Harvit was trying to get the three major transmitter manufacturers to come in at the same time and go "head to head". None would, so he did a survey and I did a survey and we both reached the same conclusion; we should go with Harris. So much for the transmitter type. What about the studio equipment? My guideline was "the most for the least". The thinking was if the new station went well, we could always upgrade the equipment. At least that was the idea.  By now it was late in the year and it was clear it would be spring before we could get into construction.

 

 One thing had changed in the plan and changed drastically. The transmitter building. The origional plan was to make it just big enough for the equipment and a work bench. That's the normal thing to do. But with the flood and the lack of power, Harvit now wanted more. So I increased the building size to permit a work "room" and a bathroom (on to a mountain, no less) operated by caputued rain water. The idea of using rain water came from the prime construction contractor Lonnie Varney, of Varney Brothers Construction. Couldn't drink it, but you could flush it!  An extra door was included on the right side for an external mount generator (so it wouldn't be on the same concrete pad as the building). Thus the building could house several staff for a long period of time during an emergency with no problem.

 

  Now the sister station, WBTH-AM had its tower ( a mono pole) on top the hotel building since 1939. Something the hotel wanted to change. Well, it wouldn't cost much  to make the FM tower AM too. So it was decided to do so after the FM went on. This helped greatly with the tower site and access road lease. Connections count, you know. Basicaly we could have what ever we wanted on the mountain as a direct result of moving the AM.

 

  The days had turned sunny and on a spring day in 1978, I went ot the mountain to check the access road path. To my shock there were now two sets of stakes going in different directions. One just stopped and the other went down hill ! What? I reported back to Harvit who was furious and called the attorney who had made out the contract. A meting was set for all involved the next week. The result was not encouraging. The civil engineer, having been "covered up with extra work" after the flood, had someone else contracted to layout the road and wasn't overseeing the work. Well, the contract was terminated and we again sought someone to "build us a road". We were in luck! A local contractor had worked on the mountain in the coal mining days up there and knew the old roads. His idea was to tie the old haul roads together, saving time and money. Time were running out of ! Finally actual construction began.

 

  The fiasco with the road was just the begining of the problems. At the studio, we were about to put 50 pounds in a 1 pound bag. Could we?