[BC] Why FM took off in the 70 s

[Robert Orban]

At 12:42 PM 10/31/2005, you wrote:
>From: SteveOrdinetz <hykker at grolen.com>
>Subject: Re: [BC] Why FM took off in the 70 s
>To: broadcast at radiolists.net
>Message-ID: <6.0.3.0.0.20051031060717.01c2b418 at pop3.grolen.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
>
> >
> >From: Robert Meuser <Robertm at broadcast.net>
> >Reply-To: Broadcast Radio Mailing List <broadcast at radiolists.net>
> >To: Broadcast Radio Mailing List <broadcast at radiolists.net>
> >Subject: Re: [BC] Why FM took off in the 70 s
> >Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 13:14:40 -0400
> >
> >
> >As far as I know WABC as a Top 40 station always worked with the announcer
> >and engineer in the same room facing each other. The time I first visited,
> >they were still in old radio theater studios where the old drams were
> >produced. They had two desks facing each other in a room that was nearly
> >the size of a TV studio and nearly 2 floor high. There was actually a
> >'real' control room that over looked the space and dated back to the time
> >of those dramas.
> >
> >Here are some links to some of the various configurations they had over
> >the years.
>
>
>Did I miss something, or were there NO faders on the console?  It looked
>like just switches.  Since all elements were on cart, were all levels
>pre-set?  Given the reliability (lack of) of cart machines of that era, it
>must have been a maintenance nightmare.  Were there any other stations that
>played music from carts that early?  I don't remember ever seeing it until
>the early 70s.

I remember hearing the occasion on-air cart jam on WABC in the mid '60s, 
either slow-downs or out-and-out stoppages. The jocks were usually right on 
top it in terms of turning it into entertainment. Meanwhile, the station 
always recovered from it very quickly, usually by going to a jingle and 
then back to normal program material. I don't remember if they returned to 
the same song, but I believe that they had duplicate carts available for 
all program material.

Bob Orban