By Frank “Smokin” Truatt
Life is funny, and I’m sure that at one time or another you’ve sat down, looked back in time and tried to figure out how you got where you are today. I was thinking earlier this week about life changing events that occur in one’s lifetime, some good and some bad. For me, one of those events happened in 1972 as a freshman in college. I picked a college far enough away to enjoy dorm life, yet I was close enough to return home for the holidays.
Like most high school graduates, I was not sure of which career to take, but engineering sounded right at the time. Of the four colleges I applied to, three of them accepted me in Mechanical Engineering, but one said they would take me in their Industrial Management program, and eventually I could transfer into Mechanical Engineering. It sounded intriguing, so without even visiting the campus, I decided to go there, Clarkson College of Technology. I knew I would be leaving my life as I knew it behind including my car, my girlfriend and other friends. But it was time for an adventure, even though for those who know me, adventure is not my middle name. It was like I was being guided to go to this faraway place to get a great education and make new friends.
I was at college a month when I overheard a conversation in my dorm hallway about tryouts for the college radio station. I knew that Clarkson provided a great education, but I had no idea that they had their own radio station on campus, let alone in the basement of the dorm I was assigned. So, that evening I went downstairs, saw the door to the station, pushed it open and entered a room with a bunch of students getting ready for the meeting. I immediately saw the studios, heard the music playing and a feeling came over me, you know, that life changing feeling that you were exactly where you were meant to be! Thinking back on it, I can still feel that feeling of excitement and awe! It was at that point that my passion for radio and the respect for the medium began. A week later a began my weekly radio show there, and ever since radio has always been a part of my life. I still have a copy of that very first show, and as I was writing this article on Monday, I looked in my files to see the date of that show. I knew it was somewhere around this time of the year. To my amazement it was October 7th, 1972, exactly 52 years ago as of this writing! Like I said, some things are really meant to be!
