Jenny
& Me: Moving On in 1970
Compiled
February 2020
We'd had fun at Oberlin College in Ohio, but now it was time to go our separate ways.
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Jennifer Wagner, my friend from our campus radio station WOBC, completed a double major in just three years. Graduating with A.B. degrees in psychology and mathematics on May 25, 1970, Jenny returned to her home in Skokie, Illinois. She would continue her learning at nearby Northwestern University, starting with education courses in mid-June, then more in the fall, “then someday I can teach.” (She did better than that; she went on to earn a doctorate and become a full professor.) |
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I, meanwhile, having earned my bachelor's degree a year earlier, had traveled in the opposite direction to continue my learning. That summer of '70 would find me in the final semester of a master's degree program in Radio & Television at Syracuse University in the state of New York. We two grad students stayed in touch by mail. I've interleaved highlights from my collection of those letters (hers in blue, mine in red) to simulate a modern-day text conversation. Adding material from other sources, I've divided our correspondence into quarters — this being the third chapter.
Some
notes: Extended radio and TV talk is set off with gold
brackets in the margin, in case you want to skip it. A peridot |
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3. |
Moving On in 1970 |
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J1970 Mon 6.22
Monday, June 22, 1970
Dear Tom,
Why do you make carbons (or copies) of your letters? It's unnerving.
T1970 Sat 6.27
I make copies of my letters so I can have a complete record, that's why. The Wagner-Thomas correspondence file is in a green folder in my desk; it's now about five-eighths of an inch thick.
By going back and re-reading these old letters, I can get a second round of enjoyment out of them at times when I'm feeling lonesome. They also serve as a sort of diary. All very interesting. Hope you don't mind.
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I still haven't figured out one of the items in the file. It's an origami bird, folded out of UPI teletype paper by Shira Rosan shortly before I graduated in May 1969, and inscribed with magic marker “SPECIAL T.B.T. GOOD LUCK FU BIRD." |
I recall being told at the time that “What's a fu bird?” is not a simple question to answer, but that it would be answered if I had a few hours someday. Well, I have a few hours.
J1970 Tue 7.28
Fu bird — a long story, which, as I recall, you don't really want to hear. But I don't really remember it, so I guess I'll ask Shira. I wonder where she is....
Later
research reveals there was a lengthy old tale about birds that went
“Foo, foo.” People were plagued by the birds'
droppings, but according to a spoonerized version of the adage
“if the Shoe Fits, wear it,” the stains must never be wiped off.
J1970 Thu 5.28
What are you doing now, or next year?????? Please answer ... set a good example for me!
T1970 Sun 6.7
8:00 a.m. Sunday morning, June 7, 1970
Surprise! I'm still in Syracuse. Or rather, I'm again in Syracuse; I actually was home in Richwood when your letter arrived there Thursday, an hour or so before I left for the airport to come back here after a six-day intersemester vacation.
Yesterday
I got up at 4:00 (a.m.!) to start working on our remote telecast of
the University commencement exercises, live and in black-and-white
from Archbold Stadium. 
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During the summer, I'll be taking courses that meet five times a week instead of only once, because the summer "semester" is only a few weeks long. |
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I'll
also be Chief Announcer at WAER-FM, the campus station.
That means that each week I'll have a two-hour pop show and maybe a four-hour
news shift (consisting of a five-minute newscast every hour).
J1970 Mon 6.22
What is the thing in code?
T1970 Sat 6.27
A poem, a completely irrelevant little thing written around the turn of the century by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. I threw it in to see what you would do with it.
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It's a fairly simple code to crack if you have a typewriter handy. You're a touch typist, right? Just move your hands down one row so that when your pinkie — intending to type a zero — reaches up and to the right, it actually lands on "p." If you do that, you discover that the decoded poem reads as follows: |
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Ein
kleines Lied, wie geht's nur an, |
Es
liegt darin ein wenig Klang, |
Of course, it's in German (surprise), so there's one more step in making sense out of it. Translated, I think it goes something like this:
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A
little song, how can it be |
There
is therein a little ringing, |
Well, I guess it isn't entirely irrelevant. But it had nothing to do with the last letter, that's for sure.
J1970 Tue 7.28
Thanks
for translating and decoding. I was doing pretty well
decoding, but since it wasn't making any sense, I gave up. Oh well.
J1970 Mon 6.22
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Monday morning, June 22 Ah, summer. Sunbathing on the back porch. In this recent Google Earth “3D Buildings” view of 9035 Niles Center Road, the arrow points to that back porch. This is the first day I haven't worked inside (except Sundays, which don't count). |
Just came back from registration. Incredible lines and IBM cards. Oberlin always looks good in comparison. I'll be taking History of American Education & American Public Education. To quote Igor, "Whoopeedoo."
“Igor,” as we recall, was the voice of WOBC's “automated disk jockey.”
Poor Igor. He may never be reborn. Sigh. I'm not going to talk about WOBC. It's a very ugly subject.
Joey is here. I must have mentioned her. If I haven't, let me know. (I don't copy my letters!)
Last night or rather afternoon, the Oberlin kids got together to discuss politics and play softball. Really fun!
Other than this, life is very dull. In fact, nearly unbearable.
So how's school? Better yet — have you found a job? Maybe I'd better change the subject again.
Love,
Jenny
PS — I know the envelope doesn't match — sorry. J.
T1970 Sun 6.7
I'll be here until about August 7, studying. Then, hopefully I'll be heading off somewhere for my first job in the broadcasting industry.
Slight
problem: there are very few jobs available. I think I do have
a job lined up only fifteen miles from Richwood, but a lot depends on
what happens there between now and August. It's with a new CATV
system (cable) that just started local programming on June 1.
J1970 Mon 6.22
Does your father sell Fords or Chevrolets or both (or neither)? My cousin and I were having a debate about it. He's a high school principal outside of Dayton and for some reason he mentioned Richwood (right?). You can figure out the rest of it.
T1970 Sat 6.27
Saturday afternoon
My father sells Chevrolets and Oldsmobiles. In a small town it's usual for one dealer to sell more than one make of car, but they're usually manufactured by the same corporation (General Motors makes both Chevys and Oldses).
Well, it's now time to take my half-hour walk to the Red Barn for supper. Write again soon, so I'll have something else to add to my archives.
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Red Barn was a fast-food chain in operation from 1961 to 1988. Its Syracuse location was about a mile from the house where I roomed, no farther away than the campus-area dining choices,so it offered an alternative. |
J1970 Tue 7.28
July 28, 1970
Dear Tom,
I have no idea where the last month has gone. Your last letter is 29 days old today. Happy birthday to it.
Actually, I've been putting off writing you until I was sure what I'm doing. But I'm still not sure. At the moment it looks like I'll be in the Continuity Departments of WEXI-FM (anyone for typing logs?). But I won't be sure of that until the middle of August.
Today was my last day of part-time work for the Park District, so it looks like a two week vacation. Vacation, ha! Two papers, six books, five visiting relatives. Plus my father's summer school is over and he'll be home until Labor Day. (Fun, but definitely NOT a vacation.)
Joey is gone — she's in Detroit with her cousins. She lived next door (actually across the hall) second semester this past year. Very nice, very mixed-up, a theater person. She was going to spend the summer, but wasn't particularly thrilled with Chicago.
How's
WAER? (See, I do read your letters!) Have you
"cleaned up your diction?"
I don't believe that you could possibly mumble. It isn't
like you at all.
Have
fun! —
Enjoy
life! —
Etc.!
—
Love,
Jenny
PS — I ran into Bob Steyer a couple weeks ago. Conversation: "Hi Bob." "Hi Jenny." Very weird — J.
T1970 Sat 8.1
Saturday evening, August 1, 1970
I,
too, have been putting off writing you again until I was sure what
I'm doing. And I, too, am still not sure. I'm 90% sure,
but that's not certain.
From
that new cable TV system, I've gotten the following letter:
"Dear Tom: Just a line to let you know that things have
been happening very fast and at this point it looks very favorable
that we will want you as an employee immediately upon your graduation
from school. If you are still interested, please keep in touch."
We'll
graduate from Syracuse August 6. That's next Thursday
night! Events of this final week include a three-hour showing
Monday afternoon of the products of the summer Studio Management
course.
Among
those Studio Management programs I crewed, the most ambitious was
the 1970 Onondaga County Volunteer Firemen's Convention and Firematic
Races. Even from my audio console inside the green truck, it
looked rather exciting. Especially the bucket brigade race (how
fast can twelve men relay forty gallons of water from a trough
to a barrel atop a ladder, and how wet can they get in the
process?). So now you can tell everybody that someone you know
helped televise a volunteer firemen's convention.
In
six more days I'll be home! Please write me at Route 3, Box
4A, Richwood, Ohio 43344. The Box 4A business is new; we
haven't moved, but the post office is up to something. Actually
the address should be Two Hundred and Something East Blagrove Street,
but the village council hasn't gotten around to extending the
numbering system since they annexed our area several years ago.
So I don't live on a street, I live in a box.
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It had become a tradition with me to present each of my female college friends with a “car” for her 21st birthday. Jenny's was coming up on August 25, so I sprang for 99 cents (plus postage) and mailed her a gift in a repurposed cufflink box. It was a fancy imported product of German engineering that looked very much like this. |
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J1970 Mon 8.24
August 24, 1970 on "Libra" stationery
If you're keeping track, I'm not a Libra, so don't be confused. Thank you for the birthday present — it's adorable.
T1970 Sat 8.29
That car is not a new one; it's at least as old as you are, "Made in Germany US-Zone." The zones of occupation of Germany ceased to exist in 1949 when West Germany came into being. These little cars have been sitting in a warehouse for twenty-some years, apparently waiting for bodies to be put on them.
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Finally, a mail-order firm in Amsterdam, New York, acquired them to sell as is. The ad reads, "The Classical Mechanical Toy with powerful clockwork motor! Own an entire fleet of 6 for only $5.95 (plus 60¢ postage)." It goes on: "Remember the good old days when they really knew how to make mechanical toys? They had powerful wind-up motors and lots of whirring, clicking reduction gears that seemed to keep running forever. We used to take the toys apart because the motors were really the most fascinating part." |
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And so this mail-order firm presumably sold large quantities of these obsolete, incomplete gizmos. Remember their technique the next time you've got a white elephant to get rid of, or a warehouseful.
J1970 Mon 8.24
This will be short, because it's late and I'm exhausted. Life is hectic as usual.
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I'm working on Adlai Stevenson (III)'s campaign for Senator — 3 nights a week and lots of other times too. It's fun, and better than being depressed about having nothing to do. |
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Also,
I am working at WEXI-FM. Continuity
and copy — it's a riot. But not interesting enough to do
it forever.
Thank you again for the car (this will look good in the correspondence folder when you re-read it in 50 years!)
Love, Jenny
T1970 Sat 8.29
WEXI sounds like rather a small-time operation compared to other Chicago stations, with only three kilowatts (WAER has three and a half).
It's interesting that their largest advertising client is Mack Cadillac. Walter Mack, as WEXI's owner, has a good deal with a lot of advertising money coming in, but as president of Mack Cadillac he's made a questionable business judgment. In general, the people who listen to automated commercial pop/rock stations don't drive Cadillacs. Therefore, the money that Mack Cadillac is spending on WEXI advertising could be put to better use somewhere else.
J1970 Tue 9.22
I
think you're right about Mack Cadillac — he should advertise in
the Tribune, since not too many of our listeners can afford
Cadillacs and I've had complaints about the huge number of Mack commercials.
J1970 Thu 9.17
Whoopeedoo! Not only do I write commercials, but I also read them - on the air, even.
Every week (for the last 3 weeks), I record a 5-minute cart of Community News — art fairs, church socials, and other miserably dull stuff. It's played 4 times a day, at the most absurd hours (3:50 AM, 6:50 AM, 9:50 AM, and 10:50 PM) — missing most of our audience. But it impresses the FCC.
J1970
Mon 8.24
Good
luck with your new job, which I presume you did get.
I'll write again — and next time it won't take 3 weeks —
T1970 Sat 8.29
Yes,
I am now working for Marion CATV.
J1970 Tue 9.22
Your job sounds like fun. I imagine you must be doing the whole thing alone by now. It sounds like some of it is busy work (running errands), but I guess you have to have news, in order to read it.
I
spent all weekend, and last night, trying to recover from a bad
cold, fever and everything. I think I'm OK now, but my
resistance is really low — and getting lower every day until
Election Day, November 3.
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In case I haven't mentioned it before, I'm working on Stevenson's Senate campaign. Fun — but the hours are ridiculous. I leave for work at WEXI at 7:15 AM, leave there at 5:15, |
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start work at Stevenson headquarters at 7:00, and leave whenever I'm finished (no earlier than 9, and so far no later than 11). All in all, I don't sleep much. So I tend to be incoherent, especially in letters, which I generally write in a restaurant. |
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Shira says hello.
If you're ever in Chicago, come see me — I get free passes to the movies.
People are supposed to be here to work now, so I have to go.
Love, Jenny
T1970 Sat 9.26
They've changed the schedule around since I last wrote to you, and I no longer have time to run errands. I'm directing programs all morning and part of the afternoon, leaving me just a couple of hours to get that 15-minute newscast together.
Don't
complain about your WEXI Community News being about dull stuff.
My regular newscast is about the same sorts of things.
Of course, I write the stories to sound a little more interesting,
but that basically is what they're about.
The
Oberlin homecoming is in four weeks, and I'm thinking about going up
there to see new console (which I've never seen and am still curious
about) and maybe a few people. Would you recommend such a
trip? Or would the place be in such a state that I'd be
disenchanted were I to see it now?
T1970 Sat 10.17
Saturday morning, October 17, 1970
Without
waiting for a ruling from you on whether it would be advisable for
me to visit WOBC, I did so last Sunday. Had a good time,
too.
A Program Guide is enclosed. Fospel on Sunday morning is a typo; it's a gospel-music program.
And the Roundtable program on Sunday evening is, reportedly, doing very well. Assigning specific topics has apparently cut down the number of trivial calls that the old Oberlin Forum used to get. Which is a good thing; with the new patch panel, a seven-second delay is impractical, so the show goes on live.
Which brings us to the technical situation. It's improved somewhat since you left; for one thing, Mags Three and Four are now supposedly connected to the console. Actually, though, they're not. Mag Four is not even around, having been sent back to the factory for repairs. And Mag Three, while functional, will not operate through its own pot; it has to be patched into Aux One.
The interlock doesn't work, either, which means you have to walk back to the rack and press the white button on the actual cart player before Mag Three will start. But at least, with some effort, carts can be played. (They aren't recorded with too much care nowadays. Two- and three-second pauses between the start and the first recorded sound, for example, rather than the quarter-second I used to shoot for. Makes things sound very sluggish.)
The speaker system did blow up a couple of weeks ago. It's back on now, but it sounds terrible, at least in the control room.
Of course, that could partly be due to the fact that the old transmitter still hasn't been replaced. Sometime next month they're supposed to get the new one. And the FCC license renewal for the station hasn't come in yet; they expect that any week now.
Glenn's next order of priority is to dig up $6,000 from someplace and turn R&E-Conference into a well-equipped production studio, with new Ampexes and a Gates board and the like.
The Recording & Engineering booth and Conference Room was down the hall from the main part of the station. Decades later, it did in fact become a production studio called Studio B. When I visited in 1970, the original “Studio B” — the DJ booth just to the left of the control room — no longer had an operating consolette and was collecting dirt and 45 rpm oldies.
T1970 Sun 11.8
Sunday evening, November 8, 1970
I hear that Mr. Stevenson won the election. With an unusually high vote (for a Democrat) in the Chicago suburbs, too; good work!
"I understand you're with the Par Dance Studio here in town?"
"That's right."
"And a few years back you had a heart attack?"
"Right, in 1966."
"It was a pretty bad one, I understand."
"Yes, it was."
"What were the circumstances surrounding that?"
"Well, I had been cutting out all my teaching activity, and,
uh, to, because I felt I was getting too old to do it.
And then after the, uh, six months after I slowed up,
then I had the heart attack. So after I recuperated
from the heart attack, now I'm back to teaching tap
again and bowling and golfing; I feel very good."
"Do you think the activity helps you, uh...."
"Oh, I absolutely. I absolutely. I really do."
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That, Jennifer Louise, is an actual transcript of a 43-second interview I did as part of my lead story in last Friday's 5:45 newscast. The recuperated cardiac patient was giving a publicity "demonstration" at one of the local lanes to kick off the 1970 Heart Fund bowling campaign, so I went out there to cover it. |
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I think that was the only story I had all week that didn't also appear in the newspaper or the radio newscasts. My big scoop. It gives you an idea of the type of Community News we have here in the big city of Marion.
You know, I am enjoying this business, nevertheless. I'd better be; I'm working 50 hours a week at it, and I'm enough of a perfectionist that I lie awake at nights trying to figure out the best visual effect to use to open the Sally Flowers show.
The Jesus Christ Superstar album had just been released. If I found myself lying awake thinking about work, I simply remembered the 5/4-time song “Everything's Alright” with its lyric:
And we want you to sleep well tonight.
Let the world turn without you tonight!
I'm
glad I didn't become a physicist. Advanced science has lost
most of its appeal for me now. And besides, the job market for
physics has become non-existent, with the business slowdown and the
space cutbacks. I just consider myself very lucky to be where I
am, doing what I'm doing.
J1970 Wed 12.16
December 16, 1970 (with Season's Greetings card)
I owe you many letters. I promise I'll write. This week. Please forgive me.
Jenny
P.S. I am still alive and well in Skokie, Ill. (and working at WEXI too — ). J.
T1970 Sun 12.27
Sunday evening, December 27, 1970
Apologies aren't really necessary for slowness in writing. I also have been too busy lately to attend to such things; I didn't even send out one Christmas card this year. (So, with this I wish you a happy new year.)
In my last letter, way back on November 8, I told you that Marion CATV would be doing four remote telecasts of basketball games this season. That fell through. We needed at least 15 advertisers to cover our costs, and the week of the first game came up with only eight sold so far. So the idea was dropped.
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Did
you see the November 20 Life? In that issue Rob Singler
became the first unsuccessful candidate for WOBC Station Director to
have his picture on the cover of a national magazine. |
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The
excuse I give myself for not sending Christmas cards is that I just
don't have enough spare time for that sort of thing. College,
really, was comparatively leisurely. (So was grad school.)
But this last week I spent 61½ hours working, and that just
doesn't leave much opportunity for doing anything else outside of
eating and sleeping. The hectic pace is a result of the
Christmas season, of course.
And yet I am finding time to write you a note. I guess I can always come up with time to do the things I want to do.
. . . End of 3rd Chapter
Over the ensuing five years, I did find time to write Jennifer 17 more times. And she kept replying, though only half as often. I sent her a starfish; she had to fend off married men; other stuff happened, and our correspondence finally faded away. Then, although I didn't know it, for the final quarter-century of her life she taught computer management on the university level! The story concludes in Chapter 4.
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3. |
Moving On in 1970 |
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