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RADIO STARS REUNITE - The ‘founding fathers’ of WMSS gathered to mark 30 years since the launch of the radio station. From left to right are: Scott Green, John Wilsbach, Nick DiFrancesco, John Cooper, Jeff Johnston, Ed Beck, Mike Ondayko, and Lloyd Byers. Press/Journal Photo-Madeline Masters
RADIO STARS: Still alive - in spite of video - WMSS alum mark 30 years
by Madeline Masters,
Press And Journal Staff
: 10/1/2008
Oh, the memories: the vinyl, the greatest hits, the dead air, the chicken barbeque.
Middletown Area High School radio station alumni gathered at the brand spanking new station on Sept. 27 to swap stories and see familiar faces.
And the stories did fly. Former broadcasters, producers, sound mixers, and station managers gathered in huddles to test each other’s recollections and share some good laughs.
WMSS’ current general manager John Wilsbach organized the30-year reunion to bring together former WMSS students and celebrate the new station’s completion.
His honored guests were John Cooper and Jeff Johnston, the teachers responsible for getting the station started in 1978. “We found out somebody else was doing it and we thought we could do it better,” said Johnston.
The two former teachers stood in a circle with the students who helped them get WMSS off the ground.
“Without them there wouldn’t have been a radio station,” Cooper said.
Ed Beck joked about the trip they all took to Philadelphia to get their FCC certification. “We went for the cheese steaks and the pretzels, and then we had to take a test! That’s teachers for you.”
The men described how they went in front of several organizations to try to get sponsorship for the station. “We went in front of the school board, the American Legion, the Elks, all the local service groups in town,” said Beck. They needed to prove to the school board that they could run the station with little or no public funding.
A plaque commemorating those who helped make the station possible back in 1978 hangs in the station’s anteroom, opposite a display case full of WMSS memorabilia: awards, head phones, turntables, and a Toni Basil record.
Don’t remember Basil? You might recall her one big hit, “Mickey,” and the accompanying video, which featured her and a crew of young ladies bouncing around the MTV screen in cheerleader uniforms.
DJ Jerome, a 1990 grad, hovered around the display case, eyeing one of the old press passes they used to gain free access to football games.
DJ really is Jerome’s name, making it only fitting for him to become a radio personality.
Dan Magaro, also hanging out in the anteroom, had a nickname of his own. He was dubbed “DJ Mellow,” for allegedly being a very mellow guy.
“He was teased heavily,” Roger Garber, a 1998 grad added. “It’s even on his license plate.”
Magaro verified that fact. He hasn’t completely let go of his DJ days: Magaro said he still has some recordings of himself on-air, which he kept to “critique (his) voice.”
A DJ sister duo, Tracie Anderson Cannon and Denise Anderson House, reminisced over the piles of records the station once used. Cannon said the best part of deejaying was the freedom to play whatever she wanted. House said “The best part was to get first dibs on the new records coming out. I remember when we got Madonna’s first album. It (the record) was just in a box. I was the first one to play it.”
Some of the fondest WMSS memories are of the annual chicken barbecue fundraiser, at least in part because of the chicken suit.
Brian Keyser, a sportscaster in his day, admitted to wearing the infamous suit. “I wore everything,” said Keyser: the fuzzy head, the slippers, and, of course, the tights.
“It took me an hour to get the courage,” said Jerome about the one time he donned the chicken.
“The chicken suit should be in here,” Keyser said, as he stood in the little room full of memorabilia.
Wilsbach informed the men, to their disappointment, that the costume was only a rental.
The chicken tradition continues for current radio station members.
Students Stephen Jackson and Will Givler also recalled good times at the fundraiser as they sat in one of the equipment booths during the open house.
Givler, a junior, is in his third year at WMSS. Jackson is also a junior but this fall is his first time working at the station.
The boys talked about the fun they have as DJs, explained a bit about how the operations work, and listed the kinds of music they like to play. Givler said he joined the station to improve his public speaking and transferable technical skills. Jackson was just out to have some fun.
The young DJs should be having a good time with the state-of-the-art equipment in the new station. The old station was demolished with the rest of Feaser Middle School.
Some of the gadgets transferred over, but the station has purchased a lot of new “toys.”
Fore example, the soundboard, by Radio Systems, is the first of its kind, and was hand-delivered from New Jersey by the company’s owner, Magaro said. The two boards, one in each room, can communicate with one another and are computer controllable.
And, according to Magaro, the station participants can be proud that all the equipment was paid for by state grants, county grants, and lots of chicken barbeque.
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