Thanks for giving space to Robert Kegerreis’ great story of his home-grown radio station. It must have resonated with many of your readers of a certain age, who built a little station in their bedrooms before beginning careers in “real” radio.
I built the Knight kit from Allied Radio and ran station WJD (DJ backwards) from my home in a Cleveland suburb for a year in 1956–57.I operated from 4 until 11 p.m. every Monday, offering a variety of programming, which included live joins to a TV newscast and two half-hour dramas, tapped from a table radio and aired in real time. I took pains to operate realistically, keeping a careful program log.
During the same period I answered phones for an all-night DJ on WERE(AM) on weekends. One day a member of the engineering staff tipped me that the station had an opening for a board operator. I applied, and copies of my log helped persuade the CE that I was for real. A 50-year career in radio followed. (Since my antenna was considerably shorter, I missed out on the visit from the FCC.)
By the way, I believe the correct term for the device was “phono oscillator.” My recollection is that they were developed to allow a free-standing phonograph to be played through a nearby radio without a wired connection.
Chuck Crouse
Lancaster, Pa.
