KCBS was Off Air for about 15 Minutes Last Tuesday Afternoon

[K.M. Richards]

Really? What harm is this doing?

This is a San Francisco forum, after all. The relevance of the discussion is pretty clear.

In reading both posts, there are a few discrepancies between the two timelines. I just want to know which is correct.

 

[K.M. Richards]

This is your absolute final warning.

YOU ARE NOT A MODERATOR.

Wait a doggone minute. I asked for clarification on the discrepancies between two posts, and asked it of the two people posting.

That's not even close to being a moderator, and if I can't even ask these things politely ... well ...

 

[Mark Roberts]

In reading both posts, there are a few discrepancies between the two timelines. I just want to know which is correct.

I don't want to belabor the point, but, to be frank, that is not how your post came across.

Also keep in mind that Lou is a very well-regarded member of the Bay Area broadcast scene and, for decades, has been generous in sharing his knowledge on ba.broadcast (Usenet) and other forums. I would hate to lose his participation over something as silly as this.

And someday I'll figure out who Weiserguy is.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I don't want to belabor the point, but, to be frank, that is not how your post came across.

Sorry if it seemed that way.

Also keep in mind that Lou is a very well-regarded member of the Bay Area broadcast scene and, for decades, has been generous in sharing his knowledge on ba.broadcast (Usenet) and other forums. I would hate to lose his participation over something as silly as this.

Which is precisely why I asked for clarification.

 

[fybush]

I don't want to belabor the point, but, to be frank, that is not how your post came across.

Also keep in mind that Lou is a very well-regarded member of the Bay Area broadcast scene and, for decades, has been generous in sharing his knowledge on ba.broadcast (Usenet) and other forums. I would hate to lose his participation over something as silly as this.

And someday I'll figure out who Weiserguy is.

Lou was also the engineer at KCBS for more years than I can even remember, so questioning his recollections is kind of like talking about Marshall McLuhan in the line going into the theater in Annie Hall.

 

[Weiserguy]

I don't want to belabor the point, but, to be frank, that is not how your post came across.

Also keep in mind that Lou is a very well-regarded member of the Bay Area broadcast scene and, for decades, has been generous in sharing his knowledge on ba.broadcast (Usenet) and other forums. I would hate to lose his participation over something as silly as this.

And someday I'll figure out who Weiserguy is.

I didn't know I had achieved BigA status so soon, but Mark, you know me from as far back as ba.broadcast. With or without moderation.

I'm not in Lou's peer class by any stretch, but relative to this conversation: (a) when Loma Prieta hit, he himself said he was busy dealing with rebuilding the KCBS array in Novato, which is the opposite end of the Bay from the Dumbarton Bridge, over 50 miles away. OTOH, I've lived and worked on the Peninsula or in the South Bay since 1982. I was there on 10/17/89. Since 1991 I've had line-of sight to the KGO towers from my front windows, and I had the privilege of once getting a tour of that same transmitter plant from their former director of engineering and transmitter supervisor, where the quake and subsequent damage and scramble to repair were major topics of discussion. So it's not like I just arrived on a turnip truck and got dropped on my head.

On, and by the way K.M., I also have a degree in Electrical Engineering and a self-taught FCC First Class Phone -- no 6-week quickie-class here -- so I do know more than the average bear about this stuff. But again, I was just correcting Lou's recollection, and never intended to minimize Lou's technical knowledge or historical memory. I too could be wrong.

 

[davideduardo]

Lou was also the engineer at KCBS for more years than I can even remember, so questioning his recollections is kind of like talking about Marshall McLuhan in the line going into the theater in Annie Hall.

I have had questions made about some of my many posts. And in many of such cases, I have either been wrong or not open to a differing opinion. And (usually) I learn.

So, in this case, is it criminal to question "Lou" and his statement? Probably not. Just like... in times gone by... journalists had to have their reports verified, we should not be afraid of asking for further clarification of statements we are unsure about.

With the early generation(s) of AI often producing inaccurate or wrong data, there has never been a time for greater skepticism to be both appropriate and warranted.. .

 

[fybush]

I have had questions made about some of my many posts. And in many of such cases, I have either been wrong or not open to a differing opinion. And (usually) I learn.

So, in this case, is it criminal to question "Lou" and his statement? Probably not. Just like... in times gone by... journalists had to have their reports verified, we should not be afraid of asking for further clarification of statements we are unsure about.

With the early generation(s) of AI often producing inaccurate or wrong data, there has never been a time for greater skepticism to be both appropriate and warranted.. .

I think the guy who WAS the KCBS transmitter site for several decades is a pretty unimpeachable primary source for information about what was happening at KCBS.

I realize Weiserguy was referring to KGO, 50 miles away, and I get his point where that's concerned.

 

[Mark Roberts]

I didn't know I had achieved BigA status so soon, but Mark, you know me from as far back as ba.broadcast. With or without moderation.

I don't recall it, but a lot of water has gone under the bridge. Did you post as "Weiserguy"? I'm much more likely to remember real names...or names that look like real names...than pseudonyms.

 

[Lou Schneider]

I'm sorry I missed this, here's some clarification at the risk of flogging a dead horse.

I was the transmitter engineer at KCBS during the Loma Prieta earthquake. We were in the process of replacing our four 500 ft. guyed towers after losing one during a windstorm the previous winter. KCBS was running a temporary pattern of 25 Kw on the remaining 3 towers and we had just finished putting up one of the new towers in place of the one that collapsed. The night before the quake we rigged the station to run at 12.5 kw non-directional on the new tower so we could chop down and replace the other 3 towers. All 4 of our guyed towers were flexible enough to ride out the quake without damage and KCBS stayed on the air the whole time, except for the 15 seconds it took for the standby generator to ramp up when the shaking took out the PG&E power at the site.

Weiserguy is talking about KGO. Their 3 self supporting towers were more heavily damaged and I think they were off the air for about a half an hour after the shaking until someone was able to manually connect the transmitter to the single tower that was relatively undamaged.

In fact, I know precisely how long KGO was off the air. It took me about 25 minutes to get to the KCBS transmitter and I was listening to our coverage the whole way.

When I got to the site it took me about 30 seconds to get out of the truck and unlock the front door of the building.

As I entered the building I heard the announcer say "Are we on the air? I'm not hearing anything" followed by someone in the background yelling "yes". I didn't pay too much attention to the air monitor after that, other than noting we were on the air as I was busy assessing the condition of the building and the equipment. It wasn't until a minute or so later I heard him say "KGO" and I realized we had their audio on our air. I quickly switched to the backup phone line and things returned to normal.

So what happened? We lost power to the studio's STL transmitter at that moment. KCBS and KGO's 950 MHz STLs are one channel apart, shooting in opposite directions. KCBS had a 2 hop STL due to the Marin County terrain and when the studio's STL transmitter shut down the midpoint STL receiver on Big Rock Ridge locked onto the KGO signal, putting their audio on our air.

And thanks for the complement Scott, but I wasn't at KCBS for "several decades". More like 5 years at the right/wrong time.