“Show Us Your Mic Collection” is a new Radio World feature where intrepid broadcasters and readers can show off their microphones. Have a submission? Email us at [email protected].
Many people have collections of microphones. If only these mics could tell stories, right? But their owners can.
Pete Williams is a well-known political correspondent and reporter, now retired, of NBC TV network news. We caught up with Pete, a journalist in residence at John Carroll University’s Tim Russert Department of Communications in University Heights, Ohio, where we asked Pete about his microphone collection.
Pete’s array of mics from a glimpse is quite impressive.
Pete: Having started my career in radio at KATI in Casper, Wyo., I’ve always been passionate about microphones — an essential tool of the trade. My collection consists of some of the actual mics I’ve used along the way, as well as models identical to those I’ve used.
Others were added that I find interesting and noteworthy. I’m especially drawn to ribbon mics, partly because of the prominent role they played in broadcasting history. As someone who originally planned to major in electrical engineering before my head was turned by journalism, I’m interested in how they work and in the inventive minds that made them possible.
What’s his favorite?
That’s a tough question. But it would have to be the RCA 44-BX, which still has a full, rich sound. The 44 in my collection was once used overseas in the Armed Forces Radio Network and was put out to pasture when the network converted from shortwave to satellite transmission.
While I was serving as the Pentagon spokesman, that mic arrived one day in the mail, sent by a retired Air Force master sergeant who somehow became aware of my passion for vintage mikes.
The RCA BK-5 in my collection, rescued from oblivion, was on the lectern at the old Pentagon press room during the Vietnam War. The Electro-Voice 642 shotgun, also a rescue, was in the ceiling of the old press room to pick up questions from reporters.
Other notable items include the brass Amperite SR-80, which was in the newsroom of KZSU, the radio station at Stanford University, where I spent many hours as a student during the early 1970s. I was also pleased to find an RCA BK-4A, known as the “Starmaker,” because its slim profile didn’t hide the talent.
When the “Today” program debuted on NBC television in 1952, the principal anchor, Dave Garroway, wore a BK-4A from a lanyard hanging around his neck.
My collection also includes a new version of the RCA KU-3A, a unidirectional ribbon mic. It was made by AEA in California, which manufactures improved models of RCA originals as well as other audio equipment. It’s one of the mics I use in recording a jazz podcast I’m developing.
And, in case you’re wondering, they’re all in working order. Some have been repaired and fitted with new ribbons.
Have a submission for “Show Us Your Mic Collection?” Email us at [email protected].
