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David Wells
WNTC member: fall 1964 to spring 1968
active as: disc jockey, newscaster, Publicity Director 64-65, Station Manager 66-68
air names: Dick Knight, Dick Wells
nicknames: none suitable for polite company (but I can still see Sue Burke giggling……..)
favorite WNTC memories: firecracker wars in the air studio, “Invasion” weekends with the
Marathon Maniacs when we kept the station on around the clock
Yahoo WNTC group handle: ten2onethirty
current location: suburban Rochester, New York
current broadcast involvement: peripheral to other activities
After being turned loose by Tech and fooling around with both educational and commercial radio for a while, I abandoned broadcasting for corporate marketing communications. With several years as a suit (account manager) at one of the 40 largest ad agencies in the country, and more time in client-side communications positions, I finally just flamed out as a 9-to-5er.
In 1967 Ted Perkins had got me hooked on snowmobiling in a field behind the Clarkson dorms. (Sound like a drug story? Snow riding is every bit as addictive.)
Working in the powersports industry on a full or part-time basis for most of my adult life, I’ve worn a lot of hats and met a lot of great people. Many of the hats I’ve worn involved the media, particularly magazines and newspapers.
So I continue to write and photograph snowmobile and all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) articles for select publications, as well as consult and create for outdoor power products whole-goods and component manufacturers. It’s kind of like being a ski bum, only better because the scenery changes constantly.
Through the years, I’ve visited some pretty amazing places. Labrador, Gaspé, the Malbaie River Gorge with its mineral-stained ice, Montagne du Diable, James Bay, the Walt Whitman Memorial in Mazinaw Lake, the Allagash, Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon, the bridges through the tree tops of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and Wyoming’s continental divide are just a few of the places I’ve left tracks in the snow. It’s usually done with Ted or my wife Kathy (SUC Oswego ’70, and totally indifferent to college broadcasting) as my touring companion.
These travels have reinforced my long-standing interest in history, and have kindled new interest in topics like why the lay of the land is what it is, the climate of North America, and the diverse culinary specialties like ployes and pasties that we encounter virtually everywhere.
If you’d like to see a bit of what this is all about, Ted has a DVD on the market and you can watch a promotional trailer. Go to and look under “New for 2006” in the middle of the front page for Saddlebag Trail Riding DVD. Hit preview HERE. When the viewing screen comes up, hit the big blue button in the middle of the bottom. It’s also at look under sports, probably on page 4, for “Saddlebag Sledding.” Click on the package and you will be taken to the page that will let you view the free demo.
And if you ride sleds or quads, give me a shout.
About the only contacts I have with broadcasting any more are occasional interviews in connection with racing or our travels by local stations, regional networks, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).