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First Dial Up Remote Control

That was a great story! Thanks for posting it Lee. It is amazing who you might stumble upon on this discussion forum!
 
Thank you for your story, Mr. Rust. I'm not sure we could find a more appropriate person to give us an early R/C history lesson if we tried!

Kind Regards,
David
 
I was rather hoping Lee would catch this thread when I first introduced his dad's name to it. :)

The remote controls aren't the only piece of WHAM/WHFM memorabilia in Lee's collection - there's a beautiful control console from the old Rochester Radio City facility in a place of honor in the front room at Lee's WJZR studios.
 
Well, I suppose there are a few stories left to tell. I can either thank or blame my dad for a lot of things. As far as my participation in radio is concerned, it's both.

In our business, technical innovations like remote control, automation, frequency modulation and digital audio have always drawn their equal measure of thanks or blame from the people they affected. For instance, my station operation is based entirely on the Apple Macintosh. These machines make my computer management job very easy, while at the same time other successful Apple products help make the whole radio business increasingly problematical.

Apple's Steve Jobs died earlier today. He was not a radio guy, but he changed the world of information and entertainment technology in many fundamental ways that we can either appreciate or regret, but we must acknowledge with respect. Either way, he was one of the great innovators. May he rest in peace.
 
Bill Rust was a pioneer in remote control of transmitters since sometime in the early 1960's. Gates and RCA and Continental Electronics did have remote control available by dial up in the same time frame. When I began my broadcast engineer career in 1973 as a 9 year old, the station I worked for had South Central Bell install a dedicated telco line for the WATO/WUUU remote control so I could access it at home.
 
Stations I worked at back in the 60's had a variety of remote controls. Rust, Gates, and oh yes the famous "homebrew" with a couple of fake readings. Can you imagine, something fake in radio?

I do remember you had to be careful when taking readings not to move the stepper too fast. Controlled everything including antenna heaters, (how many times did I forget to turn them on?) and moniotered tower lights.
 
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