[BC] Listeners Loading down the Transmitter

[Thomas G. Osenkowsky]

There once was this young engineer at his first solo CE
gig circa 1976. It was a standalone AM station. In the GM's
office was a long disconnected wall speaker. This engineer
rigged an audio xfmr allowing him to listen to what was being
said in the office.

One day, the engineer and a DJ listened after the GM closed
his door after being told the owner was on the phone. It was
discovered that the owner was bringing three potential buyers
for a tour the following day.

What to do? The staff decided to dress up in suits to impress the
interested parties. Of course, all had prepared explanations. The
copywriter was visiting a client, the PD had a doctor appointment,
etc. Now when it came to the engineer, his story was that he was
taking his wife of one year out to dinner. Everyone agreed that when
the GM saw the engineer in a suit, all hell would break loose. It did.

The engineer was in the basement, dressed in a suit, cutting a section
of EMT in a vise. The owner was NOT impressed. He and the GM
assumed the staff listened in on the phone call. The GM would sometimes
do this and was many times told to stop breathing into the phone.
Click. Oh yes, some "intel" was also gathered that way, too.
The station was not bought by those prospects. This is a true story.
No names or call letters are mentioned, in order to protect the
innocent. The engineer used to service the intercoms at the local A&W,
owned by his neighbor. That system also used a 45 ohm speaker/microphone
combination.

Tom Osenkowsky, CPBE

>  > You can also place an 8 ohm to 1 to 10k ohm transformer across a
>  > speaker (low-Z towards speaker) and use the speaker as a microphone.