Today WCSR is a mainstay of Hillsdale County. From eighth grade, when Mike Flynn’s uncle Fahey Flynn bought the station, Mike Flynn spent a lot of his time there. Fahey hired his brother Tony, Mike’s dad, who had been in radio in Milwaukee and the Upper Peninsula, to manage the station, and in 1962 Tony moved his family to Hillsdale.

By high school Mike was working regularly at the station and became a full-time employee after he graduated. At the same time he attended Hillsdale College part time. It was 1968 and the war in Vietnam was cranking up. A friend of Tony’s who worked at the draft board contacted him with a heads-up for Mike: Mike’s draft number was coming up and he would be smart to enlist first so he would have options. Mike chose to join the Naval Reserve, where he stayed for 3 years, two in the Philippines on active duty. He first trained at Great Lakes Naval Station before going to San Francisco and the Philippines. 

Mike had a chance to work in the Armed Forces radio, but decided he would rather have a challenge and learn something new. He became part of the Fleet Intelligence Center - Pacific Facility. There he spent his days in a secure facility encoding pilot reports of their bombing strikes in Laos and Cambodia. The coded reports then went to a ponderous computer system where punch cards with the intelligence were prepared by other men. Those things were the size of a large refrigerator and ran huge reels of tape.

A Lt. Commander took a shine to Mike, often inviting him to play golf on the base golf course. Mike’s Chief wasn’t happy … but rank had power, and Mike was the beneficiary.

Discharged from the military, Mike returned home, finished his college education with help from the G.I. bill and was ready to begin his lifelong career at WCSR. 

If you would like to read a history of WCSR CLICK HERE.

JoAnne P. Miller - 2016