Interview with Fred Burchill, WCRC/WDCE DJ

Partial Transcript: ZC: Alright, so when did you get started at the station here, and what was your role at WCRC?
FB: Well, there was the time I started and didn’t start and there was the time I started and kept going. The time I started and didn’t start was in 1963, when they had just opened it. It was WCRC, and it was in the loft over in what was the, um, Student Center building. And it stayed there for a long time – for as long as I knew it, it was there. But there was a buddy of mine that I had worked with at a local radio station called WFMV, a guy named Alan Marko, and he was going to school here, and he said, “why don’t you guys come over and hang out?” So I came over and hung out, and it never went anywhere. I was doing commercial radio by that time, so I went, “eh, if I ever come back to school here I’ll come over”. So I went from WFMV to WRVA, and I did that through most of high school; and then when I graduated from high school, then came over here to go to college, I came over and, uh, that would’ve been in ’66. And I sat a year out because I was still working full-time. And, uh, so in ’67 another guy that I had known for years named Bill Wroll(?) and I were in the same class, and he suggested that I come in and work with the staff here. And by that time, there was, um, a group of people who were going to school here that were actually in commercial radio and TV in Richmond. So we had a pretty top-heavy group, because we were already doing professional radio and TV, and this was kind of like a lark. And, uh, I did that for a couple years and then I graduated and then I went off to AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service), but I used to do a Friday afternoon show from, strangely enough, 3 until 5! (his current showtime) And I did that for 2 years, and Clarke Bustard was on after me, so when I retired and moved back to Richmond, I got in contact with Clarke and he said, “would you like to come back?” And I said, “and do what?” And he says, “well you can do whatever you want to”, uh, and we met with the faculty advisor, and I said, “well, gee, do you guys do the same stuff you used to do when it was WCRC?” “Hmm, not exactly; they have an FM transmitter and it’s a little bit more regulated and it’s not the free-wheeling stuff we used to do”. We did a lot of, um – actually we did a lot of different programming; we did election returns in 1968 and stayed up all night around exam time and did entire weekends of programming where we ran 24/7 for like a week. But it was fun because we were – we were at the top of the stairs; (drawing the floor plan from memory) and you entered on the fourth floor from the stairwell, and our studios were right here – right in the entry. And then there was, gosh, there was the Collegian – was in here, and the Web was over here, and, of course, downstairs was the student center. So there were always people – it was, like, I don’t know, lots of folks around; and we had an extra production studio that we hung out in with a big record library. And so everybody was – you know how you look around here (in the studio) and there’s nobody here? There were always, during the semester there were always 5, 10, 15 people hanging out around the station. Some people went on and stayed with broadcasting, and some people did not. I stayed with it for 2 more years after I went in the army and went to Southern Command Network with Armed Forces Radio, and came back and worked for WTVR for a while. And, um, then I decided, “I’m gonna start working in radio just ‘till I found something else better to do”. So if you decide to get a job in radio, be prepared to have something else as a B-plan.

Keywords: Clarke Bustard; Collegian; WCRC; WFMV; WRVA; WTVR

Subjects: College Radio Stations

Partial Transcript: ZC: Fair enough. So, um, a big subject of this paper is the role of the station within the institution of UR, and like how the station interacted and interacts with the school as a whole. Is there anything that kind of stands out about-
FB: The one now?
ZC: Well, I guess mostly back in the day.
FB: Well the one then, back in those days it was carrier current. Did Clarke explain to you carrier current?
ZC: Yeah, it was like a closed circuit?
FB: Yeah, well, the electric lines in the dorms were the antenna, and it was on an AM frequency. And so effectively once you left the campus, you couldn’t hear it anymore. Unlike now where we have a real live transmitter. (To technician working on transmitter: We do have a real live transmitter, don’t we?) We have a real live transmitter, I am told. Much less the fact that we’re broadcasting on the internet, where you can, you know, pick it up anywhere for that matter. But I was actually surprised when I got back here how little interaction there has been during the last couple years, and only recently I heard at one of the meetings that they’re talking about doing stuff with the Collegian again – we used to do all kinds of stuff with the Collegian – and we used to do news reports from the college, and I haven’t heard a news report on this station since I’ve been here for three years, so… just lost interest, I guess.
(chatter with transmitter technician)
Anyhow, so they’re talking about doing a lot of things, but when I got here and started working here as WDCE, I was absolutely shocked with the Modlin center sitting over there, and with all the campus activities that are going on, that the radio station doesn’t do remotes from campus activities, it just – it cries out for stuff that it could do – I guess everybody’s busy!

Keywords: Collegian; UR; WDCE

Subjects: College Radio Stations

Partial Transcript: ZC: It’s true; like, I’m in a little rock group and, like, even with just me and a drummer it’s difficult enough to try and schedule practice and try and play concerts on campus. So, what role did the station have with student life, and with the populace?
FB: We, um, we ran candidates for office with the SGA, we did some remote broadcasts that were, you know, kind of jack-leg stuff, but… here, nobody seems – again, circle back, see footnote A. Nobody seems to have the time although, when I was doing this all those years ago, I was working a full-time job and going to school here, and still, you know, did stuff on the radio station so, everyone’s either got too many more things – of course, we had an elongated school year; we started right at Labor Day and we went on all the way into June. You guys, by the end of April you’re checking out, so… I guess if you had a month more of classes, things would be a little less compressed.

Keywords: Labor Day; Remote Broadcast; SGA; School Year; Student Life

Subjects: College Radio Stations

Partial Transcript: ZC: Honestly - I think I would honestly prefer that, it’s crazy… So the station, during the late 60’s – that’s a period of great political unrest and controversy. Did the station have the effect of giving students a voice with both campus-
FB: This is the University of Richmond when the Southern Baptist convention ran the place. So this was a pretty quiet place. Hang on a second.
(pause for announcement)
FB: In the late ‘60s, Richmond was not a hotbed of social activism or political activism, this was a coat and tie – and all you have to do is go up to the Web office… OK, I’ll give you an idea. Stand up and turn around. (points to staff photos from 1969 and 1970) I mean, that’s what we looked like, for God’s sake! Bustard’s in a three-piece suit, for golly’s sake! Everybody’s wearing ties. People actually walked around campus – you went to football games in jackets and ties. We were would a little tight.
ZC: I can’t imagine, in this weather, wearing a suit-
FB: Well, by springtime we pretty much shed all that but, you know, it was still, you know, collared shirts and long trousers – nobody wore shorts. Nobody wore tennis shoes. You looked pretty much like what they call now, ‘business casual’. And so, uh, this – the student body reflected the University reflected the student body, and so the radio station was fun, and it was professional, but it wasn’t going out on a limb to promote any, you know, stuff. And they don’t do that now either, I mean this radio station is music, music, music. And I think everybody here is pretty mindful of the fact that we have an FCC license – nobody really knows how far you can go with that. So in some ways it’s changed, in some ways it hasn’t. But, you know, I have hopes that some of the new folks in your groups will get hooked up with the different publications and, like I said, there’s all kinds of activities on this campus, you know, 50 yards across the quad that, uh – you could re-broadcast music live from this place, all you have to do, you know, is run a phone line, get the guy that was in here to run one over – oh, wait a minute, our transmitter’s over there! You don’t even have to run a phone line over there, it’s already over there! All they have to do is tap onto it. Now, he’ll tell you it’s really hard – it’s really easy.
(chattering about the song in the background)

Keywords: Baptist; FCC; Southern; Suits; Vietnam

Subjects: College Radio Stations

Partial Transcript: ZC: So although it was a closed circuit system, was there still involvement and collaboration with the stations within the city?
FB: Only to the extent that, um, there were a number of us who worked downtown – and we didn’t really promote this radio station we were working – we had jobs that, you know, kept the roofs over our head and the food in our mouths. We weren’t gonna, you know, come in and say, “oh, we’re gonna do some student stuff” “you’re gonna do what?” And, uh, the University never really took advantage of the fact that there were guys on the student radio staff that [were working in professional broadcasting] – maybe they didn’t know, I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you.
ZC: Yeah, they could’ve definitely tied it into maybe classes about media and broadcasting.
FB: Could’ve; didn’t. Just like now: could, don’t. Tim Barney [the current faculty advisor for WDCE] is in communications; it has a department called communications – we never had a department called communications. He could have – there’s a lot of community volunteers on this station now who’ve been doing this kind of volunteer radio for years and years, maybe even decades in some cases. But, you know, see footnote A: everybody’s too busy doing something else.
ZC: Definitely. I think a couple of students are planning, like, a “Spider Records” thing where student artists and musicians are trying to get together and record together and collaborate.
FB: That’d be cool!
ZC: We’re in the planning stages still, but I definitely wanna make it happen.
FB: Have you talked to John Batt? John does the folk show on Saturday nights. When I got here, he was really very active at bringing, um, I wouldn’t say folk groups, but, you know, Americana kinda – and he brought ‘em in, and we did live music right there where you’re sitting. We had, uh, three or four different interviews set up, and then he just ran out of steam. I think he tried to get – ‘cause they weren’t always available when I was, so he was trying to get other people to participate; and this was a year or so ago, and nobody seemed to pick up on it. He’d be a great resource to, you know, plug back into something like that.
ZC: Yeah, that’d be awesome! And when they rebuilt [North Court] they put wires in [the wall] that will hook us up to the choir room upstairs, and the global sounds studio which is down that way.
FB: That’s a good resource.
ZC: Yeah, I definitely wanna make some stuff happen with that-
FB: Is it hooked into [the station soundboard]?
ZC: I think the wires are laid, but the connections haven’t been made or something.
FB: Well, you saw the [technician] who was in here?
ZC: Yeah, we just have to bother him-
FB: You have to do this (gestures holding Sam the technician by the shoulders) You have to do it! -No! -You have to do it! -No! -You have to! I don’t know. I gotta admit, I have no idea what it takes to get something like that done.

Keywords: Closed Circuit; Communications; Professional Broadcasting; Spider Records; WDCE

Subjects: College Radio Stations