Building the FM band

Update and bump: I hate to rehash old stuff, but I added quite a bit of information to this post, including .pdfs of all the Barbeau letters, blue prints, etc. I’ve been doing quite a bit of work at this site lately, so it is in the front of my mind. I have also been reading about the Rural Radio Network, which covered western and central New York.

WFLY transmitter site, August 1949
WFLY transmitter site, August 1949

Several years ago, I rescued an old filing cabinet that was being trashed. This particular file cabinet was moved to a transmitter site during the great radio consolidation of the late 90s and early 00s. In it, I discovered a treasure trove of early documents about two radio stations from the Albany NY area. I thought it would be interesting to document the building of one of the early FM stations in Albany, WFLY.

Albany is the capital of New York.  There were several early (prior to 1940) AM radio stations in the Albany area:

  1. WGY previously owned by General Electric in Schenectady, signed on in 1922
  2. WHAZ, previously owned by RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), signed on in 1922
  3. WOKO (now WDDY), signed on in 1930
  4. WABY, (now WAMC-AM), signed on in 1934

General Electric, who worked closely with RCA in radio development and experimentation, was working on TV in 1928 and FM radio in 1938/39.  There were also several early (prior to 1950) FM stations in the area:

  1. GE owned W2XOY on 48.5 MHz (circa 1939), later W85A, WGFM, and WRVE 99.5 MHz.
  2. Independently owned W47A on 44.7 MHz (circa 1940), later WBCA 101.1 MHz, now gone.
  3. WTRY owned  WTRI-FM on 102.7 MHz (circa 1947), off air by 1954.  102.7 frequency later used by WEQX in Manchester, VT
  4. Troy Record owned WFLY on 92.3 MHz (circa 1948).

These stations operated from transmitter sites in the Helderberg escarpment on land that was formerly owned by the Albany Bible Institute.  It is interesting to note that two of the four FM stations did not make it past 1955. In 1967, WTRY did make a second attempt at FM, launching WDKC on 106.5 MHz, which is today known as WPYX.

It would appear the Troy Record initially applied for an FM broadcasting license in late 1946.   The paper trail that I found started in early 1947 when the station hired consulting engineer Ernest Barbeau of Schenectady to oversee the construction process for the studios and transmitter site.  Ernest Barbeau, in an introductory letter to Frank York, publisher of the Troy Record, notes himself as a former GE engineer and assistant to W.R.G. Baker, General Electric’s television pioneer.  At the time, it was already understood that height means almost everything in FM broadcasting.  There are several letters dealing with land acquisition and transmitter building construction.

Below is a chart of all the various Barbeau letters written in 1947.  I have scanned and uploaded .pdf files of each letter, sorted by date (the entire archive is available here (6.5 Mb .zip)):

Date From To Subject
Jan 3, 1946 (sic) Barbeau York FM CP granted
Feb 5, 1947 Barbeau York Studio location
Feb 8, 1947 Barbeau York Coverage area, transmitter power, tower type
Feb 21, 1947 Barbeau York Scheduling
Mar 7, 1947 Barbeau York Transmitter/tower type, with attachments
Mar 9, 1947 Barbeau York Electric/phone service
Mar 15, 1947 Barbeau York DC consulting engineer John Barrons
Mar 23, 1947 Barbeau York Scheduling
Mar 23, 1947 Barbeau Barrons Transmitter site location
Mar 29, 1947 Barbeau Williams Transmitter site location
Mar 29, 1947 Barbeau York Transmitter site location, studio location
Apr 4, 1947 Barbeau York Helderberg land owners
Apr 4, 1947 Barbeau Rogers Camp Pinnacle
Apr 9, 1947 Barbeau York Transmission line
Apr 9, 1947 Barbeau Van Antwerp Camp Pinnacle
Apr 9, 1947 Barbeau Sherwood Transcription service
Apr 21, 1947 Barbeau York Helderberg land owners
Apr 21, 1947 Barbeau Rogers Camp Pinnacle
Apr 21, 1947 Barbeau Rousseau Helderberg land owner
Apr 21, 1947 Barbeau La Grange Helderberg land owner
Apr 21, 1947 Barbeau York WOKO
Apr 21, 1947 Barbeau Barron Transmitter site
Apr 23, 1947 Barbeau York Studio location
Apr 23, 1947 Barbeau Rousseau Studio location
May 1, 1947 Barbeau York Rogers land
May 21, 1947 Barbeau York Rousseau land
May 29, 1947 Barbeau York Camp Pinnacle
May 29, 1947 Barbeau Watson Studio Floor plans
Jun 2, 1947 Barbeau York Rogers land
Jun 2, 1947 Barbeau Rogers Camp Pinnacle
Jun 10, 1947 Barbeau Velie (York) Camp Pinnacle
Jun 10, 1947 Barbeau Reed Camp Pinnacle
Jun 21, 1947 Barbeau Velie (York) Camp Pinnacle
Jun 23, 1947 Barbeau York Helderberg Land
Jun 27, 1947 Barbeau York Helderberg Land
Jul 3, 1947 Barbeau York Camp Pinnacle
Jul 5, 1947 Barbeau York Helderberg land
Jul 15, 1947 Barbeau York Schedule
Jul 23, 1947 Barbeau York Camp Pinnacle
Aug 11, 1947 Barbeau York Telephone facilities
Aug 14, 1947 Barbeau York Telephone facilities, STL, land surveyor
Aug 16, 1947 Barbeau York Land Survey, building location, costs
Aug 20, 1947 Barbeau York Land transfer
Aug 20, 1947 Barbeau Barron Transmitter building locations, FCC
Aug 25, 1947 Barbeau Rousseau Studio location
Aug 25, 1947 Barbeau Winslow Watson
Aug 29, 1947 Barbeau York Telephone service, STL
Sep 8, 1947 Barbeau York Pep talk
Sep 15, 1947 Barbeau York Land transfer, survey, Watson, studio location
Sep 20, 1947 Barbeau Barron Antenna type, mounting
Sep 23, 1947 Barbeau York Pep talk
Oct 4, 1947 Barbeau Linge Antenna mast
Oct 6, 1947 Barbeau York FCC STL
Oct 6, 1947 Barbeau York Call letter choice
Oct 7, 1947 Barbeau York Well drilling, politics
Oct 10, 1947 Barbeau Barron WBCA interference
Oct 14, 1947 Barbeau IDECO Tower
Oct 14, 1947 Barbeau Lehigh steel Tower
Oct 14, 1947 Barbeau Truscon Steel Tower
Oct 14, 1947 Barbeau American Bridge Tower
Oct 15, 1947 Barbeau York Scheduling
Oct 15, 1947 Barbeau York Building location, tower type, height
Oct 18, 1947 Barbeau York Antenna mounting
Oct 20, 1947 Barbeau York Access Road Location
Oct 27, 1947 Barbeau York Antenna location, scheduling
Oct 27, 1947 Barbeau York Land title, survey, well drilling, antenna height, FCC
Oct 28, 1947 Barbeau Torlish Well Drilling
Oct 30, 1947 Barbeau York Well Drilling
Oct 30, 1947 Barbeau Barron Antenna mounting
Nov 4, 1947 Barbeau York Scheduling
Nov 5, 1947 Barbeau Schenectady Steel Support mast
Nov 5, 1947 Barbeau York WTRY construction progress (WTRI-FM)
Nov 5, 1947 Barbeau Barron Antenna mounting, STL
Nov 6, 1947 Barbeau York Land survey
Nov 7, 1947 Barbeau Torlish Well drilling
Nov 17, 1947 Barbeau York Progress report
Nov 17, 1947 Barbeau Barron Antenna mounting
Nov 17, 1947 Barbeau American Bridge Tower
Nov 26, 1947 Barbeau Barron Transmission line
Nov 29, 1947 Barbeau York Transmitter building design
Dec 2, 1947 Barbeau York Access road
Dec 3, 1947 Barbeau York Contractors
Dec 8, 1947 Barbeau York Contractors
Dec 9, 1947 Barbeau York Contractors, tower erection
Dec 9, 1947 Barbeau Zane Construction of Blaw Knox tower
Dec 9, 1947 Barbeau York Tower erection, observations of WTRI tower
Dec 11, 1947 Barbeau York Land clearing, building location
Dec 12, 1947 Barbeau York Building location, driveway
Dec 14, 1947 Barbeau York Studio location
Dec 29, 1947 Barbeau York Construction start

This is a treasure trove of information on how this, and perhaps other early FM and TV stations went about finding land and building remote transmitter sites.  Remember that before this, AM transmitters could be placed in any convenient location with enough space for the tower and ground system.  The line-of-sight nature of VHF required high locations, which in the Northeastern US,  means prominent hills or mountains.  Sadly, this paper trail goes away in 1948.

Here are some of the highlights found in the letters above:

  • Washington DC consulting engineer for the project is John Barrons, who at one point suggested a different transmitter location closer to the city of Troy.  Barbeau insists that the Helderberg location is best because the GE engineers chose it for their FM and TV experiments.
  • Negotiations with several land owners along the edge of the Helderberg escarpment are finally successful, with a 10-acre parcel of land purchased from Mr. La Grange, noted as being across Camp Pinnacle Road to the south of the WBCA transmitter and adjacent to the west of the GE parcel, cost $2,000.  From this, I surmise the former W47A/WBCA site stood where the former WHMT/WVCR site stands today.
  • Land survey completed by Mr. J. Kempf of Albany.
  • The FCC application is completed with a new transmitter location, antenna height, and frequency of 92.5 MHz (this was changed to 92.3 MHz prior to sign on).
  • At one point, Barbeau tried to hire Walter Watson, an RPI architecture student, to draw up the studio floor plan, paying him $15.00.  At first, Watson agrees, then backs out of the deal.  Frank York hires an architect to draw the studio floor plan and the transmitter site-building plan.
  • Once the plot of land for the transmitter site is purchased, several different building locations and antenna configurations are discussed.  It is noted that both WBCA’s and WGFM’s original antenna was mounted on a pole at ground level.  The later station was moved to a makeshift tower.
  • WBCA management raises concerns with the FCC about potential interference from the new station’s transmitter and potential STL, noted as an S-T link.
  • In September of 1947, Frank York expresses some concern with the viability of the project, Barbeau sends several “pep talk” letters saying that FM radio is the future of broadcasting.
  • The building site is chosen, land cleared, access road installed, work done by Orsini Brothers Construction from Altamont, clearing and road work cost $2,000.
  • The call letters WFLY are chosen, they are the initials of Frank Lloyd York.
  • An 80-foot Blaw-Knox self-supporting tower is purchased and installed by Zane Construction, cost of the tower is $1,700 installation was another $200.00.
  • The well is drilled by Stewart Brothers well drilling from Guilderland, cost of $5.90 per foot drilled, total cost unknown.
  • Transmitter building work began, the building is noted as a two-story, concrete block construction, work done by Orsini Brothers.
  • A GE BY-4-C four-bay circularly horizontally polarized antenna and a 3 1/2-inch Andrew transmission line are installed on the tower.
  • Building construction progresses, and telephone and electric services are installed.  Three-phase electrical service cost $2,100 from New York Power and Light.
  • The studio site was chosen at the Troy Hotel in downtown Troy.
  • Living quarters were constructed on the second floor of the building for full-time transmitter engineers.
  • A GE BF-3A 3 KW FM transmitter was purchased and shipped.
  • Building construction completed.
  • The transmitter was installed and tested.
  • Telephone circuits between new studio installed and tested.
WFLY transmitter site building elevations
WFLY transmitter site building elevations
WFLY transmitter building floor plan
WFLY transmitter building floor plan
WFLY electrical drawing showing grounding and tower
WFLY electrical drawing showing grounding and tower

The transmitter site construction was finished in the spring of 1948.  The studios were completed in late July of 1948 and the station signed on the air on August 18, 1948.  This is the transmitter site that they ended up with. as it looks in 2015:

WFLY transmitter building, New Scotland, NY
WFLY transmitter building, New Scotland, NY

In addition to the construction, there was quite a bit of difficulty from the WBCA management, who were concerned about possible interference.  WBCA was part of the “Continental Network” and received most of its network programming via direct over-the-air relay from W2XMN/W31NY, 43.1 MHz, in Alpine, NJ.  They complained to the FCC about potential interference on both their over-air network relay (43.1 MHz) and the Studio to Transmitter Link from downtown Schenectady on 950 MHz.  In the end, the FCC was unimpressed with these arguments and granted WFLY its operating license.

The transmitter building was made twice as large as needed because the Record had plans to launch a TV station and possibly a radio facsimile service.  In addition to this, there were complete living quarters on the second floor which included a bathroom, shower, kitchen, bedroom, and large living room area.  This was in the era before remote controlling of transmitters was permitted by the FCC.  It took a hardy soul to live at the remote transmitter site full-time.  Even today, it is far outside of town and can be difficult to get to in the wintertime

These mountain-top transmitter sites did not exist prior to the advent of TV and FM.  The amount of planning and work that went into launching this station is quite impressive. For the early FM radio stations, this type of effort and expense was probably typical.