Time Machine: 50 years of ACRN

Today, the All-Campus Radio Network (ACRN) continues to provide students a hands-on learning experience in all realms of broadcasting and an opportunity to build on traditions trail-blazed by “Rock Lobsters” over the past fifty years.

“We were just sort of flying by the seat of our pants and learning the craft,” remembers Ron Raubenstraw, BSC ’75, who started deejaying under the moniker “The Thunder and Lightning Kid” for WGAM 580 and ACRN in 1972. “It was a blast … probably one of the best times I’ve had in my life.”

Operating out of Gamertsfelder Hall, WGAM was one of several independent residence hall-based radio stations on campus that networked together to form ACRN, a commercial radio station run entirely by students.

Raubenstraw was approached to do weekend shifts at ACRN, queuing up songs on turntables and airing commercials and public service announcements.

“I got to premiere all the new music,” recalls Raubenstraw, who has spent the past 40 years at WKBN-AM and now six iHeart Radio stations in the Youngstown, Ohio area, where he is a senior account executive. “We were a tight-knit group … and a fairly small group, and we pretty much did our own thing. I don’t ever recall sitting down to an organized meeting and saying, ‘Well, this week this is what we’re going to do.’ You really had to learn by the seat of your pants.”

“It was an amazing place, the launching ground for a lot of people,” says John Mark James, BSC ’84, who served as music director and then program director for ACRN. “The thing that was most magical about it was that we did it all ourselves.”

At that time, ACRN—which had officially adopted “Snat,” the Rock Lobster, as its mascot—aired on 99.3 FM, its music played in the dining facilities on campus, and it was one of only a handful of college stations to be an NBC affiliate. 1981 saw the official launch of MTV, bringing video to the music industry and inspiring James and fellow Rock Lobster Dan Reed to spearhead the creation of “Radioactive,” a video program akin to MTV programming at the time. It was the start of ACRN expanding beyond audio.

“I knew a lot of people from my day at the station that went on to careers as media buyers, selling advertising for a station, or people who went into station management and newscasting,” says James whose career in Cincinnati includes owning record stores, operating a record label and writing a weekly syndicated music news column. “ACRN set us on a course. … It was just a real great training ground for people coming together in the creative community. It was a very accepting place for fanatical weirdos and misfit toys and the music of the time.”

Broadcasting 24/7, ACRN programming ran the gamut from music to news and sports. The radio network became increasingly involved in the life of campus and community, airing shows from local events and venues and impressing listeners with the occasional DJ marathons.

Kim Aponte King, BSC ’94, was one of the many Rock Lobsters who cut their teeth learning to deejay by taking 2 to 7 a.m. shifts on air, bringing her signature New York accent to shows that included her “Coffee with Kim” on Sundays. She went on to become ACRN’s promotions director.

“It gave me experience planning events really early on in my life, and I continue to do that today,” says King, a project officer for an online training network. “Experience teaches you a lot, and being able to have those kinds of experiences and learn how to be part of a leadership team, how to make decisions and work with people—to do that at a young age has definitely helped me the rest of my life.”

Over the years, ACRN has evolved from a cable broadcast station to an FM broadcast station and, in 1999, to an internet broadcast that now serves as a digital hub for written, visual and multimedia content, as well as live events. In 2007, ACRN relocated from its longtime home in the Radio-Television Communications Building to the new Baker University Center, where a studio was dedicated in honor of Archie Greer, BFA ’49, MFA ’53. A professor emeritus of telecommunications who was the manager of WOUB from 1953 to 1967, Greer was instrumental in the founding of ACRN, served as its advisor for many years and supported countless students in the learning experiences ACRN provided.

“Students can come in with whatever major, whatever goals they have, and find the department that best suits what they’re trying to do,” says Nate Finley, ACRN’s general manager and a senior majoring in business administration. “What we’re doing is trying to develop as many projects as we can to give them real professional experience in that field. I’ve gotten experience booking a show. I didn’t think I was going to do that in college!”

According to Finley, ACRN has expanded its departments and operations, and its visual media and production departments have started producing more content, including in-studio performances; concerts at venues like The Union, Casa Nueva and OHIO’s own Galbreath Chapel; and annual events like Lobsterfest and the Battle of the Bands.

“Those events gave ACRN a name just as much as the station,” Finley notes. “Everything we produce is always relevant to the music industry. … We all have a passion for music.”

While the music and the medium have changed, ACRN remains a place where students build their resumes and their OHIO legacies—and where many have found their place at OHIO.

“I’ll be honest: ACRN is what kept me at Ohio University because I was getting homesick and ready to transfer,” admits King, who now resides in Cary, North Carolina. “If I hadn’t found the radio station and found my people, I might not have done my four years at Ohio University. … The friendships are lifetime friendships.”

And those friendships span generations of Rock Lobsters.

“Not only is there a sense of history, but there is also a common bond between all of us,” says Dr. Karl Gussow, BBA ’88, dean of students at a school in Virginia who was both a deejay and assistant general manager at ACRN. “We have contributed to ACRN. We were able to pass that history and that love on to the next generation.”

Gussow is the president of the ACRN Alumni Society that was established in 2008 and that seeks to inform and connect ACRN alumni while helping to support and enrich the radio network that brought them together and the students following in their footsteps.

“One of the things I’ve tried to do, working with the alumni society over the past several years, is making sure that we honor the traditions of the past and try to help the current ACRN staff as well,” Gussow adds.

The ACRN Alumni Society executive board and current ACRN staff communicate on a regular basis, and ACRN alumni over the years have given their time, talent and treasure to help ACRN students.

At ACRN’s 45th anniversary banquet, the alumni society launched the ACRN Charles Voge Scholarship, named in honor and memory of an ACRN alumnus who was loved and who inspired many. The alumni society set a goal of raising enough money to establish the first ACRN endowed scholarship. That goal was not only met but exceeded within two years, with more than 50 donors contributing over $37,000 to provide a scholarship to a sophomore, junior or senior with financial need and who has made significant contributions to ACRN. The ACRN Charles Voge Scholarship was first awarded in 2019.

“We have a really well-organized and involved alumni society,” says Finley. “We’re always connecting with alumni for workshops and interviews, so ACRN members that graduate have a way of dipping their toes back in to help current members.”

For the past several months, Finley and his ACRN crew have been working with Gussow on plans for the radio network’s 50th anniversary celebration, which will be held virtually on April 17 with an in-person celebration in Athens planned for April 2022. The April 17 event will include the presentation of the next ACRN Charles Voge Scholarship.

“We’re part of Ohio University’s history,” says Gussow. “ACRN was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and a lot of alums will say this as well.”