Orphaned audio
Old Furman recordings get one last airing
Anyone tuning in to FM 95.9 on Friday afternoons this spring is in for some “weird stuff,” according to amateur disk jockey Steve Richardson.
One moment you might hear a dramatic reading, the next a chorus of violins. Poetry, speeches, excerpts from plays, radio newscasts, even a square dance cadence will be sprinkled in for good measure. The recordings are all part of Furman's past — and are soon to be tossed into the recycling bin.
Richardson, a member of the reference faculty of the James B. Duke Library, began collecting the memorabilia last year as his colleagues prepared for the renovation and expansion of their building.
“There were five shelves about six-feet long packed with the stuff,” says Richardson, a 1977 Furman graduate.
As workers were about to toss the boxes, Richardson had an idea: Why not give the old recordings one last fleeting moment of fame?
Beginning (date), WPLS 95.9 — the university's station — will air “orphaned audio,” which Richardson describes as a “mix of spoken word, classics, chamber music and poetry readings,” and a “swan song for the university's old LP record collection.”
To accommodate the show, the station had to purchase a record player.
“It's going to be really out there, kinda weird,” says Richardson. “I'm really thankful to James Cash and Jon Horn (the station's student managers) for deciding to run with it.”
Cash, Horn and Student Services Coordinator Carol Daniels worked during the fall to get WPLS back on the air. WPLS returned January 10, two years after Clear Channel Communications purchased the university's previous frequency, 96.7 FM.
WPLS features a range of music from jazz and blues to punk, rock and hip hop. Horn describes the playlist as “non-top 40, non-MTV. It's radio for people who hate radio.”
Thanks to a new broadcast antenna, WPLS may be heard throughout Greenville County, giving it a potential audience of 300,000. Formerly, the station's range reached only about as far as the Cherrydale Pointe Shopping Center.
Richardson's interest in music and radio dates back to his childhood in Simpsonville. He played bass guitar in a band during high school and later, as a student at William & Mary, he and a fraternity brother hosted a two-hour weekly show on the university's radio station. When they were not spinning tunes from Jimmy Hendrix, New Riders of the Purple Sage or the Grateful Dead, the pair conducted impromptu interviews on Dog Street , a popular tourist detination.
Richardson transferred to Furman after his sophomore year and joined the library faculty in 1986. During the 1980s, Richardson said his interest in music took a backseat to raising a family. But he reconnected with his passion in 1993 after deciding to host a weekly show on WPLS. He's been doing the show on and off ever since.
Richardson and Bud Lehn of Facilities Services are the only two Furman employees who host shows. Lehn, a Frank Sinatra fan, hosts a Saturday afternoon show that features the works of the legendary crooner.
Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
