Broadcasting (July - Dec 1938)

it continued this service lasting well into Sunday night — broadcasting cancellations of programs and police and municipal messages, relaying advices to working groups engaged in storm wreckage clearance, noting road clearances or impasses, acting as emergency headquarters for the lost, receiving messages for local residents desirous for the safety of relatives and friends in the more devastated areas. "Ham" Operators Cliff Fraser, Gil Williams and Garo Ray sending messages outside of WICC's broadcast areas sticking to their posts for over ten and twelve hours at a time. Combined with NBC, Mutual and Colonial Network coverage of flood and storm broadcasts, WICC's total of broadcast hours in reference to the disaster during a three-day period amounted to 25 hours. Telephone messages ran into the thousands. WELL NEW HAVEN By James T. Milne THE hurricane and tidal wave hit New Haven about 3 p. m. on Wednesday, Sept. 21, and at 3:30 WELI was forced off the air due to power failure at the transmitter caused by a huge water tank falling from the room of a factory and landing on power and communication lines. As the force of the storm increased, trees and poles were bowled over and all power lines in the city rendered useless. As soon as it was learned that it would be impossible to hope for a resumption of service, Chief Engineer Gordon Keyworth and a KfrT€ 250 WATTS 1420 KC ******* Vr 1 \& crew of engineers under my direction as station manager immediately scoured the entire area in an attempt to locate a gasoline generator. I was successful in persuading a local gasoline dealer to loan a small one-cylinder affair, and Keyworth and his crew went to work ripping the transmitter apart so that it would operate at low power. All night long they toiled, and at 5 a. m. Thursday they were able to put out a signal between 60 and 70 watts. It was very little, but still we were on the air, and very well too, as we had reports of reception as far as Bridgeport, about 20 miles away. At 2 p. m. linesmen set up a temporary line and we returned to normal output. Then the real work began. Friends and relatives of those in this area wanted to learn about loved ones in other sections. Contact was made with the New Haven Amateur Radio Association, and under the direction of its president, Ben Lydick, four transmitters were put to work relaying messages to the other sections of New England, and receiving news from those sections. With a crew of workers on telephones at WELI, taking messages and relaying to the ham operators, we were able to get about 5,000 calls through, most of them being delivered within a very short space of time and the replies placed in the hands of the proper parties within an hour. Each message was also broadcast through WELI, so that sometimes these were heard before the shortwave messages were sent out. In one instance a message was broadcast requesting information regarding a missing boat and crew. Within 10 minutes the Coast Guard station notified us from New London by shortwave that the boat and crew of 11 had been rescued. This was reassuring news to their families here in New Haven as they had not been heard from in four days. Many other interesting stories could be recited, but the fact remains that radio was effective when all other means failed. Too much praise cannot be heaped upon the loyal amateurs who remained at their transmitters for many weary hours, giving unstintingly of their time and equipment. W1LGH, W1HHJ, W1GB and W1JHM all worked many hours to get the messages through. The entire staff and many of the art THEY'RE TUNING IN WATL IN ATLANTA '\^»v6:c1>»l*• A Through the Storm CAUGHT in the midst of the New England hurricane Sept. 21 while starting for New York from Cape Cod by car, Tom Symons, operator of KFPY, Spokane, and KXL, Portland, saw the holocaust in all its fury at first hand yet was able to weather it and by dint of 24 hours at the wheel drove straight through to New York. He was accompanied by Mrs. Symons and their daughter, returning from Hanover, N. H. where his son has matriculated at Dartmouth. WTAG, WORCESTER ists at WELI also worked many hours to accomplish what they had set out to do. Some of the staff who were on duty without sleep included, besides myself and Keyworth, John Reilly, Joseph Austin, Fred King and Irving Small, control operators; Charlie Wright, Bill Farley, Sydney Golluboff, Frank Adams and Martin Heyman, announcers; Dave Healy, Al Connors and Vincent Palmeiri, artists; Flo Milne and Freda Swirsky, telephone operators. WGY, SCHENECTADY By W. T. Meenam SPECIAL wires maintained for emergencies enabled WGY, Schenectady, to operate uninterruptedly Wednesday afternoon and night (Sept. 21) in spite of the severity of the storm. Four pairs of wires at one time connected WGY's studio building with the transmitter in South Schnectady. Three pairs were in constant use; the fourth is an emergency pair. A year ago an emergency circuit was established. Heavy rains later penetrated the cable and put every pair of wires in the cable out of commission. Without loss of time the program service was rerouted over the spare emergency pair. The power crew got on the job, located the leak, repaired it and in just two hours time had restored service. WGY again met emergency calls for help from various points in the area covered by the station. Threat of a breaking dam at West Sand Lake was reported by the State Department of Public Works and all maintenance men were ordered to that point in a radio appeal. Rensselaer County American Legion members were requested that residents in that village be warned to boil drinking water as the chlorinating equipment is out of service. Road conditions in New England were reported thoroughly. DYNAMITE IN CHICAGO ! Get the impartial survey that blasts all prejudices on Chicago radio! Write for it — read with an eye to fall business! The sensational truth about a market you can't touch without WGES WCBD WSBC WITH all other forms of communication inoperative or badly crippled, the immeasurable value of radio was again proved as WTAG, operating on an emergency schedule, dropped its regular programs to broadcast important bulletins and messages reassuring relatives and friends of the safety of hundreds of out-of-town persons stranded in this city overnight. The storm broadcasts continued until 1:26 a. m. Thursday, using the station's auxiliary transmitter at the studios on Franklin street after WTAG's three tall steel towers at the Holden transmitting station were hurled to the ground and wrecked despite the fact they were constructed to withstand a wind velocity of 115 miles an hour. Two of the towers were 360 feet in height and the other 260 feet. It is not believed they can be salvaged. After the Holden plant was put out of commission at 5:07 p. m. the transmission continued by the auxiliary equipment which was used regularly prior to construction of the Holden station in January 1937. Far Into the Night WTAG was the only Worcester broadcasting station on the air after WORC's facilities were put out of commission at 4:25 p. m. when the gale blew down two of the station's three antenna towers in Auburn. Engineers and electricians of WORC worked all night repairing the damage and bolstering the third mast and only lack of electric power was holding up resumption of broadcasting this morning (Sept. 24). A special staff of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette was on duty during the night receiving the hundreds of calls which poured into WTAG requesting the transmission of emergency bulletins and messages. Scores of anxious parents and others in outlying towns were assured of the safety in Worcester of members of their families who work in this city but who were unable to return home last night. Hotels and private homes throughout the city were crowded with the detained suburbanites. Some slept on the floor of the Post Office and other public buildings. Dozens of other calls to WTAG were from mayors of nearby cities, town selectmen, officers of the National Guard, Naval Reserve, all veterans' organizations and school superintendents requesting the broadcast of important bulletins. From out of the city came scores of calls as other nearby towns and cities, including Leicester, Marlboro, Leominster, and Fitchburg, hit as badly or worse than Worcester by the hurricane, soiight the cooperation of their citizens through the medium of radio. Breaks Repaired In reviewing the two hectic days, Howard J. Perry, WTAG commercial director, gave credit to the staff for keeping the station on the air, and broadcasting a steady stream of personal appeals, as well as messages mobilizing police, firemen, National Guardsmen, Legionnaires and others in Worcester and surrounding communities. After the main plant went off the air, the auxiliary equipment, used before construction of the new Studios in — • <// * • Albert Lea and Austin MINNESOTA Page 68 • October 1, 1938 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising