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"BABYSITTERS" AT TRANSMITTER SITE AS LATE AS 1982

E

Early Byrd

Unbelievable as it seems today, radio stations at one time had to have transmitter site "babysitters" to take periodic meter readings, change power or directional patterns, conduct Emergency Broadcast system tests, etc. This changed, of course, when remote control from the studio of the functions just described took over.

However, I know of one small station where the long-time Chief Engineer, the late Ted Kalin, insisted that these transmitter babysitters continue LONG after remote control was the accepted way to do things. The station was Fitchburg's WEIM (1280 AM). Their three tower array was located (and still is, I believe) on top of one of those high hills on the north side of the city. Until Ted's death in late 1981, and maybe for a while after it, WEIM continued to employ usually high-school or college age students (with the then-required FCC license) to sit in the transmitter shack for hours and take the readings, etc. The announcer back at the studios didn't have to be bothered with any of the transmitter duties.

Anybody else know where a similiar situation existed as late as 1982, or was WEIM pretty much the last one by then?
 
I don't know-but IIRC WMEX/WITS (1510) transmitter was manned while in Quincy. I don't think they went remote control until they moved to Waltham.
 
Early Byrd said:
Anybody else know where a similiar situation existed as late as 1982, or was WEIM pretty much the last one by then?
Click to expand...

sounds like a question to ask Timtron. i know hams liked it as a way to get access to sweet verticals at night on 160/80
 
Early Byrd said:
Unbelievable as it seems today, radio stations at one time had to have transmitter site "babysitters" to take periodic meter readings, change power or directional patterns, conduct Emergency Broadcast system tests, etc. This changed, of course, when remote control from the studio of the functions just described took over.

However, I know of one small station where the long-time Chief Engineer, the late Ted Kalin, insisted that these transmitter babysitters continue LONG after remote control was the accepted way to do things. The station was Fitchburg's WEIM (1280 AM). Their three tower array was located (and still is, I believe) on top of one of those high hills on the north side of the city. Until Ted's death in late 1981, and maybe for a while after it, WEIM continued to employ usually high-school or college age students (with the then-required FCC license) to sit in the transmitter shack for hours and take the readings, etc. The announcer back at the studios didn't have to be bothered with any of the transmitter duties.

Anybody else know where a similiar situation existed as late as 1982, or was WEIM pretty much the last one by then?
Click to expand...

Ted Kalin (one of my elmers) did not "insist" on any such thing. I knew Ted for a long time, and he would have put in R/C equipment as soon as it became legal to use, if the company had had the money and the equipment hadn't been so old (see below). The problem was that the owner wouldn't spend the money until after Ted had passed, and had to be persuaded that not doing so was costing him money.

Knight's DOE, Ed Juaire, and I did the R/C conversion after Ted died. The problems were many:

--One transmitter that wasn't outfitted for remote control, a 1940's-vintage GE which was the backup. (It wasn't going to do much good to R/C the main transmitter if you couldn't get the aux to come up without a trip to the hill.)
--An antenna monitor with no provisions for remote control.
--Base-current meters with no remote control samples, and no wiring from the doghouses back to the transmitter building to carry the remote control samples.

It cost Norman Knight a bundle of money, especially after having to replace a tower felled by vandals in 1980 out of his own pocket (I did most of the required antenna proof myself in the dead of winter...oh what fun), but he finally understood that paying people to babysit the transmitter was costing him more than amortizing the capital expense of installing proper remote controls.

As to whether there were any manned transmitter sites as late as 1982, yes indeed there were. In larger companies with unionized engineers such as ABC, transmitter engineers stayed on duty for many years. For example, WABC used transmitter engineers until, I believe, the early 1990s when the NABET contract was finally rewritten to eliminate the necessity for such personnel.
 
I stand corrected, then. I had been told it was Ted Kalin's preference to have transmitter babysitters. The certainty of the prior post has convinced me it was as stated.

Interesting about WABC, but, because it is a major market station, that wouldn't surprise me. I was wondering if any other stations in the same size category as WEIM kept the on-site people as long as they did.
 
DCBurns said:
Where is The Tron these days+ Still in Skow Town?
Click to expand...

or remote from Monticello. he put a killer signal into boston from his CAR.. Rav4 and a 65 or 70 watt transmitter iirc .

seems he's getting into the high bands which will remain impossible boston <> maine unless solar activity picks up
 
If a transmitter site had multiple stations with different owners, would the stations all pool together to pay for the transmitter site babysitter or would they each hire their own, doing redundant tasks?
 
When last I checked WFNX used a part time jock as a baby sitter for their 92.1 Nashua office. They have to have employees and had fired the entire sales staff. The baby sitter literally has no work to do, he just has to be there. He gets a salary and benefits. Great gig!
 
it's more than babysitting the transmitter, it is having a warm body there during normal business hours at the designated main studio location, doing actual work,answering the phone line listed to the station in the city of license, monitoring the EAS, knowing where the EAS manual is, knowing where the public inspection file is, knowing where every document the FCC will ask for when or if they come through the door, because failure to know the answer to their questions or failure to produce your EAS logs, political time requests, etc etc etc is worth 8000 dollars off the profit line of the station.

I know where I work, we have a phone number in Lynn that is forwarded to our Woburn main studio, and a Watertown number that is also forwarded to Woburn. The FCC mandates that.

Is 92.1 on their own tower or are they renting space from someone else? Are they responsible for the tower lighting?

We are responsible for the tower lighting in Lynn, it is in our contract with the tower owner, our GM monitors that at night, and when he is away or I am working when it is dark I check them. The tower our other station is diplexed on doesn't get monitored by us, Salem's staff takes care of it.

Radio, never a dull moment when dealing with thousands of pages of FCC regs
 
MRBIboredop said:
The tower our other station is diplexed on doesn't get monitored by us, Salem's staff takes care of it.
Radio, never a dull moment when dealing with thousands of pages of FCC regs
Click to expand...

That puts Salem in charge of lighting on a tower they don't use. The tallest tower at the Lexington site is the former 100.7 tower, which is not part of the AM array that is used by both Salem and MRBI. There was a time when tower lighting at that site was very haphazard. Problems were fixed years ago, though--I think around the time Salem bought 1150--and I haven't noticed dark beacons since then.
 
MRBIboredop said:
Is 92.1 on their own tower or are they renting space from someone else? Are they responsible for the tower lighting?
Click to expand...

92.1 doesn't own the tower they are on, and the tower is not lit.

The tower our other station is diplexed on doesn't get monitored by us, Salem's staff takes care of it.
Radio, never a dull moment when dealing with thousands of pages of FCC regs
Click to expand...
That puts Salem in charge of lighting on a tower they don't use. The tallest tower at the Lexington site is the former 100.7 tower, which is not part of the AM array that is used by both Salem and MRBI. There was a time when tower lighting at that site was very haphazard. Problems were fixed years ago, though--I think around the time Salem bought 1150--and I haven't noticed dark beacons since then.
Click to expand...

The 1150/1470 site probably is owned by American Tower, and is leased by Salem and MRBI.* Now I noticed you mentioned that Salem's staff takes care of it, but you would be best to get a monitor on it (or spot check Salem's records on it). The FCC can hold both stations accountable for lighting/painting defects, regardless of the owner.

(* - Salem might own the towers and are using American Towers to operate as a site manager. The site is registered to AT and actively listed on AT's website.)
 
Necrat said:
The 1150/1470 site probably is owned by American Tower, and is leased by Salem and MRBI.* Now I noticed you mentioned that Salem's staff takes care of it, but you would be best to get a monitor on it (or spot check Salem's records on it). The FCC can hold both stations accountable for lighting/painting defects, regardless of the owner.

(* - Salem might own the towers and are using American Towers to operate as a site manager. The site is registered to AT and actively listed on AT's website.)
Click to expand...

AFAIK. AT owns the land, buildings, and all four towers at the site, but I could be wrong about the three towers in the 1150/1470 array. Although I could be wrong, I don't think Salem owns the AM towers; I believe AT does. What AT doesn't own are the transmitters, phasors, and ATU networks inside the buildings. I wonder who owns the ground radials. I think AT does and I think AT is responsible for site maintenance. If a contractor hired by AT accidentally cuts some ground radials while mowing the grass, is AT responsible for repairs? I would think they would be but only if Salem or MRBI realized that there had been damage. Only if someone from Salem or MRBI observed the damage being done would the damage be likely to be detected. The only other way to find such damage would be by conducting proofs of performance--too expensive an operation to be considered unless there was suspicion that a great many radials had been cut.
 
WAZN tower site

ATC owns the towers, the land, and the building at the Lexington site.
(there are also some office people on the first floor - unrelated to radio).
WAZN is the secondary tenant at the tower site. (on the 3 self-supporting towers)
The tower Iights are the responsibility of the primary tenant to make sure
that the tower lights are lit, and the tower is painted,
properly. (at the Lynn site, WLYN is the primary tenant...) As far as I know,
the guyed tower in Lexington is lit, painted - with absolutely nothing
currently on it! I, personally, would love to see a ham repeater up there!
 
Dan you have no idea how much trouble ground radials can be when hacks are introduced into the equation.

I'm sure my fearless leader will be along in a while to fill in the details
 
WLYN tower site

Years ago, under previous ownership, a new chain link fence
was installed at the WLYN tower site, in Lynn. Rather than use
a post hole digger to dig a hole for each fence pole separately,
a trench was dug around the perimeter of the tower's footprint.
In the process, all 120 ground radials were cut. The upshot was that
the ground system, basically, extended about 15 feet in any given direction.
Several years ago, major reconstruction work was done at this site.
A new ground system was installed, hooking up to as many of the old
ground radials that we could locate. Overgrown vegetation was cut back,
a new fence, and a new transmitter were then installed. At some point,
I may add some photos of the site to the WLYN Facebook page: WLYN Boston
 
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