Several readers wrote in response to Mark Krieger’s commentary “A Structure Is Gone, Its Memories Remain.”
Good times
The Smith Building, we used to call it … 8200 Snowville Road. … Thank you for publishing this story!
It was my work location for around 18 months as vice president of operations for Gore Broadcasting. We bought the old WIXY 1260 and located our offices and studios there; our tower site for 1260 was about two miles away. It was also home base for corporate operations.
Our calls at the time were WRDZ. We broadcast in C-Quam AM stereo. We occupied the whole second story and it was a blast, having the Smith operation on the first level. Great people. … I learned a lot from them, and they had all of the engineering toys.
The whole interior of the building was clad in shiny copper. Nonetheless, you could hear 1100 AM singing through the filing cabinets.
— Jonathon R. Yinger, president and CEO, The Christian Broadcasting System & Broadcast Properties LLC
Lasting impact
I came across Mark Krieger’s piece. Indeed, those memories have a lasting impact.
When I was a young engineer in the Miami radio market, I landed my second radio job at a directional AM station. I had no experience with directional stations, and my only knowledge was to avoid turning the cranks on the phasor.
Fortunately, the ownership of the radio station recognized my potential and mentored me. The director of engineering crafted two invaluable booklets on AM directional arrays: one delved into the mathematics of directional antenna systems, while the other provided insights specific into the array I would be operating. He even traveled to Miami to guide me personally through the theory and functionality of directional arrays.
Later, I had the opportunity to attend a course offered by the NAB on directional antennas in Cleveland. It was my first encounter with snow, Christmas trees and seeing apples on the trees.
The course material was predominantly by Carl Smith, and I still vividly recall the “Analog Directional Array Calculator.” To this day, I treasure the outstanding directional antenna books by Smith as well as those penned by George Ing, the director of engineering at Mission Broadcasting, my first mentor.
Beyond the snow, apples and Christmas trees, the highlight of that time was the trip to 3WE to experience the analog pattern generator. This experience was second only to my investment in a BSEE and was an invaluable leap forward in my professional journey.
— Glynn Walden
Preserve our history
I have a love of older and historic buildings. My father was a handyman who often worked on repairing or upgrading buildings that were around for around 100 years. I learned not just the knowledge but the craftsmanship that it took to build these homes, businesses and landmarks. And I took much of this design philosophy into my later endeavors, including radio.
I’ve seen the sale of a legendary set of call letters in my home market, then the sale of the property with a nine-antenna array. I could talk a whole lot more about that travesty of history, but I won’t. It is done.
I’ve seen Art Deco buildings torn down. I’ve seen all kinds of our history being tossed away. I would hope that more people will speak up to preserve some of these historic structures.
— Archie Stulc
Thank you
Regarding the article “A Structure Is Gone, Its Memories Remain”: Thank you very much for this informative well written article. So interesting the past history, it was an enjoyable read indeed!
— Ross Langman, KB8NTY, Twinsburg, Ohio
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