Wcsc Radio Page

Harry Ginhart programming the "beasty"

For many decades, WCSC A.M. Radio, meant Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Tony Bennett, The Ames Brothers, and the list goes on and on. Easy listening "popular" music - that was the descriptor of that period. It seems that the powers to be at WCSC were planning to make a "music change", and were looking for voices and personalities that were a bit more compatable with "rock and roll" rather than "easy listening music". The $3.70 an hour they offered wasn't exactly a kings ransom, but at the age of 27, my eyes were bigger than my pocket book plus it gave me a chance to be part of something brand new. They offered their regular employees a chance to continue, but most of the "guys" decided against it. So during that brief period of playing easy listening music, I had to really pull back on the personality. The only high point of my WCSC Easy Listening period was on April 30, 1972, when Arthur Godfrey announced on that day, that it would be his final radio program. One of my daily duties was to record Arthurs show from the CBS Radio Network and play it back later that day. Needless to say, that recording went home with me after I replaced the tape with a brand new one. After a few weeks, the magic moment finally arrived. We signed off on a Sunday at midnight, and at 6am the next morning, it was far from the usual sound that greeted the regular WCSC listeners. I can only imagine what went through some people's minds when, instead of waking up to Doris Day or Frank Sinatra, the sounds of the Beatles or Elvis or another rock musician, started their day. "What'n the hell is going on here?" The screaming and yelling phone calls eventually passed and WCSC A.M. Radio, with its rock music, slowly started to gain an audience. Eventually, the 1930's control room equipment was updated and so was the location of our control room. The old control room became the new production room. And the old production room, became a sales room. WCSC A.M. Radio was definetely trying to modernize itself. New sound, new announcers (sorry - DJs), and new equipment. All to help bring about better ratings so that profits would hopefully go up too. But the ratings weren't climbing fast enough, so, after a short while, the powers to be, decided to try another step - AUTOMATION.

Since I had a little while before my work schedule, I went to the canteen area and sipped a soda. The General Manager of the TV section, walked in and we started talking. I let him know what was happening in the radio area. He asked if I was happy there. I told him that the changes were not to my taste. And so he asked me if I would like to work in the TV Production area.

Mister FLASH

Automation had already been used for different radio stations for a few years by then. But Murphy's Law still applied here. You see, because someone didn't wire "The Beasty" up correctly. For the first few days, there were many recordings with Elvis, the Beatles, the Mommas and the Papas - and the list goes on and on - that ended up sounding like instrumentals. Of course if you listened very carefully, you just might hear the intended singer trying to sing his or her heart out, very weakly in the background. All the guys tried to tell the powers to be, but they couldn't believe it until enough listeners and sponsers set them straight. This problem was solved and some time went by, but the ratings still didn't climb high enough and fast enough. So the powers to be couldn't help but to stick their fingers in again. They hired this guy, Robin. A very appropriate name for someone that promises great ratings and gets a large salary for his promises. He definetly WAS "Robin" the company. Mister Flash (as we sometimes called him because he reminded us of a flashy flim-flam bottled medicine man). He had all the personality of an impacted wisedom tooth. Talk about rubbing people the wrong way. Pretty soon, people started leaving. Secretaries, Engineers, and DJs. That didn't seem to bother the powers to be, until salesmen started leaving too! Eyes slowly started opening. I guess by then, Mister Flash had been read the riot act and probably given a few more days or weeks before his plug would be pulled. During one particular weekend, Mister Flash decided to really shake things up and make big changes in the automation system. Which of course meant he had to show how everyone else would have to deal with it. So the first thing the following Monday morning, we had a meeting. There he was, Mister Flash, doing his best trying to explain the whole new system. No questions were allowed until everything was explained. Unfortunetly, I'm the type of guy that if I don't understand a particular point, everything from that point on is lost to me. Everytime I tried to slide in a question, I was stopped, I was silenced, and I was ignored. It was all too plain to me that Mister Flash had no intention of answering questions, probably because he had no idea of what he was doing. Plus the meeting was getting a bit loud because other departments were periodically sticking their heads in the door to see what the commotion was all about.

click photo to hear

"KITE" day at Folly Beach