Equipment Nightmares..Stations/Studios

[jefflaurence]

We sort of started a thread a few posts down talking a little about places you've worked..either a LONG time ago..or recently that had awful equipment..or for those of us old dawgs..some really different equipment or methods for producing commercials or imaging. I have a few to set the tone.

At a radio station in the Buffalo NY market in the late 60's we didn't have a separate production studio..They used the main studio after "sign-off" at midnight to produce the few psa's and station announcements they needed. (As it happened the station owner wanted to lose money for tax reasons and did not accept any commercial advertising except for the occasional barter for jingles or production music records) The studio consisted of a four channel RCA production console-ette..two Gerrard record changers (turntables) a Lafayette (an electronics store chain in the 60s) reel to reel tape recorder (retailed for 89.95 in the catalog) and an Electrovoice 635A microphone..EVERY piece of production or jingle or anything recorded that had to be played on the air was on those cheap little 3 inch plastic reels and labeled with a Dymo labelmaker and hung on nails in the wall. The studios were in a sort of residential neighborhood and mostly in Buffalo they didn't have central air conditioning..so we left the window open at night when we were producing our stuff..The elderly man who lived directly next to the station was always calling the cops because of the loud music and sound effects so late at night..During the day when it got hot (and it got HOT in July) the window was also open, but the crazy old man would fire up his Lawn Boy..and leave it running DIRECTLY under the studio window on his property..but it was LOUD. The woman who was the Program Director demanded PERFECTION and would demand that the window be closed to keep the annoying lawnmower sound off the precious airwaves. Most of us were also required during the day to wear a shirt and tie..It was awful! Hourly rate was minimum wage at the time 1.85!

Moving to the big time in Syracuse several years later the station had a modest production room, but it was at least separate from the air studio..BUT They had NO reverb unit because at the time all reverb units were springs..and the tower was right there so the station signal always bled into the springs and fed into our spots..but a lot of us wanted a reverb effect on our production (circa 1973). An old timer remembered back when the station had reverb on the air like so many Top 40 stations did..He told us about this goofy deal with a metal "chamber" of some kind. Back then before consolidation..all of the jocks at a station actually would hang together. It was like a little fraternity..We ate meals together, and hung out..It was really a great time..One night we all went back behind the studio building to find a HUGE..gas station variety..rusted out gasoline storage tank half sunken in the soil behind a storage hut. It had a hole at the end for a 12" speaker (send unit) and on the other end of the tank was a hole for a wire and inside the tank was an old beat-up Altec "Birdcage" ribbon mic (recieve unit) Of course the mic was damaged beyond any chance of use..but with some new wires, and a few amplifiers, a speaker, and (of course) another Electrovoice 635A that we snatched from the news room we had the SWEETEST sounding reverb on our stuff..

Let's hear a few of yours.. I know you have some good ones!

 

[upndownthedial]

> We sort of started a thread a few posts down talking a
> little about places you've worked..either a LONG time
> ago..or recently that had awful equipment..or for those of
> us old dawgs..some really different equipment or methods for
> producing commercials or imaging. I have a few to set the
> tone.
Oh, man...you mentioned Magnacorders...We had the one that you had to thread with an "S" curve over the top. The station ran a TON of recorded programming on Sunday...anyone with a tape recorder could bill themself as a Preacher, and often did. There was one fellow who brought in his program each week on a five inch reel of Concerttape. He had an old 3M recorder at home, and there was just enough leader to wrap once around the spool...on HIS end. So, naturally, by the time it got threaded up on the "Maggie" it was 10 seconds into the show, and since the "Maggie" took a turn and a half to get up to speed, you can imagine how it sounded.

 

[xdjproductions]

> >
1 Cow Pasture
4 Radio Stations
1 Production Studio
1 Double Wide Trailer with no modifications for broadcast
0 Soundproofing in any studio

Poor Equipment

Nothing but FUN FUN FUN!

 

[oldiesstation]

> > >
> 1 Cow Pasture
> 4 Radio Stations
> 1 Production Studio
> 1 Double Wide Trailer with no modifications for broadcast
> 0 Soundproofing in any studio
>
> Poor Equipment
>
> Nothing but FUN FUN FUN!
> studio upstairs in old bank building right on the side of the train tracks.everything ok except when the train arrived during newscast you could hear the whistle just like it was in the room with you.stopped during a newscast and said"someone please open the door and let that train in"..also use to work at station that has fish pond behind it.we use to fight for the weekend shift.ha..

 

[60sguy]

Gee, Jeff...I thought I was the only one forced to deal with those little 3 inch film reels for commercials. I worked at a little 500 watt daytimer in NY's Southern Tier in the early 60s and used to go in after sign-off each evening and dub the commercials, in order, onto a single 7 inch reel for the following day's morning show.

We had a couple of Bell & Howell consumer type tape recorders (no cart machines!) and two turntables that had to run for about ten minutes each morning before sign-on in order to get up to speed by airtime.

The owner constructed a hard, wooden bench with no seatback, that he proudly referred to as the "jock bench" and that was the only seat in the control room.

The only light in the studio, was a single bulb connected to an extension cord that was looped over a ceiling beam (no ceiling tiles!). Like your Buffalo studio, no AC but an open window where all manner of insects noises entered at will.

Fun days!

 

[jefflaurence]

Okay..here's one. At a great old Florida station I worked at..new owners came in, and brought quite a bit of new equipment..and also hired some very young part-timers. Some of the old, no longer used "home made" equipment was still in the racks, and one was a blank strip with a switch, and a light that went on when you flipped it. Also had a meter that went up about 3/4 of the way..not sure what it did..but we labeled it as "Female Demographic Enhancement Generator" (the old F-DEG unit) When I did afternoons there my Saturday shift was mornings..The young girl part timer that came in after me was eager..really eager to learn radio. I told her that the new owners asked me to tell her that she needed to flip on the F-DEG unit whenever a Barry White or Elvis record was playing to "enhance" our female listership. She was told that it generated a sub-audible vibration that would..well.."excite" the 18-34 females, and thus build our ratings. She was also told that if she left it on by mistake she would "over-do it" and it could cause all sorts of problems, and other issues that (the station) didn't want to deal with as this sort of thing was...well..not "really" legal.

She complied so well that she kept a "log" of when it was activated. One day we heard that she had been in a non-serious auto accident, and claimed on the police report that she was listening to our station at the time, and was SURE that someone must have left the "F-DEG" on and THAT'S what caused her to rear-end that pickup truck. She demanded that the police contact the station manager and have them check the "log" to see if it was left on by mistake when she had the accident. The manager said he hadn't a clue what she was talking about, and was trying to get the station in trouble for her wreck. She even told police and insurance investigators that's what the manager would say, and went on to explain what the F-DEG was, and how it worked..."sure...sure it does lady"

She was seen last operating a ferris wheel at a vacent lot carnival in Bartow, Florida.

Might have been the next Randi Rhodes..who knows?

 

[Frank_Ferreri]

> Okay..here's one. At a great old Florida station I worked
> at..new owners came in, and brought quite a bit of new
> equipment..and also hired some very young part-timers. Some
> of the old, no longer used "home made" equipment was still
> in the racks, and one was a blank strip with a switch, and a
> light that went on when you flipped it. Also had a meter
> that went up about 3/4 of the way..not sure what it did..but
> we labeled it as "Female Demographic Enhancement Generator"
> (the old F-DEG unit) When I did afternoons there my Saturday
> shift was mornings..The young girl part timer that came in
> after me was eager..really eager to learn radio. I told her
> that the new owners asked me to tell her that she needed to
> flip on the F-DEG unit whenever a Barry White or Elvis
> record was playing to "enhance" our female listership. She
> was told that it generated a sub-audible vibration that
> would..well.."excite" the 18-34 females, and thus build our
> ratings. She was also told that if she left it on by
> mistake she would "over-do it" and it could cause all sorts
> of problems, and other issues that (the station) didn't want
> to deal with as this sort of thing was...well..not "really"
> legal.
>
> She complied so well that she kept a "log" of when it was
> activated. One day we heard that she had been in a
> non-serious auto accident, and claimed on the police report
> that she was listening to our station at the time, and was
> SURE that someone must have left the "F-DEG" on and THAT'S
> what caused her to rear-end that pickup truck. She demanded
> that the police contact the station manager and have them
> check the "log" to see if it was left on by mistake when she
> had the accident. The manager said he hadn't a clue what
> she was talking about, and was trying to get the station in
> trouble for her wreck. She even told police and insurance
> investigators that's what the manager would say, and went on
> to explain what the F-DEG was, and how it
> worked..."sure...sure it does lady"
>
> She was seen last operating a ferris wheel at a vacent lot
> carnival in Bartow, Florida.
>
> Might have been the next Randi Rhodes..who knows?
>
This is a great thread and my memory is begining to flash back to moments long forgotten! For a very brief period of time I did mornings at WI00 in Carlisle, PA. That stood for W one-hundred. The station was in some sort of office building in town. First morning on the air I had the monitor cranked and kept hearing banging coming from somewhere. It turned out to be the guy in the office next door. He entered the studio and asked if I heard him banging on the wall. He said turn that music down I'm trying to work!