Young and in Radio — Juvenile Delinquent Edition
This rascally young radio whelp, a budding wild one, sticks his tongue out at authority as he rides the turntables of ALHS, a small high school radio station at Abraham Lincoln High School.
The San Jose, Calif., school had a full-fledged radio arts program in the late 1940s through the 1950s. According to a source, “Those were radio heydays, offering career opportunities during the dominance of network radio and before TV eclipsed radio as the nation’s go-to entertainment option.”
As for the facilities, “The ‘board’ in that snapshot was custom-built by the San Jose School District’s Audio-Visual Department. It had three mic inputs, two turntables, and could pull-up remotes from the gym, the Dramatic Arts classroom and the football field.”
Recording was done on an Ampex 600. “But before that there was a Brush Soundmirror, and earlier a Presto K8 disc lathe. The school never had an on-air presence ... an official, licensed one, anyway,” our source says.
Fortunately, the young man in the picture eventually left behind his youthful dalliance with demon radio to become a productive citizen and a successful businessman.
Learn more about Inovonics founder Jim Wood in this Radio World article, “Wood Reflects on 40 Years.”