[BC] Any manned transmitter sites left?

[Andrew Skotdal]

There is at least one engineer I know of, Jim Tharp, who mans the
KIRO/KTTH sites on Vashon Island and lives on the island.  KOMO has a
house at the TX site on Vashon, and there was an engineer living in the
house, and probably still does.

-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Scott Fybush
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 9:10 PM
To: Broadcasters' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [BC] Any manned transmitter sites left?

> I'm curious if there are any stations today that still have manned
> transmitter sites or is this truly a relic of a bygone era?
>
>  - Nat Kayle

In my travels, I've seen barely any. There are a handful of big stations
I've visited where an engineer makes his office at the tx site and
spends
significant amounts of time there (Watt Hairston at WSM comes to mind,
also Roberto Vissani at CHWO/CJBC in Toronto). Even at those stations,
though, the engineer just happens to be working at the site, as opposed
to
actually "manning" the transmitter.

An interesting related question is whether there are any tx sites left
that still double as engineers' living quarters. I know of at least one
FM
in LA with an apartment on site that's occupied by the engineer, but
that's becoming a rarity as well.

Our TV brethren (and, in deference to Rachel E., "sistren" as well)
still
man their sites in very large markets. Several of the LA TVs on Mount
Wilson are still staffed 24/7 (CBS, Fox), and others (KABC, KNBC, KTLA)
are staffed on a regular basis during prime-time at least. So are at
least
some of the Empire TVs in New York. At last check, WBZ in Boston has two
full-time engineers who split their time between the TV and AM sites.
It's
usually one day a week at the AM and four at the TV...

s
_______________________________________________

The BROADCAST [BC] list is sponsored by SystemsStore On-Line Sales
Cable-Connectors-Blocks-Racks-Wire Management-Test Gear-Tools and More! 
www.SystemsStore.com       Tel: 407-656-3719    Sales at SystemsStore.com