June 28, 2012 – Engineering Radio

I found this box of bumper stickers at a transmitter site the other day. And you might say “A box of bumper stickers, wow.” which would be nearly identical to the reaction I had. But then I started looking through them and realized that many were from the eighties and early nineties.

It is sort of like a way-back radio promotions time machine. On the back of most of these bumper stickers, there is some type of offer; 10% off, $2.00 off, etc from different local businesses. You remember those things; tire repair shops, miniature golf, non-chain restaurants, and fast food places, retail stores that aren’t Walmart, and so on. There were several that had bumper sticker spotting contests, including one, where if the bumper sticker was spotted covering another radio station’s bumper sticker, they would stop you on the spot and give you $1,500.00. Now that is exciting!

I picked a few of the more interesting examples:

Being an engineer and coming upon new, unknown data, I decided to quantify it. Therefore I made a spreadsheet of all the different radio stations and any other information I could find on the back of the bumper sticker:

Call Sign or Identifier	Frequency	Location	Date
92 MOO	92 FM	??	??
94.9 ZHT	94.9 Mhz	Colorado	1998
B.Rock	97.7 MHz	?	?
B96	96 FM	Chicago, IL	1990
CFX-95	95 FM	Central Michigan	??
FM 96	96 FM	Montreal, QC	1985
Groove 103.1	103.1 MHz	??	??
KAKS KISS 108	108 FM	??	??
KATD	95.3 FM	??	??
KAT-FM	92.9 MHz	??	??
KATT	100.5 MHz	Oklahoma City, OK	1988
KBBY	95 FM	??	??
KBOO	90.7 MHz	Portland, OR	1986
KBPI	105.9 MHz	Colorado	??
KCFO	102 FM	??	1984
KCFX	101 FM	Overland Park, KS	??
KDKA	1020 KHz	Pittsburgh, PA	1986
KEDG	103.5 MHz	Kern County?	1993
KENO AM Stereo	1460 KHz	Las Vegas, NV	1988
KEGL	97.1 MHz	??	??
KFMG	107.9 MHz	San Diego	1983
KGBX	1260 AM	??	??
KHIP	93.5 MHz	San Francisco, CA	Early 80’s
KHTR	103 FM	St. Louis, MO	1983
KIIS	102.7 MHz	Los Angeles, CA	1988
KISS 108 FM	108 FM	Medford, MA	1992
KLBS	1330 KHz	??	??
KLZX	93 FM	??	1989
KMEL	106.1 MHz	CA?	??
KMEL	106 FM	CA?	1990
KMET	94.7 MHz	??	??
KMGX	104 FM	??	??
KMJI	100 FM	Englewood, CO	1986
KNCI	98.5 MHz	??	??
KOMP	92.3 MHz	Las Vegas, NV	1986
KOUL	103.7 Mhz	??	??
KPXI	100.7 MHz	??	??
KRKO	1380 KHz	??	1990
K-Rock	1310 AM Stereo	Albuquerque, NM	1989
KRQR	97.3 MHz	San Francisco, CA	??
KSHE	95 FM	St. Louis, MO	??
KSHE	95 ?	St. Louis, MO	1995
KTAR	620 KHz	Phoenix, AZ	??
KTYD	99.9 MHz	??	1984
KUFO	98 FM	??	??
KVIL	103.7 MHz	??	??
KXOJ	100.9 MHz	??	2000
KXXX	105.3 MHz	Dane County?	1990
KYMS	106.3 FM	CA ??	1986
KYNK	1430 AM	??	??
KYST Radio Alegria	920 KHz	??	??
KZOK	102.5 FM	??	??
KZST	100 FM	Santa Rosa, CA	??
KZZP	104.7 MHz	??	1989
Pirate Radio	100.3 MHz	??	??
Pirate Radio 100.3	100.3 MHz	??	??
Power 104	104 FM	Huntsville, AL	1986
Power 106 FM	106 FM	Los Angeles, CA	??
Q-105 & 1380 AM	105 FM/1380 AM	Tampa, FL	??
Q-106.5	106.5 Mhz	St. Louis, MO	1989
Q-94	94 FM	Cookeville, TN	1983
Rock 103	103 FM	Memphis, TN	1984
Rock 105	105.9MHz	Nashville, TN	??
Rock 107	107 FM	PA	1983
Top 106 FM	106 FM	??	??
TV-69	Channel 69	Gainesville, FL	1986
WAAF	107 FM	??	??
WAIL	99.5 FM	Key West, FL	1987
WALK	97.5 Mhz	Long Island, NY	1992
WAPE	95 FM	Orlando	??
WAZY 96 ½	96.5 MHz	??	1990
WBAP	820 Khz	Dallas, TX	1986
WBFG	97.7 MHz	Effingham, IL	1987
WBT	1110 KHz	Charlotte, NC	??
WCBW	105 FM	St Louis, MO	??
WCCC	106.9 Mhz	Hartford, CT	??
WCKX	106.3 MHz	??	??
WCNX	1150 KHz	Middletown, CT	1984
WCUZ	101.3 FM/1230 AM	Greenville, SC	1987
WDVE	102.5 MHz	Pittsburgh, PA	??
WGN	720 KHz	Chicago, IL	1986
WHHU Y-102	102 FM	??	1988
WHLY	106 FM	Orlando, FL	1986
WHTZ Z-100	100 FM	New York, NY	Early 90’s
WIYY	98 FM	??	??
WIZN	106.7 Mhz	Burlington, VT	1990
WJMX	106 FM	??	??
WJZM	1400 AM	??	??
WKLH	96 FM	??	??
WKVT	92.7 Mhz	Vermont	1992
WLIZ	98.7 Mhz	Detroit, MI	1985
WLLZ	98.7 FM	??	??
WMAS	95 FM	Springfield, MA	1990
WMAS	1450 AM	Springfield, MA	1990
WMJQ	102 FM	Gainesville, FL	1993
WMLI	96.3 Mhz	Dane County ?	1989
WMMQ	92.7 MHz	Lansing, MI	1985
WMMS	100.7 MHz	??	??
WNEW	102.7 FM	New York, NY	1989
WNFI I-100	100 FM	Ormond Beach, FL	1984
WOVR	103 FM		??
WPSC	88.7 (TV-6)	Wayne, NJ	??
WQUT	101 FM	??	1986
WQXM	98 FM	Tampa, FL	1983
WRKT	104 FM/1300 AM	Broward co, FL	1984
WRO	95 FM	??	??
WRQK	107 FM		1986
WRRO	1440 KHz	??	??
WRSI	95.3 FM	Greenfield, MA	1985
WRX	103.7 Mhz	??	??
WSHO SHO Radio	98.3/103.5 FM	Schenectady, NY	1989
XX FM 95	95 MHz	Honolulu, HI	1986
Y-95	95 FM	St. Louis, MO	1988
Z-100	100 FM	New York, NY	??
Zeta 94.9	94.9 FM	??	1987

Right.

Well, if anyone is interested in any of these, contact me off line. There were some other, generic stickers like “Good times, Great Oldies” that did not have any identifying information.

This picture reminded me of something that happened early on in my radio career:

WDCD three tower array, Albany, NY — WDCD three-tower array, Albany, NY

This is another view, looking across from the roof of the transmitter building before the former studio building was removed:

The story dates back to 1990 or so. In the second picture, one can see two Scala PR-950U Paraflector antennas. These are the STL and TSL antennas for WFLY. They are on wooden utility poles because of the WPTR 1540 KHz antenna system is behind the poles, out of the picture to the left. As you can see in the second picture, these poles were immediately behind the studio building, known as the “Gold Studio, ” the name itself being pure propaganda.

Also, in the second picture you can see behind the poles, a pair of poplar trees. The reason for the second, taller pole was because across the street, out of the picture to the right, there was a stand of poplar trees which were growing up into the path of the WFLY STL system.

When this was noticed, then General Manager, John Kelly, tactfully approached the property owner and asked if the radio station could cut the “popular” trees down. Of course, the property owner wanted much money to do this. There were many telephone calls and discussions on how to kill the “popular” trees and other, not-so-ethical solutions to this growing problem. Finally, it was decided that it would be simple and less expensive to install the taller utility pole.

Thus, Northeast Towers found the utility pole and came to install it. In this area of Albany, the soil is a sandy loam, which required many hands digging and back bracing in the hole before they placed the pole in the ground. As it is a seventy foot pole, a good 12 feet was placed in the ground and the hole was backfilled with concrete. That is why the pole still stands today.

Naturally, all of this work is taking place on the hottest day of the year. Also, it stands to reason, the guy in the hole doing the manual labor is the oldest, most out-of-shape person on the crew. After lots of grunting and swearing, our man comes out of the hole looking whiter than the driven snow and sweating profusely. He kind of staggered into the back door of the building and collapsed on the floor just inside the back door. At this point, he was in full cardiac arrest. The promotions director, whose office was closest to the door, called the ambulance.

Fortunately, the board operator on WPTR was an EMT with the local fire department. After his pager went off, he ran out to his car, got his EMT bag and arrived on scene within seconds. He was able to start CPR quickly. In the mean time, a crowd had gathered out in the hallway. John (the General Manager), hearing the commotion, storms out of his office and down the hallway. He gets to the edge of the crowd and yells:

“WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING HERE? DON’T YOU HAVE JOBS TO DO? AND WHAT IS THAT GUY DOING LAYING ON THE FLOOR?”

The good news is, the guy survived, thanks in no small part to the quick action of the board operator.

Anyway, tales of radio when it was fun.

Day: June 28, 2012

Bumper Stickers

Of popular trees and telephone poles