Did WKMB ever get a new transmitter? Last I heard, they had one transmitter, a old CCA that needed a lot of work which was performed by radio vet Tony Dee...then they never paid him. As far as I know, the CCA is still the one and only transmitter. Correct me if I'm wrong. I still miss "Stirling Country" but, as a Gospel station, it probably has more listeners.
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WKMB Stirling
- Thread starter VeteranPD
- Start date
D
deff junction
Guest
;DI read this story in one of the trades. A new engineer was being given a tour of the transmitter site when the transmitter went down. The owner, said they had a couple of new spare tubes. So the new guy found one of them and opened the box. Inside the box was a styrofoam container that held the tube. He opened the container and was bowled over by a strong stench. There was no tube in this or the other box,just more of the stench stuff.
It seems that a previous engineer never got paid , took the tubes and left a 'souvenir' I guess he considered that a reciept for services rendered.
It seems that a previous engineer never got paid , took the tubes and left a 'souvenir' I guess he considered that a reciept for services rendered.
WKMB was in really sad shape after Tony Dee left. The audio was so distorted and under-modulated that you could hardly understand the broadcast. Then for a long time it sounded like they were using a 32 kbps Windows Media Audio stream to get audio to the transmitter -- for all I know, they could've actually had a computer at their transmitter shack playing their own web stream!
But over the summer they finally got everything straightened out, and the audio is currently the best it's ever been since they moved the studio to Plainfield. It's still nowhere near as loud, crisp, and punchy as it was during the last few months using their homebrew "Rontimod" processor at the old studio in Stirling, but compared to the other stations on the dial, WKMB now sounds fairly decent, and their signal appears to be back up to 250W and getting out well. (For a long time they were down to 125W because a lightning strike blew out their ATU and they had the CCA transmitter hooked up directly to the tower using a piece of Radio Shack coax!)
p.s. Veteran WKMB DJ/announcer Bob Hunt, who joined the station in the '70s even before they began the Stirling Country format in 1979, is still on WKMB today. I don't know if he still has a full morning shift at the controls, but he is the primary "voice" of their promos and commercials.
p.p.s. Unfortunately, it seems that Snuffy's Pantagis Renaissance is no longer one of WKMB's sponsors. Opa Opa! (BTW, Bob Hunt was the voice for all of Snuffy's ads, even when they were aired on Magic 98.3. It was really strange to hear Bob's voice on FM for a change!)
But over the summer they finally got everything straightened out, and the audio is currently the best it's ever been since they moved the studio to Plainfield. It's still nowhere near as loud, crisp, and punchy as it was during the last few months using their homebrew "Rontimod" processor at the old studio in Stirling, but compared to the other stations on the dial, WKMB now sounds fairly decent, and their signal appears to be back up to 250W and getting out well. (For a long time they were down to 125W because a lightning strike blew out their ATU and they had the CCA transmitter hooked up directly to the tower using a piece of Radio Shack coax!)
p.s. Veteran WKMB DJ/announcer Bob Hunt, who joined the station in the '70s even before they began the Stirling Country format in 1979, is still on WKMB today. I don't know if he still has a full morning shift at the controls, but he is the primary "voice" of their promos and commercials.
p.p.s. Unfortunately, it seems that Snuffy's Pantagis Renaissance is no longer one of WKMB's sponsors. Opa Opa! (BTW, Bob Hunt was the voice for all of Snuffy's ads, even when they were aired on Magic 98.3. It was really strange to hear Bob's voice on FM for a change!)
Kevin Tekel said:WKMB was in really sad shape after Tony Dee left. The audio was so distorted and under-modulated that you could hardly understand the broadcast. Then for a long time it sounded like they were using a 32 kbps Windows Media Audio stream to get audio to the transmitter -- for all I know, they could've actually had a computer at their transmitter shack playing their own web stream!
But over the summer they finally got everything straightened out, and the audio is currently the best it's ever been since they moved the studio to Plainfield. It's still nowhere near as loud, crisp, and punchy as it was during the last few months using their homebrew "Rontimod" processor at the old studio in Stirling, but compared to the other stations on the dial, WKMB now sounds fairly decent, and their signal appears to be back up to 250W and getting out well. (For a long time they were down to 125W because a lightning strike blew out their ATU and they had the CCA transmitter hooked up directly to the tower using a piece of Radio Shack coax!)
p.s. Veteran WKMB DJ/announcer Bob Hunt, who joined the station in the '70s even before they began the Stirling Country format in 1979, is still on WKMB today. I don't know if he still has a full morning shift at the controls, but he is the primary "voice" of their promos and commercials.
p.p.s. Unfortunately, it seems that Snuffy's Pantagis Renaissance is no longer one of WKMB's sponsors. Opa Opa! (BTW, Bob Hunt was the voice for all of Snuffy's ads, even when they were aired on Magic 98.3. It was really strange to hear Bob's voice on FM for a change!)
I am the "New Engineer" I put the Brand spanking new BE - 500 on the air. The CCA is DEAD. We may try to move it into the new building, and resurect it, but I don't hold out too much hope for that because it is in REALLY BAD shape. I am currently looking for a small - Cheap (YEA RIGHT!!) used solid state 500 W XMTR for a backup. YES they are using the Internet to feed it right now, but I am contacting Verizon to see what other options they have (since they don't have line of sight from the studio to XMTR) The last time I was up there, the modulation was at 100%. If it is not, it is because someone made changes to the levels, and will be corrected the next time I go up there.
deff junction said:;DI read this story in one of the trades. A new engineer was being given a tour of the transmitter site when the transmitter went down. The owner, said they had a couple of new spare tubes. So the new guy found one of them and opened the box. Inside the box was a styrofoam container that held the tube. He opened the container and was bowled over by a strong stench. There was no tube in this or the other box,just more of the stench stuff.
It seems that a previous engineer never got paid , took the tubes and left a 'souvenir' I guess he considered that a reciept for services rendered.
Tony Dee DID NOT STEAL ANY TUBES there. The ONLY reason that Tony is NOT there any more is because he does not have the time. Tony and I work together quite a bit, and that's how I got them as a customer.
Mark Emanuele
Omega Communications
D
deff junction
Guest
I should have made it VERY CLEAR that I was not talking about WKMB or Tony Dee.
My strongest apologies to everyone. I should have made it clear that I was quoting from a story from one of the trades. It was to illustrate the folly of not paying an engineer. This is also illustrating the folly of posting something without proof reading beforehand. MY APOLOGIES TI EVERYONE!!
My strongest apologies to everyone. I should have made it clear that I was quoting from a story from one of the trades. It was to illustrate the folly of not paying an engineer. This is also illustrating the folly of posting something without proof reading beforehand. MY APOLOGIES TI EVERYONE!!
N
Neal
Guest
Hey Mark E.
Happy Holidays..... hows things?
Hope your feeling well my old friend.
How is WIFI?
WHWH is now Running a BE-AM6A in full C-QUAM am stereo.
Neal -CE
Happy Holidays..... hows things?
Hope your feeling well my old friend.
How is WIFI?
WHWH is now Running a BE-AM6A in full C-QUAM am stereo.
Neal -CE
I believe WKMB had a Verizon 8 kHz digital STL put in when they moved to the Plainfield studios, but it was trouble since day one. The noise, distortion, and dropouts were so bad that the pastor of the church which now owns WKMB said "the Devil is trying to put us off the air!" and claimed they were filing a lawsuit against Verizon since after many tries they could never get the STL to work reliably.Mark Emanuele said:YES they are using the Internet to feed it right now, but I am contacting Verizon to see what other options they have (since they don't have line of sight from the studio to XMTR)
Is WKMB still using the audio chain that Tony Dee put in (Harris AGC, CRL Spectral Energy Processor, and Inovonics 222)?
So KMB finally got their new transmitter building? I know that the two shacks they had out there were in bad shape, especially the one that housed the CCA rig...it had to be covered with a tarp. It was a dump! I know Tony replaced the transmission line and added an ATU. The ground radials were in bad shape too and probably needed replacing. It used to be an amazing signal for 250 watts.
Glad to see that they have a new BE transmitter. I had the same CCA transmitter many years ago at the original WBRW and it was so sturdy that you cold almost load it into a spoon!
I wonder what happened to Ron Michaels' home made audio processor. I know Tony Dee had it and tried to clean it up but it didn't survive the attempt. I know it was made from Radio Shack parts, but sounded unlike anything on the air. Maybe Tony gave it back to Ron. It would have been cool to have these mass produced, even if they were only to find use with ham operators.
Honestly, I'd put the "Rontimod" audio up against most of todays's processors that cost a lot more....a whole lot more.
Glad to see that they have a new BE transmitter. I had the same CCA transmitter many years ago at the original WBRW and it was so sturdy that you cold almost load it into a spoon!
I wonder what happened to Ron Michaels' home made audio processor. I know Tony Dee had it and tried to clean it up but it didn't survive the attempt. I know it was made from Radio Shack parts, but sounded unlike anything on the air. Maybe Tony gave it back to Ron. It would have been cool to have these mass produced, even if they were only to find use with ham operators.
Honestly, I'd put the "Rontimod" audio up against most of todays's processors that cost a lot more....a whole lot more.
I do believe the WKMB audio processor is back in the hands of Ron Michels. It definitely had a very unique "sonic signature." It was originally followed by a Gates Solid Statesman limiter, but when Tony Dee replaced that with an Inovonics 222, the Rontimod + Inovonics combination made WKMB absolutely the loudest station on the dial, even with the old CCA transmitter on its last legs.
Tony also recovered an old spring reverb unit from WKMB, but I had never heard it used with the Country format, so it must've dated from the early to mid '70s when WKMB had a Top 40 format.
Tony also recovered an old spring reverb unit from WKMB, but I had never heard it used with the Country format, so it must've dated from the early to mid '70s when WKMB had a Top 40 format.
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