Chuck The Writer celebrates an 85th anniversary

Last June, I attended my 40th college reunion. It was an adventure. Spent the weekend reminiscing with classmates, rediscovering old memories …

My 40th Reunion at Hamilton College

And getting a bit of an itch.

Follow along.

That weekend, while waiting for one of the scheduled events, I spent the morning at the Burke Library. Did a little bit of history-diving. And with the help of the director of college archives and an eager intern … I dug up some historic nuggets about the college radio station, WHCL.

You know … the station that was my reason of existence from 1982 to 1985, and again from 2020 to 2024.

Well … you know me. Once I taste a bone, I must find the rest of the skeleton.

And for the next few months, through research in the old Hamilton Life and Hamilton Spectator newspapers, along with a dive into the Fultonhistory.com free news website, I was able to chronicle the entire history of Hamilton’s little college radio station.

I found the earliest radio broadcasts of any sort were held in the 1920’s, as commercial station WIBX broadcast Hamilton-Union College football games on campus.

I found that the station – originally known as WHC – had a broadcast range that extended between a couple of campus buildings and frat houses, due to the broadcast network operating on the lead pipes and radiator tubing that connected the campus.

I found the times when the station started and then stopped – either due to equipment malfunctions or wartime requirements.

And through digging and digging and more digging and even more digging …

I was able to recreate a history of WHCL. And it’s in the most recent Hamilton College alumni magazine, Glade and Glen.

Which starts on page 8 of the embedded content below.

This is what I do when people aren’t looking. For me, it’s personal proof that I actually did something on the campus, a personal achievement. I wasn’t just some scrub kid who got into Hamilton as someone’s personal favor and who knuckleheaded his way through four years.

Yeah. This is a personal achievement. And I’ll take this kind of personal achievement every single damn day.

Carissima, brothers and sisters.