In 1968 Father Bohdan Lukie had built a stereo room on the second floor of the monastery. The room was only 10’ by 12’, it included a Heath Kit Stereo built by Father Bohdan, with only two club chairs to listen to music. A few of us were allowed to listen to the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, The Mommas & Papas, as well as some symphony selections.
Because the room was so small it was limited as to the number that were able to listen to the music. A group of us decided that we needed a venue and equipment to share the music with our colleagues. Brother Vince was truly amazing in locating discarded equipment that would serve our purpose. We had a turntable, an amplifier and a couple of speakers.
After negotiation and much prodding we were able to set up in the laundry room, and broadcast to the pool table area. Much of the music was provided by Father Bohdan and our colleagues that had started their own record collections. We were only allowed to broadcast during free time, and were not to disrupt classroom study, or other activities.
As time progressed we acquired a Wollensack Tape recorder/player, microphones, a typewriter and other assorted equipment. The writer is not sure who provided the equipment, but it was recently learned that a family in Yorkton owned an electronics store, and provided us with a lot of speakers, wire, and other equipment. For that we were most grateful.
As some of you know we expanded from the pool room to the dorm, classrooms, the refectory, and eventually the hockey rink.
As a college radio our main goal was to share the music of the day. We did expand to talk radio with Peter Bohdanowycz aka “The Bishop”, and his sidekick “Kenny” (Ken Bailey). In addition we managed to broadcast hockey games from the town rink back to the college.
Many great memories were created by the Songs and Music of our Day, and it is not uncommon for a song to be heard that takes you back to your time at St. Vlad’s. There were many who were involved in the creation and workings of our college radio, unfortunately not many pictures were available.