A history of WMPT Radio South Williamsport Pa, as well as radio in the Williamsport Marketplace. In addition a history of my time behind the microphone.

Friday, May 07, 2010

WMPT Equipment Part 1

WMPT AM 1966:
(Chief Engineer Alan Preuss)

Of all the engineers I worked with in 45 years Alan was probably the best! He designed and built equipment for the station and kept the place running pretty well. When I started at WMPT they had just purchased a second hand Gates Dualux. I remember when I was still at WLYC, Ron Shobert calling me and asking how certain things worked. Being a studio transmitter location had both advantages and disadvantages. It was great since you didn't need a remote control setup but bad because the RF from the station was a constant problem creating all sorts of noises. Also in the control room were two Gates 16” turn tables that eventually we put new tone arms on and new solid state pre-amps in for better quality. There were two tape recorders a Magnovox PT 6, old by any standards and was probably used when Dave got it. Eventually a consumer grade Wollensack was added to the equipment for recording and back up playback. There were two Spotmaster Cart machines, Alan eventually added the third, and the usual Gates Modulation and Frequency Monitors that caught fire on a regular basis. The control room mic was a EV TV Boom mic, great sound) Oh some place along the way a reverb was added to the control room mic channel using a Fisher “spring” reverb. The transmitter was an old workhorse Gates AM 250-D, which Alan used to laugh was 2 years older then he was. Audio processing was with a tubed Gates Stay Level and Limiter. The tower was right next to the building and 146' tall with a dual obstruction marking light on top. When WMPT went to 1,000 watts in 1968. (We became 1,001 watts, 1,000 from the transmitter and one Kelly Watts). Dave bought a used Raytheon AM 1000, it was a MONSTER. The day it was delivered we had to get a fork lift from Nippon Panel to get it off the truck and slide it in the transmitter room door.

Production was sparse to say the least, there was another Wollensack reel to reel, a Voice Of Music consumer grade turntable (also used at record hops) for mixing a small pa amplifier and a EV 635A mike. That was it! Some amazing stuff came out of that room from the hands of Dick Crownover, Mike Sullivan and others. Eventually Alan built a little six channel stereo board and the production studio was relocated to the former lounge directly in front of the control room. That board stayed in service until the flood of 1972. The former "closet" production room became an announce booth and the home of "the Aging Left-handers" (Bill Byham) typrwriter.

In 1967 it was decided that FM was the coming thing, so Dave applied for a channel allocation for SOUTH Williamsport. In those days the F.C.C. had very few frequency assignments and there were not left in the Williamsport area as both WLYC and WRAK had FM's. Dave was afraid once the allocation was granted that Woody Ott, Majority Owner of WWPA would apply as the channel assignment was fair game once the F.C.C. acted. I can remember Dave telling me that Woody had called him and said that he was not interested in the frequency as FM was not going to amount to anything. Eventually 99.3 was granted for South Williamsport and Dave, and Alan, with some help from me set about the process of putting a new radio station in operation. Dave purchased the former Lycoming TV Cable Company building along with the 90' tower on Bald Eagle Mountain. Because of the formula that the F.C.C. uses (height above average terrain vs power) the 3,000 watts became 105 watts horizontal and vertical. With so few stations on the air in those days WMPT FM had a really good signal except for the person who lived the nearest to the transmitter, Al Ferrari who owned and operated Inn 15 at the Top of Montgomery Pike on Route 15.

Equipment was an interesting mix, a C.C.A. single bay dual polarization antenna was mounted at the top of the tower, with the audio being fed from the studios by equalized leased telephone lines. Originally it had been planned to use a microwave link, but there was no line of sight so it would have involved a repeater in between, at the time that was quite an expensive deal. The transmitter was a used GE 250 watt workhorse. I can remember the day we installed the transmitter Dave telling Alan and me that he was going to install this one "expensive" tube. Well as you might guess Dave accidentally dropped it, something we never let him forget. Once the STEREO exciter and audio processor were installed that part of the transmitter, with the expensive tube, was no longer used. Dave did go top shelf on the audio processor buying a three band Orban, at that time it was the "state of the art."

Early on it was decided that daytime broadcasting would be in monaural (even though the stereo generator was still on) on the FM since it would simulcast the AM and the live on air console was monaural. Nighttime, Dave didn't want the heavier rock and roll at night on the air so Alan set about building various components of a simple automation system. The automation unit consisted of a new Skully 14" reel to reel tape transport, a new S.M.C 24 cart carousel and an new S.M.C. Stereo record/playback single deck unit. The unit had and auto fade so we could carry news and a silence sensor that would start the music reel if a cart misfired and sound a warning alarm to the AM DJ who was also in charge of making sure the automation was loaded with carts and music. The first programming package was from G.M.I. and was elevator music and also part of the music programming package was "middle of the road" music show featuring announcer Don MacMaster.

The quality of the station was excellent and was the first STEREO signal in Williamsport spurring the sale of FM radios for cars and home stereo systems. My old friend Edsel Sanders, who owned the local Lafayette Radio Associate Store, sold a lot of FM converters and car FM radios. We had Plankenhorn Stationary print up a bunch of promotional signs and went around to all the stereo dealers and tuned the station in and put a sign on top of their unit telling people that WMPT FM STEREO was on the air. For allowing us to do that we would give them promotional mentions on the air.

Once the FM was added it gave WMPT the capabilities on broadcasting two sporting events at the same time. That drove the D.J. on duty crazy trying to monitor both events for ending times. I can remember times when there were two live sports events on the air and a third one being taped.

One of the neat things about having the stereo station was that we could produce some local programming as well. Not long after WMPT FM went on the air I sold and produced a local music show sponsored by Fulton Piano & Organ Company called "Hammond, The Sound Of Today." I actually took a reel to reel recorder to the local Fulton Store in The Loyal Plaza and recorded Fulton Organist and Salesman Jim Greg playing. Occasionally he was joined by Joe Kita on guitar and it really was a good show. The disadvantage is that I had to go to the station every Saturday and run it manually as we had no way to put the automation tones on the reel to reel. At the time Booker T & The M.G.'s were on the charts with the song "Hang 'Em High," Jim and Joe surprised me during one of the recording sessions by playing it for the show.

After Alan left engineering responsibilities fell to Dave, Dick Crownover, Harry Seltzer, and once in the while, when all else failed, yours truly.

One of those Pennsylvania thunderstorms put the end to the Raytheon 1,000 watt transmitter as it burned out a lot of critical parts that, because of the age of the unit were not available. Dave surprised us all by ordering a brand new C.C.A. 100/250 watt transmitter. Around the same time he decided to make a major addition to the rear of the building,adding a new transmitter room, new bathrooms, and a second floor office.

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