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Solar Powered 1470?

J

jefflaurence

Do any of you folks remember the "old days" of 1470..where Lowell "Bud" Paxson started the legacy that became Home Shopping Network? You probably know that in the face of having the electricity turned off, he and his (then) wife went to all of the sponsors that that owed them money and got certificates..and items that could be auctioned off. They started hawking the items, and having people pick them up at the station (such that it was) for cash..They were able to save the WDCL..sort of. This was the beginning of "shopping at home" as we now know it..Oh yeah..they also featured Bob Snyder selling sheets of paper that said you owned a pound of gold..LIVE from the Safety harbor Travel Agency...

Anyway..along the way there was a version of 1470 known as WWQT..News 1470.."Get your news on the QT"..It was a local announcer reading individual stories on to a separate cart..then randomly loading the carts into a Shafer automation carosel..so it sounded like a never ending newscast...and legend has it that Mr. Paxson applied for, and obtained a grant from the government to construct and operate a field of large solar cells in the propery surrounding the one tower. Allegedly these cells were to recharge a bank of storage batteries that (were to be) built in a weatherproof building.

Was any of that ever built? Someone said in 1978 that the metal posts for the cells were all there with a few panels..facing the West mostly..and all of the wiring was laying on the ground..but that was it...no weatherproof building..no finished product. Did he ever have to return the grant money? Hey SBE..could that have worked with the klunker transmitter that they had out there?

Is the tower still there, and are there any signs of this project?

As for thier current signal..they should be able to get at least 10kw day..and maybe 25kw with a directional array right?
 
Jeff...we (Pasco-Pinellas Broadcasting) owned 1470 from the 80's up until late in 98 when a broker bought WLVU AM/FM and spun the FM to Cox. The tower is still there just west of rt. 19 on county road 95. Ground system and signal were always real bad with the night signal very minimal. I purchased a new transmitter in 97 and it helped a little. Never saw anything looking like solar cells on the property. We did have our tower lights stolen. Someone actually climbed the tower and took the beacon! During most of my time with Pasco-Pinellas we brokered the time to two Greek brothers. Yes, home shopping began on 1470 as the Bargaineers. I vividly remember being in the bar at the motel across from Countryside Mall with Bud. He told me of a great idea. K-Mart with a tower, he called it. I laughed. Later, he showed me a small studio on Hercules Avenue in Clearwater. A desk, a camera on tripod and a backdrop. Again I laughed I thought both ideas were silly. Since then, NO idea I hear is silly!
 
Yeah'? I remember sitting at a table with a fellow named Ed Droste and Jimmy Giles (former Buccaneer) at a new restaurant at a place that used to be called "Worlds Worst Pizza" Mr Droste and another partner decided to turn the pizza place into a restaurant/bar that featured cheerleader type waitreses..The two partners asked Jimmy and myself if we would like 10% interest in one of thier new restaurants for 10,000 dollars..I think Jimmy took it..I didn't because I was building my family's first real house..and needed the money...Yup..HOOTERS

How ya doin' Frank?
 
Hi Jeff! Yep. That place on Gulf to Bay that had a new name every month. No one made it there. It was, as you said a pizza place. Before that it was a British Pub. I was selling for QYK, I think. Had sold previous owners advertising and got stiffed everytime. When Hooters opened up I made it a point of NOT calling on that building. It was bad news. And, of course, these guys will be gone soon anyway! Doing good here, Jeff. Love the Grease Bullet. Looking for a station to buy or run or something. Or just do weekends somewhere and live happily ever after. In the meantime I am an account rep with Savers Digest. Direct mail magazine that has been here for 25 years. Great people to work for and with! Local, non-corporate ownership.
 
The only solar powered AM station that I know of is in Ohio. It is connected with a college if I recall correctly. There are a few flea power FM's on mountain tops out west, but no AM's that I know of. An older tube transmitter with 5 kw out would require around 10 kw from the power company. That a lot of solar power. Not too practical. Frank's post regarding the stolen beacon reminds me that with the price of copper, a lot of AM ground systems are being stolen. 120 lengths of #6 copper wire will buy the bums a lot of Old English 800
 
SBE...in addition to some fool climbing to the top of the tower and stealing the beacon, we also had the copper ground system vandalized.
 
Speaking of Lowell W. (Bud) Paxon... In the early 1970's I worked for him when he owned 1280 am WYND in Sarasota. A 500 watt 2 tower directional daytimer... Even back then he was known as the trade out king... his family's grocery store bills, a Winnebago shell for a station remote unit with different ID #'s on each side of it to imply a whole fleet of these 22 foot monsters, his kids orthodontia for windjammer cruises, the usual car & gas trades too... I think he still drove his dad's old 1957 Lincoln Continental once in a while too...

Who'd a thunk he'd be where he is today back then...


later...

walt - bradenton
 
Was thaT before or after Carl Strandell Walt? WOW WYND was the MOST compressed radio station I had ever heard..(until I got to WDAE in 1978 and we ran the signal through THREE sped up Audimax III's and THREE UREI GRAPHIC EQ'S..than into an LA4 before hitting the Volumax and the twisted pair that sent that smokin audio out to the two towers at Egypt Lake..whew))

That was a cookin little station that probably gave KXY fits...
 
More Hooters info

Heard Paul Harvey report today that one of the Hooters founders died this weekend in Clearwater. His name was Brooks???
 
Jeff....

Well WKXY was "full time" back then (6AM - 12 Mid)... ( We were early sign on @ 6AM till "legal sunset") ...What I'm sure really upset the Fernandez brothers @ WKXY was when WYND would change the directional pattern to be sure to cover the beaches... Completly illegal... but ... great ratings... I think that might have even before Paxon took over.. back in the mid-late 60's when Johnny Dark, Glenn Hill, Butch Luke and even Pepperlipsinkx was there.. I used to hang around there as it was real close to Cardinal Mooney High school where I went to.... then worked there for a while in the early 70's...

Ah, the good old days...

later...

walt
 
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