My brother Bob was business manager of the TV side and I was thrilled to get a tour of 1430 Main in August 1968. Can't remember who was on the air at the time, but I was in awe of seeing live radio happen before my eyes. The place was pretty beat up back then but I was too enthralled with the talent and equipment to care.Mike Sheridan said:I have only seen a couple of pictures one of Bob Diamond working the all night show combo in the control room in front of an old RCA board with 3 old looking turntables around him, and a picture of Tom Shannon standing in what looked like a big room with an old RCA mic with a big long boom, the kind you'd expect to see in TV not radio. The walls were made up of that tile with the holes in it.
I walked in once and tried to get a tour of 1430 Main but the receptionist said they weren't giving tours that day. I wonder how many times she said that? I assume 695 Delaware Av was a much nicer place. I did read on Old Forgotten Buffalo that 1430 was very likely the first WKBW transmitter site.
I've also read that 1430 Main was very likely the first WKBW transmitter site. Here's a June 1, 1927 aerial photograph from the county website:
http://www.erie.gov/aerials/1920s/atlases/book7/html/b7_g23.html
1430 is on the far left, find Main Street and you can see where it curves at Ferry, then look south two blocks. There appears to be a self-supporting tower directly behind the Tabernacle (no room for a guyed structure).
I'm going to look for old topo maps of the area, they usually will make note of radio and TV towers.