I just remembered in the last couple days, a figure from my college days. Marty Lanser worked at the student radio station KUGR at WSU. If I remember correctly, he was, maybe a senior while I was a freshman, but he had a great delivery for the top 40 station.
One day, while listening, my roommate told me that he was blind. I really couldn't believe it, I was only 19 and the thought that a blind man could be so commanding on the radio didn't quite sink in.
When the campus newspaper, The Daily Evergreen did a story on him, it confirmed what my roommate had told me.
When I got on board at KUGR, I think that he had already graduated. I think he finished at the semester. I did get to meet him when he did a fill in shift or something. He told me that he had a job lined up at KUJ. I would meet him again, where he told me that the job had fallen through.
When I was by KUJ, a Walla Walla station, they said that he wouldn't be able to read the news. It hit me several decades later that they probably just didn't want to make maybe the smallest accommodations for him. My guess is that they would be minimal and pay dividends. He seemed pretty independent.
From what I could find on the web, it looks like he did carve out a great career in radio. I am in the process of seeing if I can contact him. Maybe I can expand on this story.
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