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In Early Days, Even A Vacuum Could Slow Turntables
Jim Bishop recalls his first "air" time with WEMC as a powerful moment.
In the mid-1960s, Bishop was a student at Eastern Mennonite College with a custodial job in Lehman Auditorium, which at the time housed WEMC, the school’s radio station.
One night Bishop’s vigorous vacuum cleaner drew not just dust but also power from the station’s record players.
"I remember one time I was working there, and this guy comes running out of the [radio station] room and yells at me," said Bishop, 60. "He said, ‘hey, you’re running the vacuum cleaner and it’s making the turntables run slow.’ I was using a big, heavy vacuum cleaner and it did something to slow down the turntables."
The reach of Bishop’s appliance reflects WEMC’s growing pull during the station’s 50-year life. The "very small operation" that Bishop remembers as the state’s first noncommercial radio station largely influenced audience and operators alike.
First, WEMC’s campus-and-community focus resulted in news and musical programming that linked EMU with the school’s surroundings. Second, several of the station’s commentators used their experience at WEMC as a springboard to broadcasting careers in commercial radio.
"For a lot of young announcers, working at WEMC was a very valuable experience," Bishop said. "I know a number of students who said that they went on to careers in commercial broadcasting because they had a good experience at WEMC."
When EMC became a university in 1994, WEMC sought to change its call letters to WEMU. The tag was taken by campus radio at Eastern Michigan University.
Bishop, whose youth near Philadelphia acquainted him with the popular teen sock-hop TV show, "American Bandstand," and numerous radio songs, brought his passion to EMU. As a student, Bishop worked part-time as a folk-music disc jockey and today, as the school’s public-relations director, he hosts a one-hour weekend spot called "Friday Night Jukebox" that plays 1950s hits.
In today’s high-tech age of compact discs, Bishop occasionally fills WEMC’s one remaining turntable with a 45-rpm or long-playing album from his huge treasury of classic records.
"In high school, I dreamed of becoming a deejay, but it didn’t work out," Bishop said. "Doing it here at EMU has kept my interest alive."
WEMC’s diversified programming, Bishop believes, gives the small station deceptively large appeal.
Said Bishop: "We like to call WEMC the ‘little station with a big voice.’"
