Station Manager 1965-1970 B.A. Wayne State College, Wayne, NE, 1965; M.A. Northwestern University, Radio, TV, Film, 1969. Teacher of speech education, debate, English, and radio-TV production. Debate and assistant speech team coach.
Being hired back in 1965, by Maine Township High School as WMTH Station Manager and head debate coach was a pretty “heady” experience for me. My husband and I had recently moved to the area from a small farming community in Nebraska. Maine East alone had a population greater than my college. Just finding my way through the enormous building on the corner of Potter and Dempster took many weeks.
Not only was Maine East High School much larger than any I had ever visited, but Maine Township included three high schools and ran its own 10 watt radio station. Without a doubt I felt trepidation as I signed that contract, but also my head was filled with the opportunities and endless possibilities.
The field of mass communication was changing dramatically. Marshall McLuhan had just declared “the medium is the message”. Universities started to explore the effects of the new technology. Programming, which had led Newton Minow head of the FCC to call “television a wasteland”, began to change as the networks picked up political events such as the Kennedy-Nixon debate, forcing broadcast journalism to a new standard.
Variety shows and well researched documentaries reaching millions of American homes at once not only changed the trajectories of performers’ careers but also heightened the viewers’ interest in more serious topics.
As television changed, new FCC standards for sound led to the rapid expansion of FM broadcasting as well. The field of broadcasting was an exciting place to be.
I leapt into the position without any concept of a 40 hour work week, aiming to learn all there was to know about educational radio and ready to grow a station filled with young broadcasters. To my advantage, I found a group of students, not much younger than I, with dreams just as great as my own, ready to involve themselves completely in the process of becoming broadcasters.
Over the years, our broadcasting format changed from a primarily tape sourced programming provided by the National Association of Broadcasters to a localized approach with live student productions: coverage of the athletic events at the schools, children’s programs, interview shows with local leaders, news, documentaries, as well as music shows appealing to a wide variety of tastes.
As I write this essay, I remember with great admiration and respect the students who so willingly demonstrated their desire to achieve not only their personal goas but also to work cooperatively with a WMTH-FM of which we could all be proud.
I encourage you to send in your bio. Your names and faces, the programs you created form good memories; I’d love to hear the stories of your lives.
-Cynthia Schaulis, March 14, 2020.