I was watching a TV show that reminded me of this. WENS in Indianapolis 1981...there was a doorbell button at the front door which lit a light in the air studio when pushed. The light stayed on until reset. Anyone could have placed a generic reset button in the studio, but not me. I went to Radio Shack & got a vibration detection switch for a security alarm. Reset was accomplished by banging your fist on the wall.
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Wacky technical stuff you've done
- Thread starter BobOnTheJob
- Start date
Used to do that to the RCA BTF20E1 to "reset" it (that damn timer).
Put a broom stick with a rubber foot on the in a control room so they didn't have to get up to push the RAISE or LOWER at pattern change time.
Put a broom stick with a rubber foot on the in a control room so they didn't have to get up to push the RAISE or LOWER at pattern change time.
H
HarrisGatesFM10H
Guest
Funny that you mentioned the RCA BTF-20E1. a close friend of mine for many years passed a few months back, he was an engineer for 48 years. his widow decided to have me clean out the rental storage units he had been renting as she can no longer afford to pay for them. she said for me to take it all as it was going to me anyways. now I knew Tim was a packrat when it came to broadcast gear and I knew he had quite a bit of equipment stashed away but when she told me he had 8 yes 8 10'x30' storage units rented I was sure she was wrong, well she wasn't wrong and after getting a bigger truck (26 foot truck with lift gate) me and my son went to empty the contents, in 48 years he sure did collect alot! but upon opening the 3rd unit to survey what contents it contained there was a BTF-20E1 sitting just inside the door. I laughed aloud when I opened the front doors to see that Tim cleverly gutted the box and converted it into one big bookcase. and 10 trips later it resides in my very well overpacked 44'x80' shop with everything else that came out of those storage units.
Following a flood that place 9' of water inside our building (one story) our 2 year old CCA transmiter would not come back to life. (Now there's a big surprise). After doing some tech R & R the Chief figured out that the modulation transformer was shorting to cse ground. HMM, how can we isolate it? WE had just borrowed a porta power from the local fire company to pry apart the record library, so we had a rather large collection of damaged 33'1/3 recrods (rememebr records?) So the idea was to place some under the transformer to insulate it from case ground. I worked, well mostly. we could get a maximum of 100 watts at high power from the 1 KW transmitter. BUT it was good enough to get us back on the air till parts came. With the conductivity of our ground system (wet as hell) there was not a real noticeable difference in our signal.
Oh, we also found that Dow Bathroom Cleaner (think scrubbing bubbles) worked very well in dislodging "flood mud" from other things like our Gates console. Four basic steps, hose out, Dow Bathroom cleaner, hose out again, let to dry in the sun. In that case 1 of the 2 channels came back to life when we plugged it in. The board was in service after that for several months and was sold to a start up station where it stayed in service for several years.
Of course since we basicly gutted the building(studio/transmitter), we were running temporary wiring all over, fostering the saying, "anything temporary in place for more that 3 weeks is now considered permanent."
Oh, we also found that Dow Bathroom Cleaner (think scrubbing bubbles) worked very well in dislodging "flood mud" from other things like our Gates console. Four basic steps, hose out, Dow Bathroom cleaner, hose out again, let to dry in the sun. In that case 1 of the 2 channels came back to life when we plugged it in. The board was in service after that for several months and was sold to a start up station where it stayed in service for several years.
Of course since we basicly gutted the building(studio/transmitter), we were running temporary wiring all over, fostering the saying, "anything temporary in place for more that 3 weeks is now considered permanent."
C
Charlie
Guest
Wired-up a doorbell to the remote-start of an old cart machine which then played a "knock knock" sound effect cart...
Not done but seen: A nearby university station was real "experimental" on weekend nights back in the 80s.
One guy did 4-5 huge through-the air tape loops along with synthesizers and other weird sounds all mixed live into the board.
It was a sound smashup guaranteed to clear the narrowminded out of any party which had WZRD tuned in.
It was also fun to watch him and others start up and tend the growing soundstage.
One guy did 4-5 huge through-the air tape loops along with synthesizers and other weird sounds all mixed live into the board.
It was a sound smashup guaranteed to clear the narrowminded out of any party which had WZRD tuned in.
It was also fun to watch him and others start up and tend the growing soundstage.
I always though the best idea would have been to have a speaker in the bathroom with a segue switch to start the next record. Did anyone have that?
I'd have it attached the button to the "Star Spangled Banner | LEGAL ID | WQQQ has reached the end of its broadcast day" cartSchroedingers Cat said:
Lazy jock would only hit that button once.
HarrisGatesFM10H said:
If they ever shoot a new version of the film "Fahrenheit 451", that would make a good prop.
Bob reminded me of the switch I installed on the telco plywood (you know the telco plywood in the back room, right?).
We had CBS in the daytime for news, but Mutual overnights for Larry King. Both came in via equalized loops, and we didn't have enough inputs on the board, so I needed a way for the jocks to switch it.
Of course most people would have put a generic toggle switch on a bud box, but not me.....
I had to do it
We had CBS in the daytime for news, but Mutual overnights for Larry King. Both came in via equalized loops, and we didn't have enough inputs on the board, so I needed a way for the jocks to switch it.
Of course most people would have put a generic toggle switch on a bud box, but not me.....
I had to do it
Remote start in the bathroom, YOU BET. We had two three decker cart machines in the control room, so we wired the one machine for remote starts in the bathroom. We had a selection of "bathroom" tunes on cart so, if you were working an evening, weekend, or overnight shift you were "good to go" Of course we had STEREO speakers in the can, simulcast AM/FM. Great idea, except we forgot the disable switch. One day someone was in the bathroom, I believe it was a client and pushed the magic buttons, all the pots were up and machine loaded for a break. Needless to say there was a disable installed shortly.
In my early days, 1964-65, I worked for a station that had a lot of paid religious programming in the morning. Usually 1/2 hour tapes, so the proceedure was to put one on, grab the radio and head to the can. This was an old office building so the bathroom was 1/2 way to the front of the third floor where the studios were. All was well and good UNLESS the tape broke, then the (fill in the blank) really hit the floor.
The same station also had a Gates (Seeburg) auto programmer that held 100 45 RPM records, and we kept it loaded for such an emergency bathroom run. Over the years I knew other stations that had a produced bathroom reel or two available for urgent situations.
Of course there were the brave ones who used an LP, or a L O N G song, you never know the shear panic till McArthur Park sticks as you are in the middle of business.
One urban legend, (actually it is true because I know the parties involved, and NO it was not me) Seems a new young DJ had to work New Years Eve and was LESS than happy about that. Ok, so he invited his girlfriend to the station and they preoceeded to had a little party of their own, in the lounge/production studio. The album stuck, he didn't have the monitor on. The owner and his wife along with one of teh stations best clients were going to a party and heard this record sticking. They tried calling but just got a busy signal (you could do that back then) so they went to the station. The first person through the door, was the owners wife, and found the happy couple very much occupied! Needless to say that DJ didn't work again and found another line of work. I heard the rumor, MANY years later, and confronted the former employee over a beer, YES it was ALL true!
I'm sure there are lots of stories from lonely night shifts that probably are best left un-told by the quilty parties.
In my early days, 1964-65, I worked for a station that had a lot of paid religious programming in the morning. Usually 1/2 hour tapes, so the proceedure was to put one on, grab the radio and head to the can. This was an old office building so the bathroom was 1/2 way to the front of the third floor where the studios were. All was well and good UNLESS the tape broke, then the (fill in the blank) really hit the floor.
The same station also had a Gates (Seeburg) auto programmer that held 100 45 RPM records, and we kept it loaded for such an emergency bathroom run. Over the years I knew other stations that had a produced bathroom reel or two available for urgent situations.
Of course there were the brave ones who used an LP, or a L O N G song, you never know the shear panic till McArthur Park sticks as you are in the middle of business.
One urban legend, (actually it is true because I know the parties involved, and NO it was not me) Seems a new young DJ had to work New Years Eve and was LESS than happy about that. Ok, so he invited his girlfriend to the station and they preoceeded to had a little party of their own, in the lounge/production studio. The album stuck, he didn't have the monitor on. The owner and his wife along with one of teh stations best clients were going to a party and heard this record sticking. They tried calling but just got a busy signal (you could do that back then) so they went to the station. The first person through the door, was the owners wife, and found the happy couple very much occupied! Needless to say that DJ didn't work again and found another line of work. I heard the rumor, MANY years later, and confronted the former employee over a beer, YES it was ALL true!
I'm sure there are lots of stories from lonely night shifts that probably are best left un-told by the quilty parties.
"McArthur Park" was a problematic 45. The whole 7:20 was squeezed onto one side. The recording level was lower to accomplish that, and the signal to noise ratio was thus reduced. Add some cue burn and wear to that, and it makes Professor Dumbledore sound very noisy. Then add to that the often lousy state of 45 manufacturing, decentering of center holes, etc., and the record probably did skip or get stuck more often than others.
I knew a DJ who has since passed on who had problems when a station went to a 1960s oldies format, in which, if you don't remember, tracks rarely last more than 2:30. He definitely needed that segue switch.
I knew a DJ who has since passed on who had problems when a station went to a 1960s oldies format, in which, if you don't remember, tracks rarely last more than 2:30. He definitely needed that segue switch.
Having started in radio in early 1967, I often look back on those days and marvel "how the hell did we ever do all that stuff?" Recall that transmitter readings, including final PA volts and current, antenna current, phases/ratios on all legs of a DA and frequency deviation all had to be logged at intervals "not to exceed 30 minutes." That was just the AM. If there was an FM (usually simulcast) you had similar readings for that service. Program logs required start and end times entries to the second for EVERY event (including spots!!) and you had to total all columns at the bottom of each page and have the log balance at 60 minutes zero seconds.
Most spots were live-read, and if there was an accompanying jingle or specific music, it was generally on a transcription disc or 5-inch reel of tape, both of which of course had to be manually cued up. We had carts but at my first station there were only 2 machines in the control room (one of which was generally "inop" with a note for the CE taped to it.) There were only about 35 carts total in the station, and they were used for station elements like news intro, community bulletin board, signon/signoff, etc. Very few were used for advertisements - in fact because of the often-lousy quality of cart gear back in the day, many agency "ETs" (electrical transcriptions) were stamped "please do not dub to tape cartridge.")
On top of that consider that most hit songs were like 2:20 or 1:50. I remember Mitch Ryder's "Devil With The Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly") was considered a "bathroom record" at 2:57. To this day I can still take a dump in.....well, I know, that's TMI.
Most spots were live-read, and if there was an accompanying jingle or specific music, it was generally on a transcription disc or 5-inch reel of tape, both of which of course had to be manually cued up. We had carts but at my first station there were only 2 machines in the control room (one of which was generally "inop" with a note for the CE taped to it.) There were only about 35 carts total in the station, and they were used for station elements like news intro, community bulletin board, signon/signoff, etc. Very few were used for advertisements - in fact because of the often-lousy quality of cart gear back in the day, many agency "ETs" (electrical transcriptions) were stamped "please do not dub to tape cartridge.")
On top of that consider that most hit songs were like 2:20 or 1:50. I remember Mitch Ryder's "Devil With The Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly") was considered a "bathroom record" at 2:57. To this day I can still take a dump in.....well, I know, that's TMI.
For the 'record', Rare Earth had an LP version of Get Ready that's about 22:30...took up the whole side of the album. I'm still fond of that wonderful track.Kelly Watts said:
stacker said:
My dear sirs, it appears you have never found yourself in the position of having to work a long late night or weekend air shift while suffering with the flu when you were in the building alone and had to cope with the runs or throwing up, or worse yet...both. That has nothing to do with being lazy or unprofessional. It happens.
We had a non-technical solution for a sometimes daily problem at my first station. The weather teletype was in the bathroom. We had about a one minute window between when the hourly radar report came over, and the end of UPI news on the hour when it had to be read on the air. If someone was occupying the throne at the time, it became their responsibility to rip it from the teletype and slide it under the door. Those were the days!
"I always though the best idea would have been to have a speaker in the bathroom with a segue switch to start the next record. Did anyone have that?" Yes. We have it in our restrooms and we are talk (most of the time). We wanted to be able to hear the station if the automation or sat goofed up somehow. We have monitors going most everywhere else so it just made sense. During waking hours we try to all collectively make sure things run smoothly on the air and do something about it if it doesn't. We are you're typical modern station. Only morning, noon, and afternoon drive has a live person doing news reads and the rest of the time it's automatic. Reality is we are automated most all the time, but with careful adjustments to program lengths before stuff airs, etc. you couldn't tell it on the air. If something does goof up (rare) the public actually thinks someone hit the wrong button. It's pretty funny!
I wondered if anyone else would back me up. I was imagining all the air personalities wearing Depends.
It wasn't a pleasant thought.I also have heard about numerous personalities who have serious panic/adrenalin induced gastrointestinal distrubances right before they go on the air.
Jock told the story today about a station he worked for many moons ago that had a unique way of recording Paul Harvey.
The had to un-plug the one reel to reel in the studio and pack it to the transmitter room where the satellite receiver was.
They then plugged cables hanging from a hole in the ceiling into the recorder and pushed record when the Harvey was about to start. After the recording was done, haul it back to the studio to play Harvey.
That engineer must have been a lazy b*****d.
The had to un-plug the one reel to reel in the studio and pack it to the transmitter room where the satellite receiver was.
They then plugged cables hanging from a hole in the ceiling into the recorder and pushed record when the Harvey was about to start. After the recording was done, haul it back to the studio to play Harvey.
That engineer must have been a lazy b*****d.
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