Radio Station & Towers in Redwood Shores
Bob Flaminio
I've recently moved to Redwood Shores, and in walking out in the back, I
noticed that there are two radio towers (one tall and one *really* tall) and
what appears to be an abandoned radio station with a company name of "Far
East Broadcasting Company" (or something like that -- I didn't write it
down, and I forgot the call letters).
So, curiosity sets in...
1) Which stations transmit from those towers?
2) What is/was the Far East Broadcasting Company?
Any snippets of history about this site would be most appreciated.
TIA,
-Bob
Bob Flaminio
>Hi, all,
>
>I've recently moved to Redwood Shores, and in walking out in the back, I
>noticed that there are two radio towers (one tall and one *really* tall)
and
>what appears to be an abandoned radio station with a company name of "Far
>East Broadcasting Company" (or something like that -- I didn't write it
>down, and I forgot the call letters).
>
>So, curiosity sets in...
>
>1) Which stations transmit from those towers?
By e-mail, I am informed it's KNBR
>2) What is/was the Far East Broadcasting Company?
The wonders of the web -- they have a website: http://www.febc.org . They
moved into the RWS facility (previously run by General Electric) in 1960.
Here's a picture of the facility:
http://www.febc.org/images/hist_1960_kgeiexterior.jpg
-Bob
Tim Pozar
[...]
:>2) What is/was the Far East Broadcasting Company?
: The wonders of the web -- they have a website: http://www.febc.org . They
: moved into the RWS facility (previously run by General Electric) in 1960.
: Here's a picture of the facility:
: http://www.febc.org/images/hist_1960_kgeiexterior.jpg
I really like this interior shot...
http://www.febc.org/images/hist_kgei_goldengate.jpg
Bill rUCK
of the two original KPO towers (now KNBR auxiliary tower). Pictures of the
KPO/KNBC/KNBR transmitter site in the '30's can be found at
I've got a pretty good collection of both KPO and KGEI pictures. Some of
them are on the SF Radio History site.
Bill Ruck
JAY L STOWELL
Area. They pay for the food, and then bring you up to date on the ministry
of FEBC with the hope that you will help with some of the utility bills these
superpower transmitters run up. Prior to the shutdown to the Soviet Union,
KGEI used a unique "Polar Beam Antenna" to blast a short-wave signal over the
ice cap and into several time zones of the Soviet Union. Generally the
Soviets were not as interested in jamming KGEI as they were Voice of America
which hit them from the east coast among other sites. The main problem with
jamming a short-wave signal is that you can only do it in a local area of the
target, such as metro Moscow. The rest of the signal propagates by skywave
and nobody here cared anyway. The KGEI signal could be heard by ground and
direct wave propagation in the Bay Area on really good short-wave radios with
external antennas, but not as strong as AM stations. It was mostly in
languages other than English. The station also beamed to South America on a
couple different bands at the same time on the towers you still see. It was
explained to me at one of those dinners that KGEI had to be shut down,
because qualified skilled American staff living in the Bay Area needed more
than $600 per month to keep from getting rained on. The polar beam antenna
was sold to some other broadcaster. It was dismantled, trucked away and is
no longer there. It is much cheaper to broadcast from existing FEBC stations
in Okinawa and the Philippines, but those signals land best in Asia. Alex
Kozned the main Russian broadcaster may still live on the Peninsula, but
bailed out of his job with FEBC when he saw the "writing on the wall" and
began to raise funds to construct a polar hop station in Ninilchik Alaska.
The signal was supposed to be engineered to hit the polar ice cap on the
first bounce and splatter Russia with many more microvolts per meter than
possible from the Bay Area. It was called Project Aurora. The good news
about Ninilchik is the fact that real estate is cheaper than at Redwood
Shores, and the majority of the citizens grow up speaking Russian as their
first language. That would allow even local teenagers to be hired as air
talent, cheap. FEBC in the mean time found they can get an even better
signal into Russia by renting time on local Russian Stations, which is the
only way some government owned stations over there can still pay their power
bill, downsize their staffs, and still maintain round the clock full power
service. Fortunately for them only one of the power plants at Chernobyl blew
up. The rest are still trying to pay back their investment costs. The word
Chernobyl originally meant "Black Tale." Retired staff there don't collect
as much pension for as long as in other places, something a few congressmen
may wish could happen to social security to keep it from default.
David Kaye
" Generally the
" Soviets were not as interested in jamming KGEI as they were Voice of America
" which hit them from the east coast among other sites.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it under FEBC's ownership that KGEI
was used by one of the covert government agencies as an anti-Castro
propaganda tool, or was this during GE's ownership?
" external antennas, but not as strong as AM stations. It was mostly in
" languages other than English.
During most of its life as FEBC I can recall only the half hour between
2200 and 2230 UTC being done in English. When I asked why, I was told
that most people in South America don't speak English. KGEI seemed to be
one of the few (maybe the only) SW BC stations that actually held to the
law and broadcast only to people *outside* the USA.
" than $600 per month to keep from getting rained on. The polar beam antenna
" was sold to some other broadcaster. It was dismantled, trucked away and is
" no longer there.
Wasn't that antenna sold to Gene Scott?
--
(C) 1999 In the United States alone, over 10,000,000,000
David Kaye hot dogs are sold each year -- that's 37 hot dogs
dk at wco.com for every single man, woman, and child
JAY L STOWELL
David Kaye wrote in message <7elfh4$leb$3...@news.ncal.verio.com>...
>JAY L STOWELL wrote the quoted material below:
>
>" Generally the
>" Soviets were not as interested in jamming KGEI as they were Voice of
America
>" which hit them from the east coast among other sites.
>
>Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it under FEBC's ownership that KGEI
>was used by one of the covert government agencies as an anti-Castro
>propaganda tool, or was this during GE's ownership?
Because of the constitutional separation between church and state, I
seriously doubt that the CIA could spare any funds for the PG&E bills run up
by KGEI. Radio Marti in Florida is the main anti Castro tool that openly
carries propaganda to the citizens of Cuba, and it operates almost like a
narrow format public radio station, getting underwriting wherever the staff
can find it. Anybody talking about salvation and scripture can be
interpreted as being anti something or other. In 1969 and 1970 I was
broadcasting non sponsored programming from Miami Bible College over a remote
leased line contract hookup with WWPB FM in downtown Miami. The first night
on the air I was supposed to play a half hour of "Good News for Modern Man"
read by Grady Wilson, a member of the Billy Graham team. We discovered at 10
minutes before air time that those transcriptions were recorded at 16 and two
thirds RPM, and our three speed turntables slowest speed was 33 and a third.
I borrowed a paper back copy from a student and read it live with all the
energy and enthusiasm I could muster in a "rip and read." live unrehearsed
situation. I had randomly picked the book of Hebrews in that modern sounding
language. I was accused of anti Semitism, the school received bomb threats,
and WWPB took us off that 8 PM to midnight session after only two days,
leaving us the two hour sign on slot from 6 to 8 in the morning because it
looked like our material was not going to make them money. The college cut
my salary from $68 to $22 per week, and I finally started getting a full
nights sleep and my homework done. Two years before that as a member of the
Army, hosted by the Air Force at Homestead, Florida, my job was to listen to
Military transmissions from Cuba. The rumor interpreted from the collected
data was that Castro accused the CIA of sticking that hurricane in the
Camaguay mountains for a week and seriously sabotaging his roads that were
needed for military trucking, but were instead sticking his military machines
in the mud. After all, who else could possibly have a motive for doing that
to him? To your credit, he never asked us to correct him if he was wrong.
David Kaye
" Because of the constitutional separation between church and state, I
" seriously doubt that the CIA could spare any funds for the PG&E bills run up
" by KGEI. Radio Marti in Florida is the main anti Castro tool that openly
" carries propaganda to the citizens of Cuba [....]
No no no, this was in the early 1960s, about the time of KGEI's sale to
FEBC. KGEI was indeed used as a propaganda tool, and covertly used by the
Agency. That much is fact, and has been reported widely in those media
that specialize in reporting this sort of stuff. My question was not
whether KGEI was used, but whether it was used under FEBC's ownership or
under GE's ownership.
It would make sense that it would have happened under GE's ownership, due
to the close relationship between GE and the government. But, under
FEBC's ownerhip, it would call into question FEBC's ethics. And, as to
separation of church and state, it's the practice of the government to
ingore this item in the Constitution until someone sues them over it.
--
(C) 1999 The first "toady" was a person who ate a toad
David Kaye to demonstrate that a patent medicine could stop
dk at wco.com them from becoming sick from eating a toad
Phil Kane
>It would make sense that it would have happened under GE's ownership, due
>to the close relationship between GE and the government. But, under
>FEBC's ownerhip, it would call into question FEBC's ethics. And, as to
>separation of church and state, it's the practice of the government to
>ingore this item in the Constitution until someone sues them over it.
The Gub'mint can and does buy (or get for free) time on radio
and TV stations nationwide to put out "messages".....Armed
Forces Recruiting is one such example, and they do place the
ads on stations owned by licensees with religious affiliation.
The issue of First Amendemnt Establishment Clause would come up
only if the Gub'mint "message" was religious in nature.
Otherwise, buying time for a legitimate Gub'mint program on a
station owned by whomever is no different from renting a truck
from Ryder.
=== PMK ===
JAY L STOWELL
Phil Kane > wrote in message ...
service announcements." When it comes time for license renewal, their
composite week log is supposed to show some. The local operator or manager
has a lot of discretion as to the reservoir of material he can use. I am
pretty sure that KGEI being non commercial under FEBC would not choose to
broadcast army recruiting announcements to the target audiences since they
were mostly citizens of countries considered antagonistic to the United
States, it's interests and policies. A lot of those scripts and canned
announcements say "Army" without clearly stating of which country.
In 1972 I rolled to the rescue of WQXL in Columbia South Carolina after
serving two years as the self elected "Mayor of Clingman's Peak." I had
survived rent free, working a 48 hour week at the WMIT-FM transmitter
building a location which was about 5 miles to the nearest forest ranger and
less than that to the nearest bear (not the kind that wears a uniform). On a
few occasions during severe snow and ice storms while I was burning diesel
instead of REA power I ripped off canned goods, with expiration dates
exceeded, from the pantry of the vacant Billy Graham family VIP luxury hide
out apartment downstairs, since mine was empty. At $2 per hour I did a lousy
job of keeping mine filled much to the disgust of the chief engineer who then
removed his own groceries from that pantry. As a commercially licensed non
profit listener supported station we did not have the same public service
requirements as most licensed facilities, but a lot of that was taken care of
during simulcast with WFGW AM which got all of it's funding through sale of
program time.
I felt sorry for WQXL because they had just fired their chief engineer for
being drunk on the job, and required my first class license on the
transmitter room wall in order to be legal. Bad news for a Good News
station. They could only afford to pay me the same $2 per hour I had earned
in North Carolina. The managers wife questioned me about parking my 1956
New Moon house trailer rent free next to the transmitter room, and connecting
to their water and transmitter room electricity. I explained that the last
job provided a rent and utility free apartment, and that if I had longer than
a zero commute, we would have to re negotiate the salary. There were no
further questions.
My first week on that job at WQXL, while the manager was out selling and I
was all alone, several people walked in, most of whom were wearing military
dress uniforms and requested some air time. I discovered that the studio
mike was not functional, so I un hung the control room mike and during the
next station ID break, I introduced the United States Army and handed the
mike to the sergeant. The Sergeant introduced the Lieutenant who introduced
the major who introduced the colonel. The colonel made a presentation award
to the attractive lady with the big boobs who then thanked all for the
opportunity to serve in the current recruitment program. I thanked them all
for this news making opportunity and thanked the audience for their
participation and patience. The group then left to go to the next radio
station to try to repeat the stunt. I logged the event as a twenty minute
public service announcement. The manager on his return rationalized that it
was not drive time, and commercial sales were few and far between during that
hour anyway. He bemoaned the fact that we would only get credit for that if
it was one of the days that was required for the composite week during
license renewal. The gospel music audience never complained about the
program material that day, which may have meant that our ratings were already
at the bottom of the chart and this government agency voluntary seizure of
time did not really help or hurt anything. Since this was radio, there was
no way that the audience could confirm that these men actually wore uniforms
or that the lady had big breasts.
Phil Kane
>It is true that commercial stations get brownie points for running "public
>service announcements." When it comes time for license renewal, their
>composite week log is supposed to show some.
Jay, you are about 20 years out of date. Required program
logging and "composite weeks" went away a long time ago. Any
station is free to carry whatever mix of programming types
it desires, and this is no longer reported to or analyzed by
the Commission.
=== PMK ===
David Kaye
" I am
" pretty sure that KGEI being non commercial under FEBC would not choose to
" broadcast army recruiting announcements to the target audiences since they
" were mostly citizens of countries considered antagonistic to the United
" States [....]
First, KGEI was not a non-commercial license. It was commercial, though
they chose to sell blocks of time rather than commercials. (I don't know
if this is still done at FEBC, but they had done this in the past.)
What Phil was referring to was that stations can (and do) sell time to
entities such as government agencies. This was certainly true in the
early days of shortwave when the Voice of America was really nothing more
than a bunch of time buys on shortwave broadcast stations. Eventually, the
VOA LMA'd the stations and then bought them outright. (VOA Dixon from NBC,
VOA Delano from CBS, VOA Bethany from Crosley, etc.)
--
(C) 1999 In 1998 a pet owner sued his neighbor over
David Kaye his pet's death due to secondhand smoke
dk at wco.com
Steve Lampen
Saturday, October 9, 1999 at the Radisson Hotel, 200 Marina Boulevard,
Berkeley, California 94710
After a hiatus of nine years, and for the last time this century, SBE Chapter
40 will host a banquet. The 1999 SBE Banquet will be held at the Radisson Hotel
at the Berkeley Marina. For those coming in from out of town and who would like
to stay overnight and enjoy a leisurely Sunday brunch, call the Radisson
directly at 510/548-7920 for reservations. The CSAA rate is $125, but rates as
low as $99 may be available, depending on how early you book and what mood the
yield management computer is in when you call.
Appetizers and a no host bar will start at 6:30 PM, with dinner at 7:30 PM. The
cost is $42 per person for reservations received by September 15 and $45 for
reservations received after that date, or for tickets purchased at the door
(space permitting). Tax and gratuity are included. The menu will be a choice of
Prime Rib, Roasted Salmon, or Vegetarian.
Please send your check, payable to SBE Chapter 40, to Art Lebermann, 3124 La
Campania, Alameda, CA 94502. Please print out the form found at
http://www.lns.com/sbe/banquet/ and include it with your check.
Support your SBE Chapter, enjoy the view from the Berkeley Marina, renew
acquaintances, and help honor the next recipient of the Richard Parks
Engineering Award, Mr. Gene Zastrow of Sutro Tower, Inc.
Steve Lampen
Technology Specialist, Multimedia Products
Belden Electronics Division
Belden Wire & Cable Co.
San Francisco
www.belden.com