Old Joe - stories from the grave

[Jack Bennest]

With the indulgence of the admins I would like to put in here an edited version
of a thread I started last year elsewhere.

Brian Lord had told me a story in an email - subsequently that bizarre story has
generated some responses.

Many people on this board worked at CJJC and I thought we could continue some form of dialogue on it. Here it is:



Joe Chesney owner of CJJC Radio holds the distinction of being the only man in the history of radio to cut down his own broadcasting tower.

The board of Directors of his station fired him for a decision he made or wanted to distanced themselves from him. (More on that later)

Within a very short period of time, a matter of days if not hours, Joe enacted what, to his way of thinking, was revenge: if he could not make decisions then neither would anybody else. Joe drove to his three-tower location a few miles from the main studios.

Around midnight, Joe, hooked up some kind of blow torch affair and cut one of the towers down, effectively crippling CJJC's function to broadcast.

Joe Chesney never admitted anything. It is said that the RCMP knew he had done it but no charges were laid. After all, he owned the station. However, Joe was stripped of his B.C. Broadcast License and moved to Saskatchewan where he applied for a radio frequency unsuccessfully.

Story by Brian Lord (this version severally edited)

***


2nd version

The towers were brought down on October 4, 1977 at 12:35 AM. They were cut by an unknown person or persons using a bolt cutter.

The real reason that Joe was fired from the board was that Joe was running for the NDP nomination in the Langley riding and it was costing the station great losses in revenue as the advertisers were jumping ship.

***


3rd version

That wasn't the only time one of the towers came down - around 1984. A guy was contracted out to chop down the weeds at the transmitter site, and inadvertently sliced the guide wires off the main tower. The thing fell and took the station off the air for several days, while a replacement was found, and shipped out to Langley.

It seems to me that Mel Christian went out to the site to find the guy with the high-powered weed wacker sitting in his tractor, in tears.

[Laterider]

Whoever cut the towers down thought they could put the station out of commission. However the station was back up and running less than three hours later with the tower incident leading the morning news. The DOC granted us permission to operate on reduced power but without the normal pattern restrictions and this resulted in the station being heard in places it could not reach before. Two new towers were ordered and within three weeks the station was back on full power and with the 6 towers fully functional again.

Try and get Brian Lord to comment on what happened to him on one of his on air shifts. I was working directly under master control when there was a thump on the floor above me. The record ended and there was a long period of dead air. I ran upstairs and Brian was laying passed out on the floor.

[radiofan]

From The Langley Advance archives

Thirty Years Ago
September 30, 1976

Vandals snipped a guy wire and knocked out local radio station CJJC's transmissions for several hours.

The Langley Advance

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

By the date of the incident, I assume this was the site on 248th Street just south of Highway 1.

Does anyone recall where the 850 site was? I always thought it was SW of downtown Langley in the 40th Ave/ 192 Street area. There was some towers in that area, maybe they were DOC stuff? Something I read in the past few years indicated the 850 site was east of Langley on 224th or 232nd south of Fraser Hwy.

[radiofan]

I did a Google search on CJJC and came up with this from a blog belonging to John Love.

October 5, 2004
"This was your past, but not anymore. Now go away."


Trying to revisit the past doesn't always work out

A number of years ago, my wife and I were driving and we found ouselves on the Fraser Highway in Langley. Looking at some street signs, I realized that we were actually very close to where I had lived when I was in Grades 2 and 3. I became excited and said "let's follow 248th and see if we can find my old place!"

Right before 248th crossed over the Highway Number 1, I saw a familiar narrow gravel driveway with a rusted mailbox.

"That's it! Turn down here! Turn down here!"

"But it says 'No Trespassing'" my wife pointed out rightly, but we went down anyway.

The narrow gravel road curved down to a level about 30 lower than the main road, and ended at a gated access road leading into what was like a small, green valley. My wife said "John, we should go" but I wasn't listening. Stepping out of the car, I walked ahead to the locked steel fence (with a "No Trespassing" sign) and sighed as I reoriented myself with the fields and trees that had once been part of my backyard.

This property was originally 77 acres, owned by a bunch of doctors. Back when I lived there, it was mostly dirt and low-lying scrub brush - an unfinished, industrial-looking place. It was also the transmitter site for my Dad's employer, CJJC Radio AM 800. There used to be six high-voltage radio antennas stretching 100 feet into the air, but they were long since dismantled after the radio station shut down.

The story I had heard from my Dad was that after we left, the son of the radio station owner had lived in the trailer which had been our home for two years. Unfortunately, he accidentally burned it down. Now, the acreage was covered in green, and the properties that fronted onto 248th looked like they extended farther down onto the acreage, giving their livestock (horses, cows and bulls) all the more room to graze. It was extremely peaceful and beautiful little valley now.

Behind us, I heard a voice yell "This is private property!" I turned to see a man holding a rifle, walking towards us with a Doberman Pinscher at each side. I stammered something about how we were just leaving. We hopped back into the car and left and I have never been back.
-----------------
A few weeks ago, my sister phoned to tell me that she had located another place we had briefly stayed at as children: The Blue Star Motel, also near the Fraser Highway, outside of Langley. We had stayed here maybe only a few nights until our Dad managed to find us the little trailer on the transmitter site.

My memory of the Blue Star was that it was very bright and clean, and had nicely trimmed green lawns.

Oh my god, but was I ever in for a surprise as my sister and I drove up to this dingy, faded and overgrown place, which looked like it was now condemned. The same sign was still up, but the drapes were drawn at the manager's office and a few people gathered around a car with the hood up, about 100 feet back towards the rear of the lot. It looked like a total dump now, and I didn't really want to see much more.

There's a saying that goes "You can never go home again". It means that part of what makes a place home is your connection to it, and that this can be lost with the passage of time, and the natural changes of life.

But scary people, guns, and guard dogs can have a big impact too.

"This was your home, but not anymore. Now go away."



John Love Blog

[Laterider]

The John Love story was a bit scary. I replaced his father at CJJC in 1974.
The old 850 one Kilowatt site was indeed on 232nd about a mile south of Fraser Highway. CJJC should have kept the frequency and the old site and just increased their power but their consultant told them that 850 was a CBC frequency and that the CBC were considering putting an AM station on in Victoria and that 800 would be a better frequency for Langley. Joe bought into the idea and spent a fortune in land clearing etc. only to find that the CBC changed their mind a year later. Joe was also led to believe that the 790 frequency in Bellingham would not effect his coverage. These were bad moves on both counts and Joe later found that the consultant was working for both CJJC and the CBC.

[jon]

I was always surprised that CJJC was ever licensed on 850, given the existence of KTAC Tacoma (so close) on the same frequency. And even more surprised when CFSR Abbotsford was more recently licensed to the frequency. Even after looking at their very restrictive transmitter patterns, I still scratch my head.

In Burnaby in the '60s, despite how close Langley is, non-directional 50KW KOA in Denver made CJJC unlistenable most nights. CKRD in Red Deer was also pretty easy to hear.

In retrospect, 650 would seem the logical choice for CJJC's destination after 850. It would be years before CISL applied for their license.

Of course, 1040 is where they ended up, so that probably makes the most sense, though I'm not sure the CRTC was ready to hand Mr. C. a 50KW license back in the early '70s.

The CBC wanted a station in Victoria because CBU-690 was getting beat up so badly at night by 50KW XETRA-690 in Tijuana with its tight Northern directional pattern to hit Los Angeles with all the power they could muster. Again, in retrospect, CBU should have just moved to 650 or 1040, as a frequency swap with other major Western CBC stations was out of the question: Calgary 1010 was not the required 40KHz away from CKNW-980; Edmonton 740 was right on top of CKLG-730; and Winnipeg 990 was right on top of CKNW. CBK was not going to give up 540 since they had worked so hard to build a workable "one transmitter for Saskatoon and Regina" situation, not to mention to being right on top of KARI-550.

[radiofan]

In retrospect, 650 would seem the logical choice for CJJC's destination after 850. It would be years before CISL applied for their license.

Of course, 1040 is where they ended up, so that probably makes the most sense, though I'm not sure the CRTC was ready to hand Mr. C. a 50KW license back in the early '70s.

At the time CJJC switched to 800, 650 and 1040 were still considered Clear Channels in the US.

It wasn't until the early 80's those frequencies were opened up for Canadian stations.

There from 84 onwards many Western Canadian stations moved to what was once US clear channels.

CHQR in Calgary from 810 to 770, CHQT Edmonton from 1110 to 880, CKOM in Saskatoon from 1250 to 650, CISL Richmond from 940 to 650, CKDA Victoria from 1220 to 1200.

CIOF Vancouver was originally granted 540, but had moved to 1040 before hitting the air.

[gwp]

I was always surprised that CJJC was ever licensed on 850, given the existence of KTAC Tacoma (so close) on the same frequency.? And even more surprised when CFSR Abbotsford was more recently licensed to the frequency.? Even after looking at their very restrictive transmitter patterns, I still scratch my head.

Fraser Valley Radio moved very quickly to take over 850 when CJJC moved to 800. At the time it made great sense as FVB was not interested in the territory towards Vancouver, but needed to improve the CFVR signal in the AbbotsFORD/Mission area particularly at night as 1kw DN at 1240 was being erroded with industrial noise etc and the ability to stay at 1kw at night made little difference. Because CFVR could orient the signal mostly towards the east and protect the south it also required fewer towers than what CJJC was using to reach both the valley and Vancouver.

Another note about the 800 site for CJJC, while under construction, all their copper ground wire was stolen from the site.

[Laterider]

Interesting note on the copper being stolen. This is still happening today as is the case on two AM transmitter sites in Richmond. There are even transmitter generator buildings being broken into and attempts made to steal copper off the generator windings. One day someone is going to try and steal the copper off the tower base with disasterous results.

Another interesting note was that the CJJC site was riddled with quicksand pools and a tractor was almost lost by sinking up to its' roof while trying to dig a trench to lay to transmission cable in. The site was to be finished in 9 months from start of construction but it still was not finished two years later.

[RationalKeith]

Gosh folks, that’s the limitation of FM, it is mostly line-of-sight whereas AM follows the terrain to significant degree so is better in the hills?

Is dual transmission discouraged legally (as it was by the FCC in the early days of FM) or is it just the cost of operating two transmitters?

[RationalKeith]

As for 770 – hmm, that rings my memory as the powerhouse WABC New York, from a 5/8 wave antenna its RnR programming could be heard in Europe some nights.

So using the power of the Internet, I quickly find these links:
http://www.musicradio77.com/ the enthusiast site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WABC_(AM) overal history
http://hawkins.pair.com/wabc.shtml tx page transmitter technical then and now
http://www.nyradionews.com/wabc/ news writing skill in writing news for radio

PS: Veering off on a bit, in the encyclopedia I tried to check WABC in, I see that in the 1960s some eastern US stations tried all-female casts, some getting appropriate call letters like WSHE and WLIZ. Maybe those Edmonton stations trying to attract a female demographic could copy the notion, if they really want to position themselves narrowly.

[Jack Bennest]

Gosh a three year old thread

deju vu all over again

[RationalKeith]

So what's your real beef?

Threads are indexed not archived.

[Jack Bennest]

Real beef is lean and juicy!

[RationalKeith]

If you dig into Hawkins transmitter pages there's one of stories, including a transmitter tech earning her pay one day, the hard-dirty-“keep your wits about you” way.

Also you can find a site covering more than WABC's transmitters.

Here's a specific link to discussion of their signal:
http://www.musicradio77.com/transm.html



Many hard-working people, not game players as some in forums are.