A day in the life of a lamptimer

[The_X_Man_Cometh]

The non-charming possible technical answer:

The electric company does not guarantee you 120 volts. It may vary a bit by location, but typically they guarantee something like 120 +/- 10%, which is 108 to 132 volts. They used to guarantee the frequency in the long term so that clocks that ran off of synchronous motors (used in schools and other government buildings) were kept accurate. I don't know if this is still guaranteed or not.

In the case of this radio station, I wonder if it is at the end of a long power transmission line. Perhaps the electric feed is less than the standard voltage?


Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so. --Douglas Adams

The Ignisecond, n.: The overlapping moment of time when the hand is locking the car door even as the brain is saying, "my keys are in there!" ---Rich Hall, "Sniglets"

 

[KeithE4]

And what will TMISU do if they have to replace the ground system at Sports Parking Lot 6~Twenty? Digging up the parking lot in front of Wal Mart will inconvenience a lot of illegals undocument workers seeking shovel ready jobs. YIKES!

How did the then-owners of KT'R work it back in the late '50s, when the builders of Tower Plaza wanted to pave paradise and put up a parking lot? Did KTAR redo the ground radials then? I would think some kind of agreement was in place so that the radio station could do necessary tower/radial maintenance.

 

[DrAkbar]

How did the then-owners of KT'R work it back in the late '50s, when the builders of Tower Plaza wanted to pave paradise and put up a parking lot? Did KTAR redo the ground radials then? I would think some kind of agreement was in place so that the radio station could do necessary tower/radial maintenance.

We'll put out a page to Professor Fybush, the King of all things anciently modulated, for a thorough review. The Nurse and I think most operators here in the Valley let the ground system go until they have no other choice than to dig it up.

 

[catfish]

No, most operators have not.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

All Gumpdusky needs to do is run those radials into the canal, and voila! Instant swamp.

 

[boiseengineer]

Another tech explain. The Lamptimer's probably equal to the clock in a 20 year-old AT computer with a 386 processor.

Yes, power companies have to keep 60 Hz really accurately since they're all interconnected with each other. Big mess when someone gets out of sync.

 

[DrAkbar]

All Gumpdusky needs to do is run those radials into the canal, and voila! Instant swamp.

Brilliant idea! And there's nothing like a set of new radials to improve the Gremlin's ride.

Do any of the many thousands of Lumberyard 14~Forty fans recall the goldminers ever playing Xmas music? Nurse Jeff and I will be getting up pre-sunrise on 12/25 to hear what's on the All Day Goldmine

 

[oldiesfan6479]

The Lamptimer's probably equal to the clock in a 20 year-old AT computer with a 386 processor.

Our buddy catfish (with a "c") insists the lamptimer is really a Burke remote control hooked
to an old DOS computer, so yeah, that sounds logical!

Do any of the many thousands of Lumberyard 14~Forty fans recall the goldminers ever playing Xmas music? Nurse Jeff and I
will be getting up pre-sunrise on 12/25 to hear what's on the All Day Goldmine

Maybe the Gumpduskers will burn the 52-watt oil all night on 12/24 with a Christmas treat
for south Scottsdale, north Tempe and east Phoenix. Jusy hope they can remember the TOH
ID though. Aw wait, catfish still insists they can't get down to 52 watts. So what did they
do power-wise during their April all-nighters?

 

[asugeorge1]

Do any of the many thousands of Lumberyard 14~Forty fans recall the goldminers ever playing Xmas music? Nurse Jeff and I
will be getting up pre-sunrise on 12/25 to hear what's on the All Day Goldmine

Maybe the Gumpduskers will burn the 52-watt oil all night on 12/24 with a Christmas treat
for south Scottsdale, north Tempe and east Phoenix. Jusy hope they can remember the TOH
ID though. Aw wait, catfish still insists they can't get down to 52 watts. So what did they
do power-wise during their April all-nighters?

Whatever the Lumberyard was doing those two nights in April must not have been on the up and up legal wise. We have asked "catfish"with a "c" many times about those two nights in April when it appeared that the Lumberyard was broadcasting at 52 watts, but he has never answered nor addressed those questions.

Again, I don't blame "catfish" for remaining quiet if he is in fact an employee of Sandusky. I wouldn't want to get the ol' Lumberyard in trouble either! ;D

 

[DrAkbar]

Whatever the Lumberyard was doing those two nights in April must not have been on the up and up legal wise. We have asked "catfish"with a "c" many times about those two nights in April when it appeared that the Lumberyard was broadcasting at 52 watts, but he has never answered nor addressed those questions.

Again, I don't blame "catfish" for remaining quiet if he is in fact an employee of Sandusky. I wouldn't want to get the ol' Lumberyard in trouble either! ;D

Judging by the signal strength on those nights, Lumberyard 14~Forty was either on PSRA power of 500 watts or they used their full strength of 5kw. Therefore the Buckeye Boyz are convinced the goldminers were not in compliance and that's the reason catfish (no capital C) has never commented about it.

 

[asugeorge1]

Whatever the Lumberyard was doing those two nights in April must not have been on the up and up legal wise. We have asked "catfish"with a "c" many times about those two nights in April when it appeared that the Lumberyard was broadcasting at 52 watts, but he has never answered nor addressed those questions.

Again, I don't blame "catfish" for remaining quiet if he is in fact an employee of Sandusky. I wouldn't want to get the ol' Lumberyard in trouble either! ;D

Judging by the signal strength on those nights, Lumberyard 14~Forty was either on PSRA power of 500 watts or they used their full strength of 5kw. Therefore the Buckeye Boyz are convinced the goldminers were not in compliance and that's the reason catfish (no capital C) has never commented about it.

It definitely wasn't the full 5kw signal Doc. It was substantially weaker than the full 5kw signal as it started to break up heading east into central Mesa and heading west into downtown Phoenix. It very well could have been the 500 watts of pre-sunrise authorization, which definitely would not have been in compliance with their night-time authorization of 52 watts. I'm not exactly sure since I don't have any type of professional radio. Perhaps oldiesfan could tell us. He was able to pick it up in the Tuke! ;D

We also can't forget the fact that there wasn't any legal ID's all night for those two infamous nights in April!

 

[asugeorge1]

You think the FCC would ever yet Sandusky install one of these things at the Lumberyard?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WXZ2T2fosw&feature=related

With a transmitter like that, you could hear the Goldmine oldies all over the world. Eat your heart out WLW! ;D

 

[oldiesfan6479]

It was substantially weaker than the full 5kw signal...It very well could have been the 500 watts of pre-sunrise authorization,
which definitely would not have been in compliance with their night-time authorization of 52 watts...Perhaps oldiesfan could tell us.
He was able to pick it up in the Tuke! ;D

I'll second asugeo's emotion. The signal strength was definitely less than the five gallons used
during daytime ops.

 

[cingram]

Someone posted this montage on Facebook today, so I thought I would share:

http://www.onairdj.com/ArizonaGold1440KAZGScottsdalePhoenixJingleMix.mp3

And, Happy Thanksgiving! I guess, on this date, we can be thankful that there's still one radio station
in America playing "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb."

C.

 

[asugeorge1]

Someone posted this montage on Facebook today, so I thought I would share:

http://www.onairdj.com/ArizonaGold1440KAZGScottsdalePhoenixJingleMix.mp3

And, Happy Thanksgiving! I guess, on this date, we can be thankful that there's still one radio station
in America playing "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb."

C.

Not too bad! Love the montage. Didn't hear a couple of my favorite jingles like: "Fire up that music machine! Another fourteen in a row starts right now"; or "Here we go again, let's start another fourteen in a row"; and then there's, "This is the goldmine at 1440, we play your favorite oldies from sunrise to sunset, this is Arizona Gold." That last one reminds you that the Lumberyard is indeed the valley's only daytime radio station.

My personal favorite is one that I only hear in the morning during the low-power pre-sunrise authorization around 6:05 A.M. that says, "It's more than cool, 1440, Arizona Gold." Only hear that one in the morning, though. Wonder why? ???

 

[DrAkbar]

Hey....we got gypped out of the K-A-Zee-Gee, Scottsdale-Feenix jingle! But missing a legal ID is just part of the Lumberyard 14~Forty mystique :

 

[DrAkbar]

Will the Goldminers be naughty or nice on Wednesday, 12/01? Local sunrise at 7:30 and sunset at 5:15pm. We'll have the Gremlin radio set to 14~Forty and report back to St Nick.

 

[asugeorge1]

Curious happenings occuring on the 1440 dial today. For one of the first times in Goldmine history (except when broadcasting illegally at night for one weekend in April), there was no commercial for an entire hour of music. Almost like clockwork, for as long as I can remember, the Lumberyard would play the top of the hour ID, play two, and only TWO songs, then a KAZG bumper followed by a commercial. This commercial varies in length, but usually it's one 30 second or 1 minute spot. Lately it's been a lot of public service announcements by businesses around the valley. Then, KAZG starts their patented 14 in a row! Next, usually around 45 minutes after the hour once the 14 in a row is done, is another commercial, which is again only one thirty second spot. Then, music until the top of the hour when the process starts all over.

Today was curious because in the 2 o'clock hour was the legal ID, two songs, the bumper to commercial, and then NO commercial. Instead, it went right into the "Another 14 great songs in a row begins right now" bumper, and then began the 14 Goldmine oldies in a row.

So this makes me wonder, has the Lumberyard finally run out of sponsors for their oldies or is the DOS computer messing up yet again? If they have run out of sponsors, anyone willing to put down a few bucks for a spot? At this pace, the Lumberyard might as well be an oldies IPOD! ;D

 

[Sammi Brie]

...An iPod on a solar charger with no battery backup.

 

[DrAkbar]

Curious happenings occuring on the 1440 dial today. For one of the first times in Goldmine history (except when broadcasting illegally at night for one weekend in April), there was no commercial for an entire hour of music.
So this makes me wonder, has the Lumberyard finally run out of sponsors for their oldies or is the DOS computer messing up yet again? If they have run out of sponsors, anyone willing to put down a few bucks for a spot? At this pace, the Lumberyard might as well be an oldies IPOD! ;D

Nurse Jeff and I noticed the lack of commercials this afternoon as well. Obviously the down economy has reared it's ugly head canal side at Lumberyard 14~Forty. Either that or someone forgot to set the computer command to insert one unit for each stopset. We have a feeling that Mrs Gumpdusky is gifting Goldmine time with those commercials in appreciation for sponsors buying time on Londencenter 100~Seven.