KAAY And The Cuban Missile Crisis

This material, researched and submitted by Dave M., is timely, since these events occurred shortly after KAAY signed on...and, in-line with the anniversaries re: KAAY and the Cuban Missile Crisis, here is Dave's material:

"[This account was pieced together from a variety of sources, including some private notes from AJ (no confidences are betrayed) as well as some of the historical records available on the internet.]

====Some Notes on the Cuban Missile Crisis and KAAY====

The Cuban Missile Crisis of the '60's has been discussed several times on this blog and KAAY’s role needs a bit more context to really appreciate the position the station was in and the gravity of the decisions that senior staff were being asked to make.

On Labor Day weekend 1962, the call letter change occurred from KTHS to KAAY. KAAY’s on-air date of Labor Day weekend 1962 was only a few weeks prior to the October 1962 standoff between US President Kennedy and Khrushchev of Russia. Russia’s actions in Cuba, and President Kennedy’s response to it brought the world to the very brink of all out nuclear war.
The historical context was this - the Batista government in Cuba had recently been overthrown by Castro's revolutionaries, and Khrushchev was in power in Russia. American school children were being taught about nuclear attacks and how to "Duck and Cover" in classrooms. Khrushchev was a belligerent international bully, and he saw Cuba as a natural extension of Russia's nuclear arsenal, right in America's backyard, just 90 miles from Florida. Khrushchev was supporting the new Communist regime in Cuba with aide and money and military materiel. Russian "advisors" had taken up permanent residence in Cuba.

KAAY was in a unique position because of its powerful night-time signal into downtown Havana. KAAY also had emergency power capability in the event it "was needed". KAAY was a brand new radio station, still getting on its feet and building a new business with new advertisers. So when the call came requesting KAAY participate in the VOA broadcasts to Cuba, there were a number of factors pulling the new staff in opposite directions.

In some private (email) conversations with AJ, he gave some insight into behind the scenes activity during this period. To say that everyone on staff at KAAY agreed with the station's role in broadcasting to Cuba is an understatement. Instead, some on the staff held sharply divided opinions, and some vigorously objected to anything having to do with the Cuban broadcasts.
Those opposed were motivated in part by the practical aspects of getting the new station on its feet and developing an audience. KAAY, after all, had just gone the air just a few short weeks beforehand. Broadcasting to Cuba meant that local advertising could not be sold, eliminating part of the vital revenue stream needed to keep the new station on the air. The other rationale was the simple (and very real) fear of getting directly involved in a situation that could potentially result in the physical harm to people or themselves, and possibly jeopardize the radio station itself. Both of these were good reasons "not" broadcast to Cuba.

So Americans, including the KAAY staff had every right to be very afraid of the potential consequences. The Russians were building nuclear missile launch sites in Cuba, aimed at the US mainland. Was KAAY a target?

The tension was palpable. Americans were rightly afraid that Khrushchev's USSR would act on their threat to launch nuclear missiles onto the US mainland. US Air Force planes overflew Cuba daily taking reconnaissance photos, and these pictures were broadcast on US nightly news - pictures of the Cuban missile launchers being installed and populated with Russian nuclear tipped missiles.

President Kennedy had no choice other than to call the bluff of Khrushchev and Castro. A US Navy blockade was formed, US Navy ships "surrounded" Cuba, to prevent any shipping from reaching Cuba. The blockade enraged Khrushchev and tension escalated to an impossible level. It truly appeared that we were on the verge of an all out nuclear war with Russia. We had tiptoed up to the brink.

One thing was well known - KAAY had the second strongest American radio signal into downtown Havana at night. So the services of KAAY were sought and brought into action.

(Footnote: KAAY was not the only US radio station brought into VOA service. WWL New Orleans was also brought on line as well as others, including some private shortwave stations, as well as the might and muscle of the VOA shortwave transmitters.)

The VOA broadcasts in Spanish went on the air nightly. We have heard anecdotally from Cuban ex-pats from those days, who listened to KAAY in Spanish, and of the Cuban attempts to jam those broadcasts. Many continued to listen to KAAY after the jamming was lifted – KAAY was their source of American music and information.

Diplomats of all sides sought a peaceful end to it. No one wanted the nuclear missiles to fly. Thankfully, the crisis devolved over a period of days, and both the US and USSR were able to announce a diplomatic resolution had been reached. The world took a step back from the brink. And eventually, regular programming returned to KAAY.

=======================
Part of the "hardening" of the KAAY transmitter site was the direct result of the Cuban missile crisis, and part was a result of KAAY being designated as a Conelrad Clear Channel station. KAAY was the only radio station in the state with a 50kw transmitter, and therefore the only radio station that could cover the entire state with news and information in the event of a national emergency.

Almost anticipating unforseen future historical events, when the KTHS transmitter site was built, a generator set was installed. The generator set and an underground fuel tank would insure that the transmitter would be able to stay on the air for "days" at full power in the event of a national emergency. A fallout shelter was built on the ground floor of the transmitter building and it was provisioned with several weeks’ food and water supply. A small studio was also built in the fallout shelter, and a basic telephone line was installed to the downtown studios using a magneto crank phone.

Later, the transmitter itself and assorted support equipment were fitted with a "EMP" kits to protect it from Electromagnetic Pulse radiation that would be radiated from a nuclear blast. It had to be checked every year at Proof of Performance time to confirm it was still functional."

Dave also sent along some links where he gleaned this information, for additional reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista
This is the article that the article quote came from -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_history
Here is a Cuban history, including a section on US relations, the Batisa overthrow, and the emergence of Castro and his support from USSR.

Thanks to Dave M. for all his hard work, showing how KAAY was interwoven into the important history of our country!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Radio Stations and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Below is the abstract from the first paper I wrote in 1994, while a master's student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, about the use of commercial radio stations and the 1962 missile crisis. Also included is a narrative listing of the stations that were asked to participate by the government. KAAY was the only one that voluntarily became a part of this radio network, in order to get the United States point of view to the Cuban people. This is a heck of a story, and the research allowed me to speak with several key Kennedy administration officials, some of whom are now dead. They included Donald M. Wilson, deputy director of the United States Information Agency, under then-director Edward R. Murrow. Wilson acted as the agency head during the crisis, as Murrow was recovering from lung surgery, although he was aware of the efforts. Another key figure was Pierre Salinger, press secretary for President Kennedy. Still another was Henry Loomis, director of the Voice of America. Only Wilson is still living presently. I interviewed everyone but Murrow in this aforementioned group.

Abstract

"THE UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY USE OF COMMERCIAL

RADIO STATIONS DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS"

By Richard C. Robinson

This study focuses on a little-known event that happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. The United States Government, through its United States Information Agency, asked commercial radio stations throughout the country to broadcast Voice of America programs to Cuba in Spanish. Broadcasting began with the speech by President John F. Kennedy on October 22, and continued from late-night until dawn each evening for a period of more than three weeks. Examination of previous literature revealed little on this subject.

The study was conducted utilizing a number of sources. They included the World Wide Web, newspaper accounts, government publications, oral history transcriptions, books and interviews. Research revealed that this was the first time in the history of the United States that the government utilized commercial broadcast media for propaganda purposes. Government used a number of methods to provide the official point of view of the United States to the people of Cuba, both prior to and during the period of crisis. Even though some publicity was generated about the effort, apparently most of the people in the United States were not aware of persuasive techniques employed by their own officials.

The findings raise a number of questions about news media. President Kennedy was criticized for his "manipulation of the media" during this period. While Kennedy and U.S. officials praised the radio stations for their help and "patriotism," there should be concerns over how a democratic government can issue official propaganda messages through "free market" media outlets. This study could serve as a historical reference for future research about government control and media manipulation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That Monday night (when President Kennedy spoke to the American and Cuban peoples) nine stations, including two commercial shortwave stations, WRUL in New York, New York, and KEGI in San Carlos, California participated in the broadcast efforts for the government (Sorensen, 1968. New York Times, 1962).

Seven commercial medium wave stations carried the president's speech that evening. They included stations WGBS, WMIE, and WCKR in Miami, Florida; WSB in Atlanta, Georgia; WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio; WKWF in Key West, Florida; and WWL in New Orleans, Louisiana. An eighth station -- KAAY in Little Rock, Arkansas -- joined the network on Wednesday (October 25, 1962), and began broadcasting the Voice of America programs from 11 p.m. until dawn, the period when their signal reaches into Cuba. KAAY asked to join the network ("U.S. Blanket of Words...", Kansas City Star, October 26, 1962).

This was the first time in history that private radio stations in the United States had cooperated with the government to broadcast programs from its own propaganda agency to a foreign country (USIA, 1983).

Beaker Street as heard from Cuba!

Much has been written here on the Blog about KAAY's influence in Cuba -- how strong its' nighttime signal was on the island, how the US Government used KAAY to broadcast to Cuba during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and how listeners in Cuba wrote fan letters to KAAY, especially for Beaker Street.

Recently we were contacted by someone who not only listened to Beaker Street in Cuba -- he even recorded some of it!  He found his old cassette tapes of Beaker Street and digitized them for us to share.

His name is Gueorgui Lazarov Stoychev, George for short.  He's from Bulgaria, lived in Cuba from 1966 to 1975 and again in the late 70's.  Here is his story:

"Every Cuban in ages from 16 to 30 was into WQAM (that's Miami) during the day, and KAAY during the night, especially for Beaker Street.  So was I.  The recording of the 3 files I sent you are mp3's and were done some time between 1970 and 1975 in Havana where I was living at the time. I edited them now, just for this purpose. At the time I didn't own a tape recorder or a radio cassette recorder, so I always had to borrow one from some friend that had one. Sometimes there was only a tape recorder and I had to use a mike to record from the radio. Cables? No such luxury. 

The purpose was to tape all the music that I liked but there was no way to get in Cuba or in any of the communist countries, and by the way, was forbidden.  Cassettes were expensive like gold and scarce, so space in the cassettes for music was more important and not the DJ's comments or any commercial or radio station ID. Anyway, being the show very late at nite, it began at midnight Cuban time, sometimes I fell asleep while recording and some things got recorded and survived at the end of a tape.

Decades later, when I was digitizing the tapes whose music was nowhere to be found on any format, I discovered KAAY The Mighty 1090's Beaker Street's relics. Not much, but it's something new for anyone interested in preserving what was, if you ask me, the radio station and the radio show that made a mark and history in the industry never unbeaten by no one. People living in America or anywhere else outside the Iron Curtain took all that for granted, but for me and a whole bunch of Cuban friends, all those bands, songs, albums, were something like given by God. The DJs knew what they were talking about, knew about music, had and gave information, not like now when radio is ... there are no words to describe the kind of crap radio is now days. 

So, that's basically, there are many other details, perhaps some other time, if I find something new, undiscovered.  Thank you for allowing me to share with all the KAAY and Beaker Street fans the few minutes I have with the hope that if there are some people out there, that have Beaker Street shows or/and daily programming, please share them complete with the music, not only the airchecks. Listening to complete shows is like traveling in a time machine to better times and better music.

Thank you. Kind regards,
Gueorgui Lazarov Stoychev"

Here are 3 airchecks George recorded in Cuba, around 1974 or '75, one with DJ John Roberts and two with Ken Knight:


(or download here)
After living in Cuba, George also spent time in Mexico where he worked in radio for a while and was involved in the music business:  http://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Gueorgui_Lazarov/127549

Thank you, George, for keeping the KAAY flame going and for bringing those old Beaker Street tapes back to life.

Greg Barman

Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Much has been said about the Cuban Missile Crisis here and on A. J.'s blog, and how KAAY broadcast, re: the situation. This was one time that we were a breath away from annihilation. I believe President Kennedy and Khrushchev used good restraint in knowing NOT to "push the button"...unlike some of our leaders today, who have no sense and thrive on power and ego. As King Crimson said in "Epitaph": "...man's fate is in the hands of fools..."

Needless to say, I was a few days shy of four years old when all this happened and have no recollection of it; however, I enjoy history, and this phase of ours makes me shiver....

There are many, many references to this event. I personally do not like Wikipedia, because I was told by someone opposite of my party affiliation that almost anybody can register and give their version of history. Therefore, I refuse to use that source any more, after having seen some "sensitive" information being changed as many as three times in one month. Hence, the sources I commit here. If anyone has any other interesting references in this historical anniversary week, please feel free to leave them in comments.

How about the timeline:

http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/

Some Navy FAQs:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq90-1.htm

The National Security Archive photograph site:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/photos.htm

And A. J.'s posts re: the events:

http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/search?q=Cuban+missile+crisis

Remember...and celebrate life! I believe there should be deterrant enough to avoid catastrophe...and not to trust too much....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Cuban Letter Interpretation, By Friend Thom Whetston

From one of our blog friends, Thom Whetston, of the AFRTS Archive (see the link under Mighty 1090's Friends on the right), here is a note for the interpretation of a previous letter from Cuba:

"Hi Bud:

This is rough, but it’s pretty much what the Cuban was saying in his letter on your blog:

Havana 12 March 1974

I'm one of the listeners of KAAY and Beeker St. For me this is the best program in the world with a high musical quality.

From the musical interpretations I prefer Rare Earth and Alice Cooper.

I'm also addicted to the music of Grand Funk and Led Zepplin.

I'd like to give you a list of my favorite groups:

Led Zepplin
Grand Funk
Alice Cooper
Rare Earth

I'd really like an Alice Cooper poster."

It looks like in the other Cuban letter, the writer mentioned posters for Jimi Hendrix, Santana and Black Sabbath....

Thanks, Thom!  I've lost the ability to read & speak Spanish, since I never use it any more.  And be sure to visit Thom's fine blog, regarding the history of the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, he has plenty of studio-quality audio there, of those who served and aired great music and programs to our armed forces all over the world.  We salute you, Thom, for your service and those who served!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

A Day In The Life Of A KAAY Engineer

Dave M. was gracious enough to share this info with us about a fire at the transmitter site; nothing of KAAY's was harmed, though. When we were honing this story, either Dave M. or David Treadway mentioned that Felox McDonald never used curse words, but said "sapsucker" when he was perturbed. Mine is "dadgummit", so, I suppose one could holler, "Dadgummit, you sapsuckers!" at someone in the story below:

"Arkansas Power and Light had been asked to replace the three big pole-mounted transformers at the back of the KAAY transmitter building in Wrightsville. This would among other things help our raw AC input power consumption by providing more stable regulated AC to the transmitter inputs. Our 50kw RCA transmitter used about 135kw of raw AC input to produce its 50kw output.

AP and L showed up early one summer morning with a big truck and began the process of removing the old transformers from the poles, then they set some new stronger poles and began mounting the new larger transformers. When they were hoisting the third transformer into place, well, that’s when the accident happened.

First, though, I must digress and make the tie-in with the Cuban missile crisis.

KAAY transmitter had a monster generator set behind the building. It was HUGE and fed by an underground propane tank. The AP&L truck was parked over the spot in the ground where the propane tank was located. Felix used to tell me stories of how long the transmitter would run at full output power on that propane tank – days stretching into weeks! The underground tank was eventually replaced with an above ground tank nearby, but the underground tank was never removed from its resting spot, next to the generator set. Felix said the generator would power the transmitter during a national emergency and KAAY was designated one of the "Conelrad" stations because of its clear channel status. The generator set would also be useful in case a national emergency such as the Cuban Missile Crisis would cause the country to plunge into war. We would have power when others did not.

(KAAY also had a fallout shelter in the transmitter building, with a food and water supply - - did you know that?)

Now, back to the action: When the transformer fell off of the boom arm of the A P and L truck, it also fell through the overhead AC main line coming into the property – 14,000 volts! The main power line broke and fell across the top of the A P and L truck, and the 14,000 V electric charge on the truck’s wheels and chassis arced across the tires and caused the tires to catch fire. Eventually the diesel tanks on the truck caught fire and burned the truck to the ground. Remember, the truck was parked directly over the underground propane tank, and the fire was hot and fierce.

In the meantime, the now broken AC main line was draped across the barbed wire fence surrounding the transmitter property, causing the wire fence to be charged with the same 14,000 volts! Someone on the AP and L crew decided to bypass the circuit breakers upstream of our building, so when the accident happened, there were no circuit breakers to "trip" and take our circuit off-line. And the closest sub-station (and closest circuit breakers) were about 6 miles away, on the other side of the electrified fence!

Several small grass fires broke out. All the A P and L workers were trapped inside the fence and could not leave because the fence was still electrified by the fallen power lines. One of the A P and L supervisors called the fire department by radio, and the Wrightsville volunteer fire department trucks came, but would not put out the fire until power was removed from the broken AC main line – at the substation several miles away.

All the while, our massive generator set was grinding away at full capacity, keeping us on the air, and only 20 feet away from the inferno. Luckily the radiator fan on the generator set blows "away", and help fan the flames away from our building.

We finally went home after dark that night, and the property was still swarming with A P and L insurance investigators snapping pictures and asking a lot of questions. And the generator set, installed in support of the Cuba Missile Crisis helped save the day."

And, some afterthoughts from Dave M.:

"I seem to remember the generator set was already installed at KTHS/KAAY transmitter as part of a government program to equip the transmitter for use as the main Conelrad station for Arkansas. This was no trivial generator either – it was rated at ~150kw continuous output, was very large, and expensive as well. We ran it regularly to keep it operational, and occasionally ran the transmitter from it, providing a full load to the generator. Generator operation and maintenance was logged into the station’s official maintenance logbook along with all other transmitter maintenance and repairs.

[SIDE NOTE] On cold days the big generator was extremely cantankerous and did not want to start. So we installed a smaller generator, 4 cylinder caliber, inside the building that was used to "jump start" the big one on the cold days. Birds liked to build nests inside the mufffler for the big generator, and when it started, it "blew" bird nest, eggs, feathers, and anything else that had managed to crawl inside the muffler across the yard."

From what I'm told, no one at KAAY got fired for this mistake....thank you, Dave M.!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Then, Cuba "Happened"....

Some of us are old enough to remember the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis.  It has been posted here extensively about how it affected us as a nation, and how KAAY got involved only weeks after the station coming to being, with Jim Hankins/"Mike McCormick" almost losing his job over the decision to participate; here is a link of material, mostly by Dave Montgomery and Richard Robinson, regarding such:

http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/search?q=Cuban

KAAY had almost been left out, with the U. S. government having thought KTHS was off the air, not realizing KAAY had the frequency and the coverage; Jim, who couldn't get in touch with anyone to make a decision (remember, cell phones hadn't been invented yet and there were very few car phones), made the decision himself, even though the staff was sharply divided...see the link, re: Dave M's comments from A.J.  Thank you, Jim Hankins, you and KAAY made history....
 

Basically, at midnight every evening, the government came in, ran everyone out of the studio, locked the door and broadcast Voice of America programming to Cuba; the signal from KAAY absolutely blanketed the island nation.

My God, can you even imagine the tension, the agony, the possible retribution that could have taken place?  Fortunately, the U.S. and Russia came to agreeable terms and things cooled down a bit.  So, without further ado, here is a recording, regarding KAAY's involvement of the broadcasts to Cuba:


(or download here)
Thank you, Jim Hankins/"Mike McCormick", for having the guts!

Habana Fan Club Reply Letter

Dear reader and visitor, we take/took it for granted that we could hear radio stations (and enjoy other media) without fear of reprisal.  The letters Wayne Moss has so graciously shared with us and posted here reflect the zeal others outside the United States had for listening to such programming- especially that of KAAY and Beaker Street.

You've seen the previous Habana Club Fan Letter, then KAAY's response letter...and here's the Club's "thank you" letter.  I tried to scan it in with the correct colors, but something was "lost in the translation"...the stamp was supposed to be brown!  Nonetheless, here is the letter, edited again of course, of the Club president who was apparently overjoyed at KAAY's responding to his letter (actually, there were two identical letters mailed at different times- only one was posted beforehand):

Should we here in the most free country in the world actually realize the privileges we have- and that we should have as much zeal for those freedoms we take so lightly!  More letters from Cuban listeners will be posted, as we have space and time...these letters are wonderful history and a testamant that KAAY put a monstrously BIG K signal 'way ouside our borders!

By the way, do any of you out there remember "onion paper"?  And Air Mail envelopes?  Very thin, very light, as postage between countries could be very costly...and these wonderful Cuban listeners were spending hard-earned wages to write to and follow our beloved KAAY!  Many of these letters sent to me by Wayne are of this type...so, stand by, don't touch that dial, more are to come!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Comments From Cuba, From Antonio Diaz

In fact I didn't remember anyone been jailed for listen to radio stations from USA but if the police or any communist official got you doing that you end up been marked as a gusano (dissident).I'm a living example of that I was thrown out of university of Havana in 1980,they found out that I was an underground music fan and was listening Beaker Street every night in my house and finally I had to head north to America. ---Antonio Diaz on More Cuban Comments 10/6/17
	It's very exciting to know that people from Cuba took the time to send letters to the staff of KAAY, I'm Cuban and by that time 1973 I was a diehard listener of the station, Beaker Street was my favorite program I didn't miss them , each night I used to turn on my radio on 1090 khz from 1971 when I first discovered the station until September 27 1977 that beaker street wasn't on the air and never again I had the chance to hear BS I still don't know what happened, anyway I still keep those memories as my fondest, there's no doubt about it KAAY was the best station I've ever heard in my life. ---Antonio Diaz on Long DX Letter From Cuba 10/6/17

Letter From Cuban Student

Thirty-nine years ago today, a Cuban student wrote to KAAY, regarding Beaker Street.  This listener heard "the underground music" daily.  What dedication...I can't even remember what I was doing on this date 1973, except that I was about to turn 15 years old in a few days and I was about to get my learners permit to drive.  I'll bet, with sports and studies, I wasn't staying up too late on weekday nights to listen.  But this student found the time and inclination to do so!

Thank you, Wayne Moss, for donating this letter for the blog!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Comments, Re: Cuban Fan Letters

Hello Bud,

It was very kind of you to publish that stuff from Cuba, it’s been an instant time machine for me. I was a teenager by that time (1973), and all my friends and me were always awaiting till midnight for the Beaker Street. We were in the north western part of Cuba, close to the Gulf of Mexico and it always amazed us how in the world this AM signal could reach us from Little Rock. Now I live here in the US and take the opportunity to thank personally Clyde Clifford and the original KAAY staff for making possible even for the Cuban listener of forbidden music a program like Beaker Street.

Best Regards

Marco Romeu

John K. Anderson/Jack Grady

I'd mentioned John/Jack to Tom Perryman, since Tom had worked at WAKY and was affiliated with KAAY by doing announcements (see earlier posts, type "Tom Perry" in the search box at the upper left).

When Jack was at KAAY in 1962/'63, he was "John K. Anderson" a lead newsman working in tandem with George J. Jennings, but when he was at WAKY, he was deejay "Jack Grady".  Tom said this was to separate him from the news and music sides.  Tom also mentioned that Jack was somewhat of a private person, so I hope he won't mind us posting this material here, since it is already on the web.  As "John K. Anderson", he was instrumental in involving KAAY's broadcasting material for the U. S. governement during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Here are some materials from A.J.'s old blog (a Silver Dollar Survey) and from a WAKY website:

And the WAKY article (can't seem to "rip" the picture):

http://www.79waky.com/WAKYKyMonthlyarticle.pdf

I just made the connection a couple of days ago, myself...where have I been?

I'm presuming that Jack worked at WAKY before coming to KAAY, since Bob Watson (Thomas S. Watson) mentioned that Jack was one of the original WAKY deejays, but no dates were mentioned in his article, "The WAKY Wonderful Days of Radio" at the link above, except for 1961.  Bob mentioned that he worked opposite of Jack at the time.

Anyone got any exact dates when Jack Grady worked at WAKY?

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

For The Beaker Street Fans...

...I've found another link that I hadn't come upon before...and it's quite succinct in it's history of the program, more so than I've seen in the past.  Clyde Clifford (Dale Seidenschwarz), Stuart McRae and Don Payne are all mentioned in the article.

http://www.fourpxarticles.com/home-and-family/babies/beaker-street/comment-page-1/#comment-40170

The article is too long to print here...nonetheless, it makes a good read.  Influences upon listeners include that of a particular band (there were MANY musicians influenced by the music) and Cuban listeners, as well.

I remember somewhere, a comment as to how one listener liked the music, but not the problems brought on by the drug culture of some of the musicians...and that, as a child of six years old, he saw how several artists died from overdoses.  Liked the music, didn't like the drugs, never got involved with the latter.  I felt the same way, as a fan of the show....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Kay-Double-Ay-Why Song Intro's!

The deejays of KAAY threw a lot of enthusiasm into their broadcasts!  Just listen to the introductions they used for songs and Silver Dollar Surveys!


(or download here)
We survived the Cuban Missile Crisis, going on to live our lives in the '60s and beyond...sock hops and dances, going to the soda fountain and on dates, listening to our favorite deejays and music all the while!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

"Mike McCormick" Revisited

In my constant reseach to bring you, dear reader and visitor, as much historical information about KAAY and The Greats thereof, I occasionally run upon a kernal of information.  Such is with Jim Hankins, a.k.a. "Mike McCormick"....

"Mike McCormick", Jim Hankins, from KAAY's early days, and numerous stations before and since then, had a definite impact on radio everywhere he worked.  440 Satisfaction lists all the stations with which he worked

http://www.440int.com/440sat.html

and Jeff Roteman's page gives a little more history

 http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff/mccormick.html

I had the great fortune to speak with Jeff Roteman the other evening, who was very gracious and helpful in updating me about Mike McCormick.  The picture above is from about the era of his employment with KQV in Pittsburgh, PA.  Jeff's link above gives some information about Mike McCormick's tenure there.  One of the personalities we all recognize who worked with Mike at KQV and WLS was Gary Gears.  Jeff has a WLS page with a great Gary Gears aircheck:

http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff/wlsTheRockOfChicago.html

For those of you who may not remember, Mike was very instrumental in KAAY's early days, especially during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The picture below is of Mike when he was at KAAY.  For much more information, please type "Mike McCormick" in the upper left-hand search box and click the spyglass....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Where Is Jim Hankins/The 1st "Mike McCormick" Today?

The last I'd heard of Jim Hankins was that he was in Austin, Texas (President and CEO of MCC Radio Consulting), but the last e-mail I had isn't working.  It was he who had the intestinal fortitude to contact the authorities to get KAAY on the bandwagon, transmitting Voice of America (VOA) programming to Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.  This was when he realized the tremendous potential of KAAY's night time signal pattern, and the fact that not one of LIN Broadcasting's executives could be found to make the decision.  It almost cost him his job (and some say it later did), until the station got a commendation for its part in broadcasting to Cuba during this time of trouble.  We owe him a lot for making such great radio history.

I'd made a mis-spelling awhile back, and got corrected by someone, I don't know who, but it seemed "1st person".  I'd mis-spelled the last name, "McCormack" and immediately went back and spelled it correctly.  If that was you, Jim, would you care to make some comments?  Thanks in advance!

Jim Hankins was the first "Mike McCormick" in 1962, if I remember correctly....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Clear-Channel Frequencies of the Past

I have always been interested, when I was growing up, in the old clear-channel AM frequencies of the Cold War era. KAAY's 1090 frequency fell in the region of those channels. Such frequencies included 540, 640-780, 800-900, 940, 990-1140, 1160-1220, and 1500-1580. In recent years, lower-powered stations have been allowed to broadcast on these frequencies as well, creating the potential for increased interference to an otherwise clearly-heard station, nationwide.

There were also the so-called "graveyard channels" of 1230, 1240, 1340, 1400, 1450 and 1490, where only up to 1000 watts could be used, but were heard at long distances at night.

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/radio/monitoring/am-fm-dxing/

Anyone remember the old Conelrad receivers? These mainly monitored 640 and 1240 kHz and could monitor several other switch-selected frequencies. I have several antique and classic AM/shortwave receievers that have the "CD" triangles marking the dial spots. Here is an excellent article on a Conelrad Conaler II receiver/monitor, with pictures:

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/Conalert.htm

Does anyone else remember these, and do you have any strange transmissions, radio tests or recorded audio to relate and share, please?

KAAY participated in propaganda broadcasts to Cuba, during the Cuban Missle Crisis. Wikipedia also lists WCKY doing this, as well, and A. J.'s blog listed WLS, too. Does anyone else know of other stations that broadcasted propaganda to Cuba, on mediumwave, during this era, please?

All comments welcome!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

"Don Marquez" (Don Marcus) Cuban Fan Letter

Here is a letter from a listener in Cuba who heard Don Marcus ("Don Marquez") while he was running Beaker Street!  This is the only letter Wayne Moss sent me which was addressed specifically to someone at KAAY.  Apparently, Don made an impact on this fellow!  I just had to include a shot of the envelope, since it was addressed to "Don Marquez"....

More to come!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Cuban-Language Letter To KAAY

Another offering from Wayne Moss, this one in Spanish.

Music is a universal language, cutting across all borders; the writer thought enough to write to what obviously was, if not one of, the listener's favorite radio station.  Again, another wonderful piece of history and testament of KAAY's signal strength.

Thank you, Wayne!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

Upcoming Book???

I'd just heard from Greg Barman, our "resident" audio technician, about something he found while doing research:

"Memorializing the Mighty 1090


Sonny Rhodes, a journalism professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, is tackling a book project on KAAY-AM, 1090, a Little Rock radio station that began broadcasting in 1962.

"I think it's a fascinating piece of Arkansas history. There's not been a lot documented about radio history, especially in Arkansas," Rhodes said last week.

The book will focus on the glory days of "The Mighty 1090," which lasted well into the 1970s, he said.

Fans and former employees of the old KAAY celebrated the 50th anniversary of its launch Sept. 14 in Little Rock.

"It had an interesting format in that it was sort of ‘all things to all people,'" Rhodes said. The station would broadcast reports on livestock prices for farmers, top 40 music, religious programming and "Beaker Street," a three-hour night program that "was really one of the forerunners of underground music programming," he said.

Early on, around the time of the Cuban missile crisis, KAAY also used its broadcast range to point American propaganda toward Cuba.

KAAY was the top-rated radio station in Arkansas through the 1970s and was heard in other countries because the 50,000-watt station's signal reached so far at night, Rhodes said.

"You could hear it all the way from Canada to Argentina," Rhodes said. "The sun interferes with AM signals, so at nighttime nothing interferes and the signals travel a lot farther."

KAAY is still on the air, but was sold and converted to all-Christian broadcasting in 1985.

Rhodes is an associate professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is working on the written history of KAAY with a friend and professor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, Richard Robinson.

Robinson wrote his doctoral dissertation on KAAY, and the book is a result of that project.

Rhodes is currently researching the book, plans to conduct interviews with the famous former KAAY radio personalities who are still alive and is adapting Robinson's academic paper to appeal to an audience outside of academia. Rhodes hopes to have the book finished by May, he said.

Rhodes and Robinson have not yet found a publisher."

I'd also like to clarify the statement about the sun affecting radio waves: during the day, the sun causes the 'F layer' of the atmosphere to divide into what is called the 'F1' and 'F2' layers and are more porous to radio waves.  At night, both layers recombine and become more dense to radio waves, causing signals to 'skip' longer distances.  Radio propagation is a fascinating science and is worthy of basic study, of you're interested in radio and/or communications.

Thanks to Greg Barman for this catch!  We'll be waiting for the book to come out....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)