[BC] How we got our first break in radio....

[Rick Heath]

My start in radio is credited to volume "R" of the World Book Encyclopedia.
It is proudly displayed in my home office to this day. There was a graphic
showing how to make a crystal radio. I was in second grade and asked my dad
if it was really possible to make a radio that easily. He said sure, he had
done it as a kid himself. We salvaged the coil wire from the yoke of our
1949 RCA television that had given up the ghost. I'm not sure where the
diode came from, but the Trimm Dependable headphones had been used with his
Hallicrafters receiver. There very distinctly was WGIL. It was magic and I
was hooked. Ironically, shortly afterward I started playing with an early
1950's RCA AM/FM and listened to the Knox College radio station that Kevin
Trueblood and Dale Adkins referred to earlier. It was about the time it
first was on the air. During a hiatus in my broadcast career, I taught a
high school vocational electronics class and that young Trueblood kid was
one of my best students. I am back enjoying working at WGIL where I began my
broadcast career in 1972.

Rick Heath
Engineering / I.T.
FM 95 - WAAG
WGIL - AM 1400
105.3 KFM
92.7 FM The Laser
Galesburg, IL
rickh at galesburgradio.com <mailto:rickh at galesburgradio.com>
309-342-5131 voice
309-342-0840 fax
KA9VHE