[BC] Formatics

[Robert Orban]

At 05:17 AM 4/1/2008, you wrote:
>------ At 02:23 AM 4/1/2008, Robert Orban wrote: -------
>
>>When I worked at WPAT (serving the New York metro area from 
>>beautiful Paterson, NJ) in the summer of '68, I found it 
>>fascinating that their music was played out from single tapes that 
>>had a half-hour worth of programming (less time for commercial 
>>breaks). They had a professional musician in-house who sequenced 
>>the reels in their production studio, matching cuts by key, mood 
>>and flow, very much like Muzak. As I recall, they had excellent 
>>ratings. (This may have been pre-Schulke; I don't recall when he 
>>first started syndicating.)
>
>It was pre "official" Schulke. Jim was the music half of QMI 
>(Quality Music, Inc.). It was a sales rep firm that provided music 
>that was better than most stations programmed and made sales easier. 
>Jim and Bob Richer (the sales guy) split the company and Jim took 
>the music part. The rest is history. As I recall, that was around 
>1968 or 69. I was programming WJIB, Boston, and KFOG, San Francisco, 
>when it happened and there was enormous pressure for us to use the 
>service. That didn't happen for several years when the record 
>library finally wore out.
>
>WPAT was unique. The AM and FM were at 93 on both dials. Any 
>receiver that matched dial positions could receive the AM or FM just 
>by switching bands. From what I understand, the station made the 
>most sophisticated use of "big iron" automation of any station.
>
>For most of its high rated period it was programmed by Ralph 
>Sanabria. I think it was owned by Cap Cities before Park bought it.

When I worked there, the main studios were at the AM TX in Paterson. 
The music was played out from Ampex 350s, which were operated by the 
talent. There was no automation at all; talent was live and all of 
the music was pre-sequenced on 10.5" reels. The FM TX, located in the 
Empire State Building, was remote controlled from Paterson.

Because the engineering was unionized (even though my job was a 
summer job between semesters, I had to join IBEW), there was an 
engineering console with only a few active faders: one to turn on the 
announce microphone and one that accepted a mix of all of the Ampex 
tape decks. All the engineer did was turn the mic on and off and make 
sure that the music was driving the audio processor at the correct 
level. (Of course, the engineer was also responsible for making sure 
that the station stayed on the air.)

The station also had offices in New York City for administration and 
sales. There was a studio there from which the morning show 
originated; it showed up on a fader of the main console in Paterson.

When I got there, the AM processing was just a GE delay-line limiter. 
While I was there, they added a tube-type Audimax ahead of the 
limiter. I will never forgot hearing the 1812 Overture played through 
the Audimax. (WPAT's music mix included light classics.) The cannon 
shots made the poor thing sound like it had just been kicked in the nuts :-)

Another unforgettable memory was having the GE limiter fail during 
morning drive. They had no backup, so I had to manually gain-ride the 
input to the AM TX, which was an old plate-modulated Federal 5 KW 
that took up most of the room and had a dedicated vault for the 
mercury vapor rectifiers and the transformers. I finally patched the 
Audimax in and set its output level so that the TX wouldn't blow up, 
which let me get my hand off the music fader long enough to replace 
the failed tube in the GE limiter. I have no idea what I would have 
done if the Audimax wasn't there because I didn't dare move my 
attention away from the gain riding; I had visions of the CE showing 
up and finding a puddle of molten iron where the Federal used to be.

That was the station that relied on a broom handle for pattern 
changes. I think I've posted this story before on the list, but 
anyway...the engineer had to balance the broom handle on the top of 
the console and aim it at the day/night phasor toggle switch, which 
was mounted in a rack close to the console. While holding the 
opposite end of the broom handle, the engineer went over to the TX, 
dropped carrier with a switch, hit the phasor toggle switch with the 
end of the broom handle, and then brought the TX back up. With a 
little skill, there was only about 3 second of dead air.

When I was there, the station was owned by Cap Cities. IIRC, the 
music director was John Krantz (sp?) and the Chief Engineer was Paul 
DiSavino, who later got out of broadcasting and opened a used pro 
audio equipment store.Staff engineer Kenny Stout succeeded Paul as 
Chief. I don't recall who the GM and PD were; I never worked with them.

Bob Orban