VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

todd ellis · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:51 pm Post subject: the passing of a friend

i started my radio career in 1983 at WINI, AM 1420. i learned a lot from the (literally) mom & pop ownership. how to write news copy, find & assess the air-worthiness of a potential story, rip & read from an AP wire you could hear running while on the air ... what happens to you when you ad-lib in a news story about a man dying in a car crash (long story for another time) and a thousand other things including a love of black coffee and minor transmitter repair.

i survived a tornado in this building - one that threw the little trailer into the east wall, climbed the tower to replace a bulb, and entertained more than one high school girl in the control room.

we had a rotary-pot gates board and you needed the wingspan of a condor to reach from the first pot to the last. you had to put a penny on the tone-arm of turntable "a" in just the right place to make certain records play. we also had a mouse who would come a few inches down a mass of wires from the ceiling at the top of the hour to listen to the news, then scurry back up into the attic. i met some great people in this little block building, and lost a good friend there too.

WINI was sold last week with the previous owners retiring. i am happy for them - but sad to see them go. they were a true bastion of home-town radio. the station will remain on the air, but the building will likely be gone soon.

i just kind of felt like writing about it - thanks for listening.

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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
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bobbinbeamo · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:01 pm Post subject:

Todd,
It looks like my first radio station I worked at, which left the airwaves many moons ago, WZMF-FM, Menomonee Falls Wisconsin. The station was inside a converted home on about 2 acres of land, and the tower was right there, too. Many memories, many friends from that experience of early 1970 progressive rock radio live on! It was free form at its finest.
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bobsouer · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:08 pm Post subject:

Todd,

And a lot like my first radio station (1979) WKKD, Aurora, Illinois.
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Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
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donkin · Guest

Todd,

Thanks for posting. I thought I was reading about my first station, WCVL - 1550 Crawfordsville, IN. Brought back many good memories.

- Don

Frank F · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:26 pm Post subject:

And mine too. My first stations was out in the middle of a horse pasture with the antenna right behind and next to the freeway.

When working the last shift and after the station went off the air during the early days, we used to climb the tower and throw promo records out to see how far they would go.

Boy that brings back memories. The changing of the guard is becoming more and more frequent these days in the business of radio and television. I too am sorry to see another small market station being sold off, although it may be a good thing for the former ownership.

Toodles

F2
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paddyo · CM Joined: 12 Jul 2006 Posts: 975 Location: New York City

T&P, T. T&P

Paddyo
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bobsouer · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:30 pm Post subject:

Patrick,

You are one thoughtful and prayerful guy. Both qualities that I'm sure Pam likes in a man. Ninja

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Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

Gregory Best · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:35 pm Post subject: I can relate too.

I don't have a picture of the first station building I worked in while in high school (1968) and on and off for a number of years later. WOLI-FM - yes mono FM -- in a small town (Ottawa, Illinois) by the Illinois river overlooking the sewage treatment plant. The building is still there (at least it was several years ago) and is now part of the County Library comlex. The station moved several times and now has different call letters and is another C-Channel clone. I don't have any pix from that station.

I will find some from WEEO - 1130 AM Wayesboro, PA (circa 1975) that doesn't exist anymore either. It was a small brick building with an array of towers out back on the tarmac of a former airstrip. A lot of memories from both places. Big things happen in small market radio, or should I say they did. We all did it with only analog and no computers.

Another fun station I worked at as Greg Allen that was never the same was WKBO 1230 AM. WKBO now has a tribute site from Jeff Roteman who does the WLS and some other great radio tribute sites -
http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff//WKBOstart.html
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Gregory Best

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Doug de Nance · Joined: 11 Apr 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Calgary, Canada

Todd, you’re photo and the posts here had me waxing nostalgic…. drifting back to 1979 at CKYL in Peace River, Alberta, Canada. So far north that when I was working midnight to 6:00 am in the winter, I never saw the sun until spring. When carts were the latest thing and a magnet could wreck havoc with the entire commercial run. When my reverb for production was the garbage can. When a razor blade and a splicing block were the tools of a skilled producer. Thanks for the memories.

Lizden · Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:47 am Post subject:

Looks like my first station as well!
Actually....my only station! Rolls Eyes

With the tower in the back & all!...our was red brick though.
WNNJ-AM/FM in Newton NJ

I was the Copywriter/Production Director there for 5 years with carts & R2Rs and splicing tape oh my!....not to mention the high school girls that would come in & ask ...." uh..... is Ron/Johnny-Ray/Larry/Joe in?" ...oh....and that mouse? It died in the wall behind my desk! Sick

Is now also a CC station and the building no longer serves as the staion...don't even know if it's still there!....maybe a road trip is in order! Rolls Eyes

(Oh...Hi Doug! cool

)
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Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
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Bruce · Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:03 am Post subject:

My first station was KINO in Winslow, Arizona, in the summer of 1970 and I'll have to dig up a now hilarious picture of me in front of the joint. We were in a couple of converted rooms in the big motel in town and our tower was in the field behind the place. Being on the edge of the country's largest Indian reservation, we had Navajo hour from 5am to 6am, voiced by our station engineer, featuring tunes on 78rpm records from other Indian tribes because there was no recorded Navajo music available(?), and very old country music also on 78's. Thank goodness we were speaking English the rest of the day.

We'll have to have a big story swapping session someday, with some of Philip's mouthwash on hand.

B
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I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

roger · Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:59 am Post subject:

My Favorite
Station
When I was with AFRTS in Thailand. The facility was only a couple of years old because it had been hit and completely destroyed by an F-4 Phantom fighter from which the pilot had a ejected. A dozen broadcasters lost their lives. The building ("hooch") housed the radio studios, offices and library and the semi-trailer housed the TV control. I learned so much here and miss it terribly.

Me Inside
A much younger me.

Great trip down memory lane from you all.

Ya'll made me tear up a little.
-roger
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No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. AESOP (The Lion and the Mouse)

Lee Gordon · Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:12 am Post subject:

That picture looks more like the second station I worked for, cross-town rival of the first, which had a slightly nicer building only because it was built for them by the phone company to replace the one the telco installer accidentally burned down when he nicked a live electrical wire inside a wall.

As I mentioned on Facebook, the sale of the station isn't necessarily a sad occasion unless it's being sold to CBS or Cheap Channel.
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KaseyKruz · Club 300 Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Posts: 336 Location: Michigan

You had it good! My first was in the transmitter building...one room that housed everything- prod room, sales office, broadcast "area"- NO WALLS...but I LOVED it! Its funny though, we had a little tow behind trailer sitting in the yard too.
WYGR In Grand Rapids Michigan playing Big Band and MOYL.

They have a nice office now and are regional Mexicana and the Polka Pops on the weekend.
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Nelson Jewell · Guest

Thanks, Todd for sharing. I thought I was the only sentimental one in the bunch. My first station was AM1370 WDEA in Ellsworth, Maine. It was like stepping back in time every time I walked into that studio to do my airshift.
Marconi could have done an airshift with little problem. I spun the wax playing big band and jazz standards. I eventually had my own Saturday show called: "Saturday Night on Broadway with Nelson Jewell"...you got it, I played broadway musicals on vinyl. The station was located in an old sea captain's house--historic and haunted. Some of those late nights waiting for the Jim Bohannon Show feed got a little creepy. The station has since moved to the other end of the building where I work in Brewer, Maine--it's like having an old friend in the building. Coincidentally, we both recently turned 50.