[BC] when you had to bunk at the station

[Charles Ring]

WFMJ 1390 in Youngstown, Ohio had a beautiful transmitter building built 
circa 1950. It had full living facilities and six Truscon 
self-supporting towers. Union rules required that NBC's top of the hour 
news had to be switched by an engineer so it was fed to the transmitter 
site. In 1989 the newspaper owner sold it off, the union died, and in 
the early 90's it was all dynamited to make room for yet another 
shopping center right down the road from two huge ones. 
Connoisseur/Cumulus gobbled up the new owner of 1390 but later CC 
wrested it away from Cumulus and still has it. That is the very short 
version. WRRN/WHHH/WRRO/WHKW/WHKZ 1440 in Warren had and still has a 
comparable but not as nice transmitter site, original building still 
used but looks like a wreck. Both had BTA-5F's.

On 4/7/2010 17:02, Timothy West wrote:
> in the 80's I got to get into the original transmitter building at
> WBAL AM off of liberty rd in northwest baltimore. I vividly remember
> the Continental 50 KW blowtorch and the RCA standby. There was also a
> full ( but small) kitchen area and some beds. I think that building
> was a late 1930's job.
>
> Is there anyone here that worked in the biz back when at least one
> real live person had to be at the transmitter site full time and
> maybe have some good stories to relate? When did they get rid of the
> requirement?
>
> Tim
>
>