Time Line of Take Over - 1980-1983
| March 1980 | $70,000 per year granted to WAER for its operation by the S.I. Newhouse school of Public Communications. |
| July 1980 | Tom Hardy hired. |
| Late 1980 | Plans to affiliate WAER with the Corporation of Public Broadcasting suggested by Hardy. |
| January 1981 | WAER Constitution "suspended and under review" by John Prucha (Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs) |
| Early 1981 | Plans for hiring of Program Director announced by Hardy and Prucha. Search committee formed. |
| February 1981 | Senior Staff election procedures in limbo. Program Director, Patti DiSalvo, organizes election anyway. Hardy does not participate, yet accepts results. |
| April 1981 | A 57 page "Policies and Procedures" manual, written by Tom Hardy, appears in print. It endorses a professional program director, the appointment of a senior staff by the professional management, the hiring of a chief engineer, CPB affiliation and "hire/fire" power to the general manager. |
| May 1981 | "Policies and Procedures" manual edited by the senior staff and submitted to Vice Chancellor Prucha and Associate Vice Chancellor Dr. Lowell Davis. |
| June 1981 | Prucha rejects changes. Original document approved. |
| June 30, 1981 | Senior Staff unanimously rejects the "Policies and Procedures" manual, cites deceit, unfairness, unwillingness to edit manual as reasons. Hardy and staff become confrontational. |
| August 24, 1981 | Patti DiSalvo (Music Director) and Jeff Mayer (Promotions Director) fired for "disregard of management authority." Station shut off at 4:20PM. Hardy goes on air at 5:00PM. |
| August 25, 1981 | Station returned to student control at 1:00PM. News conference produces TV coverage and newspaper headlines. |
| August 27, 1981 | After a great deal of media coverage, SU administration rehires Jeff and Patti in exchange for cooperation from the students in ending the publicity. |
| December 1981 | Ad Hoc committee on WAER formed by Chancellor Eggers to examine situation and deliver a report. |
| January 1982 | Program Director never hired. Tom Hardy resigns. |
| February 1982 | Ron Harig hired as interim General Manager. |
| April 13, 1982 | WAER 35th anniversary press coverage brings SU Administration to pledge to "expand the diverse programming" on FM88. |
| May 1982 | Senior Staff asked not to seek underwriting by the SU student fee by Paul Eickmann, Vice President for Student Affairs. |
| July 1982 | Budget slashed by an undetermined amount. Paid student engineering staff cut from 168 hours per week to 30 hours per week. |
| September 1982 | David Anderson hired as General Manager. |
| December 1982 - January 1983 | Senior staff begins format evaluations with Anderson (seven meetings). |
| January 1983 | Additional cost cutting measures takes away UPI News feed and long distance telephone access. Paid engineering cut to five hours per week. |
| February 1983 | "Sound of the '80s" format tested. Mike Shore fired as operations director. New Senior Staff "appointed". |
| March 23, 1983 | Anderson rejects "Sound of the '80s" and announces the new format as "Jazz and News". Anderson sets deadline of April 22 for Senior Staff to accept format change. |
| April 22, 1983 | Station taken off the air at 3:18PM. Five Senior Staff members failed to agree to the new format. Station put back on the air briefly for a Syracuse Chiefs baseball broadcast. |
| April 25, 1983 | Senior Staff meets with Chancellor Eggers to discuss situation. After a 3 1/2 hour meeting, it becomes evident that students have lost control of the station. Remaining Senior Staff members resign. Station remains off the air except for Syracuse Chiefs baseball games. |
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Last Modified October 14, 2005 |