Here's another creative suggestion for Lumberyard 14~Forty: why not sell recently unemployed See B.S. announcers an hour or two of airtime and let them run airchecks or trash talk their former employer? Not since Radio Bruce (the old KZZP AM 13~Ten) has such a brilliant idea been suggested. We'll even lend Gumpdusky $37.87 to keep their 52 watts running a couple of hours after local sunset! Merry Winter Soltace from the Buckeye Boyz!
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
A day in the life of a lamptimer
- Thread starter DrAkbar
- Start date
If I may at least temporarily resurrect this long-running thread with
news that the origin of the "lamptimer legend" has been discovered,
with credit (or blame?
) to be given to Michael Hagerty, and more
amazing is that it was triggered by a discussion elsewhere about a
previous occupant on 1440.
There is an aircheck on Reel Radio (www.reelradio.com, subscription
required but well worth it) of Tony Evans on KDOT 1440 Scottsdale in
1964. This is an earlier Tony Evans, later of KRIZ--not the present
Tony Evans (KOPA/KSLX/channel 3 voice/now KYOT). Comments on
the 'check evolved (or were sidetracked as we often do here ;D) to
the current occupant and format (KAZG/oldies), including these two
excerpts of several comments from November 28, 2005:
"Michael, I was also disgusted when I first heard KAZG sign off,
just last week....right in the middle of a song. No ID, no nothing.
Just like somebody threw the switch, turned out the lights and
went home."
Gee, doesn't that sound familiar?
Then this response from Michael Hagerty:
"My guess is that they probably have some low-tech solution
going on...like a lawn irrigation or lamp timer hooked up to
turn on and turn off the transmitter."
And there you go.
Usual disclaimer that any findings of earlier mentions of a
"lamptimer in the Lumberyard" here on R-I or elsewhere
will of course be welcomed.
news that the origin of the "lamptimer legend" has been discovered,
with credit (or blame?
) to be given to Michael Hagerty, and moreamazing is that it was triggered by a discussion elsewhere about a
previous occupant on 1440.
There is an aircheck on Reel Radio (www.reelradio.com, subscription
required but well worth it) of Tony Evans on KDOT 1440 Scottsdale in
1964. This is an earlier Tony Evans, later of KRIZ--not the present
Tony Evans (KOPA/KSLX/channel 3 voice/now KYOT). Comments on
the 'check evolved (or were sidetracked as we often do here ;D) to
the current occupant and format (KAZG/oldies), including these two
excerpts of several comments from November 28, 2005:
"Michael, I was also disgusted when I first heard KAZG sign off,
just last week....right in the middle of a song. No ID, no nothing.
Just like somebody threw the switch, turned out the lights and
went home."
Gee, doesn't that sound familiar?
Then this response from Michael Hagerty:
"My guess is that they probably have some low-tech solution
going on...like a lawn irrigation or lamp timer hooked up to
turn on and turn off the transmitter."
And there you go.
Usual disclaimer that any findings of earlier mentions of a
"lamptimer in the Lumberyard" here on R-I or elsewhere
will of course be welcomed.
Most excellent research, Oldiesfan as now there is documented proof that the lamptimer exists and you have it on good authority from a more credible source than Nurse Jeff and me. And for the non-believers, please check out this colossal waste of bandwidth that contains Lumberyard 14~Forty jingles, the notorious carrier dump sign off and out of nowhere sign on all sans legal ID: http://www.jinglemad.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?66948
We may have a winner in town with the Cards, but Gumpdusky still doesn't care about the Lumberyard!
We may have a winner in town with the Cards, but Gumpdusky still doesn't care about the Lumberyard!
oldiesfan6479 said:If I may at least temporarily resurrect this long-running thread with
news that the origin of the "lamptimer legend" has been discovered,
with credit (or blame?
amazing is that it was triggered by a discussion elsewhere about a
previous occupant on 1440.
That's awesome! Great detective work!
T
The Beave
Guest
I know Paul... HE works up here on the 49th parallel, but alas he was banned by RI. (for what I din't know)
But I sure liked the sign-off. (no I.D.)
But good to hear some decent people out there that have those.
BTW - I'm waiting for the 2nd generation lamp timers to appear with a "Time and Standards" radio on them.
wake me when Grumpdusky gets one.
But I sure liked the sign-off. (no I.D.)
But good to hear some decent people out there that have those.
BTW - I'm waiting for the 2nd generation lamp timers to appear with a "Time and Standards" radio on them.
wake me when Grumpdusky gets one.
oldiesfan6479 said:If I may at least temporarily resurrect this long-running thread with
news that the origin of the "lamptimer legend" has been discovered,
with credit (or blame?
amazing is that it was triggered by a discussion elsewhere about a
previous occupant on 1440...
My goodness, OldiesFan! I'm never ceased to be amazed by your discoveries of such information, hidden by billions of additional web pages and years gone by. You may have just found the very first mention of the lamptimer! You're unbeatable at internet search research.
Now, if I can only pinpoint the sound I heard at my first visit to the Lumberyard. It sounded something like, "ka-pow" (not to be confused with kilo-ampere power). I'm thinking it was the lamptimer backfiring with a plume of smoke rising from it, but nothing could be seen...
No wait, it was probably Dr. Akbar's Gremlin on Thomas!
It's a new month and that means the Lumberyard stays alive for another 30 minutes in the evening hours. During the Super Bowl half-time show last night, I decided to turn on 1440 AM and was happy to see the Lumberyard still blazing past 6:00 P.M. The lamptimer shut the gig down at approximately 6:11 P.M. It's good to have the Lumberyard blazin' past 6:00!
KOOL Listener Lauren said:
KLL, you are waaaay too young to remember when cars (even very old cars.....older than you even) backfire. And Gremlins didn't have enough horsepower to backfire. You had to put several ounces of brake fluid into a large, closed container then light it off. THAT was a backfire! Don't ask how I know.
Backfires are a special effects attribute of the movie and TV industry. It doesn't happen in real life, well, except for my dad and uncle who were once working on an old Jeep and it did backfire with a plume of smoke and fire past the firewall and into the front seat where I, a very young lad of 1.5 years not wearing a diaper at the time, was standing. According to rumor I proceeded to wet down the fire immediately and then leaned on the horn which my dad and uncle greatly appreciated since their hearing was now as torched as their eyebrows. Probably nothing more than family lore. I admit nothing.
landtuna said:
Last time the Gremlin backfired is when Nurse Jeff ordered a Burrito Supremo at one of the many -bertos littering the landscrape around the Valley. And I don't think it was an AMC issue, if you get my drift!
Nice to know Gumpdusky reset the Lamptimer at Lumberyard 14~Forty. Now how about a DX report on power abuser K-FuNN? The Mighty 15~Ten always seems to power up before local sunrise and after local sunset. Perhaps they should talk to the local K Mart and see if they can back order the same lamptimer Gumpdusky is using!
landtuna said:
Well, if we need someone to put out a fire, we sure know who we can ask! ;D
T
The Beave
Guest
Dr. Akbar said:
I'm sure the Dr. and his intern Bryan... would be interested in a DX report.
(My goodness, OldiesFan! I'm never ceased to be amazed by your discoveries of such information, hidden by billions of additional web pages and years gone by. You may have just found the very first mention of the lamptimer!)
Aha!! So THAT's where the term comes from? All these years, when reading the posts by the good doctor and his attentive nurse, I've 'wandered aloud' how that came to be. So it was all started by Haggerty? I was IN that studio once when 1440 signed off, but there were no lamps--or timers for that matter (ha-ha) The automation kicked in, and boom! (Hi Lauren! You kewl Kool fan)
Aha!! So THAT's where the term comes from? All these years, when reading the posts by the good doctor and his attentive nurse, I've 'wandered aloud' how that came to be. So it was all started by Haggerty? I was IN that studio once when 1440 signed off, but there were no lamps--or timers for that matter (ha-ha) The automation kicked in, and boom! (Hi Lauren! You kewl Kool fan)
Too bad I can't post a picture here. Have a real 'Lamp Timer Pattern Changer' sitting on a shelf that was taken out of service in '03 when the station changed hands. This one actually kept time but had to be set every first day of the month. They used a Radio Shack digital 14-day timer and a "black box" full of KHRP relays and large capacitors.
The Nurse and I suspect Lumberyard 14~Forty is using an analog ('bout $10.00 at Home Depot) lamptimer, as evidenced by the amount of drift from real time. The other night KFNX powered down their colon blow precisely at 6:15pm. Almost four minutes later the Lumberyard yanked their worn out oldies and carrier. Then three minutes after that, KFuNN went from 22kw to 100 watts of snake oil financial advice. Hmmmmm...guess one could make the argument that Gumpdusky powers down at the market average!
Dr. Akbar said:
This morning, Lumberyard 1440 popped the carrier on--with song in progress
and no legal ID (the usual M.O.)--sometime between 7:16:02 and 7:16:30
(February sign-on is 7:15 am).
BTW, a shout out to KOOL Listener Lauren's www.phoenixairchecks.com site
for posting the monthly sign-on/off aka power up/down times for (most) metro
Phoenix AMs on the KAZG page. During certain months the times may differ
slightly for sticks at the fringes of the metro area.
As for KFNN 1510, the signal strength on the Sangean 909 meter (as heard in
the 'Tuke) was the same at 7:10 as it was at 7:20, so unless there is some
PSRA in play here, one has to wonder if there's again some pow-pow-power
hanky panky going on. The Kay-Funn ops dude--whom we briefly heard from
a ways back here on the board, and AFAIK is not named Tommy James
--is of course invited to set the record straight anytime.
And back to KAZG...it seems Gumpdusky lucked out again, as they now have
until June 12 to install a digital lamptimer. ;D
oldiesfan6479 said:As for KFNN 1510, the signal strength on the Sangean 909 meter (as heard in
the 'Tuke) was the same at 7:10 as it was at 7:20, so unless there is some
PSRA in play here, one has to wonder if there's again some pow-pow-power
hanky panky going on. The Kay-Funn ops dude--whom we briefly heard from
a ways back here on the board, and AFAIK is not named Tommy James
is of course invited to set the record straight anytime.
Well, let's see what KFuNN's PSRA looks like: http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=4109
Nurse Jeff and I are amazed how they can make those four watts sound like the 22,000 they run with after sunrise! Talk about a stimulus package ;D
Dr. Akbar said:
This evening, all of our "fave" AMs played nice. 1100 dumped at 6:14-something,
1060, 1190, 1480 and 1510 all during the 6:15 minute (1510 exactly at 6:15:00).
As for Lumberyard 1440, a minute late this morning meant the same this evening,
with the "Gumpdusky sign-off" occurring in the usual fashion at 6:16:11.
Wasn't that the name of the movie clip that Comcast aired toward the end
of the Super Bowl?
- Status