The WBEN Studios

[Mike Sheridan]

Well we have talked a little bit here about the WKBW and WWYSL-FM studios. I would like to hear about the WBEN studios. In the 70's I know Chief Engineer Jerry Klabunde moved WBEN to the building at the rear of the Elmwood Av station and completely reworked the WBEN studios. I wish I had it today when I visited there once Jerry gave me a really nice brochure showing the really nice Ward Beck consoles and overhead turret for the transmitter readings.

I know Bob 1370 worked there and probably some others as well. I'd like to hear what folks thought of the equipment both before and after the rebuild.

While I might be giving myself too much credit I'd like to think I might have worked at least overnight at WBEN if the station hadn't gone with Larry King. That's just going to be one of those unrealized dreams for me!

 

[TVJunkie12]

I was there during the last few years for WBEN at 2077 Elmwood but by then things were pretty tired. The mono Ward Beck consoles still worked but didn't sound as good as they once did. The hydraulic lift that once raised and lowered the overhead rack to take transmitter readings were long disconnected. There was mold growing in the sound deadening on the walls. It was very dusty and dirty but yet you could still sense what a first rate facility it had once been. The testament to that was how aged the equipment was but yet still functioned with a minimum of repair. I also heard that the place won an engineering award for facilities sometime in the early 70's.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Mold? Yikes! I guess in this day of 24/7 radio studios don't get the good cleaning that they need.

You don't see expensive Ward Beck consoles in many radio stations. I hear some of the electronics were saved and the frames were broken up by the saw.

Thanks for the info.

 

[TVJunkie12]

Unless someone from channel 4 kept the W-B electronics I don't know what happened to them. Most of that equipment was just dropped into a dumpster after being cut up. The Altec studio monitors were saved, the Pacific Recorders console from the WMJQ studio is now in use somewhere else in the country and the Wheatstone production console was traded to channel 4 but I'm not sure for what. Some of the other equipment was reused like the Otari reel to reel decks, but most of it was totally obsolete-like the mono Ampex and Scully reel to reel decks from the auxiliary production rooms-and it was tossed.

 

[Bob1370]

Can only tell you what the WBEN studios were like in the years immediately after the rebuild, which I was told took place starting around 1975 and completed early in 1977--oddly enough, just before the Buffalo Evening News interests (the Butler family heirs) dumped their properties.

What Larry Levite's Algonquin Broadcasting organization bought in 1978 was essentially a state of the art facility. We had the latest & greatest; Ward-Beck consoles, Neumann condenser mikes, Scully stereo reel-to-reel decks (even in most of the AM control rooms), new ITC cart decks, automated transmitter logging, Orban Optimod processing in the sound chain. Everything was reliable and bulletproof, the whole place was carpeted with a corduroy-like carpet that also served as soundproofing on the walls, and generally wore like iron.

I remember AM and FM each had big master control facilities (the FM, next door to the room with the automation rack, was of course full stereo). AM master was where the air personalities ran their boards and conducted their shows...there was a second mike position to the side of the main air board where occasional live guest interviews could be conducted. Then, AM had a full-featured news control room/announce studio with tandem mike positions and full recording capabilities where most of our newscasts originated (yes, the newscasters combo'd their newscasts and fired their own sound bites and spots--we liked it that way). We had an interview studio with a round table and multiple mike positions next door, facing the jock's position in master control and separated from master control just by a big double-paned glass window. Lou Douglas used that studio to do his daily live interviews during the Newsday noon news hour and Stan Barron would sometimes put his live guests in that studio as well, especially when he'd have more than one at a time. (Occasionally he'd also use the second mike position in master control if he only had one guest for a segment. He might do it either way depending on whether or not he had a lot of copy to juggle during the show.) Down the hall on the AM side was a large stereo production control room and adjoining announce booth where most of the commercial production for both AM and FM was done; our production directors, first Dave Dibic, then Mike Jetter, presided over the big console and accompanying bank of multitrack Scully machines. Across the hall on the FM side was an additional voice booth and not one, but two auxiliary control rooms each capable of serving as an air control room--I'm told FM used one of them as its master control when they went to 24/7 live origination early in the 80s. Roger Christian just used the big FM master control for his morning show during my time there, when he was the only live announcer on FM. When the automation took over at 10 AM thr room became available for anyone to use, and sometimes the news guys would use it to cart up stories or longer packages for the major news blocks if news control was busy.

Of course the newsroom was down the hall near the front door of the building, just outside the studio complex. It was also well equipped for its day. It used more compact Ampex reel to reel machines along with ITC cart play/record decks and homebrew switcher boards with phone line connections and network feed inputs at each of the workstations (each of the fulltimers had his own dedicated workstation at his desk); you could do phone interviews and most of the tape editing you needed right at your desk, minimizing the amount of time you had to use a control room for newscast prep.

One thing you could always count on--you always had whatever you needed at hand to get the job done.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Sounds nice Bob, thanks for the info. I only saw WBEN once, shortly after the rebuild. The CE that was in charge of the rebuild had worked at the station I was working for in Fort lauderdale before I went to work there. That's how I got in to see WBEN we had a common reference.

Mike

 

[choicevoicepro.com]

I thought the WBEN facility was rather cool when I was there in the early 80's. Even then the equipment was aging - but the engineering staff was always "right on it". The engineering staff was large. If I remember - aside from the chief (then Dave May... also a darn good traffic reporter and broadcaster) had the back up of three or four other guys. Some of the engineers doubled as ops (that may have been a hold over from the old days). For example, aside from engineering, Tommy Whalen was also op for Newsday At Noon. These guys were old school and absolutely the best. The 'BEN facility was probably the most impressive place I worked - aside from WTIC in Hartford - which at that time was a true showplace in downtown Hartford.
I really enjoyed working for Larry Levite - he took care of his people and had great pride in his ownership.

Tom "Kelly" Pagnotti

 

[Element9]

The engineering staff was large.

Those were the days. Today it's one Chief, maybe an I-T guy who also does the websites and a few part time remote roadies to serve five or six stations in a cluster. In some shops, the remotes are more impoartant than the RF... gotta keep that prize wheel spinnin'.

-9-

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Remotes

The engineering staff was large.

Those were the days. Today it's one Chief, maybe an I-T guy who also does the websites and a few part time remote roadies to serve five or six stations in a cluster. In some shops, the remotes are more impoartant than the RF... gotta keep that prize wheel spinnin'.

-9-

At the station I just finished working for we didn't have a problem with engineering manpower. There are around 5 engineers that handle the 7 station cluster (2 AM's 5 FM's).

Remotes are a pet peeve of mine. The station I worked for is a liner card operation on the same order as WJYE. At times there were 2-3 sponsored remotes in a single weekend. Why would anyone care to see the jock at the remote when the most profound thing they are allowed to say on the air is their name? Does this really do the sponsor any good?

Mr GM you can't have it both ways it's either personalities and remotes or no personalities and no remotes.

Let me add that the on air remote breaks could never be done live because the station is ALWAYS in delay, they were recorded a few minutes before the break. Sometimes the remote breaks were even recorded in the studio the day before the remote. Isn't that fraud?

 

[Radknowski]

I too don't understand the alledged value of remotes as they are done today, Mike. They're nothing more than "live reads" and in many cases as you've noted, they're not even live. So who really cares, other than the sales person and some misguided client who believes that having a "lyiv dee-jayah" at his store is going to bring in hundreds of customers.

Now, if the client is giving away something of value, maybe, just maybe, there's value to having a jock on the scene to talk it up. But it's been my experience driving by remotes and actually visiting a few on the QT, that they bring out the most, shall we say, "unusual" listeners imaginable (like Aunt Sophie and her wacky sister, Helen) and free-loaders who are always looking for something for nothing... as if somebody's gonna hand them the keys to a 2008 Buick Park Avenue (they love those big land barges.)

Most of these people don't even know the station doing the remote, despite the big bread box station van sitting 20 feet away.

Then there's those uncaring maroons who, after asking "what you're giving away" (usually keychains, outdated CD's or bad t-shirts from movies that are already on DVD) say stuff like, "I don't listen to your station, I only listen to NPR..."

And as was noted by the always cheerful Mr. 9, everybody has a prize wheel or some variation of it, like the money chamber that blows air up women's dresses (a la Marilyn Monroe) while they grope for dollar bills.

Remotes had their day, but as they're done these days, they're worthless... escept for the jock, perhaps, who's probably making a decent talent fee for standing around for a few hours, enduring the craziness and hopefully, smiling like a happy idiot struggling for the legal tender. Props to Jackson Browne for that last line.

 

[x13thfloorrand]

Doing less with Less

I agree on the value of remotes, as i've hosted and wore the station monkey suit at a car dealership, bike store, etc.
Completley useless for most things. Well done, Rad, on the 'remote groupies' who basically get the two/four and slide that down the whole table of station crap into their purses.

Remotes seem to best benefit the bar/nightlife crowd, where remote appearances, live mix shows (Kiss, Wild, WBLK) have their place. No question, this helps Chippewa, Canada, and other establishments. Possible tie is sports (Sabres pre-game and Bills pregame)

When it was a real production to take the show on the road, Remotes were impressive. TV has that still, as it can resemble a movie set (News at the Fair seems to do this). Now, it's some jock in a station shirt and a cell phone.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Remote Reality

Most jocks don't do remotes all that well. It's more than just the live commercials. It's meeting people, shaking hands, getting to know some of your audience, and giving them a chance to put a face with the name on the radio. It's helping to create an event, and interacting with the audience.

The danger is that most jocks have a "great face for radio". Otherwise, they'd be pursuing a TV career, right? Most people have a much better image of most jocks than reality would allow.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

While not a sponsored remote one of the most impressive remotes was to see Tom Shannon at the Erie County fair in 1963. WGR had an impressive booth the engineer rand the board and worked the turntables as Tom worked the crowd. He was showcased as a personality and had the freedom to talk to people and put them on the air.

Years later Shane doing his remote and making fun of people at the fair was also fun. I don't recall what the setup was at the time I'm sure they ran everything back at the station. Still he was showcased and had something to say.

Before the last station I worked for went on the delay 24/7 there were some remotes from an amusment park. I ran everything back at the station. The poor shlub at the park didn't serve much of a purpose being out there. They wouldn't let him do anything but the standard format. What people saw was a guy with a microphone. The number one question he got was people asking directions to the rest rooms. Sad but I swear it's true!

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Re: Remote Reality

Most jocks don't do remotes all that well. It's more than just the live commercials. It's meeting people, shaking hands, getting to know some of your audience, and giving them a chance to put a face with the name on the radio. It's helping to create an event, and interacting with the audience.

The danger is that most jocks have a "great face for radio". Otherwise, they'd be pursuing a TV career, right? Most people have a much better image of most jocks than reality would allow.

Uh oh, sounds like you've seen my picture! ;D

 

[bilco]

I left the Buffalo area about 65 so never saw the WBEN new studios. THe comments on remotes were a bit laughable. At my Current stations here in Las Vegas, NV we average 30-35 remotes each week between 4 stations (soon to be 5). We are a more personality oriented station and do a lot with sports on our ESPN 920 and Fox Sports 1460 AM's. Tonight, monday night Football we had (and have every monday) 7 remotes among the four stations, including pregame during game and post game shows. Each weekend we typically have about 10 remotes. Of course

 

[Jody-Thornton]

Does anyone have pictures or detailed descriptions of the Rock 102 control-room during 1978-1984, or wherever the automation equipment was? It sounded so good (back when automation was not the norm).

Cheers,
Jody Thornton
(Hamilton, Ontario)

 

[alw]

I left the Buffalo area about 65 so never saw the WBEN new studios. THe comments on remotes were a bit laughable.

And.............laughable...........in what way?

 

[bilco]

Laughable in that those 7 remotes we did last night brought in about $21,000 in one evening. That ain't nothin to laugh about. Some on here seemed to think remotes were useless or an imposition upon the jocks. The sponsors would not pay that much if they were useless and the jocks love the talent fees. On one remote in Denver 25 years ago, I saw 5 houses sold. On an average weekend without the remote they sold 2. They sure thought it worked and that the cost of the remtoe was worth doing. Done right, They are productive, of great value to the sponsor and a good promotional outlet to the stations. Done wrong, they are grand larceny to the client, a poor image for the station and an embarasment for the jock. Bill

 

[jefflaurence]

Bill you are so right. remotes stilll have thier place both as a quick revenue builder for the station and an even at an otherwise uneventful retail location. BUT I think what Mike and the others were bringing up is that "back in the day" there was actually something to see. I remember at WENE we had a NICE Winnebago with a full studio in it..including two Gates TT's and a couple of Tapecasters. It was regular radio, but it sounded as good as the studio did, and the Marti unit kept the fidelity high..and the clients paid the freight just for saying that we were there live..There was something to see..and at the time it was interesting. These days there's a guy (or girl) in a shabby t-shirt or maybe a polo shirt..and only the cellphone. They sneak back into the sales manager's office to record thier insert, and that's that. Many of today's "personalities" ignore the few who show up to actually see them..and many of the people who show up only want the free Hooters(tm) wings, or Pizza, and don't have a clue as to whay there's anything happening in thier neighborhood..There was an owner of a car lot who came up to me at a remote i did in a Florida market. There were literally 70-100 people milling around the lot, and he was p.o.'ed at ME because he hadn't sold ONE car that day..He told me "radio doesn't work" and that I was costing him a fortune...I advised him that if his sales peope were'nt all hanging around the hot dog cart, and smoking maybe they could sell one..and also threw in that if he REALLY thought radio didn't work..let me get on the air and say that he would sell every new car on his lot for 300 dollars cash..first come first served..he went back to the hot dog cart with his sales team.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Bill, your station maybe one of the few that does remotes right. Congrats!

IF a station doesn't have actual PERSONALITIES and a reason for people to come by then the remote serves little purpose.

The personality should be showcased and sound like there is a party going on! Come down buy a car (or a cell phone) and lets have a good time or wow take advantage of these great deals while I'm holding the sales manager hostage!!!