48:41:00	00:48:42:03	Mexican stations that would
00:48:42:03	00:48:43:23	cover the entire United States.
00:48:43:23	00:48:45:01	And a lot of early country music
00:48:45:01	00:48:47:10	stars, the Carter family, they'd
00:48:47:10	00:48:48:18	record programs and then play it
00:48:48:18	00:48:50:09	on stations in Mexcio that could
00:48:50:09	00:48:52:02	stay on at full power all night
00:48:52:02	00:48:53:27	and cover the whole country.
00:48:53:27	00:49:02:00	>> (inaudible)
00:49:02:00	00:49:03:02	>> I was asked
00:49:03:02	00:49:04:12	this question recently,
00:49:04:12	00:49:05:15	everybody keeps writing the
00:49:05:15	00:49:07:29	obituary for radio.
00:49:07:29	00:49:09:16	And it's still around and I
00:49:09:16	00:49:10:23	always maintain that if radio
00:49:10:23	00:49:11:26	had been invented after
00:49:11:26	00:49:13:02	television, people would be
00:49:13:02	00:49:14:12	thinking it's so much better.
00:49:14:12	00:49:15:16	Because you can do other things
00:49:15:16	00:49:17:21	and enjoy it completely.
00:49:17:21	00:49:20:11	TV, you've got to watch it.
00:49:20:11	00:49:21:13	There's so much available with
00:49:21:13	00:49:23:05	radio right now, between
00:49:23:05	00:49:25:20	terrestrial radio, is regular
00:49:25:20	00:49:27:12	old radio.
00:49:27:12	00:49:28:17	There's, you can listen on the
00:49:28:17	00:49:29:23	internet to radio stations all
00:49:29:23	00:49:31:08	over the place.
00:49:31:08	00:49:32:17	You can podcast, you can get
00:49:32:17	00:49:34:08	shows when you want, you're not
00:49:34:08	00:49:35:18	tied to the program schedule any
00:49:35:18	00:49:37:08	more.
00:49:37:08	00:49:39:03	There's HD radio, where stations
00:49:39:03	00:49:40:24	will have a secondary channel,
00:49:40:24	00:49:42:04	doing some specialized
00:49:42:04	00:49:43:07	programming.
00:49:43:07	00:49:44:06	Here in Madison, the secondary
00:49:44:06	00:49:46:07	channel of triple M, 105. 5,
00:49:46:07	00:49:47:29	is all blues all day long.
00:49:47:29	00:49:49:27	What a nice thing.
00:49:49:27	00:49:51:24	So there's that available.
00:49:51:24	00:49:53:00	I think the future's very bright
00:49:53:00	00:49:54:04	for radio.
00:49:54:04	00:49:55:14	It still has value, there's
00:49:55:14	00:49:58:24	still that sense of wonder when
00:49:58:24	00:50:00:19	you stumble on something,
00:50:00:19	00:50:01:22	spinning the dial, and you hit
00:50:01:22	00:50:03:06	something, where is that from?
00:50:03:06	00:50:04:07	What is that?
00:50:04:07	00:50:06:18	That's magnificent.
00:50:06:18	00:50:07:22	I'm still surprised at radio,
00:50:07:22	00:50:09:22	I'm still kind of intoxicated by
00:50:09:22	00:50:11:09	the magic of it.
00:50:11:09	00:50:13:24	The fact that you can listen and
00:50:13:24	00:50:17:13	hear someone instantaneously
00:50:17:13	00:50:19:07	giving you information that's of
00:50:19:07	00:50:21:10	value to you, to me that's real
00:50:21:10	00:50:22:08	value.
00:50:22:08	00:50:23:10	And it doesn't cost you
00:50:23:10	00:50:24:13	anything.
00:50:24:13	00:50:25:14	It's still free, over-the-air
00:50:25:14	00:50:26:14	service.
00:50:26:14	00:50:27:27	Radio in the United States is
00:50:27:27	00:50:29:00	still over the air and its model
00:50:29:00	00:50:30:20	is that it's free.
00:50:30:20	00:50:31:27	In some countries you have to
00:50:31:27	00:50:33:21	get a license to have a radio,
00:50:33:21	00:50:34:20	you have to pay a license every
00:50:34:20	00:50:35:21	year.
00:50:35:21	00:50:37:01	It's not that way here in the
00:50:37:01	00:50:38:18	United States, radio is a free
00:50:38:18	00:50:40:05	service and the air waves belong
00:50:40:05	00:50:41:19	to the public.
00:50:41:19	00:50:43:03	There's now a new, low-power FM
00:50:43:03	00:50:45:10	stations are popping up.
00:50:45:10	00:50:46:11	In medium-sized communities
00:50:46:11	00:50:48:05	where people can get on the air.
00:50:48:05	00:50:49:22	Kind of like WORT in Madison, a
00:50:49:22	00:50:50:28	community station, where people
00:50:50:28	00:50:52:12	have a voice.
00:50:52:12	00:50:53:17	That's wonderful, too.
00:50:53:17	00:50:55:00	So I think the future's very
00:50:55:00	00:50:57:06	bright for radio.
00:50:57:06	00:50:59:10	One final question.
00:50:59:10	00:51:01:07	>> And the quality of the shows,
00:51:01:07	00:51:02:14	Garrison Keillor is better than
00:51:02:14	00:51:06:01	most things on television.
00:51:06:01	00:51:08:04	>> Well, quality's always an
00:51:08:04	00:51:09:07	issue.
00:51:09:07	00:51:10:20	There's poor-quality radio and
00:51:10:20	00:51:11:25	good-quality radio and you have
00:51:11:25	00:51:13:13	to search it out.
00:51:13:13	00:51:14:16	And you can do that.
00:51:14:16	00:51:15:20	There's a lot of good-quality
00:51:15:20	00:51:17:02	radio available everywhere in
00:51:17:02	00:51:18:13	America.
00:51:18:13	00:51:19:27	You just have to look for it.
00:51:19:27	00:51:22:05	It's on the dial and there's
00:51:22:05	00:51:25:06	stuff out there of all kinds.
00:51:25:06	00:51:27:04	There's news, there's sports,
00:51:27:04	00:51:29:09	talk, entertainment, music, fine
00:51:29:09	00:51:30:10	arts.
00:51:30:10	00:51:31:14	There's lots of wonderful things
00:51:31:14	00:51:32:26	on the radio.
00:51:32:26	00:51:33:26	And that's another nice thing
00:51:33:26	00:51:35:01	about radio, people have access
00:51:35:01	00:51:36:15	to many, many stations no matter
00:51:36:15	00:51:37:23	where you live.
00:51:37:23	00:51:38:22	There's many stations for you to
00:51:38:22	00:51:40:27	pick from.
00:51:40:27	00:51:43:13	I see our time is up here, it's
00:51:43:13	00:51:44:27	2:30, I thank you for your time,
00:51:44:27	00:51:46:17	I thank you for your attention.
00:51:46:17	00:51:47:23	And enjoy the rest of the
00:51:47:23	00:51:49:03	program today.
00:51:49:03	00:51:51:03	(applause)