A day in the life of a lamptimer

[DrAkbar]

Gee Doc, does your familiarity with the format 'n' stuff on Lumberyard 1440
(i.e., listening to it) mean that you're not under 60?

Signed,
A Curious Under 60 Lumberyard Listener

Just goes with the responsibilities of being The Esteemed Middle Eastern Men of the Media, regardless of our youth! With PPM figures coming this spring, Nurse Jeff and I'll be interested to see if anyone other than about 10 of us actually listen to Lumberyard 14~Forty.

 

[landtuna]

Hey Mister EMEMotM,

Who gets to carry the PPM devices anyway? I mean, this might kind of be like jury selection. Suppose we get a group of goat ropers carrying? The Lumberyard wouldn't have a chance, right?

 

[DrAkbar]

Hey Mister EMEMotM,

Who gets to carry the PPM devices anyway? I mean, this might kind of be like jury selection. Suppose we get a group of goat ropers carrying? The Lumberyard wouldn't have a chance, right?

Without stepping on the Old Gringo's turf, it's our understanding that Arbitron will distribute those meters in a manner similar to the diaries. One of the downsides is if the meter is worn by a goat roper sittin' next to a gang banger in traffic with his radio cranked and thumpin', that station will be reported as listened to by the goat roper. YIKES! The upside is meters stay with the same people during the entire course of the survey. So if they chose a bunch of Buckeye Boyz like Nurse Jeff and me, Lumberyard 14~Forty scores big time! Gone are the days of using ditto marks and squiggly lines to indicate listening to one station for an extended period of time, even though the diary keeper (nod-nod, wink-wink) didn't!

 

[oldiesfan6479]

It's a new month, with new sign-on/off aka power up/down times
of 6:45 AM to 6:30 PM for most if not all metro AMs.

So how did our usual suspects do? Good, with one exception and
one "what, it's now March?"

KAZG's lamptimer 6:43/6:28. Fellow Gumptimer KDUS 6:42/6:27.
KFNX 6:42/6:26. KNUV 6:45/6:30 (snagging the "best use of an
atomic clock" award for March 1 ;D).

Someone forgot to tell KPHX that's it's a new month as the Big 1480
was still using February times of 7:15/6:15.

So who's our one exception? Uh huh, KayFunn 1510. Using the
correlation that their 100-watt DA-N is dead meat in the 'Tuke,
they were audible at 6:37 AM (they weren't around 6:20).

This evening, I'm still waiting (at 6:57 PM) for them to drop off
the table. Over the past 20 minutes or so, while the meter still
shows "daytime" the signal has been getting more stepped on,
mostly by KSPA Ontario.

And this just in! We now have the KFNN power drop...at 6:59:50.

Out of fairness, I again invite the KayFunn ops dude to advise that
the station is powering legally, and that this is some sort of PSRA
and PSSA, however I doubt it. If I can't hear 100 watts (albeit a
DA), how could I hear four or six watts?

 

[Legend City]

As I drove past the lumberyard yesterday, I tuned in, great version of "Think I'm Going out of my Head", followed by Sam Cook "Wonderful World" and the Stones "Satisfaction"

Good stuff! Until I got more than three miles away...

 

[Radio_Eng]

KAZG's lamptimer 6:43/6:28. Fellow Gumptimer KDUS 6:42/6:27.
KFNX 6:42/6:26. KNUV 6:45/6:30 (snagging the "best use of an
atomic clock" award for March 1 ;D).

The atomic clock is a good idea, but not at KNUV's transmitter site where there is no Internet and no budget for some other kind of clock, like from GPS. KNUV has a contract engineer who routinely goes to the transmitter to check things, including the time on the remote control computer that changes power. He says the computer clock time drifts faster by a few seconds per week, which adds up if he doesn't keep an eye on it. A lot of stations have "set it and forget it" timers that don't get checked because they just keep running without gaining or losing time. Two or three minutes either way is not a big problem, but 15 minutes? Owie!

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Monday evening the Lumberyard lamptimer sent the Harris to sleep
mode juuuuust before 6:28. (Can we think of the 52 watts as an
unused "nightlight"? ;D)

Meanwhile, up at the diplexer in north Phoenix, KayFunn 1510 again
waited until 6:59:50 to do some sort of power drop. I can't say
for sure it's what they should have done at 6:30, but then I didn't
notice any power/pattern change around 6:30.

 

[landtuna]

I've got a technical question for one of the engineers out there......

How does the lamptimer blow out the candle in the xmtr room?

 

[KeithE4]

I've got a technical question for one of the engineers out there......

How does the lamptimer blow out the candle in the xmtr room?

There is another lamptimer that triggers 5 minutes after KAZG signoff (whenever that is). It triggers a relay that is connected to a mousetrap that is tied to a spring that holds a hammer. Once the mousetrap is tripped (or a mouse is trapped - a significant flaw in the design as this can happen before 1440 signoff), the hammer is released, hitting a fireplace bellows which then blows out the candle.

This fine piece of machinery is called the Candleblowitouter, made by the Acme Corporation (Patent Pending). Caution: Not effective on road-runners. ;D

 

[landtuna]

Ah, thanks Keith. I just knew there was a fine technical explanation.

And that brings up another question.....

If the Roadrunner had money enough to buy all that crap from Acme why didn't he just buy dinner?

 

[KeithE4]

Ah, thanks Keith. I just knew there was a fine technical explanation.

And that brings up another question.....

If the Roadrunner had money enough to buy all that crap from Acme why didn't he just buy dinner?

Because the charges for UPS 3-second delivery service blew the rest of his dough. And, BTW, it was Wile E. Coyote (and his lookalike Ralph Wolf - other Acme products were equally not-effective on Sheep Dogs), not the Road Runner, who had the account with Acme.

 

[landtuna]

Of course! How could I be so dumb? I kept getting that mental picture of Ak-u-bar each time I visualized Wile E. Coyote.

Did you know Wile E. was originally from Phoenix? He changed his name on the radio using Willy KOYote. Did morning drive as I recall. Got into radio as a tower monkey. Never one scared of heights which qualified him to go on to stunt work in the movies. He was pretty fair with props and paint. Not so great with explosives. And the rest, they say, is history.

Landtunicus Maximus

 

[KeithE4]

Of course! How could I be so dumb? I kept getting that mental picture of Ak-u-bar each time I visualized Wile E. Coyote.

Yeah, I can see that '76 Gremlin going over the side of one of the Papago Buttes as the good Doctor and Nurse engage in their never-ending hunt for the elusive Lamptimer.

Did you know Wile E. was originally from Phoenix? He changed his name on the radio using Willy KOYote. Did morning drive as I recall. Got into radio as a tower monkey. Never one scared of heights which qualified him to go on to stunt work in the movies. He was pretty fair with props and paint. Not so great with explosives. And the rest, they say, is history.

There should be a Tim and WileE joke here, but I can't think of one right now.

Landtunicus Maximus

If the owner of KAZG had been in a Road Runner cartoon, it would have been known as Inepticus Gumpduskii.

 

[The Beave]

Of course! How could I be so dumb? I kept getting that mental picture of Ak-u-bar each time I visualized Wile E. Coyote.

Yeah, I can see that '76 Gremlin going over the side of one of the Papago Buttes as the good Doctor and Nurse engage in their never-ending hunt for the elusive Lamptimer.

Did you know Wile E. was originally from Phoenix? He changed his name on the radio using Willy KOYote. Did morning drive as I recall. Got into radio as a tower monkey. Never one scared of heights which qualified him to go on to stunt work in the movies. He was pretty fair with props and paint. Not so great with explosives. And the rest, they say, is history.

There should be a Tim and WileE joke here, but I can't think of one right now.

Landtunicus Maximus

If the owner of KAZG had been in a Road Runner cartoon, it would have been known as Inepticus Gumpduskii.

Great Keith... There goes another "Lead Filled" hot air balloon.

 

[DrAkbar]

Yeah, I can see that '76 Gremlin going over the side of one of the Papago Buttes as the good Doctor and Nurse engage in their never-ending hunt for the elusive Lamptimer.

The Nurse and I checked our manual and AMC does NOT recommend off-roading a Gremlin! As far as that elusive Lamptimer goes, perhaps it's not located at the Tower of Power site along the canal bank afterall! It could be in the Londen Tower where Lumberyard 14~Forty maintains it's Gold Mine and corporate headquarters. We're thinking of sending KOOL Listener Lauren to Camelback & 44th St to check it out...and bring us two Big Gulps from the Circle K!

 

[landtuna]

Speaking of whom.....where is the elusive Lauren lately? College, well, ASU specifically, can't be keeping her THAT busy.....can it?

Of course, maybe she just got bored with all of us.......

Naw! That can't be it......can it?

 

[pattiwacki]

Nah...she's just gettin' ready for Spring Break!

 

[DrAkbar]

..hope she's not going to Meh-Hee-Co 'cause they got more problems there than Gumpdusky has with the lamptimer!

 

[Legend City]

Speaking of whom.....where is the elusive Lauren lately? College, well, ASU specifically, can't be keeping her THAT busy.....can it?

Of course, maybe she just got bored with all of us.......

Naw! That can't be it......can it?

She met some of us in person at the RFA picnic.

We scared her!

Just kidding, she is a sweetheart.

 

[landtuna]

She told me about the picnic but said the new meds and therapy were working.

I understand she is rethinking her decision to enter the radio biz and has sent off an application for a mail order auto mechanics course and is, at the moment, trying to convince the good Doctor and Nurse Jeff to donate the Gremlin's organs for research.