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WKBW 1520,the old days
- Thread starter alok
- Start date
WKBW did indeed have board operators in the 60s. They were engineers with First Tickets and rotated through day parts from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday. From 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., the engineer was stationed at the transmitter site on Big Tree Road in Hamburg and the jocks moved from the studio to the control room where they ran the board.
The station underwent transmitter maintenance from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Monday, switching from the big Westinghouse 50 to the 10kw RCA aux.
Engineers were called "producers" rather than operators or board-ops. Up until the early 70s, the engineers ran all audio from the control room from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday. The jocks had only an On/Off mic switch in a separate studio during these hours.
IIRC, around 1971 the NABET contract was negotiated to allow jocks to control their turntables and mic from a (McMartin) board in the air studio, while engineers played all carts and reel to reel content and ran herd on all audio which was routed through the main (RCA BC8) board in the Control Room.
In the mid 70s (around 75-76) a new NABET contract was negotiated and the jocks ran a full combo operation on a newly installed McCurdy board in the air studio. Some of the existing producers moved to WKBW-TV and the engineers as producers were phased out by attrition.
The station underwent transmitter maintenance from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Monday, switching from the big Westinghouse 50 to the 10kw RCA aux.
Engineers were called "producers" rather than operators or board-ops. Up until the early 70s, the engineers ran all audio from the control room from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday. The jocks had only an On/Off mic switch in a separate studio during these hours.
IIRC, around 1971 the NABET contract was negotiated to allow jocks to control their turntables and mic from a (McMartin) board in the air studio, while engineers played all carts and reel to reel content and ran herd on all audio which was routed through the main (RCA BC8) board in the Control Room.
In the mid 70s (around 75-76) a new NABET contract was negotiated and the jocks ran a full combo operation on a newly installed McCurdy board in the air studio. Some of the existing producers moved to WKBW-TV and the engineers as producers were phased out by attrition.
All true, JPB, except I believe the NABET engineers were on duty until Midnight. From November 1969 to June 1970 I did the overnight shift from Midnight to 7am Sunday (there was a transcribed PA or religious show that ran from 6 to 7am; it was a normal shift from Midnight to 6 including rip-and-reading UPI newswire copy at the top of each hour.) Overnight jocks were all alone in that creaky old 1430 Main building, with weirdoes occasionally rapping at the glass production room door that gave an unobstructed view of the control room operator through the production studio. Someone with a gun could have taken anyone out at any time. It was really pretty dangerous.
Because of the union contract "announcers" were forbidden to touch anything in the control room until the "combo" period had actually begun. I recall being unaware of this rule one Saturday night when I was brand-new at KB. Engineer Norm Bruckner watched me around 11:50pm thread a reel of tape up on the control room Magnecord and select a patch cord to get air audio into the machine to get an aircheck for Jeff Kaye to critique. Thunderstruck, he demanded to know what the #$**! I thought I was doing. I was perplexed and answered I was just setting up an aircheck. NOT UNTIL YOUR 2!#XX SHIFT BEGINS! he screamed at me. Then he told me to get the hell out of "his" control room. When I gingerly came back in as the Midnight news intro was playing, Norm glowered at me and stalked off, fuming.
I didn't even plug in headphones until 12:00am after that.
Because of the union contract "announcers" were forbidden to touch anything in the control room until the "combo" period had actually begun. I recall being unaware of this rule one Saturday night when I was brand-new at KB. Engineer Norm Bruckner watched me around 11:50pm thread a reel of tape up on the control room Magnecord and select a patch cord to get air audio into the machine to get an aircheck for Jeff Kaye to critique. Thunderstruck, he demanded to know what the #$**! I thought I was doing. I was perplexed and answered I was just setting up an aircheck. NOT UNTIL YOUR 2!#XX SHIFT BEGINS! he screamed at me. Then he told me to get the hell out of "his" control room. When I gingerly came back in as the Midnight news intro was playing, Norm glowered at me and stalked off, fuming.
I didn't even plug in headphones until 12:00am after that.
Thank You for the explanation JustPassBuffalo,
I assume the transmitter at this time was manned by an engineer 24/7 ,correct ?
Another question just how far does now WWKB 1520 go during the day,west. I know the null they have is west ,do they make it to Dunkirk,Erie,PA. ,the Ohio stateline ,beyond that at all ?
How well is the signal in the above locations as you go west.
I believe they had this same pattern,day & night since they went directional & 50kw.
Was 1430 Main Street ,WKBW radio studio the same building that WKBW-TV Ch. 7 was in ,in the 50's / 60's ?
When did KB move out of 1430 Main Street ?
Al
I assume the transmitter at this time was manned by an engineer 24/7 ,correct ?
Another question just how far does now WWKB 1520 go during the day,west. I know the null they have is west ,do they make it to Dunkirk,Erie,PA. ,the Ohio stateline ,beyond that at all ?
How well is the signal in the above locations as you go west.
I believe they had this same pattern,day & night since they went directional & 50kw.
Was 1430 Main Street ,WKBW radio studio the same building that WKBW-TV Ch. 7 was in ,in the 50's / 60's ?
When did KB move out of 1430 Main Street ?
Al
If I remember right, the all night jock, at KB was required to have a 1st ticket. One of the reasons why I got mine, in case Jeff Kaye called. He never did. One of the jocks who did not have a 1st ticket that did overnights for a while was Rod Rowdy. Interesting story behind that.
KB 1520 is a DA-1, same pattern day and night- there is a significant null to the west, as we protect 1520 in Oklahoma City (formerly KOMA)
There were/are two buildings on Main Street, the old Churchill Tabernacle at 1420 housed the TV station, next to it to the north was the radio station at 1430. I've read this was the first transmitter location as well for KB (the first studios were in the Victor Building), until moving to Amherst June 30, 1928, not far from the present studios on Corporate Parkway, off of Sweet Home Road in Amherst (they moved the boiler from the old site near Sweet Home to the new site in 1941.) Back then, before moving to Big Tree, KB was 5,000 watts at 1470.
The studios moved from 1430 Main to 695 Delaware Avenue in October 1978; from there to the present location on Corporate Parkway in 2000.
There were/are two buildings on Main Street, the old Churchill Tabernacle at 1420 housed the TV station, next to it to the north was the radio station at 1430. I've read this was the first transmitter location as well for KB (the first studios were in the Victor Building), until moving to Amherst June 30, 1928, not far from the present studios on Corporate Parkway, off of Sweet Home Road in Amherst (they moved the boiler from the old site near Sweet Home to the new site in 1941.) Back then, before moving to Big Tree, KB was 5,000 watts at 1470.
The studios moved from 1430 Main to 695 Delaware Avenue in October 1978; from there to the present location on Corporate Parkway in 2000.
By the way, it could be a coincidence, but on the 80 acres on Big Tree Road is a wooded area behind the WWKB and WGR radio towers, in the middle of it is a stream called "Foster Brook." The actor Foster Brooks, before he made a name for himself, was on WKBW radio in the 50s....
Correct on the "end of shift" time, RCS. (WTHWIT?!) Engineers ran the board from the K-Big [/sarcasm] Control Room from 7 a.m. to 12 midnight, Monday through Sunday. @RJM, one really didn't need a First ticket to work at KB because the transmitter was "controlled" 24-7 by First Ticket engineers, by remote from the CR at 1430 Main, or locally at the transmitter site at Big Tree, as noted earlier. But every jock had a Third Endorsed, having worked at lower power stations prior to arriving at KB. I was told some jocks (Armstrong, Janitor, Shane and a few others over the years) had First Phones, but their First Tickets were moot because the engineers took the readings and maintained the DA-1 array, and as Savage recalls, there was hell to pay (with the possible exception of the great Jim Adler, who would probably say something funny and obscene to make his point) if a jock touched a pot, patch bay, board or mic before midnight or after 7 a.m. I can only imagine what would happen if a jock accidentally or otherwise touched the remote control and notched through Plate Volts, Amps, Fils, Antenna Ratios or Common Point. Somebody's head would have exploded.
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Heh... engineers, board-ops, patch bays, turntables... It's so 60s and 70s. :'(
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Heh... engineers, board-ops, patch bays, turntables... It's so 60s and 70s. :'(
So, this begs the question. Did Danny (and before that, Stan) run his own board that first hour of his show? Or did the overnight guy do so until the engineer arrived at 7am.
Much like KB, WBBF, in the 60s, had board ops/1st phones 24 hours a day. The jocks had the two turntables, a 3 pot board and their mic and that was it. Techs were not union, but the jocks were AFTRA.
And you sure didn't want to touch a piece of equipment in the control room or production room because the Chief Engineer would go up one side of you and down the other. I guess he was interested in protecting the guys on his staff.
And you sure didn't want to touch a piece of equipment in the control room or production room because the Chief Engineer would go up one side of you and down the other. I guess he was interested in protecting the guys on his staff.
And while WKBW was protecting KOMA on 1520, at least one other station, a low-budget Long Island C&W daytimer (WTHE?) was protecting KB on that same frequency. Every evening around sunset, I would rush to my bedroom, turn on the radio, and listen to the Long Island station's sign-off, "...As the sun sets slowly in the west... etc, etc.... As soon as that channel went off, I fine-tuned to hear the exciting sound of WKBW, whose signal grew stronger as the sky went darker.
I've never lived in or even near Buffalo. Still, as a teen growing up on the island in the '60s, KB was a regular part of my overnight listening experience, in my home, and later, on my car radio.
PS: McMartin... first Ticket... pot... Shop talk like this is the reason I registered on R/I. Thanks for a great thread!
I've never lived in or even near Buffalo. Still, as a teen growing up on the island in the '60s, KB was a regular part of my overnight listening experience, in my home, and later, on my car radio.
PS: McMartin... first Ticket... pot... Shop talk like this is the reason I registered on R/I. Thanks for a great thread!
Phillip, indeed, the morning drive jock (mostly Stan Roberts during the heyday of K-Big 1520) ran the first hour of his show combo from the control room, 6 to 7am.
The KB control room at 1430 Main was a time capsule transporting you back to about 1948, with the exception of four RCA cart playback machines mounted under the countertop to the left of the operator. A countertop project/minibox was connected to these via a long umbilical, with four multicolored pushbuttons serving as remote starts. They were color-coded since you couldn't look at the cart machines and look out into the studio for jock cues at the same time - IIRC the pushbuttons were red, yellow, blue and green. There were three 20-inch RCA transcription turntables, complete with their auxiliary vertical-cut pickups (unused for years) and an RCA-series BK mike on a gooseneck which could be swung over the console for combo operations. 16-inch transcriptions containing original WKBW jingles still reposed in an ET rack next to the console, gathering wads of dust. Behind the operator was a line of RCA "speech racks" containing endless jack fields giving access to repeat coils, mult circuits, pads, and long-defunct network programs. There was a General Radio mod monitor, an attenuator and VU panel, audio oscillator, etc., all control room staples of post World War 2 radio.
It was a wall of RCA "Umber Gray." The atmosphere was one of genteel shabbiness along with rapidly-advancing obsolescence. The place had that familiar radio station aura of hot dust baking on vacuum tubes, decades of accumulated grime and cigarette smoke. Radio professionals visiting KB would walk through the place taking it in as if exploring a museum. You could almost read the thought-balloon floating over their heads: "Holy crap. THIS is WKBW??"
The KB control room at 1430 Main was a time capsule transporting you back to about 1948, with the exception of four RCA cart playback machines mounted under the countertop to the left of the operator. A countertop project/minibox was connected to these via a long umbilical, with four multicolored pushbuttons serving as remote starts. They were color-coded since you couldn't look at the cart machines and look out into the studio for jock cues at the same time - IIRC the pushbuttons were red, yellow, blue and green. There were three 20-inch RCA transcription turntables, complete with their auxiliary vertical-cut pickups (unused for years) and an RCA-series BK mike on a gooseneck which could be swung over the console for combo operations. 16-inch transcriptions containing original WKBW jingles still reposed in an ET rack next to the console, gathering wads of dust. Behind the operator was a line of RCA "speech racks" containing endless jack fields giving access to repeat coils, mult circuits, pads, and long-defunct network programs. There was a General Radio mod monitor, an attenuator and VU panel, audio oscillator, etc., all control room staples of post World War 2 radio.
It was a wall of RCA "Umber Gray." The atmosphere was one of genteel shabbiness along with rapidly-advancing obsolescence. The place had that familiar radio station aura of hot dust baking on vacuum tubes, decades of accumulated grime and cigarette smoke. Radio professionals visiting KB would walk through the place taking it in as if exploring a museum. You could almost read the thought-balloon floating over their heads: "Holy crap. THIS is WKBW??"
Yes Phil, Danny ran the RCA Control Room board, from 6 to 7 a.m. (actually, from 6:04:53, which is when he usually arrived.) Most often, heused only the front, clunky, RCA 16 inch turntable which took about about a quarter turn to get up to speed and had more rumble than a Metrobus. The back turntable served as a desk top for his show prep: newspapers and AP wire clippings.Philip_Airtime said:
Thanks for a very vivid picture of "The Friendly Giant" WKBW. I used to think the 1kw station I worked at was a dump. It was a palace compared to KB and not union controlled. I did overnights so the place was all mine, at least that's how it seamed.
So,maybe I missed it . . . how far does KB's daytime signal go ?
If I was driving the New York State Thruway heading to Ohio,when would I first notice the BIG KB getting weaker,how would they sound around Dunkirk, Erie, at the stateline ?
I grew up in NJ in the 50's & 60/s , younger people use to set a car radio button for KB to listen to it at night in the NYC area.
How far west does that daytime signal go ?
Al
If I was driving the New York State Thruway heading to Ohio,when would I first notice the BIG KB getting weaker,how would they sound around Dunkirk, Erie, at the stateline ?
I grew up in NJ in the 50's & 60/s , younger people use to set a car radio button for KB to listen to it at night in the NYC area.
How far west does that daytime signal go ?
Al
Daytime (back in the day) I could get reliable KB reception to between Syracuse and Utica-Rome. After that it would get scratchy going east. Today, Rochester is about as far as it goes, with the increased noise floor and KB's recent signal problems.
Essentially KB didn't go west. It had to protect co-channel KOMA Oklahoma City, also 50kw. Nobody noticed because due west from the WKBW array (which was only about a couple miles from the Lake Erie shore) was essentially a water path to southern Ontario.
If you compare WKBW 1520 and WPTR 1540 in Albany, basically the stations were identical facilities, 50kw DA-1 with three-tower cardioid patterns - KB aimed pretty much due east and PTR north-northeast. Everyone lamented WPTR's nighttime coverage with the very deep west-southwest null to protect Waterloo, Iowa, because there was a lot of Capital District population 1540 missed. KB had the luxury of avoiding that problem because in its primary coverage area the null was over water.
JPB, I thought I recalled three turntables in K-Big Kontrol - but now that you mention it, I may be mixing up memories of another station's control room. KB had TWO big ol' RCA transcription players, lined up one behind the other on the right side of the operator. Because they took so long to get up to speed, jocks would seldom motor-start them - the preferred procedure was to leave them both rotating at all times and slip-cue.
Essentially KB didn't go west. It had to protect co-channel KOMA Oklahoma City, also 50kw. Nobody noticed because due west from the WKBW array (which was only about a couple miles from the Lake Erie shore) was essentially a water path to southern Ontario.
If you compare WKBW 1520 and WPTR 1540 in Albany, basically the stations were identical facilities, 50kw DA-1 with three-tower cardioid patterns - KB aimed pretty much due east and PTR north-northeast. Everyone lamented WPTR's nighttime coverage with the very deep west-southwest null to protect Waterloo, Iowa, because there was a lot of Capital District population 1540 missed. KB had the luxury of avoiding that problem because in its primary coverage area the null was over water.
JPB, I thought I recalled three turntables in K-Big Kontrol - but now that you mention it, I may be mixing up memories of another station's control room. KB had TWO big ol' RCA transcription players, lined up one behind the other on the right side of the operator. Because they took so long to get up to speed, jocks would seldom motor-start them - the preferred procedure was to leave them both rotating at all times and slip-cue.
Oh, and you've asked a couple of times. KB's coverage south-southwest towards Dunkirk and Fredonia was iffy daytime, and nonexistent nighttime. Erie, PA, forget it 24 hours. Actually there was a 1kw daytimer on first-adjacent 1530 kHz in North East, PA (I don't know if this still exists.) That station could exist because its primary contour was so far outside KB's.
ALOK,
Looks like I wasn't the only East Coaster whose evenings were brightened KB's night torch. Nice to know I wasn't alone...
And I was surprised to read accounts of WKBW's on-going studio "obsolescence". You wouldn't know it from listening some 400-miles from Buffalo. Comparing notes, I could offer a similar observation of Albuquerque's KBNM FM, where nickels were scotch-taped to the stylus of both turntables. The aging, and now half-blind Earl Craven, dressed more like the night janitor than the station owner, would pop in and toss out 45 RPMs played in the previous hour or so. He complained about their "scratchy sound".
I Can't recall the name of our board, but I do remember us joking that it looked like a worn out shoebox with color faded dials. Carpeting was frayed end to end and peppered with cigarette burns, reception area windows were naked and blemished. The so-called reception "desk" was rarely occupied, though, to be fair, it did have a phone. Next to it was a browned out, long dead ficus tree. I figured it hadn't been watered since General MacArthur's first comb-over. And, something else-- Mr Craven forced us to wear neck ties. "You never know when an important client might come by" he used to say.
To the west of our building was an old fashioned neighborhood bar frequented by Hartsell Krebbs, a weekend weather guy at the old KGGM TV (channel 13, then owned by the Hebenstreit clan, yet more comical material for a thread on loony radio/TV stations if anyone ever starts one). To the east stood a boarded up, vacant building that stunk like an abandoned mortuary (which reminds me of yet another station I worked at).
Getting back on topic, my point is this: shabby as we were, KBNM put out one hell of a rock sound. Same apparantly goes for WKBW, whose night sound was tops on Long Island, as crisp and professional sounding as WABC, WMCA and WGBB. Listening to KB, one could never have imagined its studio and equipment as being "obsolete".
Looks like I wasn't the only East Coaster whose evenings were brightened KB's night torch. Nice to know I wasn't alone...
And I was surprised to read accounts of WKBW's on-going studio "obsolescence". You wouldn't know it from listening some 400-miles from Buffalo. Comparing notes, I could offer a similar observation of Albuquerque's KBNM FM, where nickels were scotch-taped to the stylus of both turntables. The aging, and now half-blind Earl Craven, dressed more like the night janitor than the station owner, would pop in and toss out 45 RPMs played in the previous hour or so. He complained about their "scratchy sound".
I Can't recall the name of our board, but I do remember us joking that it looked like a worn out shoebox with color faded dials. Carpeting was frayed end to end and peppered with cigarette burns, reception area windows were naked and blemished. The so-called reception "desk" was rarely occupied, though, to be fair, it did have a phone. Next to it was a browned out, long dead ficus tree. I figured it hadn't been watered since General MacArthur's first comb-over. And, something else-- Mr Craven forced us to wear neck ties. "You never know when an important client might come by" he used to say.
To the west of our building was an old fashioned neighborhood bar frequented by Hartsell Krebbs, a weekend weather guy at the old KGGM TV (channel 13, then owned by the Hebenstreit clan, yet more comical material for a thread on loony radio/TV stations if anyone ever starts one). To the east stood a boarded up, vacant building that stunk like an abandoned mortuary (which reminds me of yet another station I worked at).
Getting back on topic, my point is this: shabby as we were, KBNM put out one hell of a rock sound. Same apparantly goes for WKBW, whose night sound was tops on Long Island, as crisp and professional sounding as WABC, WMCA and WGBB. Listening to KB, one could never have imagined its studio and equipment as being "obsolete".
Even though most of them are class B most of the Buffalo FM's have a better reach to the Southwest. Seems like I started hearing them in Erie but the Buffalo AM stations didn't start coming in until I got much farther up the Thruway.
I have a picture of Bob Diamond who did all nights at KB in 1961. You can see at that time there were two turntables on the left and two on the right. In those days they probably played the commercials off transcriptions instead of tape or carts. Much harder to run a tight board in those days I'm sure, not to mention the songs were shorter!
I have a picture of Bob Diamond who did all nights at KB in 1961. You can see at that time there were two turntables on the left and two on the right. In those days they probably played the commercials off transcriptions instead of tape or carts. Much harder to run a tight board in those days I'm sure, not to mention the songs were shorter!
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