I was born in a great radio town, Jacksonville, FL. So it was only natural that I joined WUSC (AM at the time) in my first semester in 1963. I went on to a career in commercial radio and television in Columbia, working with WCOS-AM & FM, WIS-TV, WIS Radio, SCETV and PBS. I'm retired now, giving back since 2010 to the station that started my career, WUSC-FM. If you did the math, you would know that I celebrated the 60th anniversary of my first radio show ever in November 2023.
When that cold call came from an IT recruiter, it was the perfect time for me. The leadership change in my agency was clearly leaning heavily back into the “big iron” mentality and away from the innovative work that was my forte. My department, which was reporting directly to a deputy director, ...
The last decade of the 20th century was a mixed bag for me. As I have mentioned before, in 1991, I left SCETV and full time broadcasting, but I remained involved with the Firing Line Debates on PBS. The '90s were transformative for broadcasting. Broadcast technology changed significantly for radio ...
IT and Television MergeWilliam F. Buckley Jr. began a show called “Firing Line” at WOR-TV in New York City in 1966. After 240 episodes, “Firing Line” moved to noncommercial television in May 1971, produced by South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV). In the early 80s, “Firing Line” ...
Transition to IT When I arrived at SCETV, the accounting and payroll department operated a Burroughs mini-computer to manage the books. There was no computer system in the engineering department, but we were in the planning stages for our Instructional Television ...
Other TV RemotesFrom 1976 through 1985 I joined what is called a “Pick-Up Crew” in the business. A Pick-Up crew was a loose group of TV professionals who were hired by the networks to televise mainly sporting events around the country instead of using network crews who were generally tied up ...
Transition Back To Television During my time at Cosmos Broadcasting the parent company for WIS Television and Radio, the company owned four TV Stations; WIS in Columbia, WSFA in Montgomery AL, WDSU in New Orleans and WTOL in Toledo OH. In the summer of 1979, they acquired an AM radio station in Florida ...
On the Air at WIS Radio There is a phrase that often appeared in job descriptions back in the day; “Will perform all other duties as required.” This was a catch all term that meant that you had to do whatever the station wanted you to do. WIS Radio had a huge International Good Music (IGM) automation ...
Having Fun on Talk Radio Now, Jerry Dean Pate was almost as crazy as I was! He was doing a late morning talk show on WIS Radio. WIS was not a talk station, but we did have a talk show that ran for a couple of hours on weekdays. Bill Benton was the original host of the show, but he, along with Gene McKay, ...
