June 5, 2011 How does one put her husband’s life into a story, after 35 years of marriage? In 1974 Bob was one of just a couple of guys hired by station manager, Mr. John Weeks, to host radio shows, write and read the news and record commercials. Since the radio station was brand new, it wasn’t quite ready to go on the air. They were behind schedule and the interior of the building was not yet finished off. So for a couple of months before they went on the air, Bob helped build shelves for records and cassettes and other carpentry work. He truly knew the station inside and out. At that time WCJC was an “easy listening” station, it now plays country music. To learn more go to: http://wcjw.com/ When I was in college at SUNY Geneseo I applied and got a weekend announcing/news position “on the air”, hired by Bob. That’s how we met. The station owner was quite old-fashioned and really didn’t want to have a woman on the air. Because of this I wasn’t allowed to do any announcing, but was allowed to write and read the news on Sunday mornings. (I worked there for several months while in college.) Bob later went on to be station manger at WUSJ in Lockport, New York that same year. Then on February 14th, 1975 Bob called me at work to say he had been terminated at his radio job. New management came in and brought their own announcers. He had been there for nine months. At that point Bob decided he wanted to return to photography, his first love, so he opened up the DeMattina Studio of Photography in Lockport. He also worked on short-term jobs at that time, like being the announcer at winter snow festivals. Bob had gotten his name on a civil service list in New York state at that time and in October he was notified about a job opening at Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York. (Attica is a very tiny community about 40 miles outside of Buffalo, in a really rural area.) He thought that was so funny, the very idea of working at a maximum security prison with “lifers”, but went for the interview, due to his curiosity. He couldn’t imagine himself working in a prison. He came home from the interview and decided that he wanted to work there. The position was as a photography instructor of inmates in the prison. This was a new position at the prison. (In 1971 there was a large riot and uprising within the prison. New York’s Governor Nelson Rockefeller sent in the state police to take control and in the end 39 inmates, corrections officers and civilians were dead after several days. For the next several years New York State spent much money working to improve the conditions at Attica Prison. That is how Bob got his position there, a fairly direct result of the riot.) Bob stayed working at the prison for four and-a-half years, while he also completed studies for permanent certification in teaching, (similar to a master's degree). (End of Part 1)