April marks the 50th anniversary of WCLK. In support of this milestone, The Local Take is speaking with many of the people who were there when we first went on the air, many of them students. I spoke with Al Goggins in 2016 at the StoryCorps booth in Atlanta. I captured his story of adventure and happenstance as a student engineer under the leadership of Cecil O’Neal in the fall of 1973 when everything was being planned and coming together.
I asked how he came to learn about WCLK and, he shared that his father, in an effort to get him into college, introduced him to Ron Harris also a student at CAU. Goggins explains that he was familiar with audio/visual equipment from setting up film projectors for his teachers in elementary and high school. He speaks about the head engineer Cecil O’Neal who taught him about radio. Goggins was the first production manager for the WCLK.
Goggins shares that when he started school in the Fall of 1973 they unpacked equipment and “built” the radio station from scratch. He speaks about unpacking control boards and racks that would become WCLK. Eventually Goggins would join the on-air talent he speaks about their having to follow a 3 to 1 ratio. They played three jazz tunes to every R&B or Rock tune.
WCLK is known for introducing talent to the Atlanta audience. Goggins speaks specifically about Al Jarreau and Peobo Bryson. Goggins went on to have a career in the music industry, working in positions from sales to engineering. He opened his own business and has traveled around the world
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