James "JC" Clark AKA DJ Larkin, 1975
James "JC" Clark as DJ Larkin at the MIT Student Center, 1975.
The first MIT student broadcasting station was originally signed on in 1946 as WMIT, becoming WTBS 88.1 FM in 1961. After seeing a need in radio for the Boston black community, Black Students' Union members created a show called The Ghetto between 1969 and 1970.
The soul-music radio program was run by black MIT students and gained popularity in the Cambridge/Boston area. Show creators James “JC” Edmond Clark ’76, SM '81 and Waayl Ahmad Salih ’72, SM/EAA ‘73 named The Ghetto radio show after Donny Hathaway’s 1970 song. Their faculty advisor was longtime MIT electrical-engineering professor Amar Bose ‘51, founder of the Bose company.
Clark worked as the show's producer and did stints as station general manager and program director. He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (Course VI) in 1976 and an MS in Management in 1981. Clark formerly served as the 12th president of South Carolina State University.
