[Wayne Stacey VE3QO shares some of his “Sixty Years of Weird Stuff in Radio”.]
My first job as a university “summer stupid” was in the engineering department of a Winnipeg radio station. I got the job because I just happened to apply the very day that the previous incumbent left to seek fame and fortune as an all-night disc jockey in Regina.
It also helped that I was an amateur radio operator and so was the Chief Engineer. All he wanted to know before hiring me was that: (a) I was a ham and (b) I knew how to solder. The Chief was a crusty old geezer who had been doing the job since Moses was a pup. He spent most of his time out at the station’s transmitter site, supposedly babysitting the AM and FM transmitters. But what he was actually doing there was constructing new gear for his ham station and avoiding ever having to deal with the program director.
July 20 1963 was a stupendously crystal-clear day in southern Manitoba. It was also the first time in my lifetime that the city was to experience a major solar eclipse. The big event was to commence mid-afternoon. Being community-minded broadcasters, station management felt the need to be part of the city-wide excitement and decided to provide full live coverage of the eclipse. Now, it seemed to me that this was a tad weird and somewhat akin to broadcasting a tap-dancing competition on the radio; nevertheless, management was insistent.
In The Chief’s absence we, his technical minions, were instructed to set up a remote broadcasting facility in the middle of the station’s rear parking lot. This was necessary because the studios at the time were located in a building basement with no south-facing windows. Out came the station’s “portable” audio console, which required two men and a boy to shift anywhere, plus microphones, audio and power cables, as well as monitoring and talk-back equipment.
The big broadcast commenced. In between the all-important ads for local furniture stores and the afternoon hog price reports, the newsmen (they were all men in those days) vividly described the various phases of the eclipse. All the station staff came out to join in the festivities.
Everything went swimmingly – until the garbage truck came rumbling up the back lane. Crud! We forgot it was garbage day. There followed much frantic waving of arms by station staff. The behemoth saw that it could not get into the parking lot and up to the garbage box without wiping out half the personnel of the “Number One Radio Station in the City”. So eventually it lumbered off, with much grinding of gears being broadcast live all across southern Manitoba. Crisis over. A smooth conclusion to the broadcast was achieved as full daylight returned to the City of Winnipeg and station management congratulated themselves on their wonderful P.R. event.
Possibly until 8 April 2024, it remains the only time I have experienced an almost-total solar eclipse. But it was not my last experience with the perils of live broadcasting. Maybe more about that another day!
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Last Updated on 2024-12-23 by AdminOARC