Erik volunteered at the station from fall 1975 to summer 1979. Paul Pakusch was the one who brought him in.
Erik was on-air Thursdays for “Musicale,” from (as he recalls) 3:30-5:30, then a wild 15 minutes on the board from 5:30-5:45 for news and a few short programs (“Earthwatch” from the University of Wisconsin comes to mind as one of two or three short programs we squeezed in that slot). At the top of each hour, we always ran the “Town Crier”, with local PSAs and announcements.
On other days of the week, Erik could be found doing news for really good people: John Craig, Ellen Lydon, Denise Lazor, and anybody who wanted a hand. There were a LOT of really talented people, whom he thought we’d lured from some radio network or other: Pete Bartell, Dick Boy, Viv King (the program director and “Books For Busy People” host), John and Ellen, and Mike Zillioux covering our Monarchs hockey games.
Erik was also was half of the “Week In Review” news program with Paul, which consumed most of his weekends, wrapping up the week from 5:30-6pm on Saturdays.
Erik tells us, “Friday nights were a hoot. Ron Stein ran the Friday Night of Gold. He knows more about rock music than anybody I know, and his brother Burt introduced me to the Holy Modal Rounders and the Firesign Theater, among others. I can remember when Spyro Gyra recorded for Amherst Records – and I think WGMC was first to put the Shaker Song on the air in Rochester.”
Erik also had a hand in a few remotes: Long Ridge Mall on Saturdays, local elections, a “Radio Day” from Mooney, and at least one concert. He fondly recalls sending interview clips to the station by calling in, unscrewing the telephone mouthpiece, and hooking up a cassette recorder’s earphone output to the phone with alligator clips (Mr. Tarkulich showed us that trick, which worked surprisingly well).
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