Charles Cusimano '70

Publication Date

Retired tv executive

Charles Cusimano

1920 - 2020
|WRUC

celebrates a century

It has been 50-plus years since we scrambled to get every dorm, building, nook and cranny on campus lit up on WRUC - Radio Union College! My freshman-year Christmas break was spent crawling through the cellars and attics of these buildings, helping Sweed and others hard wire the station's feed into their electrical systems.

I supported the on-air team by helping develop promos, sell ads and coordinate the airing of paid commercials. It was a fun being part of an energetic group dedicated to making the station part of the campus life.

Upon graduation my wife and I moved to Boston to join Procter & Gamble’s manufacturing management program. My 32-year career took us to Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia, back to Boston, on to England and Germany and finally, back to Boston where we retired to enjoy our four grandchildren, renovate our 1771 colonial and spend more time making furniture.

At least I thought I retired. Once we settled back into Scituate, I volunteered to serve on a couple of the town’s committees. This led to a second career, first as the town’s project manager for the extension of the commuter rail from Boston, then as the public works director and finally as the interim town manager.

My broadcast career? In the mid-2010’s a friend and I developed a community cable TV show called "I Always Wanted to Do That!” In the course of 24 episodes, we interviewed local people who had interesting careers, hobbies or interests … all local heroes, all entertaining personalities and all fun to meet.

After Union, Cusimano taught school for two years, then took a job as a DJ and salesman at a radio station in Burlington, Vt. He moved to TV sales, then TV sales management and eventually became GM of a TV station in Sarasota, Fla., retiring in January 2020.

UNION COLLEGE MAGAZINE

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