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The History of WRTI

Posted by Jerry Klein

Click here for details of the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Temple University Radio Studios

Read Gerry Wilkinson's research into the early days of WRTI AM and FM

In the Fall of 1968, I wrote and produced a 10 minute radio documentary on "The History of Broadcasting at Temple University" that was aired on October 14, 1968 as the first actual program broadcast from Annenberg Hall, the then brand new home of WRTI. (Click here for audio clips from that broadcast.)

Later that semester, I revised and expanded that program into a script for a 30 minute documentary for my class on TV and Radio Writing (RTF 235) with Dr. Delwin Dusenbury. This version was based on recorded interviews with Professors John Roberts (the founder of WRTI), Laurence Blenheim and Delwin Dusenbury. The documentary included numerous cuts from those interviews.

I recently came across the script, which I have now converted to HTML. Unfortunately, I don't recall that the 30 minute version of the documentary was ever actually produced on tape. At least, I do not seem to have a copy of it in my tape archives. The script also indicates that the tapes of my interviews with Professors Roberts, Blenheim and Dusenbury were "permanently stored in the WRTI-FM archives in Annenberg Hall." Unfortunately, no one at the current WRTI-FM has ever heard of these archives, and there is no trace of the tapes.

However, we do still have the script. I am pleased to be able to present it here, and hope you find it of interest. In particular, it shows quite clearly the original intent and purpose of the station - as a learning laboratory for students. What has been done with the station since 1969 is, in my view, extremely regrettable. (See my 1978 letter to Dr. Blenheim.)

Click here to read the script of "The History of WRTI"

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