Radio is an everyday part of most of our lives. If you drive to and from work, you probably listen to the radio. Maybe you listen late at night when you can't sleep, or early in the morning when you're making breakfast. You might listen while you walk the dog or maybe there are special programs that you make it a point to listen to. Whenever you listen, though, you probably expect your favorite radio station will always be there.

  WWUH, as a non-commercial station is fortunate enough to have been around since 1968, thanks to the loyal support of our listeners.

  Commercial radio is very different. It's a cliché, but one thing that's always constant in commercial radio is change. Musical formats change, stations get bought and sold. Air personalities leave, and even the station call letters and locations on the dial change.

  In the 1920s and 1930s, much of the music on Hartford radio was performed live in the studio, or from remote broadcasts at local venues, such as the Hotel Bond. There was live radio drama fed from the national radio networks (CBS, NBC, Mutual) and even some locally produced drama and variety shows.

  WDRC is Connecticut's oldest continuously operated radio station, originally going on the air way back in 1922 as WPAJ from New Haven! The Traveler's Insurance Company started its own station WTIC, in 1925, which was Hartford's first station, and operates today as WTIC Newstalk 1080.

  WCCC, now known as a hard-rock station, was once owned by Bill Savitt of Savitt Jewelers in Hartford and broadcast easy-listening and classical music.

  If you listen to 'The River', WHCN, did you know that 'HCN' originally stood for Hartford Concert Network, and was part of a classical music network, before it switched to progressive rock in the late 1960s.

  The Hartford Times newspaper, which until its demise was Hartford's afternoon daily, had its own station for many years called WTHT.

  KISS-FM, WKSS, was once an easy listening station, and prior to that had the call letters WBMI.

  Many of you will remember WNBC on 660 AM in New York (the home of Imus in the Morning, now known as WFAN). But did you know that the WNBC call letters once belonged to a radio station in New Britain, Connecticut? Their call letters changed many times to WHTD, WONS, then WGTH, and currently, the station is known as WPOP, an all-sports station on 1410 AM.

  There were other stations in New Britain that were heard throughout the Hartford area. There was WKNB on 840AM (Kensington-New Britain) that at one time was owned by Channel 30 TV. Now it's WRYM. There was WHAY on 910AM, which later became WRCH and then WRCQ, and is now WLAT.

  To some of you, this is simply trivia. But we know that some of you out there remember these things.

  WWUH is in the early stages of development on a documentary about the history of radio broadcasting in Connecticut, with special emphasis on radio stations in greater Hartford.

  As part of this effort, we're asking our listeners for help:

· If you have tapes or transcription disks from any Connecticut radio stations from the period 1922 to 1980, that we could borrow, or you know where we can locate some, we'd like to talk with you.

· If you worked at a greater Hartford or New Britain radio station in the years prior to 1975, and have memories you'd like to share for our documentary, we'd like to talk to you.

If you can help with either of these subjects, please contact WWUH at:

WWUH Radio
"History Project"
c/o University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Avenue
West Hartford, CT 06117

Or E-mail: wwuh@hartford.edu