Eric Schulte and Holly Whisman, WCSB-FM
Celebrating 30 years of Cleveland State University's Real Alternative

Certain dates in rock and roll history are hard to pin down. Take, for example, the birth of punk rock. While conventional wisdom suggests the advent of the Sex Pistols as the starting moment, others cite New York City bands like Television, the Patti Smith Group and the Ramones as the vanguard of the musical movement. Some go back even further, dropping names such as the Velvet Underground, the Stooges and the New York Dolls as progenitors. Legendary rock critic Lester Bangs even suggested that punk dates back to the 1950’s and the initial stirrings of rock and roll.

Wherever one’s opinion might fall, one might agree on the following: Radio support of different and rebellious music really hit its stride here in Cleveland exactly 30 years ago with the launch of WCSB, Cleveland State University’s independent, student-run radio station. The fact the station shares its 1976 birth date with the approximate advent of punk seems like no coincidence. The station and the style share a strong independent streak; a, to use a cliché, do-it-yourself spirit. That self-reliance and refusal to play by someone else’s format have made the 89.3 FM one of the best things on the local radio dial, dishing out a revolving smorgasbord of everything from indie rock to polka and jazz to black metal.

In the lead-up to the station’s big 30th anniversary bash at the Beachland Ballroom, Cool Cleveland sat down with WCSB General Manager Eric Schulte and Promotions and Public Affairs Director Holly Whisman at Great Lakes Brewing Company to talk about the station’s past, its future and some of the fun taking place this week.

CC: 30 years on the air is a long time for a college station, what’s the secret to WCSB’s longevity?
ES: I think WCSB has a very laid-back, very – even our ethnic programming – kind of punk rocking, do-it-yourself ethic. I think you can go very far if you have that kind of home-down, DIY, salt-of-the-earth kind of ethic, there’s really nothing to stop you.
HW: Plus we’re an independent, student-run station rather than being run by a university’s (communications) department. We make our own decisions, and our own rules. We write our constitution and our job descriptions.

CC: That’s really cool. How does that compare with other college stations in town, and where does WCSB fit in amongst all that?
HW: WRUW (Case Western Reserve University’s station) is also student-run.
ES: WRUW is pretty much our sister station, they operate pretty much the same way we do.
HW: WBWC (Baldwin Wallace) is run by the Comm department, and you can tell by the programming.
ES: (WJCU was) run by the Comm department (at John Carroll) but they just formatted the station.

CC: Do you think all in all, Cleveland has a good college radio scene?
HW: Definitely.
ES: You’d be hard pressed to find (better). New York (only) has, like WFMU.
HW: If you go into other cities and try to turn it down to the left end of the dial, there’s not a lot going on.
ES: In Cleveland you’ve got at least two completely amazing stations and WJCU still has some old-timers sticking around who are doing cool things. WBWC has some programming that is accessible to audiences that maybe we don’t reach.

In its mission to supply Cleveland’s airwaves with a huge variety of quality music, WCSB has undergone more than a handful of changes in three decades. While there are still turntables (which the DJs still use heavily) in the studio, entire hallways and rooms have been given over to storage of thousands of CDs. And, of course, the station now broadcasts at 1000 watts, a far greater power than its initial signal which could only be heard on the CSU campus.

CC: Beyond the obvious – I’m sure the equipment in the studio is different now than 30 years ago – has WCSB changed over the last 30 years? How has it evolved?
HW: For one thing, we broadcast world-wide now on the Web. That’s one big piece of the picture.
ES: I can’t vouch for what it was like in 1976, but talking to older members and a lot of members that have been up there for 20-25 years it seems like the culture really hasn’t changed all that much.
HW: The station does come from that period of time when DIY was really coming into its own.
ES: Maybe that’s why we’re still so strong today because that attitude kind of sticks around. People come into the organization, they get into that whole vibe, and when they take over the station they carry it on at the same level.
HW: Because it’s an independently run station too and we go through sort of a revolving door of the people who are running the station, it sort of ebbs and flows in different directions over time. A different executive staff may have different priorities than the next, so that changes the whole general feel of the station.

CC: So tell me about some of the things going on in the next week leading up to the big anniversary party. There are some returning DJs from back in the day, right?
ES: Holly has been very instrumental in putting together Retro Week. Basically former WCSB DJs come back and host a time slot, a radio show, with one of our regular DJs as their host. They come up and play what they want to play – stuff they’ve been listening to now, stuff they played in the past.
HW: We have about 16 people that signed up, and I think there will actually end up being more, since the independent spirit of the station might play out in former members dropping in without letting us know.

CC: Are most of the returning DJs people who are still local? Are any of them coming in from out of town?
HW: People are coming in from out of town.
ES: Bob Hisnay (hosting Krauty McKraut’s The Four Horsemen’s Friday Night Ride) is coming in from the East Coast.
HW: Kate Thomas, our very first GM, who got all the ducks in a row, so to speak, regarding getting a license to broadcast on the air will be returning to do a Polish radio show.

Retro Week shows began Monday and will continue through Saturday. For a schedule visit http://www.wcsb.org.

CC: Tell me more about the party. How is that working?
ES: There’s a little pre-party for current WCSB members and former members and their guests in the (Beachland) Ballroom. That’s from 7-9 PM. Then afterwards we are going to have a big party for all of our listeners with four bands. Big Buildings is coming in from Chicago, they’re big 'CSB fans and we're excited to find out they were playing. They canceled a show in Detroit to come and play our show. Mifune is playing. We fell in love with them when they got kicked off Tower City’s stage for wearing those anti-Bush T-shirts. Crazy Marvin and the Blues Express are playing, and then of course Rainy Day Saints.

CC: That’s an interesting bill, a good mix.
ES: We wanted to give something that was a wider range of stuff, but you could still go and even if you were there for Rainy Day Saints, you could get your balls rocked off by Mifune.

The WCSB 30th anniversary bash will take place Saturday, September 23 at the Beachland Ballroom. Doors open to the public at 9 PM and music will begin at 9:30. For more information visit http://www.wcsb.org or http://www.beachlandballroom.com

From Cool Cleveland contributor Leslie Basalla lbasalla77ATmsn.com
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