Strangest Thing To Ever Happen To You On The Air????

[radiojjh]

Hey...not sure why...but I was pondering odd events over the years I've been in the biz.....and one of the oddest for me personally----came along in 1986---the day the space shuttle blew up. I was doing mornings and programming KWYZ "Radio 123" in Everett back in the days...when it was live and local....we did a very pop sounding country format and ratings-wise we did great in Snohomish County. (So sorry to see this facility now broadcasting Korean programming instead of something people might actually listen to more often). Anyway that fateful day--January 28, 1986.....back then---like now space shuttle launches are important...but they had become fairly routine.....well that morning around 830 during my morning show....KWYZ was an NBC affiliate, and had the "bulletin box" provided by NBC that would let us know if there was an important story they were covering that we could begin airing. Well---the engineer wasn't really good about keeping the NBC Bulletin Box functioning and operating like it should.....so around 835am one of my staff members who was really into the space program and called me on the hot-line, and said--"I think you better monitor NBC---I think something's wrong with the space shuttle." And indeed he was right.....I listened in "cue" and NBC was providing coverage of the space shuttle blowing up, and I could have been playing anyone of a thousand country songs......and this still gives me chills to this date---21 years later......Billy Joe Royal("Cherry Hill Park," and "Down In The Boondocks")was beginning to get country hits in the mid-80's and I was playing his new up and coming song---but had to interrupt it to go into NBC Radio coverage of the space shuttle blowing up, the name of the song---I kid you not----"Burned Like A Rocket." That was NOT something planned or a sick joke....just a very very odd coincidence. Incidentally because of that event and the title of the song...it didn't get into the top-20.....

Alright---how about some more strange stories about when you were on the air?




JJHemingway......"Your Spokane Radio Pal......."


ps---i had the honor of working with Bill O'Mara at KWYZ in 1985-86.....had more fun working with him.......he is one of a kind....and one of the most lovable people in this business of our....anyone hear what he's doing after he left KLKI in August? Love to get in touch with him!!! Bill IS THE BEST!!!!!

 

[Bongwater]

All I can say JJ is KLKI is a very LONELY station without him. Skagit County listeners and some businesses have left KLKI because he is no longer there. It's just another boring one-horse station on a graveyard frequency now. Bill O'Mara was the ONLY person that really made it worth listening to.

Has KJR (AM) ever contacted him? I'd recommend it. Because he could bring what that station has been DYING for, a TRUE old school perspective on sports.

He's 90 years old, but he STILL sounds hipper than most jocks 1/3rd his age. and I WISH he could go on for another 90 years. Just so my kids can hear what the BEST sports radio REALLY sounds like.

Bill O'Mara is a Puget Sound radio TREASURE. C'mon KRKO, you wanna make 50,000 watts work? Bring back Bill O'Mara (and maybe Robin & Maynard too!) They're waitin' for ya!

 

[radiojjh]

Larry---I completely agree-----I believe IF KJR-AM was smart---they would find a place for Bill---perhaps like me---they don't have a way to get in touch with him, and for KRKO---what a brilliant move that would be----Bill did work there around 20 years ago, after his stint at KWYZ/"Radio 123." I will make sure KRKO is aware that Bill is available......with their upgrade coming fairly soon and the addition of a second station for Snohomish County at 1520AM---there's 2 stations right there that could benefit from the legendary Bill O'Mara.....for sure!!!

But I can tell you---very soon BIG changes coming to KLKI.....new calls, format, etc....it will become very listenable again and all I can say without spilling all the beans-----Music Of Your Life will be NO MORE on 1340 in Anacortes....I've started doing some production for the new folks at KLKI, and they are very very nice people and great to work with....have had lots of conversations about the changes coming....and it will be a VERY GOOD THING.....trust me on that one for sure!!!! They are just getting all their "ducks in a row." In Anacortes they should have something to be very thankful for by Thanksgiving....

 

[Bongwater]

RIGHT ON! Skagit County radio fans are ready for a REAL breath of fresh air.

I'll keep me ears on.....

 

[sforrest]

As a new blogger and former Sea-Tac radio guy, I found this blog amusing, albeit a little off topic since the first entry...I remember an incindent while on the air at KJR (AM), June '81. As a graduating class prank, three guys thought it would be a hoot to climb our tower around midnight. They successfully took us off the air (using a logging chain as I recall), grounding us dead. I had no idea this was going on...they had no idea we had a back-up xmitter. After allowing the back-up to warm for 5 minutes, I flipped over and got back on the air! Just minutes later, police, fire and others were attending this poor kid. Apparently I melted his sneakers to the tower and he suffered some bad burns to his hands, not to mention getting knocked off the tower about 20 feet! I still have the clipping from the P-I in a scrapebook. Perhaps even better was an embarrassing moment in '78 when Keith Moon died. I was doing mid-days on KING (AM), relating the news, reading a brief bio, etc...then into a stop set. Unfortuately, the first spot was a KING-TV promo for the Carol Burnett Show beginning with nearly 20 seconds of pure laughter!!! Not one of my finest moments. PD Rob Conrad actually fell into the control room with tears in his eyes laughing uncontrollably. He took my aircheck and played it for days to anyone who passed by his desk!! Live radio works. I do miss the days of real radio & records.
Scott F

 

[pabsungenis]

Years ago, I was working at WSKR 102.7, the nation's first (short-lived) FM sports station. Our studios were in a building formerly occupied by local powerhouse, "hot hits" WBSS 97.3, on the property where their tower was located.

WBSS blanketed South Jersey at 50K ND and a hell of a footprint. We were a startup Class A with a stick out near the Atlantic Ocean. The signal was so weak that the anti-RF shielding in the building guaranteed that you couldn't even receive our signal in the studio.

The OM for WSKR had hired landscapers who used equipment that dug deep enough to rip the cables running to the shed where WBSS's transmitter and our STL were located. It was a nice clean cut. Unfortunately, no one was aware of it until our engineer came tearing into the building at high speed. When he told us that both WSKR and WBSS were off the air, I abandoned the booth and went to help him track down the problem.

We spent about an hour out in a field in the middle of a cold November night, me with a flashlight in my mouth and a soldering iron plugged into an extension cord in my hand. He had a pair of headphones that he had cut off the plug so he could just move the wires around to locate what audio was going where. As we identified what each line was supposed to be, he would strip and twist, and I'd solder. Then he'd wrap it in tape, and we'd move on to the next.

Once the process was finished, I went back to the studio and started the show up again. Ten minutes later, I get a hotline call. "Pab, I hear you coming in loud and clear."

"Thanks, Don. Good to hear."

"The problem is, I hear you on 97.3."

So we had to go back out in the field and do it all again, moving one set of audio cables to another. It never occurred to us to just switch the inputs on the exciter and STL, we were so frazzled.

Second strangest thing was when I was doing the morning show in college. We went into a newscast, and we could see smoke billowing out of the transmitter room. The FM monitor had gone up in flames. Dave Majeski, my newscaster, nonchalantly slipped in a new item after he finished the story. "This just in, WSBU's transmitter is on fire. Details to follow...we hope."