VIDEO TAKEN INSIDE OF FORMER WILD TRANSMITTER BUILDING ON YOU TUBE

[Early Byrd]

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yImJwCiZF88

The former transmitter site of WILD on Corporation Way in Medford has been gone a few years now, but the inside of the circa 1946 building is preserved for however long this video is on the You Tube site. Some good views of the transmitter.

 

[Deleted User]

that shack was such a dump, if you saw it up close you'd swear it was abandoned.


( not that the WLYN transmitter shack is the Taj Mahal)

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

The WLYN transmitter site

The WLYN transmitter site has a wonderful view!
Check it out on our Facebook page: WLYN Boston

 

[DToTheJ]

Here's the link to the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2426&id=100000856647018

 

[Deleted User]

and not one picture of me sleeping on the job

 

[DG02816]

I loved the hams going at it on 160; it was my grandfather's (W1KFL)favorite band. Just wondering if the transmitter behind them was a Gates BC-5P like I had at WSAR back in '84. Jeff, I admit I am green with envy seeing the setup you have at WLYN and WAZN.....

 

[Early Byrd]

I was actually in the WILD transmitter building a young lad in the late 1960s. I just happened to go down Corporation Way one weekend afternoon and saw a man standing just outside the door. That guy was Don Snider, the longtime Chief Engineer. I expressed my interest in radio to him, and he invited me inside to see the place. I remember a large turntable that looked like it was from the 1940s, when WILD (as WBMS) went on the air, was on a desk mount of sorts by itself. It had a 16-inch transcription disc on it that must have been from that same era. The transmitter had "portholes" of a sort at the bottom, near the floor, and if you looked through them you could see tubes aglow, making it look as if that section of the transmitter was a gas oven! Don was a native of Kansas, who said he put the station on the air in 1946. A very nice man and easy to talk to about radio. I heard that he retired back to his home state of Kansas. He wasn't all that old when I met him, so he was a young guy when he established WBMS/WILD. He might even still be living now, although he'd have to be in his very late 80s or 90s.

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

the ham bands

I used to work the 160 meter ham band sometimes, back in the day.
It was usually really, really quiet - all kinds of room to spread out...
I have been off the VHF-UHF bands lately. I just got a new dual-band HT,
and I have been programming it for the last couple of days. I am now back,
and will be on the air soon... 73, de WA1RFF

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

Re: VIDEO

I just watched this video. Very cool! It really takes me
back to my early days as a ham (1973). I remember when Dave, WA1SHI,
who was an engineer at the WBZ transmitter in Needham, would hook up his VHF
radio to the 1000 foot tower, after sign-off (back when TV stations would
actually sign off late at night!) A couple of watts does really well from
that height. I have a couple of photos of my ham shack back then - I
think I will scan them and post them to MY Facebook page!

If anybody would like to see the WLYN/WAZN studios up close and personal,
let me know, and I will personally give you the VIP tour!

73, de Jeff WA1RFF

 

[4CX1000A]

I loved the hams going at it on 160; it was my grandfather's (W1KFL)favorite band. Just wondering if the transmitter behind them was a Gates BC-5P like I had at WSAR back in '84. Jeff, I admit I am green with envy seeing the setup you have at WLYN and WAZN.....

That was a Gates BC-5P2, specially modified by Grady Moates, who also designed and built the audio processing for WILD. That was one of the most impressive sounding AM's in the market; at my house in the western suburbs WILD was louder than WBZ.

I thought about trying to go on 160 with one of the ex-WCRB(AM) towers this past winter, but never got around to it. My most recent attempt at 160 was with a homemade helically wound dipole which I hung vertically from a tree limb in back yard several yars ago. Unfortunately, it had a high radiation angle, so I got excellent reports from Buffalo but only so-so from Florida and no DX at all.

 

[4CX1000A]

In the video you'll notice a white cabinet with four round windows near the top; that's the shell of an old Western Electric 1 kW transmitter, which was used for storage.

 

[pqgeorge]

In the video you'll notice a white cabinet with four round windows near the top; that's the shell of an old Western Electric 1 kW transmitter, which was used for storage.

I had the pleasure of visiting the old WILD transmitter site back in the late 1980's. Sure the place was a dump (by that time), but oh how it really worked! I recall the old Western Electric transmitter (by then only used as a storage depot). BUT, from what I was told..... that was the shell of one of the old WBZA (Springfield) transmitters. WBZA in Springfield was a 1000 watt on-frequency booster for WBZ/Boston. WBZA was shut-down (as was WBZA-FM) in 1962, in order to allow Westinghouse to buy WINS/1010 in New York. At that time, Westinghouse was at their maximum cap of stations. And thus, WBZA and WBZA-FM were sacrificed for that purpose. And besides, with WBZ's killer signal from Hull (100,000 watts, ERP), the need for WBZA became moot. (As for WBZA-FM, relatively nobody listened to it).

Oh, the one-bay FM antenna that was on the top of the WILD tower was for the original WBMS-FM (104.1 MC/s) which was discontinued back in the 50's. It was licensed to Medford and thus had to have a studio in the City of License. From what I have been told, the studio was basically a mixer with a mike on it. It was pass-through operation taking a tap off the STL phone line for WBMS/1090 and feeding into the WBMS-FM mixer, to satisfy the "local-origination" requirement. The signal was probably lousy due to the relatively short stick and minimum power. It was similar to the 50,000 watts of WHIL-FM (107.9 MC/s, now WXKS-FM) with a very short stick. As for 104.1, the frequency was reactivated in 1958 by T. Mitchell Hastings, President of The Concert Network. This would be the famous WBCN.

And now you know...... the REST of the story.......

 

[Don Juan]

BUT, from what I was told..... that was the shell of one of the old WBZA (Springfield) transmitters. WBZA in Springfield was a 1000 watt on-frequency booster for WBZ/Boston.

I seem to recall Carl Desuze telling a story that the Springfield station was the original and that Boston was the "booster" when it all began. Springfield was originally "WBZ"...and Boston was originally "WBZA".

They eventually switched the calls.

 

[pqgeorge]

BUT, from what I was told..... that was the shell of one of the old WBZA (Springfield) transmitters. WBZA in Springfield was a 1000 watt on-frequency booster for WBZ/Boston.

I seem to recall Carl Desuze telling a story that the Springfield station was the original and that Boston was the "booster" when it all began. Springfield was originally "WBZ"...and Boston was originally "WBZA".

They eventually switched the calls.

That is true. Springfield was the original WBZ started in 1921 and was located at the Westinghouse factory in East Springfield, Massachusetts. I believe that the switch between Springfield and Boston occurred in 1931. With Springfield becoming "WBZA" and Boston becoming "WBZ". Springfield was running 15,000 watts at the time and Boston was running 1000 watts. When it was all said and done, it was simply reversed both with the call-letters and the actual output power switched in both cities. Many times when WBZ/Boston would shutdown for maintenance, WBZA in Springfield would continue on with regular programming fed from Boston. Both stations were synchronized on 990 kHz using a common rudimentary frequency standard. Eventually, the WBZ stations moved to 1030 kHz (NARBA Treaty) where WBZ/Boston continues to this day. WBZ/WBZA Springfield, MA operated for 41 years (1921-1962).