Time for New Tape Decks

The entire music library for KWWR and KXEO was on 10" reel to reel tapes as we were doing upgrades to the transmission systems of both stations. But state of the art processing for both KWWR and KXEO, pointed out that we needed some new reel to reel tape decks badly.

Both Harris System 90s had 3 different brands of reel to reel tape decks in the early 80s. Once we went 24 hours a day on both  KWWR and KXEO, some of the older tape decks didn't last very long.

Fortunately both systems had at least a few ITC-750 reel to reel playback machines. They were great tape decks - all of the electronics was in one central housing on the back of the deck, the head was easily accessible under a flip up door on the front. And replacing other parts as they wore out, like brakes for the take up and supply reels was very convenient on the 750s.

Dick Wagner with Concept had heard of a station that had gone through a fire - and although the tape decks only received minor smoke damage - that station was selling 6 or 7 ITC-750s/770s for about half the cost of new ones. We were able to replace ALL of the aging reel to reel decks for both KWWR and KXEO with the ITC tape decks, making head alignment, cleaning and other repair work standardized among of the reel to reel tape machines. Parts were readily available and we brought all of our tapes decks up to new specifications in the early 80s.

That was a major improvement for both KWWR and KXEO.

But another problem created by broadcasting 24 hours a day was the reel to reel tape heads would wear out in several months, requiring replacement at a cost of a few hundred dollars each time for each deck.

Jerry thought there had to be a better way to keep them up to date than complete head replacement every few months -  and he was right. I checked into it and found Nortronics made a tape head relapping kit. So when the tape heads were worn down by the constant playing of tapes, they could be relapped 2 or 3 times instead of being replaced. The relapping kit cost a couple of hundred dollars, but being able to relap the heads meant getting up to a year or more out of each head. The Nortronics relapping kit used several different densities of abrasive paper, to take the flat and worn spot off a tape head and return the head to near new specifications. It was a manual process requiring just a bit of finesse!

The head on the left has been relapped.
The head on the right shows the flat area
produced by playing the tapes 24/7.

So how did we know when it was time to relap a tape head? Easy - the high frequency sound response of the tape deck would start to drop dramatically - so I could hear when a head needed relapping. But that wasn't a very good system either, because it allowed the music on a particular tape deck to sound muffled before relapping a head. So I instituted a regular maintenance program to inspect the tape deck heads every month, and if I saw signs of wear on the head, I knew it was time for relapping.

State of the art audio processing AND state of the art tape decks in the 80s for both KWWR and KXEO made us sound dramatically better than other stations in the area.

But the end of life for both The Harris System 90 AND the reel to reel tape decks was inevitable, as new technologies came along after the invention and widespread use of the Personal Computer.

The pay wasn't great and I knew I'd never get rich working in small market radio, but being able to embrace new technology was extremely rewarding and produced an FM radio station and an AM radio station in the small market of Mexico, Missouri, that I could be extremely proud of.

So it goes.