The Studio - Part 2 aka The Transmitter

In 1967 I constructed a make-believe studio in my bedroom.  Over the next year, or so, I actually took that to the next level with some help from Radio Shack.

I discovered Science Fair P-Box kits and started buying them on a fairly regular basis.  Building them was fun and they usually worked as advertised.  I can remember building the AM radio kit, the FM radio kit, the metronome kit and the goofy neon light kit among others.  Here's a link to some info about those old kits: Click here.

I also built the AM wireless microphone and the FM wireless microphone.  As I recall I never got the AM version to work, but the FM version worked perfectly.  Here's the manual for the FM Wireless Microphone:
28-109


If you read between the lines, you can see that this is actually a small FM transmitter.  And here's where I took my bedroom studio to the next level.  By 1968 I had a stereo record player that had an output on it, a tape recorder and a microphone.  I actually fed audio from the record player, as well as the mic amplified by the tape recorder into that little FM transmitter and started "broadcasting" from time to time.

I could receive the signal up to 5 city blocks away from my house - pretty amazing for that kit.  My record library was very limited, but an album side would play for more than 15 minutes on its own.  During that time period, there were companies that sent audio presentations on a flimsy tear-out record in the mail - so I even had commercials.  One I remember is Cherokee Village Resort in Arkansas.  These tear-out records also appeared in magazines and books.

A little radio history was made in Mexico, Missouri

I was at Forest Park Community College in St. Louis in 1975, while a bit of radio history took place in Mexico, Missouri.  The first solid state AM transmitter manufactured by the Harris Corporation was put in service at KXEO.  Hilmer Swanson headed up the design and manufacture of the Harris MW-1 in Quincy.  From a Harris Corporation newsletter:
Harris Corp March 1975 Newsletter MW-1

That MW-1 was still in use when I started at KXEO in 1978.  In 1980 the station purchased a larger FM transmitter from McMartin, and at the same time purchased a new BA-1K AM transmitter.  I was told the Harris MW-1 was "traded in" to McMartin,  as McMartin was very interested in the solid state technology.  While the BA-1K had a solid state exciter (the first modulated power stage of a transmitter), the BA-1K relied on 4 tubes to achieve its 1000 watts.

You may be wondering why the station would have gone from the newer all solid state technology of the Harris MW-1 back to tubes with the McMartin BA-1K. The KXEO tower at that time had massive amounts of static electricity jumping around the tower and guy wires with each passing thunderstorm, and that was enough of a jolt to the MW-1 to take out the final power stage on a fairly regular basis.

A Record player, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny

Here's an aside - something that means something to me but doesn't necessarily fit nice and neatly into the context of the overall story, although some people may enjoy this as being completely relevant while others may not.

In 1967 I  toured the radio station at Osage Beach.   That same year I set up my pretend studio in my bedroom so I could emulate some of the great personalities I had been listening to in St. Louis.  A key component of my studio was the record player.  I could play a hit, banter on about something funny, topical or informative while I changed records and then play another hit with no "dead air". I saved up some money and bought quite a few 45's on a regular basis that were popular hits of the time on KXOK.

But I digress, here's the aside:  the record player was a Christmas gift in 1961 when I was 5.  On Christmas morning I unwrapped the record player, squealed with joy and then asked my parents where the record player had come from.  It was a trick question.  3 days earlier I had seen the record player, not wrapped, on the top shelf in a bedroom closet and didn't realize what it was.  Now it's not like I went looking for where my parents hid Christmas gifts - we had a closet with sliding doors and I liked to pretend it was an elevator (like elevators I had seen on TV) and just happened to see the record player way up on the top shelf.

So when I asked my parents where the record player came from, their response was, "Santa Claus". But I knew better than that and told them "Santa didn't bring this record player!".  "Sure he did" they responded.  And then I said "i know Santa didn't bring it because I saw it in the closet a few days ago."  And that's how I found out about Santa Claus.  But the record player was still very special.  Much like the radio would become in just a few years for me, the record player took me to happy, exotic and far away places with songs and stories that I could only imagine.  The record player later piqued my interest in radio - and I suppose it was the first stepping stone on the way to my dream vocation.

And in my bedroom studio, that record player helped build the foundation for seeking a career in radio later on.  So finding out about Santa Claus was not a disappointment to me, even at the age of 5, although it was 6 years later until I actually set my goal to pursue a career in radio.

Oh, and how does the Easter Bunny tie in with this?  Well, with the unveiling of Santa Claus I realized other things like the Easter Bunny were smoke and mirrors for children too.  Not bad for a 5 year old.

Foreword

The following should actually have been placed before "The Beginning", but as they say, "better late than never".

Like all stories, this one has a beginning and an end, with a whole lot of activity in between.  Most stories have a relatively slow start in the beginning – establishing characters and places and how those characters interact with each other – that helps build a story line to keep the reader's attention. Some time later in the story there will be a climax, often toward the end of the story, and finally the end of the story to tie up most of the loose ends and some profound point about life as we know it..

The end is where the main characters of the story go on with their lives and business.  In fairy tales – the end is where they say “And they all lived happily ever after.”  But this story isn't a fairy tale so it won't be ending with “And they all live happily ever after”.  Don't get me wrong. some of the players in this story will be happy, some will be not so happy and some will continue to be unhappy – in spite of the good things and good people that come into their lives over the years.  Oh we'll try to not have any fatalities along the way in this story, except perhaps from natural causes or diseases, but not everyone will go happily on their way at the end.  (Here's a little secret – I am one of the lucky ones in this story, that does go happily on his way.)

Near the end of this story (and I'll try to not ruin the ending for you), I walk off my dream job of 32 years simply because I couldn't work for ______ one more day.  Sometimes you do what you have to do, even when you are truly dedicated to the radio stations you work for and the great employees that work for and with you – but sometimes there is no other way to deal with a situation,  than to say, “I've had enough and I just can't do this anymore”.  Even when doing so may be the most difficult thing you do in your entire life.

The "Studio"

It was the summer of 1967 when some of my dad's brother's and their extended families gathered at Lake of the Ozarks for a family reunion/vacation.

By November of that year, I had a assembled a makeshift radio studio in my bedroom back in St. Louis.  Granted, some of it was for appearance, but there was the real microphone for the small GE 3" reel to reel tape recorder, my childhood phonograph player and the clock/radio handed down from my brother.  For appearances only, there was an old fishing rod suspended from a desk lamp attached to the wall for a mic boom and a rod magnet taped to the end of that fishing rod for the "studio mic" look - but it all added the magic of making "radio" happen right there in my bedroom.

With the GE recorder, I actually made tapes of myself introducing records (45 rpm singles), talking in between changing records, reading some news and a weather forecast.  I tried to recreate the magic that the pros created in their real radio studios, but there in my bedroom and for my ears only.

In this photo, you can see the mic boom, fake mic, record player (with a script for a commercial propped up in the lid), the real tape recorder microphone on a cardboard box at the center (the box acted as a sound shock absorber), plus the tape recorder and the clock/radio with some 3" reels of tape stacked on top.

 

Oh, and here's me in my studio:

And, believe it or not, in the next year or two, I took this studio to the next level with the help of a kit from Radio Shack, that allowed me to build my very own FM transmitter.

(to be continued)

The Beginning

Here's an excerpt from the beginning of a story, which I have already started to write:

The important beginning of this story, takes in place in the summer of 1967 – when I toured a radio station that was owned by an older cousin and her husband, and decided, “I want to work in radio someday”. The station was KRMS at Lake of the Ozarks, owned by Jim and Ella Mae Risner.  The Risner's owned the station from 1959 until 1979.  Ella Mae was the daughter of my father's oldest brother.

I was 11 years old and had just discovered what kind of career I wanted later in life. Growing up in St. Louis – and over the years listening to some of the great on air talent there – Johnny Rabbit, Mason Lee Dixon, Davey Lee, Jim White, Jack Carney, Robert “The Country” Fox, Radio Rich (Dalton), Peter E. Perisi, Jack Buck, Harry Carey, Mort Crowley, Rex Davis, John McCormick and a cast of thousands more.

From listening to radio I learned, among other things, The Star Spangled Banner (radio stations signed on and off with The Star Spangled Banner, back when many stations signed off the air at midnight and back on the air at 5 AM), The Lord's Prayer (recited early each morning around 5 AM for many years on KMOX by John McCormick, “The Man Who Walks and Talks at Midnight”), and a radio shift sign on by Mason Lee Dixon that went something like - “Good evening ladies and gents and boys and girls …. and those of you in neither category ….”, which would be just a little politically incorrect these days, although I suppose it was Dixon's humorous approach to equal opportunity entertainment.

After touring that radio station at the age of 11, all my formal education from then on, was approached by me with the attitude - “Will this be helpful in radio or not?”

When The Dream Becomes A Nightmare

Here is my letter that appeared in the Open Forum section of the Mexico Ledger on Tuesday, 10/12/2010:

Dear Friends,

As of Tuesday, September 28th, I am no longer with KXEO and KWWR.

Suffice it to say that I came to the conclusion that I could no longer work in that environment.

I wish all the best to the stations and my former employees – they're some of the greatest people in the world to work with. I will miss being on the radio but all things happen for a reason, and I'm sure God has great things in store for Mona and me.

Thanks for listening to me for 32 years, I greatly appreciate your friendship and support.

“....Just direct your feet, to the sunny side of the street....” 

Carpe diem and make it a good one!

-Gary Leonard
Mexico, MO

(Click here to listen to my Feel Good Friday edition of "Sunny Side of the Street")
("Sunny Side of the Street" is by Willie Nelson, Stardust-1978, with movie sound clips edited in by Gary Leonard)