CONTROL ROOMS

[Radio55]

Hey, if you guys want to have some fun... especially those of us/you who have been in the business for say, more than 20 years, check out this site.
Great old control rooms from the 60's/70's. Yeah, the old crowded CR's with everything right there where you need it. Ah, the good old days....

Dave Edwards is a former Florida radio guy. I don't know him, but this site and the pictures are great! Check out the VU meters on some of those consoles...HUGE!

Enjoy!

http://home.earthlink.net/~zrail/radiondx.htm

 

[Bob Oshea]

Yeah man, it's fun to look back and say I worked in a bunch of control rooms just like those. I have color pictures of the old KVOO studios on Peoria. I wish now I had taken pics of all the studios I worked at. But I wouldn't want to work with that equipment ever again. Doin' a killer backsell with high energy for the next song and then kickin' off a Bachman/Turner table rocker at 33 1/3, followed by an audible "GOT....", well my friend that was just plain embarrassing.

O'Shea

 

[stacker]

How about playing spot of a Maggie? The control room floor (vacuumed bi-annually) would be covered by little bits of tape that snapped off during the 500 mph rewind.

Ever worked with a Makenzie program feeder?

 

[Radio55]

Yes! I remember the old Maggie's. When it was on "rewind," I always stood back about 5 feet. The reels would take your fingers off! I'm with you on the "little bits of tape." Lord help you if you wandered away from the machine and it finished rewinding. There would be hundreds of pieces of tape, about a quarter-inch long, ALL OVER the carpet (Right! ...vacuumed bi-annually). The one I used was rack-mounted, and it had this knob on it to switch from "record" to "playback." It never failed that someone would leave it on record, and you put a tape on it to listen to and .... nothing .... THEN you notice the little red recording light and your tape is erased. Nice.

 

[cooptulsa]

Reminds me...to which if you should I leave my Gates Yard and ITC's when I go? Still have the cute colored circle labels on the pots....wax them weekly...

 

[Bob Oshea]

Reminds me...to which if you should I leave my Gates Yard and ITC's when I go? Still have the cute colored circle labels on the pots....wax them weekly...

I have some Sure needles for the Top 40 turntable, a couple of Gates tape players and two or three Ampex knobs to throw in with that little treasure. ;D

Moreover, remember having to manually give the capstain a little spin before hitting play on those big reel to reel jobs to prevent a draggy maggie? Also, that little arm that held the tape down just a little? If that son of a bitch was off even a little on rewind, tape would turn to spaghettii when you hit stop. Fast forward had the same results. I became bitter.

Bob O

 

[stacker]

Coop, keep that Gates Yard and let it rust in peace. Nothing could run up the temp in the control room faster than one of those little jobs. And those tiny knobs...They called it the Yard not just for its length, but it indicated how deep you had to bury one to keep it from bobbing back to the surface. As for your ITCs, they're probably too good for me. I'll stick with my Spotmaster (bartered from Pepper Tanner).

Stan

 

[cooptulsa]

Gates also made a 16" turntable I had the honor of wrestling with in Salem, NJ in the late 60s. If all you know "ET" as is a movie, you're way too young to be reading this! Loved those 16 inch discs...

Now the only way to put 16" and radio in the same discussion is to involve O' Shea.

 

[stacker]

Wasn't that the one (the turntable, not O'shea) that had the off/on rocker switch with a mercury bulb in it...and the gearshift for speed changes. Ours never went into the 33 position without a fight.

Everyone knows that "ET" stands for Ernest Tubb.

 

[stan]

Speaking of tape, does anyone have any fond memories of cutting and splicing tape for editing purposes? Or maybe some not so fond memories. MP3 editing is a lot easier.

 

[cooptulsa]

THEE very turntable!! Editing with a block and blade? Come see the scars on my left index and middle fingers that remain from my training at Ohio U!

 

[Radio55]

It's interesting how the youngsters have no idea about how to edit tape... some haven't even worked with it. Carts, turntables, tape (especially when you threaded something backwards)... the good old days. I have to admit that computers in the production room are a Godsend; editing an audio file is a million times easier than tape, but the sound is so thin no matter how much you EQ it.

It's sad to think that the only memory the young guys/gals will have of radio twenty or so years from now will be "Hey, remember when we got to voice track afternoon drive!!!?!??!"

I'll take a cue burn any day.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

The thin audio is likely compiments of a non-pro card. In fact I wouldnt be supprised if its even without a matchbox. A good pro card sounds just as good as a tape deck.

 

[Radio55]

Ah, excellent point there, OKC.... Thanks!!

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

No prob.. Hope that helps.

 

[GeneSavage]

I hate, hated, HATED reel to reel tape, never got very good at it (which is part of why I hated it), and wept tears of joy the first time I used Cool Edit... ESPECIALLY the first time I used the "undo" option! WOW!!!

(It may have been GoldWave back then that I used first, can't remember...)

There were those around me who could work magic with reel tape... their talent made me insane with jealousy...

 

[Radiogre]

Wasn't that the one (the turntable, not O'shea) that had the off/on rocker switch with a mercury bulb in it...and the gearshift for speed changes. Ours never went into the 33 position without a fight.

Everyone knows that "ET" stands for Ernest Tubb.

Most of the tables I dealt with in the olden times were equipped with shift knob speed controls, usually with a notch between 33 & 45 for neutral. You didn't want to leave them in neutral though, because the metal platter would ring in the background if you had any resonance in your voice at all.

Does anyone else remember playing spots on 2.5" reels? The first station I worked at (KOLS-KKMAfm,Pryor,OK) had a bank of three ancient Ampex reel to reel machines, and frequently the take-up reel would give up during play, so you'd have to wind it with your finger while cueing the next 45.

 

[kudzooter]

KAKC, 1959. Everything was on discs. Music on 45s (or the two LPs, "The Pic Pair Albums") ... CMs, jingles, mega-produced news splitters,
all on 10" 33-1/3 acetates (locally cut discs). We had two QRK 33/45 turntables to the jock's right, and a 16-incher (quit gloating, Bob O)
to the left--only time I ever tried to use that, discovered someone had spilled (I hope it was) Pepsi or Coke under the slip-cue pad, and the
tone arm vibrated right off the damn disc.
So when we got that first McKenzie, we thought we'd died and gone to heaven -- until the day the drive went out ... and we'd lost FIVE
sources of spots and jingles.
Stacker, during one of my KAKC "in betweens," I worked at KBIX, in its bat-patrolled studios on the top floor of the Barnes Building in Muskogee. We did all our spots on those little reels you mentioned. I remember coming in one day during the lunch hour, to find "Sid Braden" (nee, Dick Ralston) working with a sold-out log, and one of the two Maggie PT-6's down. He never stumbled or missed a beat as he did weather, crossplugs, whatever while re-winding one spot, then on-loading the next. And while that was playing, he had his screwdriver
busy -- by the time he got to news at the end of the hour, he had that sucker working again.
((See 5 or 17 other my-posts, for obligatory disclaimer about helping re-set roads, for necessary UPHILL walk back home, after each shift :))

 

[Bob Oshea]

KAKC, 1959. Everything was on discs. Music on 45s (or the two LPs, "The Pic Pair Albums") ... CMs, jingles, mega-produced news splitters,
all on 10" 33-1/3 acetates (locally cut discs). We had two QRK 33/45 turntables to the jock's right, and a 16-incher (quit gloating, Bob O)
to the left--only time I ever tried to use that, discovered someone had spilled (I hope it was) Pepsi or Coke under the slip-cue pad, and the
tone arm vibrated right off the damn disc.
So when we got that first McKenzie, we thought we'd died and gone to heaven -- until the day the drive went out ... and we'd lost FIVE
sources of spots and jingles.
Stacker, during one of my KAKC "in betweens," I worked at KBIX, in its bat-patrolled studios on the top floor of the Barnes Building in Muskogee. We did all our spots on those little reels you mentioned. I remember coming in one day during the lunch hour, to find "Sid Braden" (nee, Dick Ralston) working with a sold-out log, and one of the two Maggie PT-6's down. He never stumbled or missed a beat as he did weather, crossplugs, whatever while re-winding one spot, then on-loading the next. And while that was playing, he had his screwdriver
busy -- by the time he got to news at the end of the hour, he had that sucker working again.
((See 5 or 17 other my-posts, for obligatory disclaimer about helping re-set roads, for necessary UPHILL walk back home, after each shift :))

Zoot-
I was notorious for breaking those expensive Sure needles while cueing up. The engineers would finally give up and just leave a box of them in the studio. As far as ripping into a song at the wrong speed, I would go for weeks and not do it and then one day, usually after partyin' my ass off the night before, I would kickoff at the wrong speed about four or five times in a shift. The Hot Line just rang off the hook. I'd answer and it would be whoever I was working for at the time cursing and sputtering like Donald Duck. Other than that the play was just fine Mrs. Lincoln.

Memories......pressed between the butt cheeks of my mind....

Bob O'Shea ;D

 

[G Thompson]

Re: CONTROL ROOMS - USING THE HOTLINE

Aaahhhh...the hot line. You've hit a hot button, Bob!!!!

(inhaling)

I used this technique liberally at my first PD gig years ago. That is, until I woke up and realized that the jock has a brain and had probably realized even before I did what he had done wrong. I nearly ran a few jocks off my staff with the hot line.

PD: "Hey, you did 'such and such' wrong."

What the jock actually hears: "Hey, you're a freaking idiot. I think I'm better than you and I get off on letting you know it."

;D

The only thing a hot line call does is make a jock friggin' hate you. Unless you hear two elements playing on top of each other, or there is time-sensitive reason to use it (like a traffic accident) you're wasting your breath with a hot line call. Unless you've repeatedly asked your jock to stop a chronic offense in person or by e-mail, the hot line probably should be avoided.

I wish more PD's would wake up and realize that they're only hurting themselves with a hot line call most times. Few things hurt morale like the pressure of a hot line call.

(exhaling)

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.