Walt Williams, to my recollection, was the 1st class engineer back then...Am I right, Al?
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WNIA question
- Thread starter mar46
- Start date
I wanted to work in WNY radio very badly back in 1976. Living in Florida since 1965 I was still rather homesick and wanted to come home the conquering hero or something like that. I had been talking to Jim Connors about a spot at WROC in the summer and came up for an on air audition in September. I knew about the strike and the fact the union was not looking for more benefits but rather just trying to hold on to what they had. That should have stopped me right there but I was very young and even more foolish. Still undaunted I went to the station and worked Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday I did news from 6am to 10am while Jim was on the air. Then I was DJ from 10am to 3pm. Jim was a very likable guy I think it would have been a blast to work with him. The stations were a mess though they wanted you to do everything! While on the air on the AM you also had to go into the next room and dial up the engineer at the FM transmitter where the automation for WPXY FM 98 was located to do Headlines and weather beautiful music style.
The Sunday shift was the usual running the board and racking up tapes for the public service shows and running the board for a man who came in and did an Italian show. I could never understand anything he said but somehow we made it through. Again this included doing news and weather breaks on WPXY. One was scheduled to be done right in the middle of the Italian show which I skipped because I never mastered the art of being in two places at the same time!
The GM Tom Ryan calls me to ask how it's going and I explain I couldn't do what they expected for WPXY while running the board on WROC. He floored me when he asked if it would help if they put the "FM mic" in the AM studio? I said no the Italian guy is trying to do his show in here!
All's well that ends well. Even though I really liked Jim Connors I came away feeling I had a better gig in Florida. Jim Liked me but Tom didn't so that pretty much ended things right there. I remember WROC took it's sweet time paying me and they didn't get their key back until they did! I shudder to think what would have happened if I had gone to work there. My first winter in 11 years would have been "The Blizzard off '77"!
At least my aunts, uncles, and cousins got a chance to hear me mispronounce Avon and Chili on the radio. Something that I get teased about to this day. (I was from Buffalo, what did I know?). The aircheck I made of my show there was so bad I think I burned the tape to avoid further embarrassment!
Mike
On Saturday I did news from 6am to 10am while Jim was on the air. Then I was DJ from 10am to 3pm. Jim was a very likable guy I think it would have been a blast to work with him. The stations were a mess though they wanted you to do everything! While on the air on the AM you also had to go into the next room and dial up the engineer at the FM transmitter where the automation for WPXY FM 98 was located to do Headlines and weather beautiful music style.
The Sunday shift was the usual running the board and racking up tapes for the public service shows and running the board for a man who came in and did an Italian show. I could never understand anything he said but somehow we made it through. Again this included doing news and weather breaks on WPXY. One was scheduled to be done right in the middle of the Italian show which I skipped because I never mastered the art of being in two places at the same time!
The GM Tom Ryan calls me to ask how it's going and I explain I couldn't do what they expected for WPXY while running the board on WROC. He floored me when he asked if it would help if they put the "FM mic" in the AM studio? I said no the Italian guy is trying to do his show in here!
All's well that ends well. Even though I really liked Jim Connors I came away feeling I had a better gig in Florida. Jim Liked me but Tom didn't so that pretty much ended things right there. I remember WROC took it's sweet time paying me and they didn't get their key back until they did! I shudder to think what would have happened if I had gone to work there. My first winter in 11 years would have been "The Blizzard off '77"!
At least my aunts, uncles, and cousins got a chance to hear me mispronounce Avon and Chili on the radio. Something that I get teased about to this day. (I was from Buffalo, what did I know?). The aircheck I made of my show there was so bad I think I burned the tape to avoid further embarrassment!
Mike
alw said:
NEVER burn or erase aircheck tapes, look what happend to Richard Nixon! BTW, you're not the only guy in the business who has a few lousy, embarrassing airchecks. Anybody who says he/she doesn't is lying. I have some tapes that are so bad, they're almost funny... after a few Genny's.
A few "Jennys" at Coles on Delaware (or was that Elmwood) or the No Name Bar..oh I loved those places..The guy that did polkas on WBLK was Happy Harry Korczinski wasn't it? I wold get my Mom to drive me to Ruda's record store..just to see it...and the Hound would tell me to buy my "rockin and rollin', soulful tunes" at Audrey and Dells..after getting some chicken at Scotty's (cotty's..cotty's..cotty's) Ampex 350 taped echo at 7.5ips
Was it 2900 Gennesee street? I thought it was 2100..must be why I didn't last long there...and Voice Guy Jack and I worked for Thom and Norma Talbott at WJJL when they moved to Main Streeat after the Hotel Niagara kicked them out..MAN that was many many years ago.
Anyone know what ever became of a certain Jeff Eustis? (was at WYSL in the Statler Hilton) and also worked at WJJL when I was there...There is a Jeffrey Eustis who has an application for a 50KW AM in Atlanta..same guy?
Happy Thanksgiving..say it with a big casserole made with Malecki Kielbasa and scalloped potatoes...look for the brightly colored baloons on the pack!
Was it 2900 Gennesee street? I thought it was 2100..must be why I didn't last long there...and Voice Guy Jack and I worked for Thom and Norma Talbott at WJJL when they moved to Main Streeat after the Hotel Niagara kicked them out..MAN that was many many years ago.
Anyone know what ever became of a certain Jeff Eustis? (was at WYSL in the Statler Hilton) and also worked at WJJL when I was there...There is a Jeffrey Eustis who has an application for a 50KW AM in Atlanta..same guy?
Happy Thanksgiving..say it with a big casserole made with Malecki Kielbasa and scalloped potatoes...look for the brightly colored baloons on the pack!
Blasts From the Past
Coles is still there, and going strong. The former "No Name Bar" down the street at 941 Elmwood at Bidwell was still a bar last time I was down there - but it now has a name (which I can't remember).
We Ma-like Malecki - as well as Wardynski and Szelagowski Meats. Ruda's Records now only exists as a http://www.rudasrecords.com"]website[/url].
For a refresher course in the Buffalo you grew up with, check this out.
Jeff Laurence said:
Coles is still there, and going strong. The former "No Name Bar" down the street at 941 Elmwood at Bidwell was still a bar last time I was down there - but it now has a name (which I can't remember).
We Ma-like Malecki - as well as Wardynski and Szelagowski Meats. Ruda's Records now only exists as a http://www.rudasrecords.com"]website[/url].
For a refresher course in the Buffalo you grew up with, check this out.
You're treading into dangerous "way back machine" territory here, Mr. Roxalot.
Next, we'll be pouring a cold Iroquois, Koch's or a Simon-Pure and telling tall tales and true stories with Sherman and Mr. Peabody. OK, let's dial back to 1969 for this one: As a teen-aged, not-all-that-good morning guy, mis-cast in a station with guys who were 30 years older (and wiser), I got blown out of WDOE Dunkirk after six weeks for this seemingly harmless line one morning: "hmm, there's a pungent odor in the air this morning... kinda rancid... (pause for effect) must be they're brewing a batch of Holiday Draft at Koch's..." Given that Koch's was a major sponsor and employer, it was "buh-bye" and back to Buffalo State, which is where I met Tom Fontana (yeah, that Tom Fontana, Mr. Hollywood Writer-Producer, St. Elsewhere, Oz, Homicide, and so much more) doing summer theatre. We opened the No-Name in the summer of '71. If you ask any of the unknown celebrities at Buffalo State from that summer, we gave the bar its name. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Next time, we'll set the Wayback Machine for 1982, the closing of the Courier-Express and the goodbye party I accidentally walked into at Ray Flynns.
Next, we'll be pouring a cold Iroquois, Koch's or a Simon-Pure and telling tall tales and true stories with Sherman and Mr. Peabody. OK, let's dial back to 1969 for this one: As a teen-aged, not-all-that-good morning guy, mis-cast in a station with guys who were 30 years older (and wiser), I got blown out of WDOE Dunkirk after six weeks for this seemingly harmless line one morning: "hmm, there's a pungent odor in the air this morning... kinda rancid... (pause for effect) must be they're brewing a batch of Holiday Draft at Koch's..." Given that Koch's was a major sponsor and employer, it was "buh-bye" and back to Buffalo State, which is where I met Tom Fontana (yeah, that Tom Fontana, Mr. Hollywood Writer-Producer, St. Elsewhere, Oz, Homicide, and so much more) doing summer theatre. We opened the No-Name in the summer of '71. If you ask any of the unknown celebrities at Buffalo State from that summer, we gave the bar its name. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Next time, we'll set the Wayback Machine for 1982, the closing of the Courier-Express and the goodbye party I accidentally walked into at Ray Flynns.
C
caveman-97
Guest
The guy that did polkas on WBLK was Happy Harry Korczinski wasn't it?
It was Happy Harry Kostrzycki. Why do people have problems with such easy names?
Harry's real name was Jerome. In Polish, Harry is a nickname for Jerome but you have to be Polish to understand the rationale. Since this thread is about WNIA it would be appropriate to note that Harry spent a fair amount of time at that station. Later his daughter, Cellia, would do a polka program on WNIA.
It was Happy Harry Kostrzycki. Why do people have problems with such easy names?
Harry's real name was Jerome. In Polish, Harry is a nickname for Jerome but you have to be Polish to understand the rationale. Since this thread is about WNIA it would be appropriate to note that Harry spent a fair amount of time at that station. Later his daughter, Cellia, would do a polka program on WNIA.
In Chick-ta-wogga this weekend running radials on WECK, it was of course necessary to listen to the station for hours. The programming I enjoyed the most on 1230 was 'Drive Time Polkas' with Ronnie D, early Sunday. Loved the live ad-lib spots including the "Christmas pierogies" promo.
The rest of the weekend: colon-blow shows, which CBS didn't even bother to time out properly, from Purity Products (we run the same stuff after-hours on WYSL) and Classic Country via satellite. Listened for over 12 hours over a period of three days while measuring.
Never heard so much as a local weather forecast. (In BUFFALO??? Can someone explain this?)
Stopped by the station at 2900 Genesee, which has obviously been vacant except for use as a remote-controlled Tx site for some time.
The rest of the weekend: colon-blow shows, which CBS didn't even bother to time out properly, from Purity Products (we run the same stuff after-hours on WYSL) and Classic Country via satellite. Listened for over 12 hours over a period of three days while measuring.
Never heard so much as a local weather forecast. (In BUFFALO??? Can someone explain this?)
Stopped by the station at 2900 Genesee, which has obviously been vacant except for use as a remote-controlled Tx site for some time.
Not surprised by your assessment. Colon-blow shows are the bane of AM radio, like dandelions popping up on a lawn in Spring. By the way, it's not CBS' baby anymore, Regent brought the CBS cluster which includes WBLK, WBUF, WJYE and WYRK. With four FMs to tend to, WECK isn't on the priority list and sounds like it runs on life support (sadly), which may be the result of Regent's recent downsizing. How hard can it be record and update a weather forecast using automation? Oh, sorry, there has to be a live body at the station to READ the forecast, code it and enter it into the automation program.
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I'm sorry: going back and reading my post, it sounds a little harsh, and I meant no disrespect.
But, I mean, c'mon. Corporate radio complains about the XM-Sirius merger and wrings its collective hands over quarterly revenue slides. Here's a fulltime medium-market AM with a pretty darn good signal, and there is absolutely zero local content. None. Zip. Nada. How do you defend the absence of a weather forecast for an entire weekend in a community where weather is such a vital factor, it's legendary??
See, my argument is: this is the vision of the industry's future, if corporate radio always gets its way: no content, no audience involvement, no localism. No energy. No fun.
But: they're running IBOC because "AM sounds so bad!"
And then they wonder why AM's audience share continues its decline.
I predict happier days for WECK once Dick Greene takes over. He understands local radio.
But, I mean, c'mon. Corporate radio complains about the XM-Sirius merger and wrings its collective hands over quarterly revenue slides. Here's a fulltime medium-market AM with a pretty darn good signal, and there is absolutely zero local content. None. Zip. Nada. How do you defend the absence of a weather forecast for an entire weekend in a community where weather is such a vital factor, it's legendary??
See, my argument is: this is the vision of the industry's future, if corporate radio always gets its way: no content, no audience involvement, no localism. No energy. No fun.
But: they're running IBOC because "AM sounds so bad!"
And then they wonder why AM's audience share continues its decline.
I predict happier days for WECK once Dick Greene takes over. He understands local radio.
Savage said:
Mr. Savage:
First of all you should be commended for keeping local radio alive in your community. I agree 100% with your post about the corporate ‘bean-counters’ and their apparent ignorance when it comes to the needs of the public, versus profits. I’m not a communist, and have no problem with broadcasting operations making money; but media giants would rather fire staff en-masse (witness Entercom’s decision in Buffalo) to justify increasing profits. If no one is listening thus no ratings, and no ratings means it’s next to impossible to sell air time. One tries to be optimistic that the broadcasting industry will finally “wake up” and see the light at the end of the tunnel before it’s too late. I for one think it’s too late, especially when it comes to trying to lure a younger audience to radio (especially AM). The only hope is to keep ‘baby-boomers’ from joining their children in finding other means of entertainment.
Savage said:
Bob,
I spoke to a gentleman who worked with GPB on the installation of WNIA and he verified that there was a traditional grounding system. He said that the Commission allowed more than the usual 120 radials because of the size of the land available to them. I can't verify that, but I have no reason to doubt him.
I also worked there and have memories of it - some good some bad. I'll never forget the hot nights (no air conditioning in those days) and the windows open trying to catch a breeze. Of course all you had to show for it were the folks passing by in their cars, honking their horns while the mike was open! No gated processors back then...
aL
Hmmm. Either your friend from the GPB days doesn't recall the 1950s install accurately (not hard to believe, since at age 57 I have trouble remembering last week) or things changed over the years. In my 1967 visits to WNIA the tower was definitely shunt-fed. And somewhere around 1988 I helped appraise the station when Chet was running it as a standalone...the purchaser was, if I recall, a group connected with KB newsman John Zach. 20 years ago the shunt system was still in place (and still dangerous, as the live feedline ran along the ceiling where careless staffers might have contacted it.)
I dropped by and inspected WECK this past Sunday 11-18 (not hard to do since the entire facility is within about 75 feet of Genesee Street.) The 3-legged freestanding tower is the same one I recall from 40 years ago, quite short at around 150'. And it's exactly as I remember it from 40 and 20 years ago - no leg insulators, just bolted to concrete anchors. The "beehive" porcelain insulator which held the old shunt feedline is still mounted on its corroded bracket on WECK's back wall.
WECK is indeed now converted to a unipole, with all the turnbuckle-mounted spaghetti running up inside each tower leg.
I suppose it's not impossible that an earlier, series-excited tower was installed there at one time. It's hard to see how. The real estate parcel is very small, with the tower tucked into the corner of a tiny trapezoid of fenced-off land. The antenna is only about 30 feet from the back wall of the WECK Tx/studio building and the cyclone fence around the tower foundation looks like it's inches from the property line.
The only way a traditional ground system could have been there would be if there was a bigger parcel of land at one time which was sold off piecemeal for some reason. The tower could have been replaced or converted, but the latter is highly unlikely, since the base insulators would have just remained in place with the tower being grounded with strap. This was done with the WLEA stick in Hornell when it was converted to a tunipole.
I dropped by and inspected WECK this past Sunday 11-18 (not hard to do since the entire facility is within about 75 feet of Genesee Street.) The 3-legged freestanding tower is the same one I recall from 40 years ago, quite short at around 150'. And it's exactly as I remember it from 40 and 20 years ago - no leg insulators, just bolted to concrete anchors. The "beehive" porcelain insulator which held the old shunt feedline is still mounted on its corroded bracket on WECK's back wall.
WECK is indeed now converted to a unipole, with all the turnbuckle-mounted spaghetti running up inside each tower leg.
I suppose it's not impossible that an earlier, series-excited tower was installed there at one time. It's hard to see how. The real estate parcel is very small, with the tower tucked into the corner of a tiny trapezoid of fenced-off land. The antenna is only about 30 feet from the back wall of the WECK Tx/studio building and the cyclone fence around the tower foundation looks like it's inches from the property line.
The only way a traditional ground system could have been there would be if there was a bigger parcel of land at one time which was sold off piecemeal for some reason. The tower could have been replaced or converted, but the latter is highly unlikely, since the base insulators would have just remained in place with the tower being grounded with strap. This was done with the WLEA stick in Hornell when it was converted to a tunipole.
Savage said:
I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't a shunt-fed vertical, it definitely was. I just wanted to point out that there was traditional ground system installed, albeit a very small one due to property size. As I understand it, even shunt fed, a ground system is still desirable, if not necessary.
aL
Hey Bob (btw I have your spot ready to deliver tomorrow)
Did you see anything left of the old studios..?
jl
Did you see anything left of the old studios..?
jl
Yep, no question - even a grounded shunt-fed radiator needs to be....well, grounded. I misunderstood average listener's post to mean that WNIA at one time had a series-excited stick (good thing I'm in the kah-MOON-a-kayshuns business, duh...) and a traditional ground screen. Wouldn't work so well with that tower, since the ground system would be about the same size as a piece of copier paper.
Jeffster, 2900 Genesee was locked up and unattended, so all we could do was prowl around the grounds.
The one thing I remember about the interior from 1967 was, little wall-mounted intercom speaker-boxes everywhere, which served as a house monitor system. Does anyone else remember these multiple little squawk boxes?
And the RCA "consolette," and the BTA-500R. And ALL THE CART MACHINES!! (NOT!)
Jeffster, 2900 Genesee was locked up and unattended, so all we could do was prowl around the grounds.
The one thing I remember about the interior from 1967 was, little wall-mounted intercom speaker-boxes everywhere, which served as a house monitor system. Does anyone else remember these multiple little squawk boxes?
And the RCA "consolette," and the BTA-500R. And ALL THE CART MACHINES!! (NOT!)
Bob,
Yeah I remember those speakers. If you found a resonant corner of the room you could actually hear some bass. Here's a picture of the consolette: http://www.oldradio.com/archives/hardware/RCA-76B-1.jpg.
It's my understanding that Infinity/CBS spruced the place up and it's in decent shape. I'd sure like to see it again sometime.
I'd also heard the story about tying the ground system to the water or sewer system but was never able to confirm.
Does anyone remember Gregg Eberman (not sure of the spelling)? He was chief operator at the time I was there, although I rarely saw him (usually when GPB was in town for a proof of performance). There was another fellow, I think his name was Mike Bayba, that did most of the routine work.
aL
Yeah I remember those speakers. If you found a resonant corner of the room you could actually hear some bass. Here's a picture of the consolette: http://www.oldradio.com/archives/hardware/RCA-76B-1.jpg.
It's my understanding that Infinity/CBS spruced the place up and it's in decent shape. I'd sure like to see it again sometime.
I'd also heard the story about tying the ground system to the water or sewer system but was never able to confirm.
Does anyone remember Gregg Eberman (not sure of the spelling)? He was chief operator at the time I was there, although I rarely saw him (usually when GPB was in town for a proof of performance). There was another fellow, I think his name was Mike Bayba, that did most of the routine work.
aL
Average...naw that one (in the link above) is FAR nicer than the one I remember being at Wuh-Nye-Uh..it was like a four channel board..and two different brands of turntables..I even think one of them was a Gerrard! I was told that you had to pull the headphone plug out of the tape deck to "cue" it and push it back in to play it through the console. (Channel 4 had the three position utility switch) Even WHLD in the Parkway Motor Hotel..in bew-tee-ful Niagara Falls, New York had two RCA cart decks..mounted in a rack waaayy accross the control room. Next to thier twin Ampex 610's..(those machines MUST have gone to heaven for all of the paid religous tapes I ran on them) BUT Eddy Jo's WHLD had Altec Birdcage ribbon mics..and TWO gorgeous RCA 44BX mics with the black and silver base and chrome screen. What I would give to find those mics! I'll bet Bob Kobernuss took em...
Re: WNIA Question and More
When I looked at the board on the link provided by a_l, I wondered where I'd seen it in operation.
(SFX, one note tuning fork chime)
It very much looks like the board in the WKBW production control room at 1430 Main Street on which production engineer Al Laffler mixed those priceless gems such as War Of The Worlds, Buffalo Bills Replay and all those great KB countdowns!
Now, another technical question about the WNIA tower.
The original tower, given the accounts and evidence noted in this thread, was shunt fed. As "a_l" offered, the late GPB ran an occult ground to the plumbing system, but didn't that little trick increase the electrical length of the tower, thereby screwing up the point on the tower at which the voltage was the lowest where the shunt feed would have been located?
Let's say a big ass clamp was attached to the base of the tower and GPB used 50 feet of ought-2 (02) conductor run underground into the basement of 2900 Genesee street where it was clamped or soldered to the copper or cast iron sewer pipe which in turn fed the Cheektowaga sanitary sewer system.
By doing so, doesn't the electrical length of the tower go from about 150 feet to about "37 thousand" feet?
Incidentally, radio legend has it that Myron Jones years ago "customized" the antenna for WJET AM 1400 Erie, PA in a similar fashion. Accordingly, Jones tied the base of the tower into the New York Central railroad tracks that ran adjacent to the building that held the antenna for WJET.
Ya gotta love these stories!
BTW, it's very likely the WNIA tower height was stunted (c. 150') because it's within spitting distance of the main runway of Buffalo International Airport.
_________________________________________________
One more item: Happy Thanksgiving to all who read and post here.
When I looked at the board on the link provided by a_l, I wondered where I'd seen it in operation.
(SFX, one note tuning fork chime)
It very much looks like the board in the WKBW production control room at 1430 Main Street on which production engineer Al Laffler mixed those priceless gems such as War Of The Worlds, Buffalo Bills Replay and all those great KB countdowns!
Now, another technical question about the WNIA tower.
The original tower, given the accounts and evidence noted in this thread, was shunt fed. As "a_l" offered, the late GPB ran an occult ground to the plumbing system, but didn't that little trick increase the electrical length of the tower, thereby screwing up the point on the tower at which the voltage was the lowest where the shunt feed would have been located?
Let's say a big ass clamp was attached to the base of the tower and GPB used 50 feet of ought-2 (02) conductor run underground into the basement of 2900 Genesee street where it was clamped or soldered to the copper or cast iron sewer pipe which in turn fed the Cheektowaga sanitary sewer system.
By doing so, doesn't the electrical length of the tower go from about 150 feet to about "37 thousand" feet?
Incidentally, radio legend has it that Myron Jones years ago "customized" the antenna for WJET AM 1400 Erie, PA in a similar fashion. Accordingly, Jones tied the base of the tower into the New York Central railroad tracks that ran adjacent to the building that held the antenna for WJET.
Ya gotta love these stories!
BTW, it's very likely the WNIA tower height was stunted (c. 150') because it's within spitting distance of the main runway of Buffalo International Airport.
_________________________________________________
One more item: Happy Thanksgiving to all who read and post here.
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