Tag Archives: Radio

Can you help Bill find a Kenny Mayer aircheck?

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(Photo source: http://www.qsl.net/wb1gfh/mayer.html)

(Photo source: http://www.qsl.net/wb1gfh/mayer.html)

SWLing Post reader, Bill Albert, writes:

“I am trying to find an “air check” of Kenny Mayer, a well-known Boston late-night radio show host (now deceased) during the 1960’s and 1970’s. His show aired from 12-2AM Mondays, so it was one of the few interesting things one could listen to at that hour. He would play bits from classic old comedy albums (e.g., Bill Cosby and Bob Newhart in their stand-up days), and he’d ad-lib the sponsors’ advertisement spots himself. He was really a character, and his voice had a very unique cadence and intonation. I did manage to find one clip from a 1966 show featuring a routine entitled “The Great Society Affair”—a parody of the wedding of President Johnson’s daughter. God, how long ago that was!! Different world. There was also a bit by Godfrey Cambridge, and a number of Kenny’s home-made commercials. However, I’ve since lost that clip, and in any case I played and replayed it to exhaustion. If anyone has another “air check” of Kenny’s show, I would love to get a copy.”

If anyone has a lead for Bill, please comment!

If you’d like to read more about Ken Mayer, Bill suggests this article.

[Update: When I posted this request a few hours ago, I mistakenly posted the photo and information for Kenny Meyer instead of Kenny Mayer. Both of these gentlemen were prominent figures in the Boston broadcasting scene around the same time period (hence my confusion!).]

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Newsweek: Can radio turn the tide in Syria?

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Syria_(orthographic_projection)Thanks to The Professor for sharing this brilliant article by Mike Giglio in The Daily Beast:

“Twenty minutes—this was the small window of time that Majid (not his real name) usually gave himself to broadcast his radio dispatches and then flee. The Syrian was making a name for himself as a bold, young journalist in Damascus, venturing into contested neighborhoods in the capital’s war-torn suburbs to deliver his reports. The broadcasts were low tech and old-fashioned, produced for an upstart radio station called Al-Watan FM, or “The Homeland FM,” and went out on the local airwaves, crackling into a sphere otherwise tightly controlled by the regime. Any Damascus resident scanning the dial could tune in.

It was dangerous work. Pushing into the capital’s FM frequencies meant transmitting an easy-to-track signal from within the city. Government soldiers or regime thugs often came looking for Majid when he went on the air, so he tried to be quick—setting up, going live, then packing up and disappearing within the span of 20 minutes.”[…]

Continue reading the full article in Newsweek’s The Daily Beast online.

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The Tuckerton Tower’s long (and unlikely!) history

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The Tuckerton Tower circa 1916 (Souce: Tom Mcnally mcnally.cc)

The Tuckerton Tower, circa 1916 (Souce: Tom Mcnally mcnally.cc)

I love radio history, and I dive right into it when something especially piques my interest. This morning, a news item from a local newspaper in New Jersey about that state’s famed, but nearly forgotten, Tuckerton Tower did just that.

Built in 1912, the Tuckerton Tower was once the tallest structure in the US.  Indeed, it was at that time the second tallest structure in the world (the Eiffel Tower had it beat by 243 feet).  Though on US soil, it was originally built by––get this––the German government, in order to communicate with an identical tower in Eilvese, Germany (see comments); of course, it also communicated with naval vessels. According to many sources, the US government may have been completely unaware of the construction of this communication monolith until it neared completion.

But that’s just the beginning of the story:  When the US entered WWI, the US government took over the tower’s operations and placed Tuckerton’s German operators and engineers in a POW camp.  Then, post-war, the newly-formed Radio Corporation of America (RCA) assumed the tower’s operation with the intention of using it for the latest and greatest innovation in radio communications: voice over wireless. Tuckerton Tower continued under RCA’s operation until the US government drafted it into service again, this time during WWII.

But even though the tower survived two world wars, weather events like nor’easters, and The Great Depression, by the late 1940s it was considered obsolete. Several attempts were made to preserve the historic structure, but on December 28, 1955, it was torn down and cut for scrap.  Today, a lower section of the tower can be viewed at the Tuckerton Historical Society’s museum, while the concrete block anchors that once held the monolithic structure upright now rest, somewhat defiantly, in the center of a residential area.

If you find this tower’s history as remarkable as I do, check out this informative and detailed article in The Sandpiper and Tom McNally’s History of Tuckerton Wireless which includes some excellent photos of the tower throughout history.

Are there any readers of The SWLing Post with memories long enough to remember the Tuckerton Tower, or who have heard stories about it?  Please comment!

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Radio makes us happy

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Your key to happiness

I think we radio listeners have known this all along (Source: The Telegraph):

Over 1,000 Britons were polled via their smartphones and asked to record what media they were consuming and to rate their mood and energy levels while doing so.

Radio came out top, beating both TV and online, in the study called ‘Media and the Mood of the Nation’, with respondents recording a 100 per cent lift in happiness and 300 per cent boost to their energy levels when listening to a radio show versus not consuming any type of media at all.

Watching TV and surfing the internet also significantly boosts people’s happiness and energy levels, but failed to come close to the positive effect radio listening has on Britons’ well-being.

“People are the happiest and most energetic when listening to radio. It plays an important emotional role in people’s lives,” said Mark Barber, planning director at the Radio Advertising Bureau which commissioned the research.

Read the full article hear, then turn on a radio and let the happiness begin!

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Radio As A Force For Peace

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Jocelyne Sambira

In many countries ravaged by war and violent conflict, radio is sometimes the only way of getting information. In most of these regions, there is little or no infra- structure and when people are on the run, it is sometimes the only link to the world they have left behind.

This inspiring article written by journalist, Jocelyne Sambira for we_magazine shows how radio broadcasts and journalism, in general, bring listeners clarity in the midst of chaos.

Read “Radio As A Force For Peace” at we_magazine’s website.

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Wind powered community radio in Southern Sudan

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This week’s Living on Earth Broadcast featured an interview with Internews program director Deborah Ensor about bringing solar and wind energy to the region to power a new radio station in Southern Sudan.

This story is a wonderful example of how radio empowers and promotes community relations in parts of the world that lack a communication infrastructure.

Links:

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