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C       1 3  Budget Woes and New Programs 1935–41 It’s that weather man of yours who beats everything. . . . I get a great bang out of listening to him. Throughout the early 1930s WHA never appeared in the university budget; its funding came directly from state government through its Emergency Board. Some observers have maintained that this was an asset, because it focused attention on the radio operation. University president Glenn Frank assumed this situation would continue: the Emergency Board had provided funds for the 1931–33 biennium and the first year of the 1933–35 biennium. In June 1934, at the request of the University Radio Committee, he asked Governor Albert Schmedeman to fund the balance of the biennium. The Emergency Board designated $16,623 for the next fiscal year.1 In 1935 the university again omitted WHA from its appropriation request. Frank appeared before the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee and said he felt the radio station should not be part of the university budget. In part, the university was feeling the financial pressures of the Depression, but Frank also believed that many of WHA’s functions were “not closely connected” with the university and were instead serving schools, farmers, homemakers, and other groups.2 John Stanley Penn points out in his dissertation that this view was at odds with the Wisconsin Idea and could just as easily be applied to the Extension Division and many functions of the College of Agriculture.3 In response, Governor Philip LaFollette included WHA in his budget request for the only other state agency that had any radio function, the Department of Agriculture and Markets. When the legislature approved the request, it transferred control of WHA to the agency. The governor did not intend that the transfer would change or interfere with WHA’s operation. Rather, the move was designed only to ensure the station’s continuance.4 The responsibility for 134 the operation and administration of WHA remained with the University Radio Committee. La Follette’s appropriation provided $20,000 for each year of the biennium, a substantial increase. The legislature appropriated $12,550 more for a new 5,000-watt transmitter. For 1937–38 the station’s budget increased to $24,000 and for 1938–39 to $27,000. The FCC had recently rejected a power increase for WLBL and the Washington officials stated that the station was not in the optimum location to take advantage of the requested change. Some state lawmakers felt that reviving the legislation to transmit programs over the ten commercial stations might be preferable to appropriating more funds for WLBL. The thought was that the savings arising from discontinuing the Stevens Point station could be applied to the cost of the ten-station hookup. In reaction to the criticism from the FCC, officials with the Department of Markets worked to improve conditions at WLBL so they could make a new request for a power increase.5 In January 1938 a new remote broadcast line was installed between Radio Hall and the weather bureau office in North Hall, the oldest building on campus .The bureau was still staffed by Eric Miller, a participant in the station since the days of the 9XM telegraphic weather broadcasts. Having the broadcast line to his office allowed Miller to present the forecast himself beginning on February 7; within a week, commercial station WCLO in Janesville began rebroadcasting the feature. Miller’s informal and unpretentious style immediately charmed his listeners . Some said he was the most unintentionally funny person on radio. On one occasion a phone call was routed to his office during his broadcast, and the telephone rang continuously in the background until he finally said, “Hang on while I answer that blasted telephone, will you?” With the microphone still live, the radio audience heard him answer “Weather bureau” and give the caller the current temperature before continuing his broadcast. On another occasion he had just finished giving the forecast when listeners heard a long pause, after which Miller said, “Now what on earth am I thinking about? That was yesterday’s forecast. I really must straighten up this desk.” In commenting on crop conditions Miller once said, “Farmers are planting sweet potatoes in Georgia. They’re coming up in Florida.” Then, realizing how that sounded, he said: “Uh, well now, how about that for a long root system!” One radio listener encountered Miller on the street one day and found the forecaster...

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