"...here is the picture of the KTHS Control Room 1960. Unless I am mistaken (and either Phil Roe or Jonnie King would know), this was the same Control Board that KAAY used during its heyday on West 7th Street."
I also forwarded this to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas for entry. Can anyone identify the gentleman in the picture?
Thank you, Hollis!
Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)
Hi Bud -
ReplyDeleteThe control board in the KTHS picture was indeed the same model used at W 7th street. During my tenure, it was eventually replaced with a solid state (transistorized) RCA mixer. I wrote about this on AJ's blog, and I believe if you search around you can find a better photo of the front panel.
The person in the photo looks like Walt Sadler, although I am not certain of that -
Dave M//
That looks a BUNCH like Walt Sadler (Ron Owens at the time Matt White was Sonny Martin III), but I'd need to see him head-on before I could be certain.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, can anyone tell what one important thing is MISSING from this picture? Something without which the KAAY control room could not have functioned?
Bonus points for knowing why the turntable in the foreground has two tone arms!
David B. Treadway
Doc Holiday VII
The Last PD
Those RCA consoles made it over to Cottondale Lane. They were sturdy but the amplifiers were pretty crummy. I put a square wave through the console and it "rang" like a bell, so the console was causing its own overmodulation before the signal ever left the building.
ReplyDeleteRinging and high-order harmonics (5th, 7th, 9th, 11th) are characteristics of the so-called "transistor sound." Tube consoles run out of steam above the third harmonic.
But when it came to my (unsuccessful) attempt to restore the KAAY sound, the studio was the least of my troubles. But more on that some other time.
The last time I saw those RCA consoles, they were laying in a junk pile at the old KLRA building at Galloway, Arkansas.