I was very saddened to discover that one of my favorite professors passed away this Spring. Not being very patriotic, I tend to be annoyed by Marquette’s alumnus magazine: it blathers on about Catholicism, shows the school gentrifying Milwaukee as it pushes the poor into the ‘burbs and other hypocritical things. Hence, I give it a quick look, see the good news regarding people I knew (I’m glad to see anybody doing well with one exception, the petty asshole dropout who became governor of Wisconsin) and then I throw it into the recycling bin. There was no mention of Grams in the April or May issue from my recollection, I found out through the separate newsletter for the Communication school. How it brought tears to my eyes.
I also felt like a complete schmuck too. I had sent him an e-mail about a month or two after his funeral thanking him for the History of Broadcasting course I took; a different story why. Not receiving a reply didn’t bother me, I never got one thanking Dr. Thorn for being right on Deep Throat’s identity. Since the message didn’t bounce back, I figured Dr. Grams was too busy to reply and/or figure out who the hell I was. You’d think Marquette had an IT department with half a brain to sent up an auto-response or close the account.
Anyway, I want to celebrate the man’s life, career and how he made my life richer.
I first met Dr. Grams in 1989 for his Broadcast Law course. By then, Broadcasting had become my minor as I had changed to PR as my major; I was hoping to become a promotions director in a radio station. Things looked hopeful because I currently had an internship doing this at WQFM.
Anyway, Grams made the dry subject enjoyable instead of it being a painful pre-requisite to more exciting courses. Having been born in the Thirties, he provided some important context to key laws covered in class: the FRC/FCC’s creation, the 7/7/7 rule, what constitutes a lottery, the Fairness Doctrine and the Pacifica ruling.
Grams was then my instructor the following Fall for Radio Programming. Now I was an intern with concert promoter Stardate so the minor was turning into a hobby. I wish I had a transcript of my grades. I know I received a good one here, I just don’t remember what it was exactly.
Highlights were a paper on programming: is it an art or a science? My answer was colored by watching WQFM’s slow death up close…it’s an art being strangled to death through pseudo-science, still is today.
The other was a format proposal. Each student went before the class to pitch what they would do based upon an earlier analysis assignment we did of the 30-plus stations in Milwaukee. The majority proposed completely changing to something new, namely what would be called Alternative today. Although I was a fan (still am) of such music, my experience at WQFM and living in Milwaukee for a couple years said these people missed the point. Advertisers are the lifeblood of radio stations. This format wouldn’t entice a large enough audience with the discretionary income to survive beyond a year; it was why Milwaukee also lacked a true “Black” FM station, code for Rap or Soul. Thus, I went with tweaking WBZN, the market’s struggling Smooth Jazz station. After I concluded that my changes were being done to appeal to a specific, affluent crowd it would make the general Arbitron/Birch rating irrelevant. Grams jumped in emphatically saying “EXACTLY!” To me it was his way of telling the class, “See, this guy gets it while the rest of you are spouting off wishful thinking.”
Too bad it all went to waste. Over the Christmas break, I had loss interest in broadcasting altogether for numerous reasons. I also quit the Stardate gig. I was some kind of panic to graduate sooner and make the shift to the publishing industry; I had been bitten by the Mac and QuarkXpress.
However, I only needed three more hours to achieve the Broadcasting minor and Grams had a History of Early Broadcasting opening. This one was when the man really shined. It was filled with amazing stories about Marconi, Sarnoff, Paley, Armstrong, the Lindbergh Baby trial, Orson Welles, etc. I did a paper/presentation on Marconi and I can refute all the lies Tesla proponents keep spewing. Sometimes, Grams demonstrated his obliviousness on how much times had changed, namely the day he played some recordings of the Amos n’ Andy Show. Only one Black student got irritated. The day we listened to the whole 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, Grams explained the important details on how Welles tapped into the nation’s gullibility and paranoid mood then. Plus, the scary bits were timed to happen during an opera singer’s number on the more popular Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show, people were “channel surfing” for something else until it was over.
Outside Marquette, Dr. Grams had an amazing career. Many respected him for having a lengthy career in the “real world,” while most of his peers had always been in Academia. This is great with Science, History or Literature. It’s a recipe for failure with Business, Medicine and Communication. Numerous Milwaukeeans, namely those who were at least 10 years older than me recognized him as the host of Grams on Jazz, his show on WTMJ. When I read his obituary, I knew he was very knowledgeable of this genre and often promoted Marquette’s jazz ensemble which didn’t receive the funding the school’s band got. His friendship with Louis Armstrong and Gary Marshall was a surprise. Grams never name-dropped in class. I wish he did a little.
His prolific writing about the model-railroad hobby brought a huge smile to my face. This was another topic he never discussed with the class. Again, it would’ve been great if he discussed this aspect of his lengthy, ongoing career. Then other Broadcasting majors could see the importance of diversifying their skills. My younger self was starting to see the wisdom in such tactics.
Marquette was gracious enough to publish a mailing address for his only child residing in the Chicago area. Before the year is over, I plan to write a thoughtful letter to her with a belated thank you to Dr. Grams. He made my life richer and made teaching his History of Broadcasting course a fantasy of mine. Maybe I will have the opportunity in the future, once I win the lottery and/or quickly earn a PhD.