A community college in his hometown was what Dennis Webster needed during a time when he felt "fully lost."
Webster was three weeks into his freshman year at Syracuse University – "a kid from a small town at very big university" in his words – when his father, Doc, died at age 59.
"So, I left Syracuse University after one semester," Webster recalled recently.
He transferred to SUNY Jamestown Community College, where he graduated with an associate degree in 1974 before returning to Syracuse for a bachelor's degree.
Looking back, Webster said: "JCC was an essential place for me to be and get my footing again when I was 18, 19 years of age."
That year and a half at JCC helped lay the foundation for a storied 54-year career in local radio, which culminated in August 2024 with Webster's retirement and was celebrated with his induction into the Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Oct. 21.
Buffalo Broadcasters Association.
"It was extremely moving to be honored in Buffalo for work that I had done for a lifetime here in Jamestown," Webster said. "It made me feel very proud of the radio heritage that my family has here in Jamestown, with my father, Doc Webster, having spent 21 years on the air here."
Doc Webster started at WJTN in Jamestown in 1951. His son joined him in 1970 at age 16, while a junior at Jamestown High School.
"I had always had a keen interest in radio and the idea of being able to speak in one place and be heard in another," Webster said. "I'm still captivated by that idea even today. I enjoyed being around the radio station when I was very young, and I guess have never lost that fascination with it."
During his hall of fame ceremony remarks, Webster mentioned Cy Goldman, the longtime owner and manager of WJTN, who "always used to say that the radio station should be a mirror of the community."
"I really got great satisfaction by striving to be that mirror in terms of representing the arts, the education aspects of the community, some sports, many cultural institutions," he said. "And I really found that to be deeply satisfying to be able to record the events that were happening during the course of time that I was on the air and all of those places to convince the community of their value, to support them in whatever way I could."
While at JCC, Webster wrote for the student newspaper, the Momus, under the guidance of his friend and editor, Ro Woodard of Falconer. The experience broadened the reporting skills he later brought to radio.
"I wrote some articles for that newspaper and, more importantly, did some interviews ... some of the first interviews that I ever conducted with a cassette machine at the time to be transcribed and published in that newspaper," he said. "I was not a born interviewer. It was a skill that I had to learn. And I eventually came to enjoy it a great deal and profit from it in terms of my own knowledge and sharing life about the community with my listeners when I interviewed people. But I didn't begin to learn those skills to gain that ability until I was at Jamestown Community College."
At WJTN, Webster most enjoyed reporting on the region's agricultural scene, including Chautauqua County 4-H, and Jamestown High School's music programs.
Life, of course, has changed since retirement. No longer on the air every day, Webster stays active as a part-time curator at the Lucille M. Wright Air Museum in Jamestown.
He doesn't have to rise at 4 a.m. or ascend the hill to the station on bone-chilling winter mornings. He's happy about that.
"What I do miss is practicing the craft," he said. "I continued to work throughout my career to be better at it, to learn the ways in which radio can be an effective medium for communication and then tailor my skills and my presentation so that I could be most effective at what I did. Whether people liked my work, appreciated the stories that I did, were interested in them or not, I wanted to continue to work to develop the highest quality or a higher quality of delivery and presentation for people. And I miss being on that track, doing that part of the work."
Webster is grateful to the listeners and sponsors who supported his work over the years, including JCC. The college sponsored the high school bowl show that Webster produced for WJTN on campus for 43 years.
A staunch advocate for the college, Webster calls JCC a "great steppingstone to a career or to further education."
"I would encourage anybody who is graduating from high school or looking to find a new career to at least review the possibilities at Jamestown Community College and see what you can achieve there," he said. "Whether you're in Jamestown or Olean, it is often taken for granted and not explored for the great opportunities that it can offer people. And I would just ask that students and families take a moment to review those opportunities."
Much as JCC was there for him decades ago, Webster has supported the college through his work with the Alumni Association. He became involved in the 1980s, when fellow graduate and college employee Nelson Garifi took over leadership of the group.
"I really have found it to be a great way to remain in contact with the school and its activities over the decades," he said, "and to perhaps in a small way give back to a place that was essential to me at a certain point in my life when I was dealing with a tragedy in my family and attempting to find a way to move on with my education and to sort of find my place in the world and in the world of work."