Dis-Displacement

When I was enrolled at Oberlin College, my favorite place was WOBC-FM. I loved to hang out with my friends in the spacious studios of the student-operated radio station on the third floor of Wilder Hall, the student union building.

Nearly six decades later, in the wake of COVID, senior Emma DeRogatis-Frilingos told the Oberlin Review that “there's been a complete and utter disruption, and it's hard to focus on little things like tradition and consistency. There's been a campus-wide forgetfulness. Clubs and traditions have been disappearing.”

And WOBC literally disappeared from the third floor of Wilder. On April 28, 2022, came the announcement: the station was going to be disassembled and moved to a temporary location on the fourth floor as part of a multi-year project of renovating the building. In September 2023, I visited those smaller quarters.

On May 24, 2025, one of my former colleagues also paid a visit: J. Michael Barone of the Class of 1968, who had been WOBC's Classical Music Director when I was Program Director.

I was on campus in May to receive an Alumni Award during commencement weekend, and happened to get into town just before the WOBC photo-op on the stairs in front of Finney.

I was surprised that, despite it being a special 75th anniversary year for WOBC, so few alumni showed up (fewer than half a dozen?).

They were doing “history” interviews upstairs and coaxed me to visit them (as I was the oldest alumni representative on hand) and I provided them with about 20 minutes of my connection to WOBC ... which led directly to my involvement with what was to grow into Minnesota Public Radio, where I am still employed after 57 years (!).

The kids regaled me with some stories of their “relocation” frustrations and showed me the very cramped “temporary” studio from which they were working ... a hovel compared with the spacious layout in which we operated.

Really sad that the administration is so deaf to their needs, and that this latest has put them temporarily off the air.

Though I cannot discount my Conservatory courses in organ and music history, my experience during three years at WOBC provided me (and likely many others ... Randy Bongarten?!?) with (little did I realize it at the time) a lifetime career option which has, in its strange way, touched many. For instance, it was a delight to learn, while interviewing the 30-year-old Johannes Skoog (winner of the 2023 Canadian International Organ Competition and, subsequently, appointed Royal Swedish Organist) that he knew all about Pipedreams and had been listening (online) for the past 15 years!

Mike, congratulations on your well-deserved Alumni Award! You may have forgotten, but I never have, that it is you who gave me my start in radio. Just about the first thing I did when I arrived on campus in September 1967 was to go to WOBC to audition to be the host of a classical radio show. I didn't know much about either classical music or announcing. You called to tell me I had failed the audition. I was crushed, and you must have heard it in my voice. So, you told me that if I wanted, I could come in to do a two-hour show after midnight on Sunday. That led to a wonderful experience at WOBC, and then a long and enjoyable career in media. Thank you.

I went to what must have been WOBC's 25th anniversary in the late 80's. It was a very nice event, and I recall sitting down for an extensive recorded interview on my recollections about the station.

I confess to having forgotten that “catalytic moment'”in your progression as a broadcasting mogul, but I am glad that I behaved like a thoughtful and compassionate guy, even back then. And a sweet story ... sweeter still that you remember and revere the moment. I've built my little career imagining that I had “good taste,” and am happy that you have proven me “right on.”

As or the Alumni Award ... interesting that I am on campus, running into the organ and music history faculty who had no idea why I was there.

Thanks, Randy and everyone else for your comments and recollections. I don't recall Randy's failing the audition. Barone must have been a tough boss.

* Remember Todd Barkan '68, who did a late night jazz show? At about midnight one winter night, Todd called me at home (I lived off campus, several blocks away). He had gone to the bathroom and forgot his key. Was locked out and there were no security people. To keep the station on the air, I had to bike over there in the snow and let him in.

* We were ahead of ABC's “Nightline” by establishing a half-hour late night news program, I think 11-11:30. Oberlin being Oberlin, there usually was enough going on to fill it. One night, though, there was little news and we had booked only a Con student who had been named Miss Greater Cleveland. Despite Paul's great talents, he couldn't keep this woman talking for 20 minutes and had to sign off early. Thankfully the next host (Barkan?) was ready to go.

* Last but not least, remember our classical music marathons during final exams? One night, the person who had the midnight to 6 a.m. shift had to drop out. I had a final the next day and wasn't going to sacrifice it for WOBC. So I did an unprofessional thing: I went on the air around 10 p.m. and just asked the audience if someone could take the shift. A Con student called and said he'd do it. He came over before midnight, I gave him quick instructions, and went back to study. The next day he had filled out all of the logs correctly and apparently it had gone well. This was technically illegal, because you'll recall that supposedly everyone running the station at any point had to have one of those FCC licenses.

Thanks for chiming in and, yes, it is very disappointing how little the Oberlin administration cares for WOBC. As for the station not being a priority, I recall that though we had a “faculty advisor,” I never saw him/her, and have no idea what role they might have played. But basically it seemed to indicate a hands-off, you-do-what-you-kids-want-to-do attitude, which was not all bad. And some pretty bright lights applied themselves to the airwaves. And that space we occupied was perfect.

We did have a faculty adviser, Dan Goulding, who was a prof in what I think was then called the speech department. I remember talking to him occasionally when I was briefly station director. But Michael is right that we were basically on our own. Thankfully, Wilder Hall was apparently structurally sound back in the 60s.

Sad, but not particularly surprising, to learn of the treatment being afforded WOBC. As Ted will remember from our breakfast together a couple of years ago, I am not a fan of the school's current leadership. But I can remember, even in our time, the station was not a priority with either the administration or the student government. We had a nice space, though, and most significantly, believed that what we were doing was important.

I passed this information along to Marc Krass '70, whom I've added to this group. He pointed out that as an independent corporation, the station could sue the college and contractor for damages. Given the school's propensity for bungling litigation, it might not be a bad idea at that!

Adding my two cents. Wanting to be a good team player I once signed up for a shift of the classical music marathon, even though I'm (still) a rock-and-roll guy. My knowledge of classical music was very limited, so once after I played the entire side of one album I announced that we just heard the first two movements of a Brahms concerto and moved on to the next selection. The phone immediately started ringing off the hook with people yelling at me for not playing the entire concerto. After all, what did I know? The only time we rockers played the entire side of an album was Inna-gadda-da-vida. And the Beatles Marathons always scored high numbers of listeners.

Appreciating the points a couple of you made that WOBC really did draw (and develop) some talented people in our days as well as before — Bob Krulwich '69, for example. But I share Randy's point of view that the college has really declined over the last decade, and its treatment of WOBC fits right in with that. It's too bad for so many reasons. But all of us were so fortunate to be there when we were. Good connecting with all of you!

At the last reunion I visited WOBC, and was very disappointed in the station. Things were disorganized, no sign of any radio station activity, they were not broadcasting and they were awaiting a repair to the transmitter. Their broadcast schedule was crap. I did not find anything resembling a WOBC of old.

I had stopped by to assess whether i should/could give them an endowment, but saw northing organized enough to utilize it. Sounds like things are worse.

Glad you're all alive and kicking; I'm retired in Palm Springs having retired after an academic career at UCLA and UMich in retinal diseases.

Then the bottom fell out. Mike forwarded the October 3, 2025, article by Skylar Brunk of the Review, who quoted student engineer Beck Robertson: “I've lost track of all the unforced errors made in the College's treatment toward WOBC.”

A floor collapse on the fourth floor of Wilder Hall led to their most recent displacement. According to a Campus Safety report made on Aug. 7, 2025, workers removed a load-bearing wall, causing the floor of WOBC to dip about six to eight inches. No one was injured, although there were two community members, a DJ and a guest, in the room when the incident occurred.

Since the floor collapse, members of WOBC have searched for a new room, going to a room in Hales Annex, a closet in Cat in the Cream, and even an unused Village Housing Unit. Eventually, they landed on Peters G33, found by Station Manager Ilan Kahanov.