New Set of Pictures

[jon]

My memory is not perfect on this matter, but I'd swear that we only had to use one patch cable at CHQM in 1971-72 for stereo inputs. I never noticed the difference at the time (from the mono ones I was used to using at UBC Radio), but was there a stereo version of these patch cables?

FYI, I only recall having to use patch cables when we were remotely running the tape drives in the FM control room, from the AM control room. They were patched in to replace the turntables. It was an eerie feeling pushing the button and hoping that the tape in the other room (there was an announce booth between the AM and FM control rooms) would actually start rolling.

You also started doubting yourself that you had put the tape hubs on tight enough, and kept imagining that the tape would fall off the drive with you so far away and unable to quickly solve (or prevent) the problem. I guess it didn't help that the operator who trained me warned me about that happening.

Actually, there was one even more eerie experience. Running the AM station off the automation machine. Because you couldn't even see it from the AM control room. You just pushed a button and only knew if something was happening when you heard, or didn't hear, any sound coming out of the monitors. Only did that once and, silly me, it was actually my idea. And a bad idea at that.

[tuned]

I remember the QM automation well. It was a Rube Goldberg contraption with many quirks that I was warned about. Apparently putting two pins in the same row would cause major havoc so I recall using all of my brain cells when "pegging" up a sequence of music and commercials. I think it ran off 14" NAB reels which held a ton of tape that you wouldn't want all over the floor. One of the operators actually showed me the spot in which a well placed kick could get things moving if necessary. The panel had many dents in it so I assumed he wasn't making it up. I didn't last long there after one of the other ops told me that the calls stood for Canada's Home for Queer Men. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

[Mike Cleaver]

As far as I know, there are no commercially made stereo patch cables.
If you had one at 'QM, it was probably home-made and not balanced.
But before the advent of the TRS cable, there was a double plug one with just tip and sleeve, like a mono phone plug with the two prongs about an inch apart on each end of the cable.
Patch cables still are used today in their various adaptations where analog audio still is in use, such as recording studios with hardware pre-amps, compressors and other effects boxes.
Digital switching usually is accomplished with a computer interface these days.
I remember the board at 'OV had patchable inputs for the various line input pots so jocks could "customize" the board if they wanted to.
They were also used for "patching around" malfuntioning equipment and for test purposes.

[jon]

Mike: there may well have been a double plug patch cable at CHQM. I just don't remember, as it was only used a few times when I was there.

tuned: there was a sign in the AM Control Room right by the mic. for a week or so that said "CHQM - A Q Broadchasing Station". During my time, the main concern was an operator who would come to work having smoked way too much marijuana just before his shift, and could not even mind the automation machine when someone else (me) had programmed it for him. Thankfully, he was fired not too long after.

The legend around the station was that the automation machine was Serial Number 5 off the IGM assembly line in Bellingham. It was originally purchased to run CJQM in Winnipeg (1964?), but dragged back to Vancouver after the Winnipeg operation was abandoned. The idea behind using it in Vancouver was to eliminate operators for the FM station, but a major failure in Minute 1 of Day 1 brought back all the Operators.

[tuned]

I remember getting lengthy instructions on op'ing regarding music crossfades. There were to be none...lol. You were supposed to wait until the tune had died out before you could start another one etc unlike most stations where you were expected to keep it nice and tight. You really didn't need to smoke pot to pass out since the music was more than enough to put you to sleep. I also remember some kind of fancy electrosonic record cleaning machine in the back. Wonder what ever happened to it?

[hazmat]

It probably went into the same bin as the time announcer. I remember a Dymo label on the top of the "pegging rack" of the automation, proudly naming the unit "SCAB -- Self Contained Automated Broadcaster." (At least that's what they told me it stood for).

Re stereo patches, one outfit did make TRS plugs with five contacts; they never caught on, but CFOX used 'em in the early days. Funnily enough, today's minidisc's and Ipods use something similar, but in 2.5 mm - 3.5 mm format.

It's true, you know -- there are no new ideas. Stuff just goes round and round

Haz

[hazmat]

Re the SCAB. The reel to reel transports we used to call "Concertones." Were actually manufactured by TEAC Japan. Stan Davis imported 25 or so transports, and they started showing up everywhere stations wanted really cheap automation. They came without any amplifiers, so different stations rolled their own in different ways. They sure looked like junk, but I don't remember them getting any real maintenance, either, so I guess they were ok.

CHQM's automation, or "operator assist" in the parlance of the day (CRTC didn't like the word "automation.") used modified McCurdy mic preamps for tone sensing. I remember the day the roof started leaking, with rainwater dripping into the racks. I spent the rest of the month rebuilding those tube preamp/tone sensors. This was before tube amplifiers came back in fashion, and I got pretty grumpy, repairing 1950's technology in 1980, rewiring tube sockets and trying to make all this old junk work again. Nothing has changed.


Haz

[Mike Cleaver]

Ahhh! IGM!
CKOV installed one of those units shortly after I left.
It didn't last long.
It was set up on a pedestal in the middle of Studio A.
I remember seeing it on a visit to Kelowna to see my parents.
It already had been put out of service.
The next time I came back to Kelowna, all evidence of it was gone.
This must have been in 1968 or '69, if I recall correctly.
I heard they sold the lot to some other sucker.
My other experience with IGM was the station in Washington (Bellingham, I think) that developed the beast.
We were driving down to Seattle and were listening when one cart started repeating and repeating and repeating....
Of course, it was the most obnoxious commercial they were running with a booming voice starting off saying "Hello Americans!
It ran for a good thirty minutes before someone could get to the station and give the rack a boot!

[jon]

I remember getting lengthy instructions on op'ing regarding music crossfades.

Just the opposite when I was there (1971-72). With the exception of the few hours a day of classical music, Program Director Maurice Foisy wanted it "tight, tight, tight". Not just between cuts (except AM/PM Drive on AM, everything was three cuts in a row, with the first and last cut by the same artist, almost always from the same LP). But play the start of the first cut, and say just what you have to say ("keep it short") so you end just as the vocal (or "loud part" of the instrumental) begins.

I remember Art Enns spending long hours voice tracking, because he would get the albums out, time the intro, then hold down the 20Hz tone button as long as he needed to, to "hit the post" or however the expression goes. I'm sure he would have killed me if he wasn't sleeping at the time (he did the All Night Show live), as I refused to run the voice tracks over the music. I just moved the tape forward (on the automation machine) to where Art started talking, and started it over silence tight with the end of the Newsman's end cue. And then started the music precisely when his last word ended.

Cross fades never tended to sound very good, so I doubt many people did them. Everybody liked what I did with LPs, before they switched to all 10 1/2" tape reels of music set. Based on my UBC and SFU Radio experience, with a CKLG-FM type approach, I would let the cut fade on its own without fading the "pot". I developed a sense of exactly when to start the next cut, again at full volume, so it blended nicely with the naturally fading previous cut.

[jon]

I also remember some kind of fancy electrosonic record cleaning machine in the back. Wonder what ever happened to it?

The beginning of the end for the ultrasonic record cleaning unit came with the introduction of Dynaflex LPs in 1971. The heat drying worked fine with the previous thick vinyl, but Dynaflex were almost guaranteed to warp.

QM did continue to use the unit, but "drip dry" just took too long, so most records didn't get washed. The rule prior to Dynaflex was "no LP shall be played on this radio station without being cleaned". There was no way to clean 45s, which were played, but only for a few weeks or months after release, at which point they were discarded. QM actually got two free copies of pretty much every 45 released in Canada, one for AM and one for FM. But they would buy up to a dozen copies of popular LPs for airplay, not counting the extra copies purchased by staff for home use.