Things were begining to move in the late spring of 1978. Equipment was on order and the studios were being....er....changed.
The sales room with one desk would become the FM live studio. The news room would now share two more "small" desks. Accounting
would share space too. But, the bathrooms were still too small. (about 5 by 5) But they wouldn't change. And if we had
an automation system, where would it go? In the floor in front of the stairs and the AM transmitter room! We would have a
"full house"!
The Automation.
I remember it was still cold when we went to WXIT in Charleston to see their Schaffer system. They told Harvit they just
wanted to go back to live (and had done so) but the system was OK. Weeks later, Harvit bought it. Literally. I never did find
out just how much he paid for it. So the trucks from B&L Furniture went to the station to get it. We would later find
out the racks and teletypes had not been secured in the truck and had been damaged. This was just the begining of the problems
with the Schaffer 901! More on this "thing" later.
In late spring construction on the transmitter building began. It went quicker than I thought. Spring had
turned into summer and along came the heat. I had bought the Pi-Rod tower and they sent the plans for the anchors and base.
Again Lonnie Varney came thru! One anchor was over the mountain on the Tug River side. How could we get three yards of concrete
down to it? Lonnie had the answer. He made a simple "V" slide out of aluminum roofing and built it in sections so it
could be moved. The slope of the slide was so steep, a rebar would slide to the hole at the end and embed two feet into the
dirt pile behind! He had to put a splash board and two men at the hole to direct the concrete. One man was at the middle
of the slide, keeping the concrete going. From South Williamson, the slide looked very strange, shining in the sun. I thought
we would get calls. We did, but not over that.
The Tower.
At 430 feet, it would be the tallest thing around. But due to the location, the top of the tower would be just
above the level of the runway at the Mingo County Airport a mile away. (Remember earlier I said it was in a "hole".) I only
paid $18,000 for it and another $5,000 to erect it. It came on one truck. What a day that was!
The driver called to say he was here and for me to come and "lead" him. Was I thinking? NO! So I did just that. Up Vincent
Street we went! At the big curve we parked and off loaded the tower to a flat bed truck to take to the site. In a couple of
hours we were done. On the way back I noticed a phone truck. Then another, and another. It turned out that many of the phone
lines were less than the required 18 feet above the roadway and were "ripped out" by the top edge of the tower. The driver
knew it, but said nothing until we got to West Williamson. He needed to call the factory for they had sent the wrong tower
base. The only pay phone (because of the flood) was at a little store across from the Field House. He stopped with just enough
room to get around the trailer into the store. I was beside the booth as he made the call when the store owner came out screaming
at ME!. "Move that truck! You're blocking me! Move that damn truck." As I started to speak he cut me off. "Is that you truck?"
"No it's his", I replied as a bananna hit me in the face! "Move that damn truck!!" He screams as he walks off to call the
police. The driver came out of the booth and said "What the hell was that about?" "You", I stated firmly. "The bananna
was meant for you!"
As the truck pulled out the guy from the store came back. "That's not your truck?" "No", I said, "but thanks for
the bananna!" As I got back in the Blazer I heard him say: "Oh shit! Now I'm gonna get arrested!" Oh well. Chalk it up to
my second "goof" of the day.
It was a couple of weeks before the tower went up. Then the UFO's arrived!
