Reading about Gates and RCA-BC-6B and BC3 boards (in the MCRs at
KB 1430 Main Street and WMMJ Lancaster; and
WEBR at 23 North Street) is like getting into
Peabody's Wayback Machine. The
BC-5 was often seen in production rooms and control rooms at smaller AM radio stations. Then came the spiffy
RCA BC-7A, which for many years could be found in the control room of WWOL at the Lafayette Hotel and IIRC, WBFO.
The RCA boards had those solid Bakelite pots that your hand could easily and confidently grasp; red, green, black, white, color-coded to turntables, mics and cart machines, plus a Master pot on the far right side of the board. (Who puts a
Master where a jock could rock it!?) Many RCA BC-3's or 6's had black and/or maroon pots for those who could run a board by touch. T
The earlier Gates boards also had Bakelite
multi-colored pots, although larger and having a more modern design, the Gates pots could be "spun up" quite nicely. When discussing
Gates boards, a distinction should be made between the Dualux and the Dualux II, which had the larger, free moving pots. The
Gatesway II was a sweet board, for many years it was the workhorse in the MCR as WUSJ/WLVL Lockport, which before that time, was a straightaway GE operation form board to transmitter. 1400 WYSL Buffalo had a particularly rugged
Gates President TV audio board in the control room for many years. IT may have been a custom made President having two more pots than the one pictured.
Those boards often took a pounding from jocks who were rough on switches and pots, but I can't remember any Gates board that I used breaking down under normal use (abuse.) About the worst I can remember is the cue detent on the pots in the Gates Yard or Stereo Yard wearing out, so bring the pot all the way down often revealed an LP or 45 in cue when the mic was turned off. After Harris bought Gates, their boards just didn't seem to have the same feel or performance of the older boards. Autogram made a particularly robust rotary pot board. It was often re-badged and seen in Collins facilities such as WADD. (Again, another reference to the Brockport flamethrower whose signal reached more fish than people.)
The first slide pot boards of note were from the Ward-Beck or McCurdy catalogs. WBEN was partial to Ward-Beck. WGR bought into the McCurdy line. The McCurdy's were built like tanks and loaded with relays. Kind of funny how more can be done today with a stock Berringer or Mackie 1402 lined into Cool Edit/Adobe, ProTools or Audacity. Still, these modern accoutrements don't have the mystique of the warhorses of times past. Was a time.
