In fall of 1970 I started at Clarkson College (now Clarkson University) in Potsdam, NY. That is way up north in New York State and even north of the Adirondacks.

I had to find a place to live off campus as I got accepted way too late to get a dorm room. I ended up sharing a room at what really could be called a boarding house. But it was very close to the campus.

The second or third day there at table was set up outside of the student union telling about the college radio station. I had been on the college radio at SUNY Alfred for two years so I was very interested. Within a week I had passed the test to be on the station. Only problem was that the schedule for the semester had already been filled. So I ended up putting my name down as a fill-in. Anytime someone couldn’t do their show, me or someone else would get a call to fill-in. I ended up doing quit a few hours that semester. Next semester I ended up with my own time slot.

The call-letters for WNTC stood for “Northern Twin Colleges” as it was heard on both the Clarkson campus and the SUNY Potsdam campus. The DJs and other staff also came from both colleges. Oddly enough I couldn’t hear the station where I was living. The second semester I moved to another shared apartment. I couldn’t hear the station there either.

WNTC had enough listeners that they also had commercials that help pay the bills to keep the station on the air. We also had ABC news at five minutes before on the hour. It had started in 1947 and faded away from lack of interest in 2001.