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Topic: Way Cool Radio Station: KPRK

Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 07-31-2009 05:13 PM

The last radio station I worked for was KGBR in Gold Beach, Oregon (they have a website). It had a 250w fm transmitter located on a mountain near the city which made its effective radiated power 3000w. My first radio station was KKIM in Albuquerque a 10,000am religious broadcaster. During the day it boomed all over New Mexico and southern Colorado (it may still be doing that). At night we had to cut to 12w (that's right, 12w) to protect a Mexican station.

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 07-31-2009 07:18 PM

I worked in radio for 15 years and had a fascination with the AM band during my childhood.

Listening to distant stations at night was my connection to the real world...my escape from the hell that was Ketchikan, Alaska. I always pictured the radio stations as being housed in cool buildings like the one Mark photographed, probably because of American Graffiti or something.

1190 KEX Portland, who at the time still played music and had the coolest ever news sounder at the top of the hour (it was sort of an electronic synthesizer thing that I've never heard anything like before or since), was my primary night time entertainment. Their signal almost always came in after 9 at night. The AM stations in British Columbia were always reliable. Occasionally I might pick up an odd signal out of California or even the Midwest. Basically, anything west of the Mississippi with 5,000 watts or more had a chance of being heard. I loved finding new stations at night, and always wanted to be that guy on the air. And I got to be that guy for awhile.

Sadly, it was the last days of traditional local radio. Local news, local commercials (LOTS of different ones, not the three or four sponsors you hear in between the pharmaceutical and credit scare ads you hear today), and lots of local flavor with real professional sounding disk jockeys.

Now it's just syndicated talking heads intertwined with mindless news announcers who don't even try to sound unique.

I will say that I did work in a building in the sticks with an "on-display" studio like the one in Mark's picture (not NEARLY this cool, but...) I hated that. Stranded motorists would bang on the window and scare the daylights out of you in the middle of the night.

We once had a board op whose car was stolen by somebody who found the car warming up in our parking lot while walking to town. I actually passed the guy on my way out there and assumed it was the board op, as he'd leave early when he knew I was on the way occasionally.

(me): "What are you doing here? I passed your car on the way into town."

(him): "No you didn't. I'm just warming it up."

(me): "I'm serious!"

(he goes and looks): "Okay...My car is gone!"

The car was recovered the next day in a local supermarket parking lot. No damage, nothing missing, keys inside.

One night, we had a new girl working her first shift during a huge storm. She heard this loud crash while announcing warnings on the air. She stopped, took a breath, and continued frightened out of her wits. Upon going to commercial, the guy on the FM side walked in and said "One of the towers just fell on your car. Geez, I'm glad it didn't hit mine" and walked out.

(It turned out to be our small aluminum utility tower, not one of our three big sticks, and it hardly did any damage to her car at all.)

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