Radio December 9, 2016
Recently
I wrote of the military use of AM radio signals being used to help our
planes make the trip to Hawaii during World War II, using the signals of
KFI (640 AM) and a station in San Francisco to work as a crude
triangulation system.
This
brought in some fascinating emails, the first of which speaks of the
early days of AM radio when decisions were being made for stations
broadcasting on a clear channel, meaning they were the only station on a
frequency, the idea being that smaller communities would be able to
receive radio from the power but possibly distant clears.
From
reader Don Muller: “While thumbing through old engineering files, I ran
across correspondence between the FCC and engineers at KOY Phoenix. It
was somewhere between 1920 or maybe 1922 regarding offering KOY the
ability to be a 50KW clear channel 1-A licensee rather than KFI. The
idea was instead of having emergency broadcasts done from a facility on
the west coast susceptible to invasion, it might have a better chance of
surviving an attack a few hundred miles inland.
“A
completion time frame was given, but the folks at KOY weren't able to
either come up with the funds to run a 50KW transmitter or perhaps felt
the small, sparsely populated, desert city of Phoenix could not support
or need it. Letters showing the cost of buying the transmitter and
estimates of monthly electric bills was evidently what led to the FCC
giving the venerable license to KFI/Los Angeles in 1922.”
As
to the triangulation system, I assumed incorrectly that it was used
only for military airplanes. Correcting me is Don C. Moss: “The early
Automatic Direction Finding technology you wrote of used every major
clear channel station located in major cities around the nation. This
method of radio navigation was also used by commercial carriers as well
as the military.
“ADF
continued to be a back up navigation method after development of the
next long distance navigation system, VHF Omnidirectional Range, was
developed. Now, of course, GPS navigation has made both systems
obsolete.
“The
times of station operation were noted on the aviation navigation
charts; The military requirement for 24/7 transmission was unique to the
war years.”
Was
radio responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor? Some have felt that
the strong signals served as homing beacons to keep enemy bombers on
course. But perhaps it wasn’t homing, but the instead a tragic mixup.
Reader Gene Smith submitted this:
“There
were limited operating hours for the Hawaiian Islands Air Warning
radars due to high failures. On Dec 7 at 7 a.m. the Air Warning Service
-- stations and information center -- was shut down. However, Private
George Elliott wanted extra practice on radar, so the radar system
itself was left on for Pvt. Joseph Lockard to provide training. Elliott
detected a large target and Lockard confirmed that it must have been a
large flight approaching. He attempted to contact the Info Center but it
had shut down. So he called on the administration line to the
switchboard operator, who found Lt. Kermit A. Tyler still hanging around
the center to take the call. He advised ‘no problem’ and assumed it was
a flight of B-17s from the mainland. Less than an hour later, the
attack on Pearl Harbor commenced.
“During
the Congressional Investigation into Pearl Harbor, Tylor explained
himself. ‘You see I have a friend who is a bomber pilot and he told me
that any time they play this Hawaiian music all night long, it is a good
indication that our B-17s were coming over from the mainland,
because they used it for homing. When I had reported for duty (at the
Information Center) at 4 o'clock in the morning, I listened to this
Hawaiian music all the way into town, so I figured then that we had a
flight of B-17s coming in; that came to mind as soon as I got the
call.’"
Reunion
Hundreds
of years of on and off-air experience were on hand at the semi-annual
informal Los Angeles radio reunion held last Saturday at Fuddruckers in
Burbank. Bruce Chandler, Sam Riddle, Shadoe Stevens (who my German
Shepherd “Shadow” is partly named after), and many more were there. I
had a nice long talk with Chandler and Chris Roberts about their early
days in Riverside and San Bernardino.
But
the story of the day came from Stevens, as told to me by others. Seems
he had agreed to step down from programming at the original KRLA (now
KDIS, 1110 AM) and just do a regular air shift, some time in the
early-mid 1970s. He decided to go back to school and he realized that
after the pressure of programming and the long work days, he was just
happy to have the three-hour shift. He’d arrive happy, be in a good mood
during the show, and leave happy. He was happier than he’d been in
years.
Then
one day the programmer who replaced him called him into the office to
let him go. The reason? He was too happy, and the other DJs were
bothered by his attitude.
No you can’t make this stuff up. And yes, radio had its bad management even in the top-40 glory days!
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