WXCI launches radio careers, romance for alumni couple
I caught this story on the Alumni news website
If there's any reason I cannot reprint this - I mean, I'm an alumni... this is news about alumni... so um... someone tell me... thanks!
Former U.S. representative, senator and governor of Connecticut Lowell Weicker has been called many things, but “inadvertent matchmaker” probably isn’t one of them. Yet, that’s exactly the role Weicker played in bringing a freshman chemistry student to the attention of a junior communication and theatre arts (CTA) major at WestConn in the early 1980s.
Regardless of who tells the “how-we-met” tale of Susan (Szanti) and Bruce Goldsen, Weicker and WestConn are integral elements — and the story, while still a work in progress, clearly is headed for a happy ending.
Susan Szanti grew up in Yonkers, N.Y., but was familiar with Danbury because she spent many idyllic childhood summers at her grandparents’ house on Candlewood Lake. When it was time to pick a college, she registered at WestConn and commuted from New Milford.
Once at WestConn, Sue, like many commuter students, spent some of her time on campus at the WCSU Student Union. On her way to play video games one day, she noticed a door marked “WXCI.” Intrigued, she knocked.
“I was on my way to play Ms. Pac-Man or Missile Commander when I noticed the door,” she says. “For some reason, I hadn’t noticed it before. But I had never been inside a radio station, and I wanted to see what went on there.”
Sue received a tour from the students at the station, who invited her to join them.
“I was a chemistry major,” she says. “I didn’t think there was really anything for me to do at a radio station, but I liked music and the people were nice, so I started spending time there.”
Soon, Sue became involved in WXCI’s operations. She’d pitch in wherever needed, including reading news bulletins on the air. That’s where Lowell Weicker came in — almost.
Bruce Goldsen had known since he was 11 or 12 that he wanted a career in radio, so WXCI quickly become his domain when he began commuting from Weston in the fall of 1977. He’d worked his way up to general manager by his junior year.
“WestConn really cemented my life choice for me,” Bruce says. “I was so focused on what I wanted and felt I was good enough to study broadcasting almost anywhere. But I also thought it was foolish to spend two or three times the amount of money to go to Ithaca or Emerson, when I knew I could get a really good education at WestConn. Besides, at a big broadcasting school I would’ve been a small fish in a big pond, but at WestConn I was a big fish in a small pond.”
On a fateful day in 1980, Bruce was within earshot when Sue began reading a news story about then-senator Weicker on the air.
“She started reading the news and when she got to the senator’s name, she pronounced it ‘wicker,’ not Weicker,” Bruce says. “What I didn’t know at the time was that she was from New York, not Connecticut. But I corrected her, and that was the first time I took note of her.”
Sue laughed when she shared her side of the story.
“My first impression of Bruce was that he was some kind of hot-shot DJ and a total perfectionist,” Sue says. “Right there, from the get-go, he corrected me — can you believe it? Even after that, I still ended up marrying the guy!”
While it may not have been “love-at-first-interaction,” the encounter at WestConn’s WXCI ultimately led to a common career in radio and a marriage that is still going strong after 20 years.
Bruce worked at WRKI and WINE in Danbury, both as a student intern and after graduation. Sue served as WXCI’s business manager in 1982 and general manager in 1983, where she built upon the alternative music format that Bruce implemented during his tenure. Because of her involvement at the station, she changed her major from chemistry to business with a concentration in marketing. Five months after she graduated from the Ancell School of Business in May 1984, Sue Szanti became Mrs. Susan Goldsen.
The couple moved to Kingsport, Tenn., and then to Jacksonville, Fla., as Bruce worked on the air and as program director for stations in increasingly larger markets. In 1987, their son, David, was born. By the end of the ’80s, the Goldsens returned to Danbury, where Bruce took the helm of the morning drive program on WINE and came back to campus to pursue an M.B.A.
“I was about two semesters in when I got a phone call from someone I had known in Jacksonville,” Bruce says. “He had just purchased some stations in Adrian, Mich., and offered me the opportunity to run one of them. After Sue and I looked at a map to see where in the world Adrian, Mich. was located, we decided to go.
“We moved there in 1990 and during the seven years I worked there, it really took off. Then, when we were offered an opportunity to buy three stations in Jackson, Mich. — a town about 40 miles away from Adrian — Sue and I jumped at the chance.”
Their company, Jackson Radio Works Inc. in Jackson, Mich., is the licensee of three award-winning radio stations: News/Talk 970 WKHM, Jackson’s Hit Music/K-105.3 and ESPN Radio 1450 WIBM. At a recent Michigan Association of Broadcasters Broadcast Excellence awards ceremony, the company earned 11 awards, including Station of the Year in their market for News/Talk 970 WKHM.
The Goldsens clearly love what they do.
“A lot of people get into this business because they like music and think it would be great to play their favorite songs,” Bruce says. “My motivation always has been my love for radio and its ability to influence and interact with people.”
Sue agrees. “Bruce really believes in radio. He believes in the basics like providing local information, serving the community, working with students and getting young people excited about our industry. In a world of iPods and the Internet, radio is still a real passion for him.”
The Goldsens’ investment — of time, ideas and personal commitment in their community — has paid off.
“We made a conscious decision that our business would succeed if we were totally committed to the community in which we live,” Bruce explains. “The only way to be successful is to give back, and we inculcate our staff in that. Too many media outlets act as if they’re above it all. I believe if you tie your livelihood only to the fact that you play music, you just marginalize yourself.”
Bruce and Sue also act upon their beliefs: They’ve each served as a board member or officer for many community and civic organizations. As a result, they’ve received several individual and shared honors, including the Lenawee County Chamber of Commerce “Maple Leaf Award” and the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce “Small Business Person of the Year Award.” The Goldsens also actively promote the business to young people by providing internship and learning opportunities for students interested in radio careers. Bruce says he realized long ago the importance of a good mentor, citing the impact Dr. Hugh McCarney, WXCI’s adviser, and other WestConn faculty had on his career.
The Goldsens’ ties to the university and the Danbury area remain strong. In 1998, they came back to campus for the 25th anniversary of WXCI. Both previously had been named “life members” for their contributions to the station. They returned in May 2005 when Bruce was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award at commencement.
“What I learned more than anything at WestConn was how to deal with people in a collaborative way,” Bruce says. “It was my biggest life experience. I found out you can’t be dictatorial and authoritarian — instead you have to find a nice way to let people have your way.”
“Especially when it comes to correctly pronouncing names like Weicker,” Sue adds, with a smile.
Editor’s Note: To celebrate her husband’s receipt of the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award, Sue Goldsen established the Bruce I. Goldsen Radio Broadcasting Scholarship at WestConn. This $1,000 scholarship will be awarded annually to a full-time student majoring in communication, with a concentration in media arts, who has successfully completed a year of study at WestConn with a GPA of 3.0 or better. The first scholarship will be awarded in March 2006.
If there's any reason I cannot reprint this - I mean, I'm an alumni... this is news about alumni... so um... someone tell me... thanks!
Former U.S. representative, senator and governor of Connecticut Lowell Weicker has been called many things, but “inadvertent matchmaker” probably isn’t one of them. Yet, that’s exactly the role Weicker played in bringing a freshman chemistry student to the attention of a junior communication and theatre arts (CTA) major at WestConn in the early 1980s.
Regardless of who tells the “how-we-met” tale of Susan (Szanti) and Bruce Goldsen, Weicker and WestConn are integral elements — and the story, while still a work in progress, clearly is headed for a happy ending.
Susan Szanti grew up in Yonkers, N.Y., but was familiar with Danbury because she spent many idyllic childhood summers at her grandparents’ house on Candlewood Lake. When it was time to pick a college, she registered at WestConn and commuted from New Milford.
Once at WestConn, Sue, like many commuter students, spent some of her time on campus at the WCSU Student Union. On her way to play video games one day, she noticed a door marked “WXCI.” Intrigued, she knocked.
“I was on my way to play Ms. Pac-Man or Missile Commander when I noticed the door,” she says. “For some reason, I hadn’t noticed it before. But I had never been inside a radio station, and I wanted to see what went on there.”
Sue received a tour from the students at the station, who invited her to join them.
“I was a chemistry major,” she says. “I didn’t think there was really anything for me to do at a radio station, but I liked music and the people were nice, so I started spending time there.”
Soon, Sue became involved in WXCI’s operations. She’d pitch in wherever needed, including reading news bulletins on the air. That’s where Lowell Weicker came in — almost.
Bruce Goldsen had known since he was 11 or 12 that he wanted a career in radio, so WXCI quickly become his domain when he began commuting from Weston in the fall of 1977. He’d worked his way up to general manager by his junior year.
“WestConn really cemented my life choice for me,” Bruce says. “I was so focused on what I wanted and felt I was good enough to study broadcasting almost anywhere. But I also thought it was foolish to spend two or three times the amount of money to go to Ithaca or Emerson, when I knew I could get a really good education at WestConn. Besides, at a big broadcasting school I would’ve been a small fish in a big pond, but at WestConn I was a big fish in a small pond.”
On a fateful day in 1980, Bruce was within earshot when Sue began reading a news story about then-senator Weicker on the air.
“She started reading the news and when she got to the senator’s name, she pronounced it ‘wicker,’ not Weicker,” Bruce says. “What I didn’t know at the time was that she was from New York, not Connecticut. But I corrected her, and that was the first time I took note of her.”
Sue laughed when she shared her side of the story.
“My first impression of Bruce was that he was some kind of hot-shot DJ and a total perfectionist,” Sue says. “Right there, from the get-go, he corrected me — can you believe it? Even after that, I still ended up marrying the guy!”
While it may not have been “love-at-first-interaction,” the encounter at WestConn’s WXCI ultimately led to a common career in radio and a marriage that is still going strong after 20 years.
Bruce worked at WRKI and WINE in Danbury, both as a student intern and after graduation. Sue served as WXCI’s business manager in 1982 and general manager in 1983, where she built upon the alternative music format that Bruce implemented during his tenure. Because of her involvement at the station, she changed her major from chemistry to business with a concentration in marketing. Five months after she graduated from the Ancell School of Business in May 1984, Sue Szanti became Mrs. Susan Goldsen.
The couple moved to Kingsport, Tenn., and then to Jacksonville, Fla., as Bruce worked on the air and as program director for stations in increasingly larger markets. In 1987, their son, David, was born. By the end of the ’80s, the Goldsens returned to Danbury, where Bruce took the helm of the morning drive program on WINE and came back to campus to pursue an M.B.A.
“I was about two semesters in when I got a phone call from someone I had known in Jacksonville,” Bruce says. “He had just purchased some stations in Adrian, Mich., and offered me the opportunity to run one of them. After Sue and I looked at a map to see where in the world Adrian, Mich. was located, we decided to go.
“We moved there in 1990 and during the seven years I worked there, it really took off. Then, when we were offered an opportunity to buy three stations in Jackson, Mich. — a town about 40 miles away from Adrian — Sue and I jumped at the chance.”
Their company, Jackson Radio Works Inc. in Jackson, Mich., is the licensee of three award-winning radio stations: News/Talk 970 WKHM, Jackson’s Hit Music/K-105.3 and ESPN Radio 1450 WIBM. At a recent Michigan Association of Broadcasters Broadcast Excellence awards ceremony, the company earned 11 awards, including Station of the Year in their market for News/Talk 970 WKHM.
The Goldsens clearly love what they do.
“A lot of people get into this business because they like music and think it would be great to play their favorite songs,” Bruce says. “My motivation always has been my love for radio and its ability to influence and interact with people.”
Sue agrees. “Bruce really believes in radio. He believes in the basics like providing local information, serving the community, working with students and getting young people excited about our industry. In a world of iPods and the Internet, radio is still a real passion for him.”
The Goldsens’ investment — of time, ideas and personal commitment in their community — has paid off.
“We made a conscious decision that our business would succeed if we were totally committed to the community in which we live,” Bruce explains. “The only way to be successful is to give back, and we inculcate our staff in that. Too many media outlets act as if they’re above it all. I believe if you tie your livelihood only to the fact that you play music, you just marginalize yourself.”
Bruce and Sue also act upon their beliefs: They’ve each served as a board member or officer for many community and civic organizations. As a result, they’ve received several individual and shared honors, including the Lenawee County Chamber of Commerce “Maple Leaf Award” and the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce “Small Business Person of the Year Award.” The Goldsens also actively promote the business to young people by providing internship and learning opportunities for students interested in radio careers. Bruce says he realized long ago the importance of a good mentor, citing the impact Dr. Hugh McCarney, WXCI’s adviser, and other WestConn faculty had on his career.
The Goldsens’ ties to the university and the Danbury area remain strong. In 1998, they came back to campus for the 25th anniversary of WXCI. Both previously had been named “life members” for their contributions to the station. They returned in May 2005 when Bruce was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award at commencement.
“What I learned more than anything at WestConn was how to deal with people in a collaborative way,” Bruce says. “It was my biggest life experience. I found out you can’t be dictatorial and authoritarian — instead you have to find a nice way to let people have your way.”
“Especially when it comes to correctly pronouncing names like Weicker,” Sue adds, with a smile.
Editor’s Note: To celebrate her husband’s receipt of the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award, Sue Goldsen established the Bruce I. Goldsen Radio Broadcasting Scholarship at WestConn. This $1,000 scholarship will be awarded annually to a full-time student majoring in communication, with a concentration in media arts, who has successfully completed a year of study at WestConn with a GPA of 3.0 or better. The first scholarship will be awarded in March 2006.
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