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Radio ain't fun no more

E

EvilRoy

Guest
I agree with all of us 50+ers who grew up in the wonderful age of personality radio, that those days are finished. I look forward to the day when the internet may continue the fun and excitement of those days. Unfortunately, todays broadcasters don't have a clue about being a unique personality. Having airchecks of those days are an important tool in showing the techniques and originality of the entertainers. Keep finding those airchecks and post them, if not just for the wonderful memories. Happy Holidays to all of you and may the New Year bring us all peace and happiness.
 
I think that with care, and non-fearing nonsense about "legal" (what left the speakers is in public domain) ... I would give eye teeth for an organization such as George Brusstar's "Audio 18" ... and a fine organization at that ... to take the next big step and be the first anywhere to do Internet Radio's first "Aircheck Audio" radio station.

Look, if Reel Radio, American Air-Chexx and tons of posters make $$$$ doing same everyday, I know that Mr. Brusstars incredible, edited/scoped library of "personality radio" just from Philadelphia would be, in addition to his "Radio Racket" a HUGE and much deserved HITBOUND on what Internet Radio can do ... that no one else is doing ... anywhere on the planet.

I know for a fact he could make money doing so. Imagine ... a 24/7 aircheck radio station. Not a copy of "Reel Radio" ... but one supported in the open by sponsors, donations, etc. It would be a testimonial to radio and talk about an education.

I've heard so much just in the hour before the Racket begins, including my good friend Rich Hawkins and many many others who we don't hear from much anymore ... or even can.

I support that I'd start the ball rolling to avoid the "I don't have time" ... because I'd make the time and invest if this would be a popular idea.

And I'm serious. It would be a blast ... especially after hearing Jackson Armstrong and John Rook last night ... and as a reminder to those who forgot what WABC "used" to sound like ... even in Philadelphia, against some formidable competition.

AirCheck Radio.

Think about it. You can bet it would be blasting out of my Internet radio. Tell 'em CA Joe sent ya.
 
We need a Hy Lit powered 1,000,000 watt modulator built into an RCA Ampliphase. Plus, we need AUDIO ... and you have lots and lots of it. Hy needs to be on this station in his shift. Chills just thinking about it. And "All scoped - All the time." I heard the last 90 minutes of Wibbage again the other night and couldn't move from listening to it.

YOU need to be part of this Sam. Why, you could even host it ... :) Ampliphase and all! Another wonderful tribute to all things Philly radio ... and Hyski.

And we need some radials...lots of radials. I'm serious as an Earl Shieb paint job on this, Sam ...
 
The real problem here is ain't fun for listeners. Radio doesn't need to be fun for us; we get paid.
 
"It ain't fun for listeners..."

If it's fun for posters around the country, it's fun for listeners. And people here get paid? You'd never know it from some of the posts and threads ... and especially from the hundreds, if not thousands who post who admit to not working in radio.

Maybe for those who do work and get paid in radio and for those who have met the Grim Reaper of Clear Channel's budget axe, as well as those who don't have a job ... maybe it would inspire others enough to listen to hear radio as it was ... and to stop b******g about what they can't control ... as radio becomes that great big "sucking sound."

There's more to life than "Hot Wings & Beer," failed "Free FM" and the legions of good, decent radio people who have lost touch with the business ... or don't know from whence we came.

You think that Internet radio has to have millions of people to listen to be successful? Who said that the "nicheness" and uniqueness of 10,000 Internet radio stations has to have a huge audience? So what if only "radio people" listened? That would be, er, "Boss" in my opinion. After all, many of us lived the time. Many here didn't ... maybe it's time we all did. All 50 of us.

Ask DJ about "The Cockroach." Yeah ... a labor of love. But a lot of people listen to it. It's not about "mass" now ... it's about CONTENT. This ... even for us lowly radio people is ... about CONTENT. Why, even you, Julius, might like it. Have any contributions or would you rather us just blather on about our dislike of colon blow programming? You can do better, I know.

Next ...
 
oaktree said:
YOU need to be part of this Sam, Ampliphase and all! And we need some radials...lots of radials. I'm serious as an Earl Shieb paint job on this, Sam ...
Click to expand...


Will we need guyed wires across Passyunk av.? And will the FAA require incoming flight obstruction notification warning lights? What about the industrial salt storage? There are many, many, questions that need to be answered. It may not be as easy as it seems. What about safety, when I connect a 7700-volt power supply to a part 15 transmitter.
 
As long as it doesn't affect the Geno's and Pat's, because you can see THEM from outer space.
Sam..hope you're doing well.
And ya know, this guy has a bit of a point about putting airchects on the internet in a continuous stream. Why NOT? You could do a top-40-style rotation of the most popular airchecks, with stuff from other markets. As long as the music is cleared, and if some of the scoped things could be matched with the song itself, it'd be cool.
Of course, it would be a PRODUCTION nightmare, but WTF. Why not?
Heck..Sam, you could play Hy to open EVERY hour...me on the half hours. AND all the others in between. I COULD be done, but whether non-radio geeks would be interested in the long run is an unknown. You'd have to be careful of the ERAS too. Imagine hearing Frank Kingston Smith on Wibbage, then ABC for a half hour. In fact, you could even use just PARTS of airchecks and use them like BITS. Sorta like what SIRIUS does with comedy bits. They don't use the whole SHOW, just bits..chopped up to be like a HIT SONG.. Hmm...this could be cool. Is there merit here?
BE BIG
www.bigjayandanita.com
 
Thank you, Big Jay. You "Be Big" too ... would like to hear you on this.

Great contribution. The idea is just that ... bits ... up to 5 minutes, scoped. Get, say, 200 of them, and you've got a rotation of a day that pops into your Internet automation just like ripped songs do ... and you've got a full day of "JACK" programming ... trainwrecks and all...for a full day.

Update them with more stuff till you get a thousand ... a months work, if that. And no more than five minutes ... three is plenty, actually.

Let's not make this just a "bitch" board ... it's not colon blow infomercials on WABC, I know, and not as relevant as that ... but maybe for a couple hundred people ... it would be bigger than a lot of the Internet AND terrestrial "crap" that's out there now.

And if it's for the radio community ... so what? This is a RADIO BOARD, supposedly. Maybe the "young ones" will learn something ... and I'd love, frankly, to see their posts about how they'd do it all differently.

Hot rotation airchecks ... on a Top 30 survey just like radio.

God, what am I thinking...or drinking.
 
I'd be willing to donate a Storer Broadcasting built Negative Peak Limiter to the cause that has received innumerable hours of testing on an RCA BTA-50G Ampliphase transmitter. Guaranteed to keep the negatives at 99% while the postives hit 300%.
 
I must admit after reading this and seeing true passion from the previous posters I need to practice my skills and plan on spending some serious hours working on the big New Years Live show, most of which will now be prerecorded with just a few cutins of the crowd in Times Square which I hope you all will enjoy even if it is listened to at a later time.
 
Get your voice in shape now ... you'll need it to be heard over the din from the sea of humanity gathered there...

Good luck!
 
rtetro said:
I'd be willing to donate a Storer Broadcasting built Negative Peak Limiter to the cause that has received innumerable hours of testing on an RCA BTA-50G Ampliphase transmitter. Guaranteed to keep the negatives at 99% while the postives hit 300%.
Click to expand...


Rene,
I was under the understanding that Ampliphase transmitters couldn't modulate over 100% positive. Did the BTA-50G have to be modified at some point for greater modulation peaks?
 
Splicing and dicing in quality music audio under the blend of the original jock element is easy with Adobe multitrack. Digitally pitching the tape speeds are easy too, if you have an ear. I've done Jim Nettleton WFIL clips (with permission) on air. It sounds KOOL. Exactly what WABC does for it's Reruns.
 


Rene,
I was under the understanding that Ampliphase transmitters couldn't modulate over 100% positive. Did the BTA-50G have to be modified at some point for greater modulation peaks?
[/quote]

I was under the same impression, but according to Archie Sitchell they made it work. Back in the early 80s I was only able to get about 110% positives (on a good day when the Amplifuzz exciter was being cooperative) using an Optimod 9000.
 
Sam & tretro: from the Engineering board:

frankberry
rimember

Offline

Posts: 46


Re: RCA BTA-50G question
« Reply #1 on: Today at 02:25:29 am » Quote

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I've had quite a bit of experience with the 50G. It could modulate in the positive direction over 100% but it tended to splatter as the IMD was quite high.
That's why is was called "AMPLIFUZZ."
 
FYI so noone feels like an outsider, the RCA BTA50 was the main 50,000 watt transmitter at the legendary WIBG Philadelphia. It was water cooled. They also had a BTA10, their 10,000 nighttime and backup transmitter. They took up nearly a third of the second floor.

Here's another reply:
LA_Guy
rimember

Online

Posts: 328


Re: RCA BTA-50G question
« Reply #2 on: Today at 04:18:42 pm » Quote

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The 50G had marginal driver tubes and a very marginal power supply. I had one with all new tubes and pristinely tuned up occasionally hit 115% positive for a few weeks, but then it settled back down to 105%.

The 50H was quite another matter however. It had 4CX5000s for drivers and a much better power supply. They could do 115-120% positive all day. Some 50Hs (including the one at 1510 in Boston) had a 100 kW power supply. Those rigs could easily do 130-140% positive at 52.5 kW out
 
In the above quote, LA_Guy is the former CE of WLKW 990 in Providence. I bet if the Ampliphase was the 50H rather than the 50G, it would howl. Here's an interesting side note on what the boxes could pass: During the final phase of WLKW's being a Beautiful Music station, the FM was simulcast on the AM-which was a daytimer then-by running the output of an FM tuner into the audio processing. I'd notice at that time when listening to to WINS 1010, a strong 1 kHz beat note. Reason for this was that the WLKW Ampliphase was also passing the FM's 19 kHz stereo pilot! 990+19=1009 kHz, hence the 1 kHz howl on WINS. I think Dana got around this by switching the tuner to mono...
 
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