It sounds like you are on a stage in a concert hall, but the reality for a Radio DJ is that the performance venue is quite different. This weekend, as I was working on some things for my online radio station my mind’s eye flickered back across time to all the radio studios, control rooms and booths that I’ve had the privilege of seeing or occupying over the years. With very few exceptions they share one thing; they are very small. In fact, most were less than 120 square feet. And in truth, the newer studios are smaller than the ones back in the day.
For example, my first, the air studio at WUSC-AM was only about 10 feet by 10 feet and it was filled with a bunch of equipment; a big old audio board, an RCA 77-DX microphone hung from the ceiling by chains, two reel to reel tape machines, one on either side of the board and three turntables, two on the right and one on the left. All of this was strategically placed on a U shaped desk where the DJ could easily reach everything. There was a big rack of equipment in the corner near the door that held all the processing equipment and remote control systems for the transmitter. There was room enough for one steel office swivel chair but no others. I could look through the control room window in front of me and see the news booth which was much smaller. It had a matching microphone, a small board and two reel to reel tape machines. To the left through a window angled at 45 degrees was the slightly larger production studio that sported two chairs. Quite a luxury!
Likewise, the master air control room at WCOS was 8 feet wide and about 10 feet deep. It too sported an RCA 77-DX microphone, but it had three cart machines, a clunky old tape device called a Gates 101, four reel to reel machines and only two turntables accessible from the air chair. Really, using only one of them was practical so we learned how to slip cue records well. The transmitter remote control was over the two reel to reel machines on the left and there was that big old rack in the back near the door. But this control room has something else; a third turntable in the back on a shelf above a folding chair next to that rack. Well, calling it a turntable was a bit of a stretch; it was really an old RCA phonograph complete with that 6 inch center that could hold hours of 33 /1/3 RPM albums. It was used only on Sunday nights when the top 40 DJ was also doing a classical music show on the FM station at the same time that he was rockin’ the hits on AM.
The booth at Doug Broome’s was not much bigger, maybe 10 feet by 15 feet. It was in a cinder block building smack dab down on the parking lot right next to the first row of tele-trays. That building that sported 4 feet by 8 feet glass windows on three sides and a door and an air conditioner on the back wall. Inside were two turntables and three cart machines, the RCA microphone and that classic office type swivel chair which completed the décor. There was no other chair in the room because we were not supposed to have guests in the room with us when the microphone was on. But to be honest, there was usually a listener standing behind me more often than not. And, when the record was playing, I would usually be in the open back door talking to a group of listeners who had their hands full of requests and dedications carefully scribed on napkins.
Now, you may remember that unique sound that WCOS had, reverberating through the night as if we were in a huge auditorium. That was courtesy of a “reverb” unit on the floor in the master control room. It consisted of three springs, a small speaker and an audio pickup similar to those on electric guitars. It provided the illusion of space and large rooms. That is unless one accidentally kicks the unit while reaching for a cart. Then it sounds like Armageddon has arrived.
The largest control room I ever worked in was at WIS Radio. At 600 square feet, approximately 20 feet by 30 feet, it sounded “big” because of the room acoustics. Instead of the U shape desk, the one there was L shaped, placed at an angle to the wall. Two microphones, three cart machines, three turntables and a row of floor mounted reel to reel machines along the wall under the big picture window behind the DJ. The right end of the desk was open so the DJ could walk over to the transmitter in the next room to make his twice an hour readings. There were several chairs in that studio and quite often there were people in them. It was quite a showcase.
Speaking of showcases, the coolest radio studio I ever had the chance to sit in the control room of, but alas never work in, was the one in Orange Park Florida at The Big Ape, the Mighty 690 in Jacksonville. They called it “The Radio Country Club of the South.” The daytime transmitter was located in the back wall of the control room and at 50,000 watts, covered most of the east coast of the US between the North Carolina / Virginia state line and Cape Kennedy Florida where the signal from the Cuban station drove The Ape into the murky static from the ever-present thunderstorms. This station was designed and hand built by the iconic Brennan Brothers who also built and owned WBAM in Montgomery and WFLI in Chattanooga. The control room at WAPE was the usual size but that is where it all ended. The DJ sat in the usual office type air chair at the home made audio board, the first that I ever saw with slide instead of rotary “pots” used to control the sound level of the various machines and microphones attached. Just past the board was a big picture window that looked out into the lobby which was open to visitors 7 / 24. To the left was a smaller that looked out over the swimming pool that passed under the building wall into the lobby.
Now, this was not just an ordinary swimming pool. It had a distorted kidney shape with the bigger lobe inside the lobby. I can’t ever remember seeing it empty. There was always a bevy of bikini clad women there enjoying the music and dashing the hopes of the accompanying guys dressed in surfing trunks and sunglasses. Notice, I said that they enjoyed the music and not the water. The reason for that is that the water was almost 80 degrees year round even in the dead of winter. This is where it gets really cool or really nerdy depending on your point of view; the swimming pool was part of the cooling system for that 50,000 watt blowtorch transmitter that Cyril Brennan and Billy Benns, Jr built. It fed a single tower a quarter mile away located in the marshy land next to the St Johns River. It is worth noting the Billy was also a consulting engineer when WIS Radio first went on the air nearly 30 years earlier. These guys knew how to build a first class radio station.
There are many other radio and television control rooms in my memories. Each one has its own cool features, even the one at WUSC-FM and my own personal home studio. The big difference is that now computers have replaced all the cart and reel to reel tape recorders. I must note that there are a couple of turntables at WUSC, I know of only one other radio studio in the city that still has a turntable. At least, I think it still has them; I’ve not visited it since they made their last move.
When I was a young pup DJ just getting started in the business, I often wished that I could do a radio show from my home even in my “jammies” if I wanted to. Thanks to the Internet, that dream is now a reality. I can do a live or pre-recorded show on a station in Columbia or on a station as far away as the UK or Northern Europe from my cozy L shaped desk with a microphone, two computers and an audio board. I think I like this. Oh MY!
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