WWKB Cutting Back To 10,000 Watts?

[Bob1370]

"Just imagine, in your mind's eye, a kinda cramped, depressing hamfest where "no solid state stuff is allowed!!" and the average vintage of the gear for sale = your age x 2.5. "

Ahh, that big old RCA tube type board that was once the air board in the former master control. (IIRC they still had one or two of the old "diesel-powered" monster turntables in there too, along with a little newer-generation reel to reel and cart machines--by that time we in the news crew were using it as a production room for features, actualities and the 5 am "Good Morning In The Morning" show.)

"Throw the event in a rundown old garage somewhere with inadequate parking. A high-crime neighborhood would help set the scene. Make sure the roof leaks badly. It would be more realistic if you could find a garage where about 20 people had chain-smoked inside for the past 20 years."

Amd still were.

"There. You've got 1430 Main."

Don't forget the rats--I think they inspired Joey Reynolds and Danny Neaverth to record "Rats In My Room". They were still our companions in 1977.

And in all that mess, some of the best radio in history was being created for 30 years.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Don't forget LOTS of that (once upon a time) white perforated "sound treatment" tile on the walls, ceilings, dividers, and about everywhere else you could imagine...

 

[Mike Sheridan]

IBOC is self-immolating - I'm just trying to create a nice stiff breeze to help with the conflagration.

No comment on the meter. Suffice it to say no dumpster-diving was involved.

Did anybody ever unearth that 1941 book about BBC, "A New Era In Radio?" Great pictorial walk-through of the Big Tree Road site and WKBW/WGR. It was truly an engineering showplace when built. It's ironic that the legendary WKBW had a palatial transmitter site - and an unmitigated dump for studios, the place actually frequented by by the general public, clients and most of the staff!

How true! I remember the school bus passed the Big Tree Site every morning and afternoon and there were spotlights on the ground that illuminated the front of the building, a flag pole that flew the American flag and neatly trimmed hedges on both sides of the front door. The glass brick windows shining. The lawn was always neatly trimmed.

 

[hypwr]

Savage-type-person, Have you ever seen our 50HG in the flesh? If not, if you ever get down this way, contact me by email and I'll set up a personal tour. I will even take a photo of you in front of the rig. This is an offer I extend only to "true believers". Only lovers of old xmtrs. need apply. Hypwr

Savage, we might crash your invite. We'll rent a bus. You can drive. Fybush will navigate. I've got the tolls.

Hypwr, if this tour happens, I'd love to see it as well...if you don't mind.
Welcome aboard. Just let me know when you're coming.

 

[gary adams]

come on aboard the magical transmitter tour!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[K4WRF]

Nothing like a little "arc starvation" for breakfast. I love the musical sounds of "8008" and "857" gunfire in the morning. It's a real waker-upper.

Bob & Hypwr:
had the pleasure of seeing that specific HG-50 late last year, I also recall those 857 rectifier tubes. Indeed nice to look at when they were in operation, not so nice when they fail. Had one short in RCA TT50-AH TV rig, it got hot so fast that it collapsed the glass envelope.
Some things you just don't forget...
w/

 

[chas108]

Some future trip thru "Buf'lo", I'm gonna have to get off the 90, find Big Tree Road and at least drive by the site. We zipped thru the area yesterday after a trip to see family in Syracuse...and thanks to this thread I at least know where to look from the Thruway to see the display. I turned my radio to 1520 just long enough to hear a few minutes of Randi Rhodes and "New Voice/New Choice" sweepers while getting nostalgic over the magic that once emanated from (some of) those very towers four decades ago....while Don Henley (or was it the Ataris?) kept playing in my head..."don't look back, you can never look back".

 

[warsaw35]

Would the protected zone stay the same then or would they lose some of it forever?

 

[kmac]

have any of you guys called the station to find out.......... i just called they are aware of the rumor but they as far as they know are running at a full throttle 50.000 watts they have been having transmitter problems but as far as they know its been taking care of i cant believe that scott couldn't find out if it was fact or fiction maybe its sun spots or atmospheric problems is the reason their not reaching out

This isn't the first time this rumor has circled RadioInfo. A couple of years ago it did and if you do a search, you'll read that I dispelled that rumor back then. Funny enough, Greg Ried came to me about a week after the rumor was mentioned here back then and asked me if it as feasible to reduce KB to 10 kW. I never said anything else about it here because I knew Big Brother was watching. When I told him it would mean filing for a modification of the license he apparently decided not to pursue it any further. As for the latest troubles, the station was probably on to RCA 10kW box to allow for maintenance on the DX-50. When I left the company in February the MW-50 was inoperable due to numerous problems as a result of some odd power spike or lightning strike that blew pole mounted fuses right off. It is nearly impossible to find parts for it now. I have no idea what has happened since then, nor do I really care, but yes the 10kW idea was definitely something that was slightly more than a rumor.

I'm one more good engineer with 20 years in, who has now left the industry and will never, ever, EVER go back because radio just isn't what it used to be and all owners and managers care about is the bottom line and nothing else. Even a lot of small owners sacrifice engineering staff by keeping crappy, completely outdated and almost unrepairable equipment around as long as they can. Engineers who have good troubleshooting skills and have the knowledge to keep the old stuff on the air are used and abused until they finally either retire or like me, pursue a less stressful and more lucrative career. Radio owners will never learn. I'm still young. I got my start in radio at 16 and even with 20 years in, I still have time to start something new that doesn't require me to be on call 24/7 for years at a stretch.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm one more good engineer with 20 years in, who has now left the industry and will never, ever, EVER go back because radio just isn't what it used to be and all owners and managers care about is the bottom line and nothing else.

I know it's off topic, but when I was in college I did a documentary with a lot of "golden age of radio" staffers, people involved in the production and engineering of radio drama from the 30s and 40s. They were all fired when DJs became popular, and they all told me the exact same thing about how radio was so much better when they were doing it. So every generation thinks what it did was the best, and that owners are greedy SOBs. Nothing every goes back to what it was. It either changes or dies. That's where we are now. And by the way, radio in the 30s was also corporate owned. If you think Clear Channel is a big greedy company, spend some time with the execs at GE.

 

[kmac]

I'm one more good engineer with 20 years in, who has now left the industry and will never, ever, EVER go back because radio just isn't what it used to be and all owners and managers care about is the bottom line and nothing else.

I know it's off topic, but when I was in college I did a documentary with a lot of "golden age of radio" staffers, people involved in the production and engineering of radio drama from the 30s and 40s. They were all fired when DJs became popular, and they all told me the exact same thing about how radio was so much better when they were doing it. So every generation thinks what it did was the best, and that owners are greedy SOBs. Nothing every goes back to what it was. It either changes or dies. That's where we are now. And by the way, radio in the 30s was also corporate owned. If you think Clear Channel is a big greedy company, spend some time with the execs at GE.

Oh please! You think radio isn't and hasn't been going down the toilet? You must be living in a dream world. I'm not so stupid as to think when I was in radio it was even as good as it was at one time. I came in just a few years before consolidation in the early 90's. It had already been de-regulated to a fault. Now the fault has turned into a 9.7 earthquake.

 

[TheBigA]

Oh please! You think radio isn't and hasn't been going down the toilet?

Did I say that? No. I said that radio has been getting cheaper since the 1930s. Especially with regards to engineers. Big AM stations used to have a whole staff of in-house engineers, around the clock staffing at transmitter shacks, and studio operators. One by one those positions were eliminated, mostly before I got into the business. I got hired for my first job because I had an FCC license, so I could combo a board and run the transmitter. They could fire two engineers that way. Inspired by Scott Fybush, I've traveled around the country visiting old AM transmitter shacks. You can see these places were once castles. Now they're mostly empty, dilapidated shells. And it's obvious that the decay isn't recent, nor is it directly as a result of consolidation. Most of these 50K AMs haven't had full-time in-house engineers since the 80s. Don't lecture me about how things aren't like they used to be, you whipper snapper!

 

[kmac]

Did I say that? No. I said that radio has been getting cheaper since the 1930s. Especially with regards to engineers. Big AM stations used to have a whole staff of in-house engineers, around the clock staffing at transmitter shacks, and studio operators. One by one those positions were eliminated, mostly before I got into the business. I got hired for my first job because I had an FCC license, so I could combo a board and run the transmitter. They could fire two engineers that way. Inspired by Scott Fybush, I've traveled around the country visiting old AM transmitter shacks. You can see these places were once castles. Now they're mostly empty, dilapidated shells. And it's obvious that the decay isn't recent, nor is it directly as a result of consolidation. Most of these 50K AMs haven't had full-time in-house engineers since the 80s. Don't lecture me about how things aren't like they used to be, you whipper snapper!

And I said radio is a victim of corporate greed. The deterioration has been accelerated in the last 20 years because of de-regulation. I don't think we actually disagree, but for some unknown reason you thought you needed to counter what I stated in the first place. Old people, Jesus! :

I actually like older people but I'm giving you back a little something in return for your whipper-snapper comment

 

[TheBigA]

And I said radio is a victim of corporate greed. The deterioration has been accelerated in the last 20 years because of de-regulation.

A lot of the stations I visit weren't part of deregulation, and they're not part of the corporate greed. If you saw the bigger picture, you'd discover there's more to this than the simple "g" word. If it was just corporate greed, less than 2500 stations would be affected. Blaming "corporate greed" is taking a defeatist attitude, because corporate greed existed in the 1930s. That's what led to the establishment radio networks.

 

[mr.jr]

When in college (RIT) in the early 70's, I made FET preamps for car AM radios so the guys could get their AM station back home. One day I drove over to Big Tree road, snooping around the KB/GR xmtr site and was amazed that when I left, could barely hear a thing after I was a few miles away - blew out the MPF-102 FET in my car radio "preamp"!