[BC] Clever transitions (WAS:Band Migration)

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 01/24/2006 1:21:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
RandyShaffer at ClearChannel.com writes:

> In the late 60's -70's, WIOO, a daytimer  in Carlisle, PA would run a sign 
> off that would encourage people to stay tuned
>  for more of you favorite music on WCFL, then join WIOO tomorrow morning 
for 
> more of the best hits. (or something along those
>  lines. I have it on tape somewhere) I don't remember if they timed it for 
> spot breaks or not.

That's pretty neat! I like hearing about unusual/cool stuff like that! :)

Any other interesting sign-off tales out there?

I have one that's not so cool, not so fun... but we had to do it. Back in the 
late 80's and into the early 90s, we had a pirate that would sign-on right 
after we dropped carrier. He was very sporadic. Sometimes there would be many 
weeks with no activity at all, then a brief spurt... a day, maybe two in a row, 
then nothing for a week, etc. (Very random.) The FCC was, of course, notified 
and I sent them regular updates on the guy's activities. (They did come down, 
twice, but of course, he was not on the air on those particular days.)

We first discovered him in 1988/9 when a listener called us to let us know 
that there was "some wierd guy saying weird stuff" after we signed off. As soon 
as I heard it, I had a plan... we modified our sign-off cart by adding 60 
seconds of "white noise" after the official SID & "Good Night" message. (We also 
had to lose :60 of usable air time to fit this within the legal sign-off time.)

We were the only AM station that sounded like an FM at sign-off. Someone else 
joked that we were running our old transmitter on steam, and that sound was 
when we released it for the night. <ggg>

Anyway, it was instantly effective. No more calls. To our knowledge, he lost 
all of his audience. (Except us, our tape deck, and any friends he may have 
told he was doing it.)

One morning he started his "blabcast" before sign-on... but I was ready for 
him! I punched the SID/Testing loop cart, potted it up, and went upstairs to 
the TX room and dumped 5KW onto him. After the SID, I hit the noise generator 
and let it fly for about a minute. Killed the noise, waited a few seconds for 
the SID loop, and dumped carrier. Within 20 seconds, there was his carrier. I 
waited for the first syllable, then punched it up again. 5Kw of white noise. 
This little "cat & mouse" game only repeated 4 times. He never bothered to go on 
the air in the morning again.

*Finally*, after a Court injunction against him, we got a whole bunch of old 
Ham junque from him, and he stopped altogether. (1994) There has been nothing 
but WTOP ever since.

Willie...