WLW's 500,000 Watt Transmitter

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ค. 2013
  • Tour of the historic WLW AM monster broadcast transmitter facility located in Mason Ohio. WLW has kept a major piece of broadcasting history alive by keeping much of the old high power transmitter intact. Recorded while at Hamvention, Dayton OH, in 2013
    Back in 1932 WLW increased their power from 50,000 watts to 500,000 watts. They were the only AM broadcasting station in America ever to operate at 500,000 watts. Much of the old transmitter still exists. It is really a high power amplifier with a high level modulator (360,000 watts). The amplifier was driven from their existing 50,000 watt Western Electric transmitter. The system used 20 100,000 watts tubes ($1,600 each in 1932) that required water cooling that used a cooling pond located outside the station. Tons, and tons, of hardware was required to achieve the 10 dB gain.
    According to WIKI: But Crosley still wasn't satisfied. In 1933 he obtained a construction permit from the Federal Radio Commission for a 500 kilowatt superstation, and he spent some $500,000 (at least $17 million in 2010 dollars using a CPI conversion factor of 0.13[9]) building the transmitter and antenna.
    Before the 500 KW went on the air, WLW installed a Blaw Knox vertical radiator, or as we say today a vertical antenna. Back in those days a horizontal wire flat top antenna supported by two towers was common. Photos in the video show the impressive antenna farm at WLW.
    The engineering was state of the art pushing the 1930s technology to achieve 500,000 watts. Operating the transmitter required a team of many engineers to bring it to life and control it while it was on the air. A simple ON-OFF switch did not exist!
    Enjoy the tour of the facility and the history of this high power station. Thanks to Jay, Geoff, and Ted of WLW for hosting the tour.
    I will soon post another video the covers the collection of 50,000 watt transmitters that are also in the same building.
    To learn more about this transmitter's history, please visit these sites.
    Randy
    RADIOWORLD article about this video
    www.radioworld.com/article/wlw...
    WLW Archive Files
    www.arizona-am.net/WLW/index.html
    Jim Hawkin's WLW page:
    hawkins.pair.com/wlw.shtml
    History of WLW, Cincinnati:
    jeff560.tripod.com/wlw.html
    WLW's Big Arse Transmitter:
    www.ominous-valve.com/wlw.html
    Wikipedia:
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLW
    WLW - A "Super" Station Tour:
    www.oldradio.com/archives/stat...
    Not Just a Sound: the Story of WLW:
    www.broadcasting101.ws/wlw-1.htm
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ความคิดเห็น • 1.1K

  • @paladin0654
    @paladin0654 4 ปีที่แล้ว +95

    Should be declared a National Historic Site.

    • @BixLives32
      @BixLives32 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      YES. Americans have a bad habit of ignoring their great heritage. E.g., how many people listen to Jazz? Jazz and baseball are probably our only truly indigenous cultures. Alas, radio is something that Americans were best at. We even beat the Germans to effective radar.

    • @ctechbob
      @ctechbob หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@BixLives32 Sadly, from the looks of the latest Google Earth imagery, the house is gone and they're putting a commercial development on the site.

  • @Lion_McLionhead
    @Lion_McLionhead 4 ปีที่แล้ว +291

    84 lightyears from here is an alien listening to a very loud, clear Ohio talk show.

    • @tomk4484
      @tomk4484 4 ปีที่แล้ว +49

      And the alien communication commission is probably all unbent about how the signal is overpowering their local stations!

    • @clayz1
      @clayz1 4 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      English is the galactic language and we don’t even know it.

    • @michaelcap9550
      @michaelcap9550 4 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      As A result, Gary Burbank is an intergalactic star DJ.

    • @Alexagrigorieff
      @Alexagrigorieff 4 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      The aliens’ receiver needs at least KT of energy to detect presence of signal, where K is the Boltzmann’s constant equal to 1.38E-23 J/K, and T is the equivalent noise temperature of the receiver. For the receiver with 10K noise temperature, it needs at least 1.38E-22 J per bit received.
      Suppose the aliens have an antenna as big as 1 km across, say it’s 1 km^2. Suppose we ignore atmospheric radio noise, too.
      1 light year is 9.461E12 km, 84 ly is 7.95E14
      At a distance of 84 light year, and a non-directional emitter, such 1 sq.km antenna will be getting 1.3E-31 of the total emission power. Thus, our receiver would be able to detect a signal of known shape if its energy was about 1 GJ. This is *ONE GIGA JOULE* per single bit of information to transmit at 84 ly distance. At the transmitter power 500 kW, it will transmit one bit per 2000 seconds.
      This also means, the minimum frequency of detectable amplitude modulation would be 0.00025 Hz at this power.

    • @rbmwiv
      @rbmwiv 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      ClayZ it sure is in every sci-fi movie. Lol

  • @scotty3034
    @scotty3034 4 ปีที่แล้ว +275

    Stuff like this is the reason I’m addicted to TH-cam.

    • @jeromewysocki8809
      @jeromewysocki8809 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Mike Patton , me, too.

    • @andrewdfw7389
      @andrewdfw7389 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Ain't THAT the truth!

    • @ctwentysevenj6531
      @ctwentysevenj6531 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Yes I love these type of documentaries. Always had an interest in old radios.

    • @MrBen527
      @MrBen527 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      No kidding!

    • @scottgeorge4760
      @scottgeorge4760 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I built my own shortwave antenna and I collect older radios . I do enjoy watching old NOVA documentaries on P.B.S. television , on TH-cam

  • @hobo1452
    @hobo1452 4 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    I was stationed at England AFB in Alexandria LA in 1971. My home state at the time was Ohio. One night a bunch of us were sitting in the parking lot of the barracks drinking beers and listening to my car radio. The local radio stations had shut down for the night so I started tuning around for something else to listen to. Finally found a station coming in fairly well, and was astonished when they gave their call sign as WLW, a station I listened to all the time before my service days!

    • @duanetrivett750
      @duanetrivett750 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      That was a good story RC being that far from home and stumbleing across you home station. Thanks for the story my friend.73

  • @thetreblerebel
    @thetreblerebel 4 ปีที่แล้ว +90

    It was so expensive, people today are scared to scrap it.
    It's a piece of broadcast history. Amazing

    • @joe6096
      @joe6096 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      How the hell WOULD you scrap that? That one oil bath transformer - what did he say, it weighs 20,000 POUNDS????? That would cripple an industrial crane!

    • @BIGBADWOOD
      @BIGBADWOOD ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Powel Crosley Jr. a man ahead of his time ! 😀

    • @brucewinningham4959
      @brucewinningham4959 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@BIGBADWOOD-- I wonder if this was the same Crosley that built Crosley Radios? And cars? Wasn't there a Crosley brand of cars back in the day?

  • @paulsullivan6392
    @paulsullivan6392 4 ปีที่แล้ว +94

    My father was on the air at WLW in those days when it was known as "The Nation's Station." Among many other places in the world his broadcasts were heard regularly in Columbia, South America. (Time Magazine Letters May 11, 1936)

    • @red_ford23
      @red_ford23 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Nice, Sullivan

    • @LimonFox
      @LimonFox 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      colOmbia.

    • @paulsullivan6392
      @paulsullivan6392 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@LimonFox I have spelled it in my posting the way it was spelled in the reader's letter. It was signed W. E. Hayden, Jr. Santa Maria Columbia. Thanks for the correction.

    • @jamesdavis5096
      @jamesdavis5096 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      cool, any recording?

    • @BIGBADWOOD
      @BIGBADWOOD ปีที่แล้ว

      Powel Crosley Jr. a man ahead of his time ! 😀

  • @globalswgetter
    @globalswgetter 9 ปีที่แล้ว +50

    Those daring young men and their modulating machines! It always blows my mind when I see the scale to which these pioneers rose so long ago. Thanks for this great history.

    • @K7AGE
      @K7AGE  9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Great!

    • @BIGBADWOOD
      @BIGBADWOOD ปีที่แล้ว

      Powel Crosley Jr. a man ahead of his time ! 😀

    • @user-jt5vm3mi1w
      @user-jt5vm3mi1w ปีที่แล้ว

      sexist

    • @chuckgudgel1894
      @chuckgudgel1894 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      ANYTHING METAL NEARBY HAD A TON OF RF.

    • @user-bo8eq7ki5w
      @user-bo8eq7ki5w ปีที่แล้ว

      Очень интересно ! ))) Иногда я понимал английскую речь в радиотехнических терминах. 73 !

  • @kerbygator
    @kerbygator 8 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    I grew up in Chicago back in the 60's and moved to Cincinnati in the 90's. I drove up to visit back home in the Chicago area and I had the am radio tuned to WLW and i shit you not, the station was coming in no problem while sitting in my parents driveway over 300 miles away. Gary Burbank was the DJ.

    • @glennso47
      @glennso47 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Bob Kerbs Anyone there remember Wally Philips. For years he broadcasted over WGN Chicago. I understand he was on WLW at one time?

    • @kerbygator
      @kerbygator 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Glenn Lego I do remember him.

    • @timothybarney7257
      @timothybarney7257 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      As a kid growing up in Pennsylvania about 90 miles east of Pittsburgh in the late 80s, I used to be able to pick up WLS-AM out of Chicago at night when the conditions were right with an old Philco console-style receiver.

    • @kerbygator
      @kerbygator 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Timothy Barney I won a Doobie Brothers album and T - shirt from WLS. 15th caller on the Larry Lujak show.The Stampede Album. It was 1975 and I was 15.

    • @rev.randall2292
      @rev.randall2292 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I would say a system of that magnitude should carry that distance just fine. Atmospheric conditions , and lay of the land to some degree cause different effects as well. Frequency , waves , power , distance , set ups just fascinate me.

  • @K7AGE
    @K7AGE  10 ปีที่แล้ว +104

    This was such an amazing project back in the 30s. Average age of the design engineer was 27. Think about all the new stuff that had to be researched and engineered for this transmitter, and by several different companies. I wished that there were some old news reel movies around that showed this transmitter in operation.

    • @ctwentysevenj6531
      @ctwentysevenj6531 4 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      These electrical engineers must have been talented young fellows.

    • @alxf66
      @alxf66 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Thank you for sharing this.

    •  4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Too bad the motives of this whole mechanism were evil (sell hollywood and drug vices). Even the wattage used was extremely harmful to those around the station and of course all who worked there.

    • @rupe53
      @rupe53 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@ctwentysevenj6531 ... maybe their kids went on to design high powered audio systems for rock festivals?

    • @ctwentysevenj6531
      @ctwentysevenj6531 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@rupe53 or designing integrated circuits say for Intel or Texas Instruments.

  • @iang-dub3344
    @iang-dub3344 9 ปีที่แล้ว +182

    Near by residents at the time not only reported power fluctuations during peak modulation, but also vibrating coming from their bed springs! Thanks for the video!

    • @kenrickeason
      @kenrickeason 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Seriously?!

    • @Rocketman88002
      @Rocketman88002 4 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      @Ian G-Dub, Lol The bed springs were loosely coupled inductors in the modulator circuits!

    • @watchout361
      @watchout361 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      ANY BUZZING IN THE EARS?

    • @kennethwalker4551
      @kennethwalker4551 4 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      I remember when I moved to Tulsa,Oklahoma our bed springs got the KVOO radio station and if you picked up a pay phone receiver you got KVOO loud and clear.

    • @BetamaxFlippy
      @BetamaxFlippy 4 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@c2n10 AM doesn't need to be demodulated like FM, if strong enough it can still interfere and while you won't ear the carrier frequency the broadcast audio is what came through, look at the history of radio and you'll understand!

  • @abysspegasusgaming
    @abysspegasusgaming 7 ปีที่แล้ว +130

    Still amazing that when it was at full 500 KW operating power back during WWII, that the station was heard clear around the world, nick naming it "Whole Lotta Watts!" and hated by Hitler himself since the troops could get information about what's going on with the war during that time period.

    • @WilliamHamilton29464
      @WilliamHamilton29464 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Jennifer lopez

    • @matthewcooper3535
      @matthewcooper3535 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@WilliamHamilton29464 HANIFER LOPEE .......taco 🌮 burrito, taco 🌮 , taco, taco 🌮

    • @twngohaombre5602
      @twngohaombre5602 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@matthewcooper3535 taco flavored kisses

  • @ansientwun
    @ansientwun 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I worked in Mason 2011-12 and twice walked the sacred grounds of WLW. I was never able to get there during tour hours. This video truly made my day. I'm taking my Tech and General tests next week. It was fascinating to see the radio components I've been studying built to such a scale for 500kW. My sincere thanks to the HAM's and employees that put this together. A great piece of Americana preserved.

  • @nakayle
    @nakayle 8 ปีที่แล้ว +76

    Excellent tour. Wish so much hadn't been dissembled. It was an amazing accomplishment for the 1930s.

    • @ikonix360
      @ikonix360 6 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Nathan Kayle too bad it couldn't be put back online.
      Not just because of the 50KW limit but also because of as one website put it those touch and you die knife switches.
      So much would have to be updated to current standards that it wouldn't be worth it.

    • @joeschizoid7762
      @joeschizoid7762 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      I'm surprised modern conspiracy theorists aren't insisting the transmitter had to have been built by extraterrestrials.

    • @scotty3034
      @scotty3034 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Hell, it would be an amazing accomplishment today.

    • @ctwentysevenj6531
      @ctwentysevenj6531 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Not only if it was intact, but still operating.

    • @TempoDrift1480
      @TempoDrift1480 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@ikonix360 Yeah that was a time when one would assume the responsibility of ones actions.

  • @davefarr4596
    @davefarr4596 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Wow! I am blown away.
    I didn’t realize a radio station was that complex. Every thing was made in the United States back then. Thank you very much for posting this .
    This is why i cant get my chores done. So many interesting things to see and learn.

    • @BIGBADWOOD
      @BIGBADWOOD ปีที่แล้ว

      Powel Crosley Jr. a man ahead of his time ! 😀

    • @met9072
      @met9072 ปีที่แล้ว

      Curious as to the KW demand and kWh this used monthly

    • @miguelmouta5372
      @miguelmouta5372 ปีที่แล้ว

      Built in US for the communists elites all over the planet, today we see.

  • @EricNTammy304
    @EricNTammy304 9 ปีที่แล้ว +70

    As a child I was utterly fascinated in this Gigantic tower and the stories my Dad told me of how fence post knobs in Mason would vibrate with the audio. To be able 30 years later to watch this awesome video, showing how much went into broadcasting through it is amazing beyond words! Thank you!

    • @michaelmitchell1286
      @michaelmitchell1286 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Thrill Biscuit
      My dad live in highland county , Ohio he hear WLW on fence post there too

    • @amandalong5916
      @amandalong5916 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Is this true? I live about a mile from the tower and now I'm curious and want to go see!

    • @renewii
      @renewii 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@amandalong5916 Yes it is true! Powerful AM radio stations could interfere in phones too

  • @ScottALanter
    @ScottALanter 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I was in that old transmitter building about 30+ years ago with a shared engineer who worked for WLW and a station I worked for at the time. I was absolutely fascinated to listen as he explained how the system operated. 30+ years later, I'm still just as fascinated.

  • @amommamust
    @amommamust 4 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    I grew up listening to WSAI playing rock n roll in the 60's. Fun history!

    • @patrickmurphy8222
      @patrickmurphy8222 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I remember that station when I grew up in the Dayton suburbs. Wasn't it a top 40 station in the seventies?

  • @BritishBeachcomber
    @BritishBeachcomber 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    The Droitwich Transmitter in England also runs at 500kW and has been in service since 1934.

  • @hokepoke3540
    @hokepoke3540 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    And I thought the first 1KW amp I built was hard to build. I remember listening to this station all the way out in New Mexico in the 1950's and early 60's. Thank you for some fine memories. N5UEB

  • @ARichardP
    @ARichardP 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Fascinating. As a childhood DXer in the early and mid-1970s I would often tune into WLW at night from Iowa and sometimes tried to see how early I could hear it. I think in the winter sometimes it could be picked up in Eastern Iowa (about 450 miles away) all day with a signal booster. My dad used to tell a story about WLW back when it was 500,000 watts that people could pick it up in their dental work.

  • @billspooks
    @billspooks 7 ปีที่แล้ว +82

    I heard a story that people near the transmitter would form an insulated coil of wire around a 55 gallon drum then remove the drum and connect a light bulb to the ends of the coiled wire and hang it up. The broadcast was so strong that the light bulb would light up from the energy radiated from the WLW transmitter.

    • @K7AGE
      @K7AGE  7 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      Lots of watts

    • @glennso47
      @glennso47 7 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      K7AGE Someone I served in the Navy with was from Detroit and he talked about the transmitter of WXYZ being across from where he attended high school. He said you couldn't operate a car radio near their tower without interference. And I understand that WXYZ isn't really all that powerful compared to WLW.

    • @TheLightningStalker
      @TheLightningStalker 7 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      They had to keep the lights on somehow during the great depression.

    • @bluewaltz4279
      @bluewaltz4279 5 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      Heaven only knows what that kind of power was doing to the human body!

    • @AdamosDad
      @AdamosDad 5 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      As a child I used to be fascinated by radio, a woman across the road told me one day she could hear me on her steam iron.

  • @RunFast64
    @RunFast64 4 ปีที่แล้ว +39

    This station design was high tech back in the day. There are still knowledgeable RF engineers but the numbers are dwindling. Of course any engineer that designs systems with signals above audio still needs to understand RF design principles. It's a black art for many.

    • @UncleKennysPlace
      @UncleKennysPlace 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I know many who fully understand it; science, not art, to be sure, once you do understand it. We test our jet engine controls for HIRF, EMI, and lightning, per FAA regulations.

    • @RunFast64
      @RunFast64 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@UncleKennysPlace Yep....I am an aerospace embedded system engineer so I know of what you speak.

    • @basketballjones6782
      @basketballjones6782 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Nope. There's a whole generation of kids who know everything; just ask them... TH-cam is their classroom. They know everything about everything due to TH-cam.

    • @derkchurk5879
      @derkchurk5879 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@basketballjones6782 wats Mr. Carlsons lab on youtube, then sign up for his electrical engineering courses on patron, on youtube, he rebuilds vacuum tube radios, transmitters, test equipment amplifiers ect..

  • @Dave-cv1th
    @Dave-cv1th ปีที่แล้ว +3

    As a kid in northern Ohio, we can only be grateful for our pioneers in broadcasting. We found a world of music and sports and intelligent talk on our local stations. As a young Beatles fan, I used to hear "Top Of the Pops" from London on Sunday nights on shortwave. Radio meant a lot to me, growing up!

  • @MrSparks54
    @MrSparks54 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    In my previous life as a broadcast engineer I briefly worked at KUSW shortwave station in SLC Utah back in the late 80s before it was unceremoniously sold to KTBN. The transmitter was a 100 KW Harris SW100 fed to a TCI log periodic curtain antenna pointed 70° towards Europe. The antenna gain put the ERP at around 1.2 MW. We got lots of signal reports from Europe of course but also got a bunch from down under off the back side of the antenna. The transmitter and studio were in the same building and upon firing it up for the first time, RF sparks flew around the steel girders in the TX room, scaring the crap out of everyone. A few rolls of heavy bonding straps later the RF sparking was cured but RF was getting into everything from the telephones to mic inputs. A few dozen RF chokes later and shielding everything, the station was ready to go into service.
    Meanwhile, engineers at what was (at the time) Hercules Aerospace across the street were freaking out that that much ERP could ignite their rocket motors. So engineers from Harris, TCI met with Hercules to assure them their rocket motors were safe even though the signal went right over the top of their facility at a fairly low takeoff angle. What a short but fun ride that was.

    • @plhebel1
      @plhebel1 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      great story.

  • @USNERDOC
    @USNERDOC 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Absolutely awesome video Randy. What a fascinating piece of history. Thanks for sharing this with all of us!

  • @billvet6
    @billvet6 7 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    Thanks Randy, very interesting. When I drove 18 wheeler over the road I would listen
    to WLW often. Still get them at night here on the south east shore of Lake Michigan in
    Indiana. Listen on I Hart radio. Bill Cunningham was ,is my favorite program on WLW.

    • @genewoody7187
      @genewoody7187 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      There were a lot of those old clear channel radio stations you could listen to in the 60. 70 and 80's. I also drove a truck and listened to wwl, New Orleans, wor, Detroit, wwva, Wheeling, WV., who, Des Moines, IA. and a few others I can't remember. After 8 P.M. the little stations within 10khz had to shut down so the big ones would be clear.

    • @jeromewysocki8809
      @jeromewysocki8809 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Gene Woody , three more clear channel stations were WGN (720), WBBM (780), and WLS (890), all in Chicago. WLS claimed they had listeners in 38 states. I understand that each major American city could have at least one of these types of stations. I think they are now limited to a maximum power of 50 kw, each.

  • @AudiophileTubes
    @AudiophileTubes 10 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Utterly FASCINATING! Thank you for this awesome video Mr. Randy! Incredible engineering prowess for it's time!

  • @k3sam
    @k3sam 10 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Thanks Randy !
    Growing up in the 50's and 60's I listened to WLW as well as WLS, WCFL at night and KDKA anytime as it was local. I know KDKA was first on however I did not know about the 500kw secret, lol.
    The video was very professionally done for an amateur and enjoyed every second of it. From one CE to another, thanks again sir. -Sam

  • @dalepuckett
    @dalepuckett 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thanks Randy! Fascinating video. I remember those high power stations and listened to them when I was a kid in the 50's. Really enjoyed it!

  • @charleskadletc2431
    @charleskadletc2431 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Awesome history, my dad got me into radio, by listening to WLW.
    I went into shortwave radio as a hobby and worked up to radio broadcasting in college now, to learn stuff how it all works. Now im a DJ at a community station.

  • @0tt0z
    @0tt0z ปีที่แล้ว

    Fascinating! Thanks for posting. There were some great minds working together to get that station up and running. I love to see things like this.

  • @ke7trp1tube
    @ke7trp1tube 10 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I really enjoyed the video. Thanks for taking the time.

  • @WAQWBrentwood
    @WAQWBrentwood 8 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Wow! That thing is awesome. Half of my family worked for Westinghouse Electric Co, So I always have an interest in their contribution to our modern world!

  • @eurokid83
    @eurokid83 7 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    This old radio gear is so cool, I have some old test gear and radios that use vacuum tubes. I don't know what it is about vacuum tubes but they're very fascinating to me. Thanks for sharing this video.

  • @crackerjack4833
    @crackerjack4833 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    700 WLW

    • @DanTDMJace
      @DanTDMJace หลายเดือนก่อน

      I live in Florida, originally Cincinnati.
      I can pick it up 7:00 AM to 6:00 AM CST.

  • @century3horizons
    @century3horizons 10 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Totally mind-boggling. I have seen big rigs in my life and 30+year career in Broadcasting but the WLW rig is still the most fascinating. Thanks, K7AGE, for putting this amazing tour video together.

  • @flash001USA
    @flash001USA 9 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    I'm surprised that they didn't travel thru time when they were at full power! Great video. Thanks!

    • @K7AGE
      @K7AGE  9 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      I think they had more engineers to run the the transmitter than Scottie had in the engine room.

    • @BobDePalma
      @BobDePalma 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      But they did travel thru time! That happened back then to bring it to you in the NOW! Buttabing! Time travel! Don't be haters out there!

    • @flash001USA
      @flash001USA 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      LAMO! Yep you are correct.

    • @kenrickeason
      @kenrickeason 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      If their minds was in the place of time travel they would of accomplish it.. LOL...

    • @Livedracersteve
      @Livedracersteve 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      they were trying to work there way up to 1.21GW but never quite made it haha

  • @SysOpsRoot
    @SysOpsRoot 10 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Great video... i love to see the old systems

  • @str33tb1k3r
    @str33tb1k3r 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful video!

  • @rbmwiv
    @rbmwiv 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I really enjoy seeing this old technology. I’m super fascinated with tubes and restoring old tube radios and amps. Wow 500k watts Thats incredible for the time. Great video. Thanks for making it.

  • @dbingamon
    @dbingamon 5 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    I used to have a telephone that picked up WLW, had to replace it because of it. Kings Mills Ohio

    • @Brookside975
      @Brookside975 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Even up here in Kettering, we use to have a phone that constantly picked up WING 1410, who antenna was less than a mile away.

    • @MWofOHIO
      @MWofOHIO 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Even in the 1990's, early 2000's, we could still pick up WLW on the telephone, especially just after your friend or family member hung up before you did.

  • @petersvan7880
    @petersvan7880 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Very interesting video, a big thank you to all including the original engineering and construction team who made this possible!

  • @RobertJochim
    @RobertJochim 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great job at documenting an important part of radio and broadcast history.

  • @kusgilb
    @kusgilb 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Fascinating. I love the technical side to this video.

  • @K7AGE
    @K7AGE  10 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    This thing is amazing to see in person. High power required a lot a special design considerations.

    • @fjbtucvjcdu7860
      @fjbtucvjcdu7860 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      K7AGE OH LOL! Just discovered your channel. My call sign is OE6AGE... What a coincidence

    • @4gauge10
      @4gauge10 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I would like to see the electric bill for this from back then,it could buy a mansion at today's price$$$$$$$.

  • @Dewey-wz4ny
    @Dewey-wz4ny 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thanks for a great video! I work on some big stuff in the service (so I thought). Thanks for the history lesson! I would have loved to been there!

  • @MilanCekic
    @MilanCekic 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting video, thank you very much for sharing!
    Best wishes to WLW crew.

  • @soundguydon
    @soundguydon 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Incredible video! Thank you for sharing.. What an awesome time that must've been for radio enthusiasts -- with all the experimenting, and a whole lot less regulation ;-)

  • @williamjones3871
    @williamjones3871 9 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    The Western Electric transmitter couldn't be beat. It was awesome in its own right.

    • @plhebel1
      @plhebel1 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Anything built back then from leaders in whatever they produced was the best , It must have dawned on the board of directors of these companies if they didn't cheapen up the products they would never sell a replacement unit to the consumers because the old one still works like new. I remember my father told me he bought a circular saw make by skil after marrying my mom . He built their first home and that's why he needed it. He and my five brothers used that saw and it was handed down to a brother after he passed away in his 80's. Now that' quality,, same with a bunch of thing I remember the folks got as newly weds and used all their lives.

  • @wildthing3028
    @wildthing3028 10 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    OMG the amazing scale ..power..and.. Engineering.. I'm just in total awe.. just think engineers were capable of doing that in the 20's and 30's.. but also amazes me is that the average Lehman.. hardly knows what a spark plug does..

    • @edwatts9890
      @edwatts9890 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Even more amazing is that "radio" was only about thirty years old at the time!

    • @fisterB
      @fisterB 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Similar thoughts. I guess the answer is that this amazing mass of talent is out there in any epoch, but you will have to go find them...attract them even. And there is a powerful combination of a few old guys with decades of cutting edge technology experience, leading young sharp minds.

    • @analogdino1
      @analogdino1 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Today an barely qualified "host" walks into a computer controlled station and selects phone calls or punches a button for canned digital so-called "music". Based on what you hear sometimes, no-one at the station even has a portable radio on to listen to the "RF product" going out. Don't start me on audio compression...

  • @jdsalinger73
    @jdsalinger73 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Fascinating. Thanks for posting!

  • @horseywater
    @horseywater 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I have an FCC General and absolutely loved seeing all of this-thanks.

  • @stephenburkholder9411
    @stephenburkholder9411 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Most of these cookies are on one self beyond my reach but I’m still fascinated.
    Not so much anymore but I was addicted to WLW in the nineties. Burbank, Bozo, McConnell, Cunningham, Jim Scott & Seg Denison.

  • @K7AGE
    @K7AGE  10 ปีที่แล้ว +36

    Last year at Dayton, after the first day of hiking around the Hara Arena, I went on a tour to the WLW AM transmitter. Back in 1932 they installed a 500,000 watt amplifier/modular to the transmitter. Interesting story. Enjoy. #hamradio @hamvention

    • @roger_VK2VRK
      @roger_VK2VRK 10 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Watching this with great Interest. Thanks for sharing K7AGE

    • @jlcradio1
      @jlcradio1 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I did the same thing- w5uks

    • @bigbone88
      @bigbone88 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      The Hosts SUCKS

    • @kenrickeason
      @kenrickeason 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      I'm curious.. In theory: How many states and countries the 500,000 watts transmitters reached?

    • @genewoody7187
      @genewoody7187 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@kenrickeason If the atmosphere is just right the signal will bounce around the world. I was driving to San Diego, California in 1969 from Arkansas. At the foot of the mountains from El Centro, Ca I picked up a station from Guyman, Ok. The station ran on 10,000 watts. I was able to listen to three or four songs before the signal went away. It's not the power, it's the atmosphere.

  • @sheldonbox4230
    @sheldonbox4230 ปีที่แล้ว

    Amazing history. Thanks for this.

  • @redsquirrelftw
    @redsquirrelftw 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    This popped up on my page and think I seen it before but had to watch again, very impressive stuff. There is something really cool about technology from that era.

  • @CliffFoxKU4GW
    @CliffFoxKU4GW 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thanks so much Randy! I think I missed my calling as far as my career because stuff like this just fascinates me! Very 73, KU4GW

  • @K7AGE
    @K7AGE  10 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    David, thanks. That must have been an amazing living breathing machine to be around when it was running.

  • @J0HN3
    @J0HN3 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks so much for creating this. Never knew this station existed.

  • @Alpha8713
    @Alpha8713 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Amazing place! Thanks for sharing.

  • @cups3
    @cups3 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    When I was taking my electronics training 1978, and we had a lab were we were going to be actually working with tools, our instructor wanted us to realize this is the dangerous stuff. But he wanted to talk about it is the reaction to a shock that does the damage. He talked about working in big transmitters where you turned the power off , walked into a cabinet made a adjustment waked out fired it up and see if it was ok . He was working in a cabinet and the ding dong working with him forgot if he had actual flipped the switch when "power off " was called . So of course he just flipped it the other way. My instructor that was in the cabinet got zapped as he was reaching in past the sheet metal . He yanked his arm back. He took off his jacket and was wearing a short sleeve shirt so we got a eye opening shot of the long ugly purple scar running all the way down his arm

  • @billpotter9716
    @billpotter9716 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I used to live in Mississippi and could catch WLW loud and clear in the early evenings. What a wonderful history. Thanks!

  • @markh.2899
    @markh.2899 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This is an absolute National treasure ! - Thank you!

  • @MrMopar413
    @MrMopar413 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Awesome video, that just blew my mind out that they came up with all this back then, wow

  • @markadoglet
    @markadoglet 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    What a fantastic video I have enjoyed every second of this, I have always been interested in high power broadcast transmitters ever since I was a little kid, thanks Randy for putting this on TH-cam - Barry G4DIP.

  • @K7AGE
    @K7AGE  10 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Thanks and a big thanks to Jay and Geoff for their help in making this video. I will be posting another video about WLS's collection of 50,000 transmitters, stay tuned.

  • @leftymuller
    @leftymuller 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

  • @tuberadiohistory8093
    @tuberadiohistory8093 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting look into great old radio transmitter. Thanks.

  • @reallyweirdperson1
    @reallyweirdperson1 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Wow! I live 5 minutes from this and never knew all of the history behind it!

  • @christopherhulse8385
    @christopherhulse8385 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    500kw is an insane amount of power, although there are stations using 2000kw today in parts of the world!

    • @DanTDMJace
      @DanTDMJace หลายเดือนก่อน

      2 MW?

  • @kcscarecrow
    @kcscarecrow 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Very fascinating Randy. I worked in broadcasting in my younger years and its something that gets in your blood.

  • @filmingwithmydrone8006
    @filmingwithmydrone8006 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What a great video thank you for sharing it!

  • @may4state58
    @may4state58 6 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    What a shame that the City of Cincinnati allowed the old Arlington Ave site to go into ruins. :( What a VITAL piece of American history! Not just the radio aspect... But the automotive and national defense history as well.
    Maybe on day... Someone VERY WEALTHY will restore the Arlington building to it's glory. But the City allowed it to sit sooo long... It would be an uphill battle.

  • @trustthewater
    @trustthewater 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    This is truly an amazing piece of history and a triumph of engineering. Thank you for sharing.
    I wonder how much all the raw material would be worth today. It seems almost ironic that such a monster designed for communication for a vast section of the US is now able to reach a far wider audience for next to no expense on TH-cam.

    • @fisterB
      @fisterB 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes it is truly awesome for the period, the limitations of materials and electronics given. The modern internet consumes even vaster amounts of power to push those electrons around though, but then again the amount of communication is also far far greater per watt so the cost really is next to nothing.

    • @plhebel1
      @plhebel1 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Ya know,, the skills of those old ham,, Well this transmitter is beyond what I am referring to,, but the things these fells did on building these homebrews and the ability to read CW so well (cause it was so necessary ) wouldn't hurt to have in today's world if something like a mile wide asteroid slammed our home. If we were not wiped out from the lasting deep freeze I doubt that any modern teck would be working. Building and operating a station would be like 1912 or worse. Lets pray that never happens but it's nice to have the knowledge just in case.

  • @toddbeay8928
    @toddbeay8928 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    Randy, Very nice video as usual, Radio history just fascinates me! Thanks for the tour. Keep up the good work. 73, AC9EX

  • @markkrause4407
    @markkrause4407 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I wish my Dad could have made the tour , He was a radio engineer at WRSW in Warsaw , Indiana between 1958-1966 . He would have love it .

  • @THEBIGLABAROWSKI
    @THEBIGLABAROWSKI 10 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Great video! I've lived in mason my whole life. Grew up just a few minutes from the transmitter site. Looking up at that tower as a kid played more than a small role in my interest in engineering. Are these tours done on a regular basis? I would love to get in on that. Is any information available about the link from the Crosley building to the transmitter site? Was it just telephone lines? What's the story on the HMMPWV that's always parked outside?

  • @James_Bowie
    @James_Bowie 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Great tour, thanks! 👍
    Damn rude people who have side conversations during a presenter's talk annoy the heck out of me.

    • @K7AGE
      @K7AGE  4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Be glad that I put a wireless mic on the guys.

    • @SACWarrior70s
      @SACWarrior70s 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      K7AGE Glad you did. Your side-kick could have used some miking too, but hard to get mini mixer in there. Your talk brought back my early 11yrold radio days and my Air Force Ground Radio days at SAC. KWT-6 was the largest and only TX we had at my shop, and then a pair of R390's with cross squelch for WWV received supplied for telephone line feed hack with over 90K calls a year. One recv on 10mhz and the other on either 15 or 20mhz. Yes, that guy's "Side Conversation", ALMOST STARTED to take over! I Thought YOUR Guy was the one GIVING THE TOUR? with your other Friend? There has Always got to be some "know it all", and for that matter, how many people were listening to him? One or Two? RUDE! Surprised they didn't tell him they wanted to hear him talk instead the other hot shot, and not his "side-bar"! I would have said something to him.
      His speech sounded like he was giving it as a "hard of hearing" and also as if HE was the most important one in the room? Hard of hearing? I too have been a motor mouth and got reminded, bringing up history I knew. I learned to raise my hand to interject or ask if the presenter knew any of what I knew at important subject times. During breaks, I would confir and he would let me talk. I then wrote down all I talked about so he could add to his talk and also research my Truths! I kept them brief, so I had to learn to try and be quiet to hear first what I didn't know!...adding to my stories for others who may have never heard of either of our stories. Learning 'HISTORY' not speaking my own, has been very benefical. Lips flapping might get you shot with my or their BS. If you know who it was, I would suggest they listen near the last third/quarter of this video and show them the "attention" broken on your presentation by their very PRESENT VOLUME, which had an affect on your stories...Have them send me an email! I'll return one with a large Q-tip, with an address of "What does quiet mean?" I learned! After sending it back THRU HIS LEFT EAR TO THEIR RIGHT SIDE...maybe they'll get the jest? Obviously EMPTY HEADED, just a recording pre-made...lips flapping. Thanks...Great job, Got my 3rd Radar Edorsed in 1971 in Omaha, where I wound up at Offutt AFB, Later. Worked for KIOS FM, KVNO FM, and wired a TV STATION IN 1986 for stereo, WOWT. Never got my 1st, and haven't picked up my general now that it was is the norm? If you get a chance get on Tour in San Fran of Mt Sutro? Tower for Ch 4 & Ch 5 which SHARE A SINGLE ANTENNA WAVE GUIDE combiner TO THE TOP! AMAZING LOOKING COUPLET! Sometimes lighting takes it out. in 1982 dollars it was a $250,000 piece, bet its now a cool Million but not needing as much pwr with Digital, but bet it still reaches its old cir. of 100miles to East and South? Againn I was glad to come across your channel.

    • @analogdino1
      @analogdino1 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@SACWarrior70s Your side kick should not have spoken to your back... or even turned his back! Front-on would have been OK.

  • @WarriorSpirit3a
    @WarriorSpirit3a 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks for this interesting and informative video! I had never heard of their 500KW capability. Wish I had been around to listen to it then.

  • @davida1hiwaaynet
    @davida1hiwaaynet 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks! This is fascinating. Love it!

  • @billskis
    @billskis 8 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Nice job K7AGE! Wonder if the station ever turned a profit. wish I had been born about 50 years earlier. Thanks! K1WMT

  • @doncooper3946
    @doncooper3946 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    (@13:09) So - it took roughly 200 horsepower to generate the power JUST for the filaments! Wow!

  • @scottcharney4262
    @scottcharney4262 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Great upload! This stuff is riveting to me.

  • @K7AGE
    @K7AGE  10 ปีที่แล้ว

    I watched it, very good. The antenna switching is amazing.

  • @adelarsen9776
    @adelarsen9776 9 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Thanks Randy. I watched all the way through. Fascinating.
    It's like my Icom 7200, except totally different..... LOL
    I wonder how much practical knowledge we're losing due to technology ?
    If we had to, could we build another transmitter like this from scratch ?? Hmm....

    • @K7AGE
      @K7AGE  9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Ade Larsen just no digital display!

  • @amelierenoncule
    @amelierenoncule 4 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Those who lived near, found that all their curly-'short hairs' would eventually straighten out after a few doses of the transmitter's output.

    • @plhebel1
      @plhebel1 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Shocking ,, hee hee.

  • @neovonfrankenstein6419
    @neovonfrankenstein6419 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    That was neat. Thanks for showing this vintage tech.

  • @bradleysmith681
    @bradleysmith681 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great presentation and great video! Thanks!

  • @josephjames259
    @josephjames259 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thanks for uploading. I was in Mason a few months ago. I took some photos of the antenna array from the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant across the street. My interest is from being a fan of host Bill Cunningham.
    This was a very interesting video.

  • @rupe53
    @rupe53 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I always look in awe at this older technology and wonder what it would take to put it back on line. Would it still serve a purpose in the big picture?

  • @LC-yn2xt
    @LC-yn2xt 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wonderful! Thank you and so interesting!

  • @PhantomMortuary
    @PhantomMortuary 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Amazing piece of equipment and a great video.

  • @cda32
    @cda32 6 ปีที่แล้ว +38

    Damn where do I get these Avalon cigarettes from

    • @NuclearTopSpot
      @NuclearTopSpot 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      ciGaRetTeS ArE CAnCer aND cAn KilL YoU
      thanks for that new and fresh insight Mr Imp, I still want some of those Avalons tho

    • @MegaJustGeorge
      @MegaJustGeorge 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Grimsby Imp My sentiments exactly!

  • @coles201
    @coles201 7 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Would be amazing if this station equipment could be restored back to 500,000W!

    • @K7AGE
      @K7AGE  7 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      That would be nice, but so much of what was in the basement is long gone.

    • @coles201
      @coles201 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      After watching the other video I linked here, I agree, there is an awful lot of equipment removed since 1985...

    • @glennso47
      @glennso47 7 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      K7AGE I'd imagine the govt. wouldn't allow it anyhow! At least to broadcast with.

    • @ikonix360
      @ikonix360 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      not to mention how much isn't up to code and if it had to be brought to code would it even be possible.

    • @b3j8
      @b3j8 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Max allowed is 50kw here in the states. Some Mexican and Central/South American stations run in excess of 100 kw.

  • @TomPauls007
    @TomPauls007 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great tour. Thanks.

  • @B250R
    @B250R 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks so much for posting. I had seen pictures of the 500K watt transmitter. I did not know this much of it still existed. Again thanks so much for posting.

    • @K7AGE
      @K7AGE  10 ปีที่แล้ว

      I wish more of what was in the basement still existed. It is amazing.

  • @Bigbadwhitecracker
    @Bigbadwhitecracker 4 ปีที่แล้ว +45

    I wanna know how much their electric bill was every month

    • @c2n10
      @c2n10 4 ปีที่แล้ว +31

      Massive probably but not as big as photonicinduction's.

    • @halusions
      @halusions 4 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      @@c2n10 wish that guy would get back at it. I really miss that nut!

    • @paulanderson79
      @paulanderson79 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@halusions He (Andy Morr) has been very unwell.

    • @paulanderson79
      @paulanderson79 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Mr MEMé Thank you. I took my spelling from a comment on his YT channel.

    • @paulanderson79
      @paulanderson79 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Far as I am aware, yes, he's still alive. He was having a bad time of things emotionally. He'd married an Indian lady (in India) and UK borders took exception to her coming here.
      It's eminently possible he's uprooted and moved to Asia.
      I wouldn't worry too much about his safety with electric stuff etc. The guy is a degree qualified electrical engineer. He knows exactly what he is doing.

  • @graplingurty
    @graplingurty 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Hahaha good ta see ya from the Chief Engineer of WWCK fm - WCZN am Flint MI circa 1974 - KC0ZQB

  • @ichabodon
    @ichabodon 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Amazing for the 20’s and 30’s. Glad it is still there

  • @integralfm1
    @integralfm1 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Wow! That thing is awesome, Excelente explicacion