worst studios

[gordontalk]

I think that the responses to this will be lots of fun to read since we have all kinds of people on this board that have been lots of different places. Out of all of the studios that you've seen or worked in, which were the worst and why?

 

[nomansland91]

LOL..Good post. I worked at a newstalker that was set up by an engineer that had it in for the owner(he quit after totally screwing up the set up of the new studios). The control room was positioned so that it faced away from the talk studio(the talk studio was directly behind the board op). In order for the producer to see the host, he/she had to look into a mirror that was placed on the board. If that were not bad enough...in order to get to the control room, one had to walk "through" the talk studio.So, imagine if you will, traffic people walking in and out of the talk studio in order to get to the control room to discrep spots, the PD walking through, the next shift walking through, etc.

While in college, I worked for a small Christian TV station. The VTR did not even have a top because you had to reach in and wrap the tape around the head. This does not necessarily qualify as sorry studios, but the operation was so shoddy and understaffed, that I actually had to run camera, floor direct, and run up to the control room to start the commercial break. Ah, those were the days.

 

[Holstead]

Worst studio I have ever worked in had to be KWCS in Bridgeport, Texas in 1987. Worst I have ever seen has to be a toss up between KTXO Sherman in the mid 80's and KZRC Bay City, Texas a year or so ago.

Now, as far as the nicest location (in Dallas at least) KQZY has just about every beat when they were in Reunion Tower. WBAP/KSCS has the best view on Broadcast Hill in Ft. Worth.

As a far as toys, when KLIF/KPLX moved from Arlington to Turtle Creek they went top drawer all the way around.

 

[uppendowndadial]

I remember in the late 60s that KMOO/Mineola had ZERO cart machines. They read all their spots live.
Maybe not the worst, although it was the most crowded - KFWD in a house trailer at Amon Carter Field in the 70s

 

[Musicradio]

My first job in Daingefield, Texas at KEGG.

2 Sparta 4 channel boards side by side as the main board. Old "pull back" cart players...2 old turntables that had to run a few minutes to warm them up or they turned rather slow. The window the board faced was small -- at the time it was used as the general managers office, but had previously been a studio.

Spiders were everywhere!!

1978 -- seems so long ago.....sorta.

 

[bwild]

I remember in the late 60s that KMOO/Mineola had ZERO cart machines. They read all their spots live.
Maybe not the worst, although it was the most crowded - KFWD in a house trailer at Amon Carter Field in the 70s

You'll be happy to know that KMOO finally got a cart machine. They probably sounded better in the 60's than they do now though.

 

[klifhanger]

KGAF IN GAINESVILLE,TEXAS MID 70'S The studio was built in a one bedroom house. The master bedroom was the studio, the carport was where the transmitter rack was,the kitchen was the engineering workshop/break room, living room was the reception area, the hallway half bath was the production room, the utility room was where the wire machines were located. They took a the right channel and split it so the subcarrier would carry "muzak" type programming to the local motels and restaurants. The board was an old "gatesway" not to be confused with or related to the PC maker. Across the street was the state home for teenage boys and girls delinquents,with escapes twice a month.

 

[nuzguy]

So was there another bathroom and was it used for its intended purpose or did it have "other" uses. Or was there, as with the Mt. Pleasant station, a one or two holer out back.

Anyway, everyone knows jocks are super human and don't need rest rooms. (Sure, that's why board people keep four and five minute long versions, or an empty coffee can, handy.)

 

[radiobop]

I too worked at KGAF for 5 years beginning in the late 60s and used MacKensie carts with noisy solenoids before NAB carts cam in late 69 or early 70...com'on Steve it wasn' that bad....after all it was your first radio gig....I admit after sundown switching to Stereo on FM when you could only monitor the left channel in the studio left something to be desired....

 

[BigBird]

Great Blog ... brings back lots of memories, and great radio sea stories. The winner has to be the old KGVL in Greenville. They now have a new facility. I was there in 1967-68 watching rats and mice dancing to the hits of the day. The board was hand build back in the 40's ... a lovely shade of moss green, but I must admit that it didn't miss a beat. The best part of this great EastTex radio station was the watermellon field in the back near the antenna. Terry Byrd and I would pick one every Monday night. It was then placed in the bottom of the coke machine, and get injected with Everclear each night until Friday ... Party On Dudes! The old building is gone now, but the memories live on.

 

[VOXPOP]

WBAP/KSCS has the best view on Broadcast Hill in Ft. Worth.

As a far as toys, when KLIF/KPLX moved from Arlington to Turtle Creek they went top drawer all the way around.

Josh, I agree with your KLIF/KPLX opinion, but WBAP/KSCS have been in Arlington (with no view) for a long time.

 

[Steve Eberhart]

Just so you know...I am NOT klifhanger!...I use my real name.
KGAF was (is) a dump. I recall one particular afternoon playing a record on one of those huge 16 inch gates turntables and a cockroach fell from the ceiling right onto the record that was live on the air...it was interesting to watch knowing soon the offender would collide with the tonearm. Those were the big heavy gray tonearms and I thought for a second it might push the bug off the record and keep on tracking. No such luck, brrrrrp! I remember opening the mic and telling the audience exactly what just happened. I'm imagining hearing a break like that now! You can't make up this "stuff".

On the station, I'm pretty sure the Leonard brothers built that building as a radio station, not a converted house.

 

[klifhanger]

1) Steve is not me. 2) I forgot about the massive tone arms on those huge turntables. Nuzguy ,yeah they actually had a regular bathroom next to the break room/engineering work place. The station also kept a key under a lose brick by the door incase you forgot yours. Problem was, almost anyone in town knew about the key was and just anybody walked in,especially on a football friday night.

 

[uwf234]

The WORST I have ever dealt with were the more recent (KMSR/KFCD) 990 studios. Oringinally, the control room consisted of an out of date, Studer board with a cracked screen, and the only place to get replacment parts was the other broken Studer that was ruined when an overzelous board op dumped grape soda on it. 900 then moved up in the world and bought a brand new, 25 channel Mackie production board (which started bleeding the channels after day one.) In the studio, only one of the CD players worked half the time, the other just make lovely flashing lights. We decorated it a christmas. That studio went through 3 live CD burners, 2 mini disc players, overheard light bulbs that would never be replaced, a wobbly confence table for the talent to sit at, and the studio went through 4 chairs in one month due to a rather robust board op who liked grape soda.

While these shortcommings can be blamed on the original KMSR engineer, the ownership gets the brunt of the blame for never spending money on the acutal studios. Come to think of it, they never spent money on payroll either.

 

[Steve Eberhart]

I emailed Joe Leonard and he tells me indeed they did build the building that houses KGAF. It may one of the few stations that began in and still operates out of the same building. It was built in 1947. At the time is was a very well built studio with sound proofing and a performance studio that featured live bands, one of which included an aunt of mine many years before my involvement there. In the ensuing years, it has fallen into disrepair and my last visit there several years ago was interesting because I looked around and saw things that I had put on the wall some 35 years ago!!! Still there.

He also tells me they originally had an office downtown as well but then moved all the operation out to "the hill" where it has remained. The studios were always where they are now.

There is a book out about Elvis in Texas in the early days and they have a few pages about his mid 50's visit to Gainesville to perform at Owl Park and his interview at KGAF. Incidentally, the show was one of the rare "busts" for Elvis. Hardly anyone showed up! Can you imagine?!

I'll tell you another story. My first interest in radio was probably sparked at age 6 in Boys Scouts when we went out to the station to tour the facility. The DJ, whoever it was, let each of us walk up to the mic and say our name...I thought it was THEE coolest thing. Ten years later, I did my first shift there at age 16, and some of my first announcing there was done on that big old cage looking brown Altec ribbon mic, the same one I spoke into in 1963.

 

[klifhanger]

Great story Steve! It was a house none the less on "the hill" and that "Altec Mic" was still hooked to that Gateway Board.! Ironically it was on Labor day during my tenure there when the weather got rough. We had Tornado warnings going off for a couple of hours. One in particular was in Cooke County wher KGAF is located. This warning said a Twister was sighted. I step outside and sure enought there was one to the west and
ANOTHER ONE to the south,both appeared to be headed for ..THE HILL. Of course being it was a holiday weekend,there was only one staff member on duty..ME! I had to go into the studio,be calm, open the mike and state "Tornadoes have been sighted! Seek shelter." I then put on the longest LP I could find..Herb Alpert and the Tijuanna Brass and hunkered down by the make shift prod.room/hallway. The wind picked up BUT the station was spared. It seems one twister went back up in the clouds the other skipped by us and went to..( of course) a trailer park.
Phones rang, and of course one had to ask " Are there any tornadoes in the area?" Live and Local radio,nothing beats it.

 

[ChuckTiller]

The worst for me had to be 920 KTLW in Texas City. It was on the side of the Showboat Theatre. It was owned by Jonny Long in Bay City, who also owned 1270 KIOX.

When I got there in 1972, I had to climb a very long staircase to get to the wore out studios of the former "Country Giant." The control room consisted of a Gatesway board, 2 Harris turntables (huge), and 3 Viking open top cart machines. You put the cart in the machine and pulled the lever back so the wheel would jump into the hole. 2 of the machines were on the were on the right and the other was on the left. You had to reach back to load that one. It worked best with a number 2 pencil slid up under the cart. There was a remote start/stop to an Ampex reel to reel recorder which was in a production room on the other side of the station. One of the turntables required the assistance of a nickel. Only spots were on cart. Music was vinyl. All commercials had to be loaded :01 late. This was done because if you left the pots up and engaged the spots, you would hear a load pop on the air. They figured out the way to get around that 'pop' was to load 'em late and twist the pot up at the appropriate time.

In the production was an 4 pot Harris board, circa 1948. One record Viking cart machine, one playback Viking cart machine and one turntable. The microphone was an old Electrovoice. I may be wrong about that. It was gray. In fact, everything was gray, come to think of it.

However, it was my 1st radio job and I was happy to be there.