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Additional WSUA Audio

WCDB radio started out as an AM carrier current radio station on Friday, February 22, 1963. Its origins are documented in an article on WSUA and WCDB's history written by Marc Gronich in 2003:

WSUA was a carrier-current radio station. Its signal was fed into campus dormitory electrical systems. Programs could only be heard mainly within the confines of university residence buildings. At its inception the school newspaper described the radio station as broadcasting on "the FCC assigned frequency of 640 kilocycles on a closed circuit carrier current of eight watts."

Bill Alexander and Don Allen are given much of the credit for bringing WSUA into existence from the Radio Council, with Dr. Anthony Salatino as the faculty advisor during the early 1960s. Bill was the acting General Manager during the transition year and Don was appointed General Manager in February 1963. Elections were held on Thursday, May 2, 1963. Nicholas Argyros and Ron Campisi were the station's first elected General Manager and Assistant General Manager, respectively.

The station had a humble beginning. It was located in a hallway broom closet in Brubacher Hall on what is today calld the "downtown campus" or Alumni Quad. [...] The original equipment for WSUA came from surplus material at General Electric, which then owned Schenectady-based WGY radio and television. Assisting WSUA with obtaining and maintaining the original equipment was WGY's chief engineer, Herb Cole. Another supporter of the carrier-current effort was Steve Seiden of Seiden Sound, an electronics store in Albany. Steve's firm installed the complete closed-circuit radio station for $500, which was eventually funded by the University Administration and the Student Senate.

WSUA's chief engineer, Duane White, says most of the equipment was considered outdated and useless junk. The actual provider of the handmade transmitter and splitters installed on the main power box in each of the dorms around Alumni Quad was the Lafayette Radio store, located on Central Avenue in Albany. Staff members built a wooden U-shaped console [whose] left and right arms [contained] belt-driven turntables. In the center of the console sat a genuine public address system like others the store sold to educational institutions. According to White, "anyone who had ever seen a professional setup would just grin and smile at our definitely amateur equipment." [...]

Programming in the early years featured news, sports and, of course, music with heavy emphasis on folk, jazz, bluegrass, pops, classical and swing, as well as on movie and Broadway show tunes.

Brubacher Hall, original home of WSUA, as seen in 2013.

The janitorial closet in 2013, original home of WSUA's first studio. The fixtures were not present when WSUA was located here.

WSUA studio, 1964 Torch yearbook

WSUA begins broadcasting and early schedule, Albany Student Press 1963

1963 Torch yearbook station management

1963 WSUA ad in ASP, Albany Student Press, Oct 18 1963

1963 Search for faculty advisor

1964 Knickerbocker News article

1964 WSUA New Format, Albany Student Press, Apr 24 1964

1966 Pete Nicholas on air

1966 Feb 22 WSUA Top 10 ASP

1966 Tad Parks elected ASP

1967 WSUA schedule ASP

1970 or so WSUA marching kazoo band ASP

1970 or so WSUA opens News studio ASP

1970 WSUA schedule ASP

1971 Eighth anniversary ad

1971 WSUA News Schedule Tower Tribune

1972 WSUA schedule

WSUA funded to go FM "within months," Albany Student Press, Feb 22 1972

1973 Bill Polchinski in production room

1973 Gary Lonschein (courtesy Gary Lonschein)

1974 WSUA censorship allegations

1974 Andy Baum in Production (courtesy Andy Baum)

1975 Paul Rosenthal (courtesy Anita Bonita)

1975 Print ads

1977 WSUA asks for defecit funds

1979 WSUA investigation

Station letterhead

WSUA logo and buttons

WSUA Audio can be found on the WSUA Audio page.

One day when visiting WCDB, the storage closet was being emptied as the University was reclaiming the space. Inside, in the cramped drawers of an old file cabinet, was a folder marked "WSUA History Save" containing historical documents and articles from the early days of WSUA. This folder was rescued from almost certain demise and carried off to be scanned and shared here.

Some of these documents are old and were hard to scan clearly. Some are of a technical nature.

Program Department Rules Late 1960s Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

Document describing WCEA (temporary call letters), '61:

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5

Plan to split RF Power through the downtown campus dormitories

WSUA is proposed to SA, '61:

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5

Letter from Laurence Gray, '62

Letter of introduction from GM Larry Luczak '63

WSUA Station Policies, '63

WSUA Progress Report '63

R. Theodore Parks announces election as GM '64

Some early documents were typed on the back of music charts, which are also interesting mementos. These charts, along with other charts that were sent to us or posted elsewhere on the Internet are available on the Music Charts page.

WSUA Status Report, 1965 Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

Exec Meeting Minutes 1966 Page 1 | Page 2

Here is a document outlining WSUA history written by Station Manager James Grinell:

History as of 1966

Recruitment Flyer 1966

Requisition for 45 Record sleeves 1966

Executive Board and their Majors 1969

WSUA ID Card (courtesy Perry Silverman)

Advertising Rate Card 1966 (WSUA was advertiser supported)

Front | Inside | Back

Advertising Rate Card 1968

Front | Inside | Back

Advertising Rate Card 1969

Front | Inside | Back

Advertising Rate Card 1971

Front | Inside | Back

Station asks staff for money in 1969

Receptionist Schedule

Invitation to Rich Stevens Show

WSUA Awards List Page 1 | Page 2

WSUA News Script 1 | Script 2

WSUA Request Slip