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1400 WSIC - also on 1520 Mocksville

E

eacalhoun1

Since the departure of WFMX and Iredell Broadcasting's acquisition of WSIC, I've been checking our their website a few tiimes a month--since their website had been maintained by Clear Channel. I've noticed that CC's site is now gone and a new one is here:

http://wsic.getmyip.com/wsic/wsicweb/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

It's still under construction, so it's loading may be sporadic. But, the website states the signal is now simulcasted on 1520 in Mocksville--I've forgotten the calls. It also says that 1520 is daytime only--I thought they at least could crank out "cigarette lighter" strength at night.

Eric
 
That was the last station to host the Dwight Barker Show. Anyone know if Dwight is still living?

Last I heard, Jeff and Ouida Watts were the owners. It's a monster of a station...you can hear it in north Charlotte if the wind's blowing right.

Jeff's a crackerjack engineer too. I wonder if he's doing 'SIC's enginnering work now.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV
 
Matt...

Dwight passed away this past October.

From what I understand Mr and Mrs Watts sold WDSL a good number of years ago. His 'ticket' is hanging at WAME but I think he is helping out Billy Buck some...

Test123
 
Sorry to hear about Dwight. I guess he's happy to be reunited with his wife. I'll just say a "Howdy, neighbors..." in his memory. I used to follow him on air with WRKB-FM, and later with WHIP.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV
 
You are correct...blame my foggy memory. I remember a bad accident in which Dwight and Ruby were involved a few years back...now that I remember, Ruby lost both legs but not her life.

Later....
Matt Smith
 
I'm glad to hear somebody's doing something with WDSL. It was silent for many months, and before that, was at a few hundred watts at best- nowhere near the 5kw licensed power. I'm not sure it's even full power now.
 
Jeff is doing some work for WSIC and found some parts for the WDSL transmitter in Georgia somewhere so it will be working better in the future we hope. He's probabley one of the last around that knows how to work on these antiques. I spent some time with Bill the other day and things seem to be going good at WSIC. Jeff is dragging around an oxygen tank all the time now I am told. I need to get back in touch with him. We spent a lot of time together back in the 70's chasing thunderstorms and fixing transmitters. One day we did both in Taylorsville and followed the same storm all the way to Hamlet where I crawled through the window around midnight.
 
I've known Jeff for many years. Probably one of the best "coathanger and paperclip" engineers ever. How many folks do you know that would buy a 99 cent brush, take one of the bristles and superglue it in to replace a broken off VU meter pointer?
 
That's Jeff. Nuf said. He can do stuff like that and it ends up working as good or better than it did in the first place. You don't realize how much you learn from the man till years later a situation comes up and you take care of it, look back and think "that's how Jeff would have done it".
 
How many folks do you know that would buy a 99 cent brush, take one of the bristles and superglue it in to replace a broken off VU meter pointer?
Click to expand...
Jeff told me today he was working on transmitter that had a strange noise in it. One of the fans or something. He wedged his oxygen bottle in and it quieted down. So he let out the restof the oxygen, took the valves off and straped it in place. Problem solved. I always said I could look in a transmitter for 2 min. and tell if he had been there before me.
 
Yep- I amassed quite a collection of abandoned test leads by following in his footsteps. I don't think he has ever replaced a single time delay tube in any transmitter he worked on-a test lead across the socket, and on to the next calamity...not that I ever did that either.
 
Sounds like our path may have crossed a time or 2. I got out of radio in the late 70's. Still did some engineering to help Jeff out for a while. Saw him yesterday. He's doing pretty good.
 
Last I saw Jeff, he was hangin' around 550 in Statesville. Anybody know what's going on over there?
 
I was there to see Jeff just the other day. Running feed from sat. is all I could see. Not much else. I think mornings are live.
 
The morning show is classic country and there's a veteran DJ doing it. The rest of the time, when they happen to be playing music, it's a satellite format that used to be standards but now it's lite oldies with some new performances of old songs from the big band era and early rock era.
 
That veteran DJ is J.D. Benfield...I long time fixture in Statesville radio...

The satellite format that they run the rest of the day is ABC's Stardust. Same as WEGO in Concord and WNMX in Waxhaw, all three GHB stations...

t123
 
I had the good fortune to work with Jeff during my sting at WFMX/WSIC (1988-90). The last time I spoke with him was back in September (I called because I noticed that WACB in Taylorsville STILL was broadcasting from only one channel of their cd player, server, or whatever their main audio source is). Jeff said it was probably hooked up that way to begin with (he didn't do the original installation), but he'd fix it.

He's not only one of the great old engineers who understand tubes as well as solid state and computers, but he's one of the great souls I've ever encountered. I worked with him very briefly, the better part of 20 years ago. But he remembered me instantly. I sure as hell never forgot him. Never will! 'Nuff said.
 
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