It is registration week for second semester. Thursday, Jan 9th, 1976 to be exact.  WLHA has scheduled a 2nd semester kick off  bash for Saturday night, but on a whim, it has been decided to start the event two days early and make it a three day marathon live broadcast from Upper Gulley. It is a combination open staff party and  promotional event. No posters publicizing the event have been posted.  No need, it will be promoted over the airwaves of WLHA itself.  It's a free party on a Thursday night with no classes the next day. A crowd will show up. The remote unit and piles of records and carts have been hauled upstairs to the party room at Carson Gulley. Program lines to Elm Drive B have been patched in and the 262-1206 phone line has been routed over to ring at the remote.  Four big Altec speakers are cranked and visciously rocking the big room while colored flood lights are pulsing to the music.  A cart of crowd noise plays continuously whenever the announcers speak giving the illusion over the air of a massive festive event.  Enthusiastic for a big party, some groups of girls listening to the radio over in Chad and Liz decide to brave the sub-freezing temps and start the long hike over to join this giant free party.  From the outside, it truly appears that a major S.R.O. party is underway and more and more  party seeking students start showing up at the door and wandering in. Inside, about twenty five WLHA staffers are having a great time entertaining themselves and finding amusement in the bewildered looks on the faces of the new arrivals who peek in the door asking "Is this it? Where is everybody?"  Fortunately, back at the station, tapes were rolling, capturing 7.5 hours of the event starting with Casey the K, Nivek, Kurt Dawson, and Jake Scott spinning tunes for a crowd consisting primarily of the station staff and those disappointed outsiders who could be persuaded or bribed with popcorn to stay. It also includes the long lonely all night Capt. Jack live cruise through the cosmos followed by the Andy Arns morning show Friday morning. Yes, he actually did wear his blue bathrobe and hat and he did talk listeners into bringing him bacon, eggs and orange juice to win albums.  And that is just the 7.5 hours we have tape of.  A steady stream of WLHA jocks took turns covering Friday and Saturday slots. 

Sorry we can't post it for you with all of the the music included. That would be way too intense and you could get hopelessly trapped in a 1976 time warp.  But if you want to temporarily melt away three decades in a hurry, put on some headphones and settle back.  You may hear yourself and many old friends in the crowd.   And, oh yeah, if you are living on the East facing side of Schlicter Hall, flash your room lights if you are listening.  If you're not listening, don't do anything.

  

Don (Lester the Jester) Jerabek takes a shift in the Marathon while Jack Wardinski digs through records for his next transition.

 Part I - The live broadcast actually began at 3PM on Thursday but nobody thought to put a reel of tape on until later that evening.  By that time, things were in full stage uproar. The crowd noise cart was getting constant use, chattering teeth and a laugh box are part of the fun and confused students were already coming up to see what was going on.   Casey the K, Nivek, Kurt Dawson and Ken Rabolt are running the show on this reel but there is no shortage of audience participation from Andy Arns, Capt. Jack, Don Jerabek, Jake Jones, T. Baer, Jan Steffes, The California Kid, Caped Crusader, Pat Stanton, Dave Heise, Mary Mangels, Crazy Nancy, James Scalone, Scott Steiber, Kathy Kanoble, Bob Brash, Marilyn Dam and so many others.  But, of course, this was clearly the happening place to be and all the cool WLHA people wanted to Be There.  And who wouldn't want to be in on the fun with a longest kiss contest and Capt. Jack mop dancing.

 

Stacks of carts, amps, the Spotmaster, and colored flood lights - When WLHA did a Gulley remote, it all came along.  For 48 hours, all the programming came from here.

 Part II - This tape covers Thursday night from approx. from 9:30PM to 11PM.  Casey the K, Nivek, and Ken Rabolt are still going strong as your lunatic hosts but the strain of seven straight hours is starting to show.   The chattering teeth and laugh box have been joined by a big squeeze horn and Ken has started dancing with the mop now.  For the more serious dancers, Jim Scalone and friend are giving free dance lessons. Towards the end of this reel, Capt. Jack takes over the air chair and we get to hear the opening moments of Jack's Spacestation show thrill the crowd.   It is a wild and silly scene but it is way better than eating glass.  Whatever your expectations might be, this will be way different.  All systems are GO.

 

The co-conspirators Capt. Jack, Casey the K, and Andy Arns at the start of the Marathon working out the schedule.  Casey would launch the first eight hour leg Thursday night, Jack would do his cosmic thing overnight, and Andy would return for his morning show. 

  Part III -  Jack is at full speed on the first leg of his eight hour cosmic cruise overnight shift.  Capt. Jack is doing the positive energy thing with live squealing fans in attendance.   You gotta hear it.  Jack is taking requests for dance tunes, fighting off a time warp by playing oldies, and dealing with dead air and cosmic criticism.  Push play and enjoy Starship 64 remote-a-thon at its finest.

 

Captain Jack live and in person!   Looking relaxed in mid-flight.

 Fast forward a few hours and Jack is still at the throttle of Starhip 64 doing his overnight flight.  He is all alone in the vastness of the Gulley Galaxy now, but the beat goes on as the captain fights off exhaustion and keeps cueing up tunes, only occassionally nodding off, as he heads toward touchdown. 

 

Andy Airwaves Arns doing his morning show in full dress uniform and begging for breakfast.  He scored scrambled eggs, toast, and orange juice in short order.

 

  Part V covers the entrance of Andy Airwaves Arns, cute like a puppy, wearing his blue bathrobe and hat, carrying his orange coffee pot and a stack of records.  Soon he has cocoa bubbling in the coffee pot, hot tunes cooking on the turntables, and he is making on air appeals for listeners to bring him breakfast in exchange for Motown Anthologies. Didn't take long and Andy had his morning meal.  Imagine sitting downstairs in the Carson Gully dining room eating breakfast and hearing Andy and his "tastless garbage" carts playing over the Altecs up above.   And don't miss Floozy News.  Awesome.