WAKY Compression

[Kevin]

I listened to John's REEL RADIO show again and was fascinated by the compression and reverb set up Randolph did. And if you listen to that program you can hear a DJ doing an aircheck over Chicago's "Feeling Stronger Everyday" which has an awesome opening chord progression. On the aircheck where we get to hear how suped up the signal was from WAKY it is ten times more impressive than the actual song being played under normal conditions. I did the test.

My point? None really, other than WAKY was the cat's ass.

[Mike Griffin]

The WAKY compression was an interesting thing. There is no way of knowing just how much compression there really was. For example, when Weird Beard did his final show (as an employee) he played 'Go Now' as his final song. Instead of letting it go to it's natural end it was faded out to a moment of silence (because old radio shows never die, they just fade away ... apologies to General McArther). The trouble with this is after fading the song all the way down on the console, including the master, the compression was still pulling it up from the leakage in the board. We had to shove a patch in the patch panel to get the desired moment of silence.

In 1971, when this happened, there was a Marti compressor at the studio that typically showed 20 to 30 db of compression. There was a modified CBS Volumax at the transmitter. The Volumax was inteneded to limit signal peaks only to keep the transmitter from overmodulating, but this Volumax had been modified and had the input to it cranked up so high that the limit meter was constantly pegged all the way over on the red end of the scale. This means it was doing considerable compression and not just limiting. There's more....

WAKY had a licensed power of 5,000 watts. Andy Jackson, the chief engineer of Linn Broadcasting in '71 liked to buy 10,000 watt transmitters to replace 5,000 watt ones for AM stations and WAKY had one of these new transmitters. Andy ran them at 5000 watts, that was the law, but that is unmodulated power. On AM stations the power actually goes up and down in accordance with the audio, with dead air you measure 5,000 watts out of the transmitter. The variation of the output with audio that's why it's called AM or amplitude modulation. The power can never go below zero (because of the nature of AM even hitting zero power causes distortion and interference with other stations and must be avoided), but what about when you modulate it in the positive direction, do you just go to the 5000 watts? In 1971 there was not the 125% restriction for AM modulation peaks that was later imposed by the FCC. The Volumax actually had a feature that would enhance the asymetrical nature of the audio that went out of it. So the negative modulation would only go down to zero but the positive modulation was enhanced. WAKY often had 200% or more positive modulation, that meant the peaks of the signal hit the 10,000 watts or higher. The station was tuned to take as much advantage of this loophole as it could. The compression and limiting forced the signal up to allow it to stay in this range as much as possible. WAKY's transmitter was oversized to accomodate it.

When you hear about WAKY's legendary compression realize that it was there not just to give 'a sound' even though it did, but also to squeeze everything that could be gotten out of a moderate powered AM transmitter. And now you know the rest of the story.

[Travis]

I'm reminded that Johnny Randolph spoke of slipping out to the WAKY transmitter site and tweaking the CBS Volumax so that the needle did not read true (WAKY Remembered). The idea was to make it appear that the peaks were in the green, rather than pegged off the red scale, which engineers do not like to see.

I'm guessing that what he did was turn the screw, located on the bottom of the meter, to bring the needle from its pegged position in the red zone over to the green zone. I can see where WAKY's engineers may have been fooled, at a glance, but could they have been fooled for more than a week?

I would think that on Sunday mornings, when WAKY performed its weekly studio & transmitter maintenance, the false reading would have been discovered. I always thought it was standard practice to "zero" the meters, physically as well as with tones, for proper calibration. If the engineers failed to "zero" the actual needle before calibrating (using tones) then Randolph may have had them fooled for quite some time.

Come to think of it. The CBS Volumax had a meter that really didn't show specifics. It just showed an unnumbered red scale on the left side (I believe it was on the left) and an unnumbered green scale on the right side of the meter. I don't think there was anything specific to zero or calibrate. It was just some kind of a generalized readout. It's been over 30 years since I've seen a CBS Volumax, but Mike Griffin may know a thing or two.

Also, does anyone know what became of Ernest "Doc" Dockery, an engineer with WAKY during the early '70s. I learned a lot from him on Sunday mornings when he performed the weekly studio maintenance and would just like to know what became of him.

[John Quincy]

A great big thank you to Mike Griffin for that WAKY "insider" information on the air chain, which I find fascinating.

Also, thanks to Travis for his comments. I too would love to get in touch with Ernest or any of the former WAKY engineers, as I'd eventually like to launch a WAKY Technical Page on the Website with details of transmitters, processing and studio equipment used.

[Mike Griffin]

Earnest Dockery left WAKY around '74 went to work for and retired from WHAS. I ran into him again when I worked at WHAS (79-82).

As far as the Volumax, it was pinned on the red side and the engineers helped set it up. There were a few numbers on it showing the amount of limiting.

A big thing to guard against at an AM station in those days was zero carrier. As stated, hitting zero carrier on AM caused distortion and interference with other stations. So the engineers had an oscilloscope set up that would collapse into a dot in the center of the screen if that happened (it's an old ham radio technique). The FCC allowed a certain number short hits to zero each minute (I seem to recall 10 as the number). The checking of the system included making the adjustments and watching this scope, carefully counting the zero hits so there were as many as possible without going over the limit in a minute.

Here is a list of the engineers I remember:
Andy Jackson, Chief Engineer of Linn Broadcasting, office in Louisville until the station was sold
Earnest Dockery -- Didn't want to be Chief
Irv Jameson
Smokey ? Weekends, also I think a high school shop teacher
Woody Embry
Karen Weber Chief Engineer
Archie Erickson Chief Engineer
John Timm Chief Engineer
Jerry Shea

[Travis]

Of the engineers listed, I remember Ernest, Karen and Archie. The list gives the impression that there was a high turnover at WAKY when it came to chief engineers.

I believe it was Archie who once wanted my head on a platter. I was covering the transmitter for a weekend jock who was legally blind (it wasn't Ed Phillips; there was another) and had somehow forgotten that AM was permitted to hit as high as 125% on positive peaks. Of course, WAKY's positive peaks were nailed at 125% and 100% on the negative peaks. I thought I saw a problem and wrote it up as a discrepancy. I also made remarks on the transmitter log. I got word from one person or another that Archie wanted to kill me.

Never having met Archie, I drove out to the transmitter site near J-Town to meet him. He ripped me a new anal opening over my remarks (and rightfully so, since I should have known about the positive limitation) and I apologized. I continued to hang around and we began talking about the transmitter, site, tower configuration and WAKY's history stretching back into its WGRC days. He then gave me a tour of the building and the grounds where the 3 radio towers rose high into the sky.

There was a small shed where several fluorescent lights were stacked leaning in a corner. None of the lights were connected to anything, but they were all flashing. It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen. The RF (radio frequency) from one of the nearby towers was causing the fluorescent lamps to flash, possibly in time with the music on WAKY, but I can't recall exactly what Archie said in his explanation.

Anyway. It turned out to be an enjoyable visit and I learned a lot from Archie that day and got to see the WAKY transmitter site for the first, and only, time.

There was just one other odd occurrence while I was there. While in the building I kept seeing a shadow or something moving from time to time in my peripheral vision. I later learned that it was only Johnny Randolph hiding behind the CBS Volumax, reaching around and cranking it up from time to time.

Ok. So I'm still full of it. Later.

[Ben Pflederer]

:'(I am sorry to say, Ernest K. Dockery passed away a couple of years ago. I do not know about William "Bill" Hall, of which I lost track some years ago. "Smokey" Bill Johnson taught electronics, I believe at the old UEL in Shively. I lost track of him many years ago. Wick Morrison was the Chief during my years at the Mighty 790, and has been deceased since about 1970-71.

The Tucker Station site contained 4 towers. Two towers were used Daytime and all 4 towers used at night. I know, since I had to measure the base currents within two hours after power change.

It was mentioned the florescent tubes in the "Dog Houses" were placed there when the ones in the main building failed, and yes, they did light up without electricity, I believe it was Tower # 1.

The 5 KW "Federal Transmitter" would light the building on a dark day. The Baurer 1 KW was build from a kit.

:)Those were the days.

[Mike Griffin]

Ben,

I'm sorry to hear about Doc's passing. Doc was the lead engineer at WAKY til he left for WHAS. He was in charge of engineering, doing the job of Chief, but he didn't want to be Chief. I never understood that. Do you know when he started at WAKY?

I also heard that Irv Jameson died a number of years ago and he had been running a TV repair business in Shelbyville, Ky after leaving WAKY. Irv was a lot of fun.

WAKY continued to run that 1KW Bauer transmitter during the years that I was there. I don't remember the reason, only that always when the power dropped at sunset we turned the Bauer on in preference to the Gates that ran daytime. Seems like it had to do with matching the transmitters to the antennas, but that was long ago. I didn't know it was made from a kit there must be some kind of story there. It looked ancient but sounded good.

Ben when you were with WAKY how many engineers were on staff? Did the Union come in while you were there, or was it already in place? Just curious, when I came to WAKY in '71 the engineers were in the process of decommissioning the union and their numbers shrank (by attrition) every year after that. I suppose that was a trend that happened at most stations with more reliable equipment and the loosening of operator requirements by the FCC. By '75 WAKY had gone from four engineers (six union members counting the all night jock and the production director) to two engineers and no union.

Could you compare WAKY's engineering when you left in '68 to what you found at WKLO?

Maybe I shouldn't ask this, when you programmed Rudy Ratfink, did you have groupies? Always a fringe benifit for jocks...

I remember a lot of people at my school had plastic ratfinks. Did those come from WAKY or was the ratfink phenomina something WAKY latched on to?

Too many questions, sorry.

[Travis]

That's right. WAKY's transmitter site did consist of 4 towers. As I recall, they appeared to be arranged in a square or rectangle. I can now remember seeing an old sign behind the transmitter building. It had the WGRC call letters on it and had probably been stashed there since the station became WAKY in 1958.

So. I really did see those fluorescent tubes flashing to the RF radiation that night. I can remember seeing an old rerun of the Addams Family, where Uncle Fester puts a light bulb in his mouth and it lights, and thinking to myself, that's nothing... there's a much scarier sight out at the WAKY transmitter.

Sad to learn that Ernest "Doc" Dockery is no longer with us. He didn't like me at first and didn't appear to be much for words anyway. But as he became accustomed to my being in the building on Sunday mornings, and saw my interest in electronics, he opened up and even showed me the inside of the Gatesway II console and other equipment at WAKY.

I had said my first words over WAKY when the Weird Beard called me over to the microphone on the night of his final show, but it was Doc who allowed me to read the sign-off, LIVE, at 5:30 AM on Sundays when the station would leave the air for 35 minutes for transmitter maintenance. Doc knew I got a kick out of it and I'm thankful for his allowing me to do it. I'm also thankful that Johnny Randolph was obviously sound asleep at 5:30 AM on Sundays. ;D

To Ernest K. Dockery (aka "Doc")...

At this time, W-A-K-Y in Louisville, Kentucky, will now leave the air for a period of transmitter maintenance.

W-A-K-Y is owned and operated by the LIN Broadcasting Corporation with studios located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky at 554-558 South Fourth Street. Our transmitter is located near Jeffersontown, Kentucky.

W-A-K-Y operates on the assigned frequency of 790 kilohertz with an effective radiated power of 5,000 watts daytime, and 1,000 watts nighttime, as authorized by the Federal Communications Commission.

W-A-K-Y will return to the air at 6:05 this morning.

W-A-K-Y Louisville, Kentucky.

[Ben Pflederer]

Mike,

I will try and answer some of the questions. You stirred the gray matter, and the memory bank brought some more names. Besides Wick, Bill, Doc, & Smokey, I completely forgot about Charlie Newman and Dave Shouse. There were some part-timers who I can not remember. Yes, Doc never wanted to be the big cheese.

Tower # 3 was the night light house (primary in the night pattern). I do not remember where this tower was actually located, which I believe was in the far corner of the property.

There approximate 7 Engineers during my time of 64-68. The union was there before my time.

My memories besides Tucker Station is the 5th floor of the Kentucky Home Life Building.

It is mentioned on the other boards regarding the console, and turntables. I remember the "Gatesway" (?) which was all tubes. The cart machines were the old "Spotmaster" which the cart had to be engaged by a lever, and the "Tapecaster" record/playback. The "Spotmaster's" (3) were remote controlled (home made)from both Master Control and the News Room. This was before the ATC or Collins Carts. Maintenance was usually needed during a shift or two.

I believe the turntables were 22 inch or so, in their own console, which were also remote controlled (RCA or Gates). Queuing? there was a technique used for the programming tightness ;D. I do not remember the name of the reel-reel machines in the control room.

Would you believe some of the jingles were on disk? Yes, Doc and Charlie were the masters of that recording process! I will never forget the RCA console in the production room.

The audio processing chain also contained a "Gates Sta-level" unit.

Groupies you ask? Yes, there were some. You would see them at the "Sock Hops" that Rudy went on. I forgot about the plastic rat finks, of which I do not remember.

Time tones were also used. This unit was home made, and worked in conjunction with the "Western Union" clock in the control room.

Re-verb? Yes, we had one, but never turned up like WABC.

The tower top of the KHL building had a purpose for a project that did not get completed, and more great memories to the old brain are returning from items on the WAKY and WKLO sites.

[Mike Griffin]

Charlie Newman is probably the same guy who did transmitters and who they brought in to the studios at WHAS when they had a big wiring project that they wanted to be beautiful. Charlie could wire rack bays or anything and the wireing was correct and every wire was perfectly straight. The ends trimmed smoothly around, perfect. I believe Charlie, like Doc retired from WHAS.

If those early cart machines used metal tape for cueing I ran into some at WNAS, the New Albany High School station where I attended school in 1968 and 1969. They had levers and the metal tape for cueing.

The Gatesway I console made it into a second production room on 4th street. The Sta-Level made it into the processing chain of the main production room. Somewhere along the way, it had been modified for a fast release time perhaps while at KHL.

There were also some large wooden floor model Altec-Lansing speakers that made it. Several of what Johnny Randoph called "Bulls Nut" microphones. They were big and roundish. Can't remember the manufaturer. They weren't considered the best any more and were relegated to recording the Sunday morning roundtable shows and such. Probably lots of other stuff too but I remember those things.

About all I know about KHL is Johnny Randolph saying the last song they played out of there is "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire. I am certain he said that. For what it's worth, I think he said they played "I'm So Happy Now" as the first song out of the new studios on Forth Street.

Thanks for commenting. I'd like to here more if you are so inclined and have time.

[Ben Pflederer]

Mike,

Forgot about Charlie going to WHAS. Yes, he was a real stickler and very neat in everything he did. He was a professional, and a perfectionist. I learned a lot from both Charlie & Doc. Have you kept in touch with Charlie?

I do not recall the metal Que tape on the carts for those machines. I do remember rewinding carts (replacing the tape), etc. Thanks for stirring the cobwebs in the brain. We had a lot of good times in the KHL building. There are a lot of stories that can not be written on this board. The 60's were fun at Fun Lovin Wacky, the mighty 790.

I almost forgot. If correctly remembered, the old Federal transmitter had a 10K modulator in the 5 KW box for those positive peaks that it was able to handle. WIRL had a Westinghouse TX. Both were about the size of the old UHF TV TX's

[Travis]

When Mike Griffin listed the engineers at WAKY I thought there may have been one named Dave, but since the name was not in the listing I couldn't be sure. Now I understand that there was an engineer named Dave Shouse.

On the night that Doc opened the Gatesway II console (to show me the inside) he was talking as he opened the board and then suddenly stopped and just stared at what lay before us. I can remember clearly that he muttered, "Dave's been in here." He looked a bit disgusted as he said it and didn't appear to be happy about whatever he was seeing. To me, it was a bird's nest of wiring harnesses streaming from the rear of the pots & switches to components of various shapes & sizes. I had no idea as to what he was looking at, but he was clearly unhappy about whatever this Dave had done inside the board. Suddenly, he resumed explaining to me what all the various components were and Dave's name was not mentioned again.

By the way. This was the Gatesway II console that was located in the main production room and not the one up front.

[Mike Griffin]

Ben,

Every so often I run into one of the WHAS old-timers, John McCrory. John updates me on everyone. Not sure when that will happen again, but I will ask about Charlie, John might know. Charlie was a perfectionist. One of the first things I noticed as I was shown through WHAS was the wiring on the routers and patch bays. It was awesome, if something was exceptional it always turned out to have been his work.

Interesting about the Federal Transmitter. Do you know if it was bought by McClendon, Lin, or did it predate both companies? I didn't know about the technique of milking all you could out of the positive modulation until I heard about it at WAKY. Do you know if WKLO did this as well? I expect so, they were smart guys too. By the way, do/did you know Pete Boyce or John Loughmiller?

You and Travis have now mentioned an engineer named Dave Shouse whom I didn't remember. Did he have a flat-top and wear black glasses? I have vague recollections of another engineer who looked like that, maybe named Dave, who may have been at WAKY until sometime in '72 or so. Might that be Dave?


As for the stuff that can't be written on the board. Well, now you've really peaked my interest. But I leave it to your discresion.

[Ben Pflederer]

Mike:

Yes, I know Pete, and worked with him. Pete was "Best Man" for my wedding in 68. Pete & I put WHEL back on the air after the fire, from a trailer. That was my first experience with a "Shunt-Fed" antenna system. Yes, I was Doc Holiday doing country for a period at WHEL.

John Loughmiller rings a bell, now that you mention it. Worked with Jerry Snapp, Norman Snyder and others who I Don't remember names. Bruce Clark was a well respected technical "Leader" at Radio WKLO. He was the mayor. (Mt. Washington)

[Mike Griffin]

John Loughmiller was a field engineer for Ampex after his days at WKLO. Later he went to work for Sony where I met him. A couple of years ago John wrote a book called: "A Family Affair - The R.L. Drake Story." If you are into Ham Radio and ever had an old Drake, you'll like it.

Pete Boyce and I worked together at Channel 41. Pete is an amazing engineer and one of the most positive optimistic people I have ever met. He's done very well with his consulting business and with the radio stations he's picked up and sold along the way. I see him around town now and then.