One of
his strengths was sounding like a friend to the legions of teenagers
who tuned in every night. Much of his show depended on telephone
interaction with the listeners, like this example from October 21,
1965.
An argument
can be made that the single most published photograph in Hartford
history was Dick's DRC publicity shot. It appeared in all
the CSB ads, running week after week in both Hartford newspapers.
Dick and his broadcast colleagues have trained thousands of radio
and TV professionals. As the school prospered the Robinsons moved
to Glastonbury, and later Farmington, and in time, each of his three
children enrolled in the course. Numerous WDRC colleagues
served as assistant directors of CSB including Bill
Hennessey, Bob
Ellsworth, Jim
Jeffrey and Walt
Pinto.
The year 1967
brought several changes to WDRC and Dick Robinson. Big
D had successfully raided WPOP and installed its nighttime host,
Ken Griffin,
in Dick's old slot. The legendary Joey
Reynolds began a new early-evening shift and Dick settled into
afternoon drive. In May WDRC moved from its Bloomfield headquarters
to brand new studios at 750 Main Street in
Hartford, and the station responded to FCC dictates by seperating
AM and FM programming 50% of the time. In August Dick was appointed
chief announcer. He also began working part-time in sales.
Over the years Dick relied on prominent CSB graduates to record
spots for the school. This one was recorded by WDRC alumnus Bill
Hart around 1975.
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