This first installment of my documentary film project is this short film, which covers the conception of WCLK by former Clark College President Vivian Henderson and features accounts of the station’s history as it grew from a small educational station to a major public radio station. President Henderson’s vision of WCLK was as a student training ground within the new Mass Communication Center in 1974, however the energy surrounding the station propelled it as a progressive agent for jazz music and its derivatives – jazz-oriented, neo soul, acid jazz, and funk jazz. Later in the 1970s WCLK outgrew its humble location in McPheeter’s Dennis Hall on Clark College’s campus and moved to the Mass Communication Center’s building. Throughout this documentary project, which will include not only this short film but also a feature-length film, the history of WCLK will unfold through interviews with station managers, station alumni, staff, iconic on-air talent, mainstream and independent jazz, funk, and soul artists, as well as dedicated member-listeners of the station. The feature film will continue to track the historical journey of the station through the 1980s when WCLK’s identity as a progressive agent was cemented, and into the 1990s when format changes threatened the trajectory of the station and featured shows by on-air talent began to transform and challenge the very definition of jazz music. The final feature film will also reveal the story of the survival of the station through public petitions and financial struggles, many of which revolved around conflict over the station’s embrace of traditional jazz vs. contemporary smooth jazz formats.