Radio Roots Discovered at Tampa Bay

Radio Guide May-2003 Page - 1 Radio Guide Radio’s Technology Resource May 2003 Volume 11 Issue 5 www.radio-guide.com — www.radio-classifieds.com Including Radio Shopper

620 Site – 1932

Current 620 Site – Gandy Causeway, Tampa Bay Radio Guide May-2003 Page - 3

Departments Columns & Articles Radio Guide Volume 11 Issue 5 May 2003 Tower Topics ...... 10 Radio History by the Bay Past, Present and Future It has often been said, correctly, that a society FCC Focus ...... 16 Page 4 – Is there time to save an historic site can never understand where it is going unless it where major aspects of understands how it arrived at this point and place in EAS Q&A ...... 18 broadcasting started 80 time. The same principle is true in regards broadcast years ago? technology. Full Duplex ...... 22 As we move into the more complex transmission This month our Radio issues presented by IBOC, for example, one of the Radio Products & Services . . . . . 23 Road Trip brings us to most important keys to understanding our jobs is the original site of the grasping the concepts that underlie the technology. first AM broadcast directional antenna. We need to learn about the technology and tech- Radio Guide niques involved in tuning our facilities to achieve Radio’s Technology Resource Radio Towers the best possible air product. Unfortunately, as has been often lamented, a Page 8 – Richard Haskey continues with part major effect of deregulation has been a marked (Publisher) two of his series on towers. Here, we learn how Ray Topp reduction in staffing levels at stations all over the Email: [email protected] best to handle the contractor, accurate tower country, as well as the loss of many experienced site location, and materials delivery. Barry Mishkind (Editor) broadcast engineers. That cannot have a positive Email: [email protected] effect on the level of technical knowledge available at Automation on a Budget many stations. In plain English: When one engineer is PO Box 20975, Sedona, AZ 86341 Page 12 – Donna Halper took an informal tasked to care for six or eight stations all by himself, 928-284-3700 Fax: 866-728-5764 survey, and the results may help find the right there is precious little time to think, study, and learn Publication Website: www.radio-guide.com automation system, for those on a budget. about the entire system. The workweeks of many engineers are consumed merely putting out “fires.” Radio History Website: www.oldradio.com Audio Processing – Part 5 With fewer and fewer people really understand- Used Gear Website: www.radio-classifieds.com ing things like directional antennas, who is left to train Page 14 – Cornelius Gould discusses some the next generation? Whether the industry is “up to” Advertising Information: considerations and effects of bandwidth limit- developing workable solutions is up for debate. www.radio-guide.com/rates.pdf ing on the processed audio signal. One thing is clear. Radio Guide sees its mission to be here to help make sense of the technologies, Radio Guide, ISSN 1061-7027, is published monthly, 12 Networking 101 – Part 4 pressures and needs of the working engineers as we times a year, by Media Magazines Inc., PO Box 20975, move into the future. Sedona, AZ 86341. Radio Guide is copyright 2003, Page 20 – Tren Barnett completes the initial What do you see as the issues ahead? What do Media Magazines Inc., and may not be copied, repro- settings of the server, by setting up a Dynamic duced, or stored in any format, without the written you want to know? Take a moment and let us know permission of the publisher. Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). at [email protected]. Let us grow together!

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Milwaukee, 346 degrees. The RF circuit was quite simple, with the transmission lines cut to quarter- Radio History by the Bay wavelength, and routed in a curved way to the towers. One tower was coupled from the transmitter with a coil by Barry Mishkind to shift the signal -45 degrees; the other was coupled with a condensor, to shift the signal +45 degrees. The phase angle between the two towers was 90 degrees.The result was a tight cardioid pattern, with the null at 346 Broadcasting Roots Uncovered at Tampa Bay degrees, toward Milwaukee.

[Is there time yet to save an historic site where a WFLA did not operate alone for long. Although it major aspect of broadcasting started 80 years ago? Ron had a good allocation on 850 kHz, in addition to the Rackley has been hoping to get permission for an half dozen other area stations like WDAE, WFLA had Milwaukee historical marker to be placed there, before the site and to justify its existence to the Federal Radio Commission installation which started a revolution in station con- (FRC). Since all stations were essentially non-direc- 346 Degrees struction is lost to the developer’s blade. Read on for tional at the time, only a limited number of stations the details.] could operate at night without excessive interference. Atlanta [TAMPA, Florida - May 2003] Directional Antennas There was tremendous pressure on the FRC to eliminate are common in broadcasting. We use them for signal those stations operating only part time, and replace enhancement or signal reduction. From the yagi type them with facilities that promised to use the increas- antennas used for auxiliary services to the multi-tower ingly crowded dial to the full. Clearwater arrays used to “shoehorn” AM stations into markets The solution at the time was to sell a half interest in with ever increasing power, directional antennas per- the station to a neighboring Chamber of Commerce. An engineer was sent out in the field with such mit operation where non-directional activity just could The St. Petersburg C of C quickly agreed to pay $6,000 meters as existed then, as well as radios. Even with such not accomplish the technical requirements. to share the transmitter. Taking the calls WSUN (Why a simple array, the tune-up did not go as quickly or as Unfortunately, once installed, most directional an- Stay Up North?) to lure visitors, the St. Petersburg easily as expected. It soon became apparent the con- tennas seem to be given little attention. They work so station was permitted three days a week, and alternate structors had not fully taken mutual impedance factors well, one consultant suggested we might soon run out Sundays for their operation on the new, and better into account, as even the relatively primitive bridges of engineers who truly understand them. frequency of 590 kHz. From there, the sister stations, available showed different antenna base impedances. Yet in a true “they said it couldn’t be done” story, now WFLA-WSUN, were moved to 620 kHz with So, much of the “tuning” was done by making adjust- the very first directional antenna used in broadcasting 2,500 watts daytime, and 1,000 watts at night, beckon- ments until the signal “faded out” at the location of the was almost not finished. Nay Sayers thought it was ing Northerners to enjoy the sun and warm Gulf waters. monitoring engineers. impossible to set up and run; it would be just a vain Although there were few other stations on the 620 In the end, it turned out Wilmotte was right in his pursuit. frequency, one of them belonged to the Milwaukee calculations, and a deep minima was obtained. In fact, Journal. Seeking to increase its signal to 5,000 watts, the antenna worked so well that the FRC inspector in DUNEDIN DAYS WTMJ asked the FRC to either abolish WFLA-WSUN, Atlanta, who was to measure the frequency of the The story begins in 1925 with George H. Bowles, or cut its power. Eventually WTMJ went to court, and station, instead had to ask if WFLA-WSUN had author- a Real Estate entrepreneur in Dunedin, Florida. As the the US Court of Appeals directed the FRC to adjust ity to be off the air. He could not hear the station at all! West Coast of Florida began to be developed, there was WFLA-WSUN to protect WTMJ’s service area. The a need to get people to buy property and move down FRC, an agency with limited control over the broadcast WILMOTTE’S SUCCESS to retire in the sun. industry, responded by reducing WFLA-WSUN’s power The two tower WFLA-WSUN directional antenna Bowles somehow learned about Walter Tison, a to 500 watts daytime and 250 watts night, essentially was a real success. And it ham operator who had been instrumental in providing depriving them of their desired listeners. operated for 18 years from the first transmitter for WSB in Atlanta. Tison, no longer the site on the causeway, attached to WSB, was seeking to sell his transmitter to THE FIRST DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA accompanying the entry another potential broadcaster. Bowles brought Tison At that point, the future operation of WFLA-WSUN gate as a sentinel marking and his 500 watt transmitter to Dunedin, where it was looked real bleak. Without access to listeners in the the entrance to installed on the roof of the Fenway hotel. Amid north, there was little value to the Chambers of Com- Clearwater. The cardioid appropriate fanfare, WGHB went on the air on Decem- merce in operating a radio station. They even consid- pattern sent a strong sig- ber 10, 1925. ered turning in the license. But Walter Tison was not nal to the north while re- giving up. He approached the situation in two ways. ducing the signal toward First, he applied for a huge increase in power for the Milwaukee well below re- station, WTMJ’s court order not withstanding. Then, he quired levels. contacted Commander T.A.M. Craven, the consulting Quite a few transmit- engineer for WFLA-WSUN, for assistance in designing ter logs have been saved and constructing a directional antenna. from the operation of the While there had been experiments on directive plant, and the stability of Craven’s drawing receiving antennas, and some transmitting facilities, it the antenna can be seen of WFLA-WSUN was mainly in short wave, point-to-point usage. Fur- today. radiation pattern. thermore, some engineers derided the concept of using a directive antenna at AM frequencies, suggesting the real problem was the way the WFLA-WSUN signal Fenway Hotel – 1926 Dunedin Times went across the Gulf of Mexico and “turned” up the As with most early stations, at Mississippi River Valley, to reach Milwaukee. Others first the studio was on the roof with simply said the ionosphere did not have anything like the transmitter, accessible only via a smooth surface, and the resulting propagation would a long ladder. Just in time for the not be as anticipated. “Grand Opening” a studio was fin- Craven, who would go on to serve as the first Lead ished at ground level, so dignitaries Engineer at the FCC, and later a Commissioner, en- would not have to climb the ladder. listed the aid of Ray Wilmotte, a British engineer. The impact was immediate. During Wilmotte had done quite a lot of study into the way the inaugural broadcast, some 425 directional antennas worked, and felt this was the right telegrams were reportedly received from 36 states and option for WFLA-WSUN. Wilmotte was so sure of Canada. himself that he agreed to be paid only if he was Unfortunately, the real estate boom in Florida was successful. Craven agreed with Wilmotte, and together starting to falter, which in turn created cash flow they undertook to construct the antenna. Calculations problems for Bowles. Forced to sell his interests in the were carefully made regarding the groundwave and Fenway and the radio station, it was moved to Edward skywave signals toward Milwaukee. Haley’s Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater. Re-chris- The tower bases and guy anchors were laid along tened WFHH in early February 1927, the station what would become the Courtney Campbell Causeway Wilson Welch, Clear Channel DE essentially was operated by the Clearwater Chamber of in Clearwater in March 1932, and tests began in May with WFLA-WSUN logs from 1934-1939. Commerce. Six months later, a station in Boca Raton of that year. A 200 foot self supporting tower was Of special interest is some of the terminology used died and they got the call sign they really wanted: constructed on either side of the road, a quarter in the logs. Engineers carefully noted the operating WFLA – “West Florida.” wavelength apart, in line with the bearing toward parameters, and special situations. 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1250. The Gandy Causeway site saw an increase to Radio History 10,000 watts in recent years (to combat interference from Cuban broadcasts), still without sending excessive radiation toward Milwaukee. Over on 970, the WFLA calls by the Bay continue, with the power recently increased to 25,000 watts day/11,000 watts night, into five towers of a six Continued from page 4. tower array shared with WHNZ (1250).

Among the logs are notes related to repairs done, THE SEARCH even the reduction in power used during the later stages Ron Rackley, the consulting engineer for the sta- of World War II. Perhaps to describe the effect of the tions, has long had an interest in the history of these directional array in terms better understood in 1932, stations, but especially in the WFLA-WSUN 620 facil- Tison often referred to it as a “shield” or “shielded ity from 1932. As noted, this was the first directional transmission,” to indicate a “shield” kept the signal antenna used for broadcasting in the world. Although from going to Milwaukee. Dutifully, the engineers he knew the original location was along the Courtney noted each day when the array was “shielded” or Campbell Causeway, the exact location was not readily Rackley and Welch, along with others, are seeking “shield put on.” I did look at quite a few of the logs, but apparent. Rackley, and Wilson Welch, Gulf Coast to have an historical marker placed on this site, to none of them said “shields up.” Apparently, no Starfleet Director of Engineering for Clear Channel Radio, won- commemorate the officers worked at WFLA-WSUN! dered if any of the original site remained. They sought start of this first of The two stations continued to send joint southern any information available as to the exact location, and all directional an- hunted for clues. tennas, and the men who con- ceived and built it. Currently, a spon- soring agency is be- ing sought. An an- nouncement will Portions of the WFLA-WSUN logs. be made in Radio Guide if and when permission is granted, for those wishing to contribute to the proposed greetings to folks up north for about 8 years. By 1941, marker. the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce had had enough, I wish to express my and sold its half interest to the Tampa Tribune, which sincere appreciation to promptly changed the station’s “home” to Tampa. With Ron Rackley of du Treil, both entities wishing fulltime operation, separation Lundin & Rackley, Wil- was not long in coming. WFLA moved to a 940 plant Finally, Ron discovered an old picture of the site son Welch at Clear (later 970) in Tampa, while WSUN stayed on 620 when near the causeway, and using the photo as a guide, Channel, and Vincent they finally split in January 1941. In 1950, WSUN Welch finally discovered the right location. A sewage Luisi, Director of the moved into St. Petersburg proper, at the site shown on plant now stands on the site of the south tower, Dunedin Historical So- the cover, along the Gandy Causeway. however, the original base for the north tower of WFLA- ciety and for their kind- Today, both facilities are owned by Clear Channel WSUN was hidden in a clump of trees in a field next ness in sharing their Communications. The call letters on 620 are now to a gas station. Clearly visible was the date “Mar 8 time and information WDAE, a call sign long used in Tapma by the station on ’32,” when the tower bases were poured. in search of the history of the WFLA and WSUN.

cant part of Florida’s real estate boom and bust. As Little Did I Know manager of WFLA and various other stations, Tison Radio Technology by Donald E. Kimberlin, NCE inspired awe from us young guys. Tison was Tampa Bay Broadcasting. On-Line Now [TAMPA, Florida - May 2003] Little did I know Until discovering the whole WSUN/WFLA DA all those years ago that I would return to Tampa Bay, story, I never knew the illustrious background of my traveling with Barry Mishkind to visit and research own station’s (WTSP) consulting engineer, Walter sites involved with the world’s first DA. Holey. Holey had been part of the FRC’s team of Forty-six years ago, when a new, state-of-the- engineers who observed and measured the success art, picturesque 1950 DA of (then) WSUN straddled of the world’s first DA from Atlanta. He certainly the highway entrance to St. Petersburg, I was in had first-person relations with Tison, Mitchell, college, and really proud to have been accepted Wilmotte and even the illustrious Commander T. A. into the small coterie of broadcasters around Tampa M. Craven, a Washington, DC area consulting Bay. engineer who went on to become the FCC’s first At the time, having been issued First Phone lead engineer, later rising to the office of FCC license number 531 at Tampa meant more to me Commissioner. than knowing its connection with names like Tison, Craven was the link between Tison and Raymond www.radio-guide.com – Radio Guide Website Mitchell, Holey and Wilmotte. I had heard WSUN Wilmotte, a British expatriate who had been instru- had “the first something-or-other.” But, little did I mental in developing direction finders. Wilmotte know the “first” at WSUN had been a DA. And not brought his brilliance and innovation to bear in until forty-odd years later did I find out it was not designing a “shield antenna” for WFLA-WSUN as only the first in the US, but the first AM DA in the the first practical application of Sommerfield’s world. Theory. Until retiring in 1995, Wilmotte continued Walter Tison was quite a fellow. After serving as to distinguish himself working for the US military, a WWI Navy radio operator, and a stint in the RCA, and the FCC, on projects as diverse as UHF Merchant Marine, Tison built the first broadcast TV, mobile and satellite communications, and station in the southeast (WSB in HDTV. April, 1922). Over time, Tison Today, almost a half-century later, I finally can www.radio-classifieds.com – Used Gear had spawned about half the realize what all these men and their colleagues AM’s around Tampa Bay: sta- contributed to the art and science of broadcast tions with callsigns like WFLA, engineering. Hence, I am humbled to be able to WALT, WTIS, WTAN and oth- view even such a minor remnant of their work as a ers. dated cement tower base. I surely hope the world A couple of years later, Tison will remember their work for a longer time than my brought his 1922 WSB trans- memory. mitter to Dunedin, Florida, to Don Kimberlin is a NARTE Certified Engineer, set it up in a hotel full of Florida based in Landis, NC. He has written on many bootleggers and real estate pro- technical topics, both current and historical, and moters, and become a signifi- Walter Tison loves to go hunting for history. www.oldradio.com – Radio History

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