As a regular listener of 77 WABC at the time (I lived in Cincinnati then), imagine the shock & awe a 12 year old experienced when WABC wasn't there, but KOB in Albuquerque was. Anyone remember that event & have any good DX stories to share?
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The Great New York City Power Blackout Of 1965
- Thread starter BobOnTheJob
- Start date
Wow.BobOnTheJob said:
Of course you know that happened when Oliver Douglas plugged in the electricity to his house after they redid his connection to the power company. Before that, he and Lisa had to remember never to add up to more than 12 or the generator would go out.
Not so much a DX story, but I was also a big WABC listener at that time, from Richmond VA. But my memory was WABC stayed on the air. For some reason, I remember listening that night as Cousin Brucie talked about the blackout---well maybe it was the next night and all power still had not been restored. Its been a long time. But wouldn't a huge station like WABC have had back-up power, even back in the 60s?
I'll always remember the day of the Blackout because it was the day I got fired from my first deejay job at a small radio station in Texas -- I was stunned about getting canned and remember hearing the news about the NYC Blackout as I drove home with my severance pay that afternoon. It also marked the first in my long and distinguished career of getting fired by small radio stations.
I have a brother that lives in Fort MillSC.
Anyway, WABC carrier remained on the air. The studio in Manhattan went dark, BUT, the 77 XMTR is in Lodi, NJ. That part of NJ was not affected by the power outage. Big Dan Ingram and his engineer grabbed a pile of records and carts and drove through the blackout to the site, which at that time had an bare-bones emergency studio. Brucie followed. I have an air-check tape of the event with Dan losing power at 5pm.
I remember sitting at the kitchen table in suburban Philadelphia, and listening to reports about it, but many stations were off the air. WOWO in Ft. Wayne was coming in like a local on my Zenith.
Anyway, WABC carrier remained on the air. The studio in Manhattan went dark, BUT, the 77 XMTR is in Lodi, NJ. That part of NJ was not affected by the power outage. Big Dan Ingram and his engineer grabbed a pile of records and carts and drove through the blackout to the site, which at that time had an bare-bones emergency studio. Brucie followed. I have an air-check tape of the event with Dan losing power at 5pm.
I remember sitting at the kitchen table in suburban Philadelphia, and listening to reports about it, but many stations were off the air. WOWO in Ft. Wayne was coming in like a local on my Zenith.
I do remember WABC's turntables running at erratic speed fo a time and when they did come back on, it may have been at lower power. I am certain that for a time, WABC was off the air as KOB was there. I wonder if anyone with some first hand knowledge from WABC might be able to weigh in? I'd enjoy some insight into that night...
Google it. "Radio" and "New York City" and "Blackout" and "1965"
I got a CBC site
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-70-872-5031-10/on_this_day/disasters_tragedies/blackout_rush_hour
with lots of links including this one:
http://members.aol.com/jeff570/blkout65.html
I got a CBC site
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-70-872-5031-10/on_this_day/disasters_tragedies/blackout_rush_hour
with lots of links including this one:
http://members.aol.com/jeff570/blkout65.html
Thanks for the lead...The article verified my observation that the WABC carrier was indeed off for 15 minutes while the backup generator was brought on line, according to their CE at the time. Which was all I needed to log KOB from Cincinnati...a feat that I never did repeat.
It wasn't a blackout, but an aircheck exists of CKLW when someone cut guy wires to the tower shared by CKLW-FM and TV (TV is now CBET). A guy was pissed that CKLW-TV didn't carry the hockey game and the building housing CKLW-AM was evacuated. One turntable was taken out to the transmitter site in Harrow, ONT. Apparently later more equipment was connected. The aircheck I heard was the jock (I believe Charlie Vanm Dyke) telling listeners that something had gone awry with the usual polished sound of CKLW.
Here ya go fellas and gals. Here's the actual story AND airchecks of the event on WABC. http://www.musicradio77.com/stories.html
P
phatdaddy
Guest
I was a high school kid listening to WABC on the night of the blackout and remember a telephone operator breaking into the program and asking " is this line in use?" and Cousin Brucie promptly answered that it was. It was just a few years ago that I read the account of what happened and that they had a dial telephone line rigged up as a studio-transmitter link because their normal line failed.
C
chuckydoll
Guest
The '65 blackout and radio
WABC used carts in its on-air studio back in '65. That's why the music, jingle and news sounder sound horrible just before the lights went out.
WOWO would have boomed into Philadelphia easily -- it was already dark outside at 5:28 PM on 11/9/65.
WABC used carts in its on-air studio back in '65. That's why the music, jingle and news sounder sound horrible just before the lights went out.
WOWO would have boomed into Philadelphia easily -- it was already dark outside at 5:28 PM on 11/9/65.
Carted music in 1965...talk about being ahead of the curve technically! WNDE 1260 in Indy was still playing records in 1977...I saw Brother Barry Chase cue one up in April of that year.
BobOnTheJob said:
I clearly remember WKLO Louisville had music on cart by 1966... used to be a big deal
to watch the jocks at "The WKLO Showcase Studios...307 West Walnut".
One visit they were cueing 45s...next visit...music on cart. At this point, WKLO was also simulcast
on FM at 99.7...in mono. You could actually hear the tambourine in "Day Tripper" on the FM...
I remember WKLO FM from when I lived in Cincinnati. Back then, FM wasn't crowded like now & with a good tuner, WKLO wasn't hard to hear at 100 miles. That was some mighty fine radio...always liked them better than WAKY.
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