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"those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

K

Kent Dorsey

"those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

Wow, what a way to grow up. Going to high school in the 70's it wasn't uncommon for some kid to land an on the air job at the local radio station.
I was 14 when I went on the air at a 1500 watt FM country station with a provisional license. I had failed one portion of my third class license and the engineer agreed to sign a provisional. Within 9 months I had moved over to the sister AM Top 40 station and I was on top of the world. I am sure I thought I was a big deal.
The equipment was fun, the jingles were jazzy, and most music came straight from records, except "If You Leave Me Now" was on a blue labeled cart for some reason. The "request line" was pretty much a farce, as we rarely listened much to the calls of the 12 year olds who wanted to hear Shaun Cassidy over and over.
You got to learn how to change UPI machine ribbons, flip a switch and manually turn the tower lights on when you signed the AM off, and occasionally - throw the turntable into neutral during Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" and play with the timing a bit.
IT WAS, a good way for a teen to grow up... my guess is this doesn't exist anymore and it's too bad...
Any tales of your youthful experiences on this thread will be read and appreciated...
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

Kent;
Yes, those were the days, we must be about the same age, as I can relate to every word in your post, but, as always, new equipment will eventually come along and the youth of today in radio will be saying "Man oh man, we used to have to play songs from a hard drive and get the weather from a website..."
(Rick Nesbitt)
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

no kidding, man. those were the days, my friend. we thought they'd never end.

we had to read the xmitter meters every 15 min. or was it 30...

and ebs tests! man! you had to switch the xmitter on and off 3 times in 20 seconds, stand on one foot, hold your mouth right, say the magic word, stomp on the ground three times, open the secret red fcc envelope inside the manila envelope, use your secret decoder ring, and climb up to the top of the tower and yell "HELP!"

"...had this been an actual emergency, i would be talking a lot faster."
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

Oh, and the pranks.

At one station there was a switch, that (at one time) allowed you to switch from one tone arm to another (I assume a separate tone arm for 78 rpm record, and one for 45s and albums). Even I didn't use the 78 tone arm, but the toggle switch was still there and did nothing. We put some very nice dymo labels on the switch, and instructed the new part-timers to switch the switch to "black" for artists like The Supremes, Clarence Carter, Ray Charles etc, and "white" for Barry Manilow, The Beach Boys, Air Supply etc. One poor girl was even told to log it on a bogus log book. And she did for almost 6 years. We found her "log book" inside a desk after she quit to work as an assistant manager at a Dollar General.

Another, not so funny prank was at a station in Florida where we told the newly hired but older morning man that the hotline light was a "radiation" hazard light..and that it would only flash if there was dangerous radiation in the building..and of course, if it went off..VACATE THE BUILDING! The bulb had been burned out for years, and the PD never used the hotline..nobody knew the number. Well a maintenance guy apparently replaced the bulb, and one of the engineers called the stations hotline one day wanting to test a Marti connection for an upcoming car dealer remote....the poor dude blasted out of the building at 6:25 in the morning..packed up his family and left the state.

"hit reset, and dial 3 for voltage, dial 1 to get plate current, and 1 again to get tower current..hit 'lower' to change patterns". - Gates Transmitter
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

??? ??? How in the world could anyone flunk a 3rd Class License????? Hell back in the day if you went to REI, there was no way you could flunk a First Phone! They gave you all the answers to the test! BIGAPE
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

Third Class...
Again I was a 14 year old kid... I had a white FCC book that had a picture of a tower on the front, that I studied for the 3rd class... there was also a small green book by Ernest G. Wilson that had sample tests in it. My memory is that there were three parts in the third class license test and several around our station had trouble with the same portion (the third part? dunno, it was 1977...)...
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

The broadcast endorsement! As I recall, it was added to what previously had been just a matter of writing in for the 3rd phone around 1963.

In the market I worked in at the time, there was one guy who made the 3 hour long drive to the nearest FCC field office three times to take the test. He finally passed it the third time.
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

never known as the brightest bulb on the tower, it took me 2 trips to norfolk and one to atlanta before i passed.

it was 1972 and i met lee michaels (george halstead) when he was working overnights at WNOR on a trip to norfolk.
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

BIG APE said:
??? ??? How in the world could anyone flunk a 3rd Class License????? Hell back in the day if you went to REI, there was no way you could flunk a First Phone! They gave you all the answers to the test! BIGAPE
Click to expand...
Maybe a girl distracted him.
Can't say I'd blame him on that one.
You might wanna try one APE. :D
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

I think the third class exam wasn't so much a test of how well you'd function in a station, as much as a test on how well you followed instructions. And THAT was useful information!

Somebody ask me the difference between the direct, and indirect methods of determining power? Wait...where do I read the "plate voltage" and 'plate current" on this solid-state transmitter? ;)
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

quadraphonic said:
BIG APE said:
??? ??? How in the world could anyone flunk a 3rd Class License????? Hell back in the day if you went to REI, there was no way you could flunk a First Phone! They gave you all the answers to the test! BIGAPE
Click to expand...
Maybe a girl distracted him.
Can't say I'd blame him on that one.
You might wanna try one APE. :D
Click to expand...

;D ;D ;D I'll have you know I have been engaged to a wonderful woman from Branson, MO for 2 months and we are doing fine!!! BIGAPE!
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

That must be true, and she must look at this forum, because you didn't give any details about the girls you got with your 3rd Class. ;D
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

quadraphonic said:
That must be true, and she must look at this forum, because you didn't give any details about the girls you got with your 3rd Class. ;D
Click to expand...

;DHmmm, I have a First Phone converted to general by the stupid FCC! BIGAPE
 
Re: "those days are gone forever, over a long time ago... oh yeah..." Growing up...

BIG APE said:
quadraphonic said:
That must be true, and she must look at this forum, because you didn't give any details about the girls you got with your 3rd Class. ;D
Click to expand...

;DHmmm, I have a First Phone converted to general by the stupid FCC! BIGAPE
Click to expand...

In the '70's there were a lot of stations just begging for jocks with a First Phone! Lots of 'em ended up doing overnights at the transmitter. But hell there was a cool studio out there and it was all yours! 1320 WGMA Hollywood, Florida comes to mind.
 
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