The worst radio station technical plant I've ever seen.

[frankberry]

These are photos of WIPC, Lake Wales, Florida. They were taken in 1967.

Photos from Jim Maloy's website www.radioyears.com

The Control Room. UGH!
In the early '70s I built a new Control Room but I re-used the old Gates console. I put the console in a new cabinet.
The console had great specs and sounded terrific.


The Production Room. HIDEOUS!
Like the Control Room, I built a new Production Room in the early '70s. I didn't keep a single piece of the old equipment.
I was on a budget so I installed a 5 channel Sparta console and turntables, an Ampex AG600 tape machine and a Gates Criterion cart recorder and, of course, a new microphone.


The Gates BC1D transmitter.
Believe it or not, I kept the transmitter. It had a big modulation transformer with lots of iron in it. The transmitter sounded great and modulated like crazy. Eventually, after a bad lightning strike which damaged the oscillator (in the left rack) beyond repair, I replaced it with a Gates BC1H which actually didn't modulate as well as the old 1D.


Please feel free to post old photos of really bad stations that you have encountered through the years.

 

[Mikey Radio]

I need to get a few photos of one station I worked at out of storage and scan them.. They're from the 1990s and though they don't look quite this bad, they're not too far off in some ways - That station still had their original 4 tube 1kW AM transmitter from the 1950s humming along at that point, too.

BTW, is this you, Frank? Also, I'd forgotten until I saw the author of that site refer to you as "Dr. Frank Berry" that you hold a PhD!

Radio Years.com

History of Central Florida Radio Stations. Biographies, Memorabilia, and Audio clips of Central Florida radio stations and personalities.

www.radioyears.com

 

[frankberry]

I need to get a few photos of one station I worked at out of storage and scan them.. They're from the 1990s and though they don't look quite this bad, they're not too far off in some ways - That station still had their original 4 tube 1K AM transmitter from the 1950s humming along at that point, too.

BTW, is this you, Frank? Also, I'd forgotten until I saw the author of that site refer to you as "Dr. Frank Berry" that you hold a PhD!

Radio Years.com

History of Central Florida Radio Stations. Biographies, Memorabilia, and Audio clips of Central Florida radio stations and personalities.

www.radioyears.com

That's me! I worked with Jim Maloy many years ago and we've stayed in touch.

 

[Kelly A]

Back when Disney was still doing Radio Disney, a friend of mine was taking care of their Seattle area transmitter plant. One day his wife got a job out of the area, and he asked me to take over keeping an eye on it after he left. What I discovered, was the plant had not only been severely neglected, but had been infested with large rats, who had made the equipment racks and transmitter a literal rat condo. Each piece of gear in the rack was covered with rat poo and urine. I sent photos of the mess to the DOE of RD and he agreed with me, that nobody should be working in that place until it's all cleaned up, openings sealed, air conditioning installed, and all the gear replaced. I called an exterminator to give me an estimate. Walked up to the front door from the outside and turned the lock slowly, telling the exterminator to 'watch this'. After swinging the door open, dozens of rats started jumping out of the various rack levels and running out the door. The exterminator screamed like a little girl and ran back to his pickup. He said that was the worst infestation he'd ever seen, and there was no way he would go back in there. Ultimately, I sealed up the rat entrances, turned a couple cats loose in the building, and dawned my Tyvek bunny suit and respirator. I literally pushed the racks into the back of a rented pickup truck, equipment and all, and hauled it all to the local dump, where I happily pushed the lot into a pit. Once contractors cleaned and painted the building, installed air conditioning, new equipment and racks started arriving. I installed all the new gear, returned that site to the air, handed the keys to a new caretaker, and never looked back,

 

[Greg Strickland]

Hantavirus is possible in a rat environment. Mask up, don't sweep and use a wet-dry vacuum located outside downwind, with a long hose running inside. One approach is spraying rat droppings and surfaces with a cleaner confirmed to subdue the virus, wait the prescribed time, then use the vacuum as described above.

 

[landtuna]

These are photos of WIPC, Lake Wales, Florida. They were taken in 1967.

Photos from Jim Maloy's website www.radioyears.com

The Control Room. UGH!
In the early '70s I built a new Control Room but I re-used the old Gates console. I put the console in a new cabinet.
The console had great specs and sounded terrific.
View attachment 3099

The Production Room. HIDEOUS!
Like the Control Room, I built a new Production Room in the early '70s. I didn't keep a single piece of the old equipment.
I was on a budget so I installed a 5 channel Sparta console and turntables, an Ampex AG600 tape machine and a Gates Criterion cart recorder and, of course, a new microphone.
View attachment 3100

The Gates BC1D transmitter.
Believe it or not, I kept the transmitter. It had a big modulation transformer with lots of iron in it. The transmitter sounded great and modulated like crazy. Eventually, after a bad lightning strike which damaged the oscillator (in the left rack) beyond repair, I replaced it with a Gates BC1H which actually didn't modulate as well as the old 1D.
View attachment 3101

Please feel free to post old photos of really bad stations that you have encountered through the years.

Good Lord! I still have a working reel to reel Sony identical to the one in the photo. It is a tube model. I bought it at the Navy Exchange in Yokosuka Japan in 1965 and it rode almost 2 years with me on my destroyer.

 

[valvashon]

Back when Disney was still doing Radio Disney, a friend of mine was taking care of their Seattle area transmitter plant. One day his wife got a job out of the area, and he asked me to take over keeping an eye on it after he left. What I discovered, was the plant had not only been severely neglected, but had been infested with large rats, who had made the equipment racks and transmitter a literal rat condo. Each piece of gear in the rack was covered with rat poo and urine. I sent photos of the mess to the DOE of RD and he agreed with me, that nobody should be working in that place until it's all cleaned up, openings sealed, air conditioning installed, and all the gear replaced. I called an exterminator to give me an estimate. Walked up to the front door from the outside and turned the lock slowly, telling the exterminator to 'watch this'. After swinging the door open, dozens of rats started jumping out of the various rack levels and running out the door. The exterminator screamed like a little girl and ran back to his pickup. He said that was the worst infestation he'd ever seen, and there was no way he would go back in there. Ultimately, I sealed up the rat entrances, turned a couple cats loose in the building, and dawned my Tyvek bunny suit and respirator. I literally pushed the racks into the back of a rented pickup truck, equipment and all, and hauled it all to the local dump, where I happily pushed the lot into a pit. Once contractors cleaned and painted the building, installed air conditioning, new equipment and racks started arriving. I installed all the new gear, returned that site to the air, handed the keys to a new caretaker, and never looked back,

Wasn't this site up on West Seattle's Pigeon Point? Thought there was at least one other station diplexing that antenna. What was the deal with their equipment?

 

[Kelly A]

Wasn't this site up on West Seattle's Pigeon Point? Thought there was at least one other station diplexing that antenna.

Yes, the former KFOX later turned into Catholic Radio, was in the suite next door to RD. I had never been in that side to see what condition things were in.

What was the deal with their equipment?

I assume they did a better job of maintaining their side of the building by not allowing places for rodents to enter.

 

[frankberry]

This is another hideous Control Room. WQPD, Lakeland, Florida. Taken in 1975 before they built a new Control Room.

 

[gr8oldies]

WSLM, Salem, IN has always been an atrocious plant

 

[Kelly A]

Yes, the former KFOX later turned into Catholic Radio, was in the suite next door to RD. I had never been in that side to see what condition things were in.

I assume they did a better job of maintaining their side of the building by not allowing places for rodents to enter.

Sorry, I misspoke. Been a few years. 1150 is Catholic Radio and 1250 was the old KFOX, turned RD. Was never in the 1150 side of the duplex-building.

 

[ZantennaG1]

I have to wonder if Justin from Minnesota is on this website? He used to live in Wyoming, and he's described 1230 KVOC Casper as having a terrible equipment room that had wires hanging from the ceiling, and it looked all dusty.

 

[davect]

I’ve seen worse!

 

[Mikey Radio]

I’ve seen worse!

Got photos to share?

 

[Kelly A]

I have to wonder if Justin from Minnesota is on this website? He used to live in Wyoming, and he's described 1230 KVOC Casper as having a terrible equipment room that had wires hanging from the ceiling, and it looked all dusty.

I think most of the radio stations in Wyoming are pretty much junk heaps. Was visiting Casper and got a tour of a group of stations owned by (can't recall his name, I believe he lived in the Boston area). Had lunch with their contract engineer. During lunch he made the mistake of asking me what I thought of their plants. I said that actually, he should be ashamed of the poor quality of work and lack of attention to detail with his installations, including obvious lack of maintenance. One small example: One of the main transmitters was down, so he had a smaller transmitter connected to power via a cut off extension cord with the connections literally taped with electrical tape, to tails hanging out of the transmitter frame. And he was proud of that?? At that same site, there were literally two FM stations with their five and six bay antennas mounted back-to-back on a small Rohn 25G tower. No chances of pattern distortion or creating harmful interference there!

 

[bigdonho]

I have worked at some real dogs. The first station I worked at was in a mobile home. When the wind blew hard the whole building moved around and the records would skip. Another station had a very old Gates console with a bent VU meter indicator. remote for the turntables was a light switch. To remote the Ampex 600, a light switch broke the motor power. The there was the station with a 50 kW transmitter that the roof fell in on during a rain storm while the transmitter was operating. All of the rain water and liquified rat poo really did a number on it. I was actually starting to give the furry litle criters names. I had to wear a respirator whenever I went in the building. Ah, the joy of it all.

 

[frankberry]

I know of an FM station which located their transmitter and studio in a mobile home. The trailer sat directly next to the tower.
There was so much RF in the trailer that the station had to operate the transmitter at a very low power (250 watts rather than their licensed 5kW). They actually fed the IPA driver stage directly to the antenna and bypassed the 5kW power amplifier entirely.
The station operated in this mode for several years before the station was sold and the studios were moved to a remote location.

 

[Kelly A]

 

[landtuna]

I know of an FM station which located their transmitter and studio in a mobile home. The trailer sat directly next to the tower.
There was so much RF in the trailer that the station had to operate the transmitter at a very low power (250 watts rather than their licensed 5kW). They actually fed the IPA driver stage directly to the antenna and bypassed the 5kW power amplifier entirely.
The station operated in this mode for several years before the station was sold and the studios were moved to a remote location.

Did the airstaff walk a bit bow-legged after a couple months on air?

 

[Mikey Radio]

One small example: One of the main transmitters was down, so he had a smaller transmitter connected to power via a cut off extension cord with the connections literally taped with electrical tape, to tails hanging out of the transmitter frame. And he was proud of that??

I've struggled and dealt with this kind of mentality a few times. Unfortunately "engineers" who haven't been trained or taught any better, or who spent the majority of their careers working for smaller stations that were run on shoestring budgets with old equipment that was held together with bubble gum and electrical tape don't always understand even basic concepts like cable dressing, color coding or proper labeling. At times they also make quick "temporary fixes" in a hurry just to solve a problem, and after some time, that temporary fix ends up becoming permanent.

I once managed a relatively new installation (literally just months into operation) where there was an on/off switch in one of the studio racks that operated a contactor inside the breaker panel to power down some gear when the facility wasn't manned. The staff reported an issue with that switch, and the next day I noticed it wasn't working and the gear was always powered on. Turns out one of the guys opened the panel and used a combination of thin cardboard jammed into the thing and held in place by a ball of duct tape to "fix" the problem. The front of the panel wasn't put back in place and was left propped against the wall. Mind you, the new gear and the installation was still well under warranty and had that "repair" been left, it'd probably have remained like that forever. The guy who made that "repair" came from a facility where they had little money and this is the type of fix he'd have made there, and he failed to see any problem with it and thought it was just the right thing to do. In the end, a quick phone call had the thing fixed and operating properly under warranty within an afternoon.