recto101 said:
KWUN 1981 aircheck. part 1
Ah yes! I spent a couple tours of duty at KWUN. John Hawkins was PD when he changed the identifier from "K-WUN 1480" to "K-15" because he felt that 1480 would be harder to find on the radio dial than 15, which was between 14 and 16 on radios. Radios had dials in those days. He also brought over the "Greatest hits of all time" from KNEW where he had previously worked in 1974. In fact, my leaving was the impetus for KWUN owner Bill Adler to hire Hawkins and shift the format from MOR/jazz to oldies.
At the time I worked there, 1973-74 and 1975-77, the board shown in the photo on the Part 1 aircheck was the one we were using. Alan Graft, the CE at the time I worked there had tied the turntable motor controls to the audio keys, so we could cue up a record pot it up and let it sit. Then all we'd have to do is flip the key and we'd get both motor and audio. Sometimes the humidity would cause the switches to arc a bit, causing a small pop on air.
The photos bring back some memories. I'm surprised more photos don't exist of the station given that just about anybody who was anybody in Bay Area radio worked KWUN at one time or other.
The tower tuning was so bizarre that it took a couple years from testing when the station was first authorized in 1961 to actually get the station on the air for regular service. The tuning could easily slip out or the common point current could run amok without warning. Years after I worked at KWUN I managed to meet Gene Ragel, a founding partner, who told me the story.
Also, the coverage map shown on the video was a baldfaced lie. The actual pattern was a tight teardrop aimed right down Ygnacio Valley Road. KWUN could blast into Walnut Creek, and be easily heard in Oakland and Burlingame, but couldn't be heard just 2 miles directly behind the array along Kirker Pass Road. At the time, KWUN protected co-channel KYOS in Merced, as well as adjacent KTOB Petaluma 1490 (even though they were a Class IV), and KNDE 1470 in Sacto.
In fact, the pattern was a major problem for KWUN trying to get nighttime authorization using its existing array because the station technically could not serve Concord with a city grade signal daytime. However, Adler was able to finally get a hardship concession from the FCC for the same pattern nighttime after proving that when the pattern was first authorized it DID serve all of Concord, but that Concord had annexed extra land in the intervening years. He then got letters from KYOS, KRED, and the other 1480s saying that they wouldn't object to KWUN's nighttime operation.
It was interesting walking behind the back tower with a radio tuned to 1480 because the radio would blast KCBS louder than KWUN. The towers, of course, were acting as a perfect half-wave dipole for 740 (being half of 1480).
Yep, they sure don't make radio like that anymore. [sniff sniff]
