Dials and Channels the Journal of the National Capital Radio & Television Museum
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Dials and Channels The Journal of the National Capital Radio & Television Museum 2608 Mitchellville Road Bowie, MD 20716-1392 (301) 390-1020 Vol. 23, No. 1 ncrtv.org February 2017 WTIC: Hartford’s Historic Radio Station By Brian Belanger [Past Dials and Channels issues have included brief histories of historic radio stations. In this issue WTIC, Hartford, Connecticut’s well-known station, is featured. One of our Museum members, Dick Bertelmann (radio name Dick Bertel) was an important personality at WTIC. We are grateful that Dick was willing to share his recollections with us about what it was like to be a WTIC employee in “the good old days.” I am also grateful to Museum member Ludwell Sibley who provided a copy of a WTIC promotional booklet and other material about the station from his collection. (Unless otherwise noted, photos are from the publication WTIC: Radio to Remember) - Editor] WTIC Takes To The Air Waves In 1924 Cowles made his pitch to Travelers’ pres- ident Louis Butler. Sensing that Butler might not In the mid-1920s radio stations were springing up have been fully convinced by his arguments, Cowles around the country like mushrooms on a spring day. presented him with radio apparatus to try out at The list of organizations that created early radio home. The story goes that when Ms. Butler viewed stations is surprisingly diverse. It includes radio the complicated unsightly array of speaker, radio, manufacturers and dealers, newspapers, churches, tubes, multiple batteries, and a rat’s nest of connect- universities, department stores, and even dairies and ing wires, and learned that Mr. Butler would need to funeral homes, all hoping to cash in on this new climb up on the roof to erect an antenna, she sug- way to create good will and favorable publicity. gested that the infernal device belonged in the attic or the garage rather than in the family living room. As Detroit is noted for auto production, and Houston for oil production, Hartford, Connecticut, is noted for insurance. The Travelers Insurance Company has been a mainstay of Hartford’s econ- omy for more than a century, and it is responsible for having created WTIC. Walter G. Cowles, a Travelers Insurance Company vice president, saw radio as a way to attract new customers and create a favorable impression for his company in the minds of the public in New England. Cowles researched the experiences of other companies that had established radio stations and spoke with knowledgeable individuals, includ- ing officers of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), a nationwide organization of amateur radio operators headquartered in the Hartford area. ARRL’s leaders were particularly well informed about this new technology, and when Cowles sought their advice, they enthusiastically encour- Walter Cowles—the man who convinced aged him to proceed. the Travelers Insurance Company to create a radio station. Dials and Channels February 2017 Page 1 Nevertheless, Butler did begin to listen, and after hearing interesting and entertaining programs from faraway cities, he was hooked. Butler agreed that Travelers should create a radio station. A subsidiary, the Travelers Broadcasting Service Corp., was ultimately established to operate the station. The station went on the air early in 1925. (WTIC was not the first radio broadcasting station on the air in Hartford—that honor goes to WDRC, launched in 1923.) Cowles expressed the purpose of the Travelers Company station thusly: This service has been installed purely and simply as a new means of publicity. It is a method by which we are able to come into close personal relationship with the public . .The hope and constant aim of this station will be to earn the goodwill, friendship, and confidence of those who hear us. New radio stations often requested call letters that reflected the name or slogan of the station’s founder. For example, the Chicago Tribune’s radio station call was WGN, standing for “World’s Greatest Newspaper.” Sears-Roebuck’s Chicago station call letters WLS stood for “World’s Largest Store.” The Travelers Insurance Company asked the Department Two towers on the roof of the company’s Grove of Commerce to issue call letters with the company’s Street building supported a “flat-top” or T- shaped wire antenna, commonly used at the time. initials, and was grateful when the station was given the call letters WTIC. WTIC In Its Early Years The station’s studios were installed on the 6th floor of the Travelers building at 26 Grove Street in down- town Hartford. The station purchased a 500-watt Western Electric transmitter (considered a high- power transmitter at the time). In 1925 radio stations often had to time share. WTIC was assigned to share the frequency of 860 kilohertz, broadcasting three days per week. The station’s frequency was shifted several times during its first few years. WTIC’s elegant main studio at the time the station opened in 1925. It was draped with deep blue velvet for sound absorption. The wooden microphone The NCRTV Museum is a cooperative stand was hand-turned polished mahogany. venture with the City of Bowie. Dials and Channels February 2017 Page 2 WTIC had a truck equipped to handle remote broadcasts from day one. In fact, the first night’s broad- cast, on Feb. 10, 1925, was actually a remote from the Hotel Bond in downtown Hartford. It lasted from 7:45 p.m. until 10:24 p.m. As was typical at the time, the program consisted mostly of live music (e.g., a male quartet, a contralto, and a trio). In 1925 the sound quality of non-electrically recorded phono- graph records was sufficiently poor that most radio stations opted for live music. Because radio was such an exciting novelty, local musicians WTIC had this mobile unit in service from day one. were eager to get air time on the smaller stations, even without pay. But like other e.g., Jack Benny, were heard on WTIC from the “high-class” stations, WTIC quickly added musi- Capitol Theater even before they had network radio cians to its paid staff rather than rely on amateurs. programs and became household names. Laura Gaudet was hired as the staff pianist, and Norman Cloutier to lead the station’s dance band, The National Broadcasting Company was established “The Merry Madcaps,” as well as another smaller in November 1926, and WTIC was the fourth station combo, “The Travelers Jongleurs.” In 1926 the to formally join the network. It carried the NBC station added a thirty-plus-member symphonic en- inaugural broadcast, and now and then originated semble. programs broadcast over the network. Later, during the “Golden Age of Radio,” WTIC’s evening Making good use of its remote broadcast truck, audiences enjoyed popular network shows such as WTIC did remotes from local spots such as the Fibber McGee and Molly, Bob Hope, and Jimmy Capitol Theater as well as from more distant loca- Durante. tions such as Yale University in New Haven. WTIC reported the 1928 Yale/Harvard regatta using NBC’s In 1926 WTIC arranged to have a reporter in an famous announcer Graham McNamee. airplane flying over Hartford with Connecticut’s governor John Trumbull and aircraft builder Igor WTIC claimed to be the first station to broadcast Sikorsky. A small battery-powered shortwave trans- vaudeville performances (in 1926). Some vaudeville mitter on board transmitted the report back to the stars who later became famous on network radio, station. Because of this event, WTIC claims to have WTIC’s dance band—“The Merry Madcaps,” led by Norman Cloutier. Dials and Channels February 2017 Page 3 made the first broadcast to the public from an aircraft in flight. (Radio stations are notorious for claiming “firsts,” that upon careful investigation turn out to be false claims. WTIC may well have been the first station to air such a broadcast, but even if it was not the first, this event demonstrates that WTIC was striving to be innovative from the very beginning.) WTIC Opts For High Power In the late 1920s, the Federal government made it possible for radio broadcast stations to apply to in- crease power to 50 kW. While WTIC was not the very first station to broadcast with 50,000 watts, it was one of the first to request permission to do so. Crosley-owned Cincinnati station WLW purchased a 50 kW Western Electric transmitter and had it in operation late in 1928. WTIC purchased RCA’s first (serial number 1) 50-kW transmitter (it was actually designed and built by GE), and had it on the air in August 1929, giving WTIC one of the strongest signals in the nation. It could be heard over most of New England, and when propagation conditions Most likely this is WTIC engineer H. M. O’Neill holding one of the huge water-cooled transmitting tubes. (From the WTIC promotional booklet.) were good, much farther than that. Listeners as far away as Europe, Australia, and New Zealand sometimes wrote to the station to report hearing it. The transmitter used RCA’s high-power (100-kW) water-cooled transmitting tubes, (type UV-862), as well as RCA’s UV-857 mercury rectifiers in the power supply. Cooling the two final amplifier tubes required 1200 gallons per hour of distilled cooling water circulating around the jackets of the tubes. The The building housing WTIC’s 50-kW RCA station’s chief engineer had to know plumbing as transmitter. (From the WTIC promotional booklet.) well as radio circuitry. With the launch of its new high- power transmitter, WTIC’s freq- uency was shifted to 1060 kHz.