Echo

["Russell B.Butler" <oldradio@gte.net>]

Could it have been those cavernous studios of
WCOP in Copley Square that created an echo effect?
Maybe Lou Dumont, now on the Cape, could "amplify"
for us.  ....Lou? 

'MEX did have a hollow sound. Perhaps those black and 
white, art deco studios of WMEX (when it was 1510AM) 
...they were located opposite Fenway Park near The 
Yankee Network-WNAC....created an echo on-air.  There 
was only the one mic in a huge studio...must have been 
a twenty foot ceiling...where the DJ "spun the platters"
(spun?) while the engineer, up above the studio, played 
commercials and rode gain.  They swung the one mic on a 
long boom to the other end of the curved table for the 
newsman to use, and presumably the engineer faded the pot 
down during the swing.  

I can't remember who the DJ's were on 'MEX in 1949-1952.
The afternoon guy had a high school countdown segment
(like Bob Clayton's WHDH "Boston Ballroom") inviting students
to do a top record poll in their school and come to be
on the show to introduce the results.  Lotsa fun, I did
that with the lads from Commerce H.S. for both 'HDH and 
'MEX....hello Sal!  By the way, anybody else reading this
who is a 1952 graduate of Commerce H.S. Boston?

In Chicago, WJJD always had a big echo effect on the air 
in the 50's to distinguish itself on the dial.  I remember
they used it on both voice and perhaps music...but NOT on 
the aspirin commercials for Plough, Inc. (of course). It 
became very annoying - I think I still have an off-air, 
taped example.
			And there you are.  =8^)   RBB
==========================================================
	'A. Joseph Ross' wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 7 Jul 1998 PWerlin@aol.com wrote:
> 
> > Can someone help me out, since I didn't grow up during the real heyday
> > of top 40 radio -- why did WVBF - and I think maybe WABC, use that echo
> > effect?? Was it to make them sound "different" or give them an air of
> > excitement or was it a standard thing that stations did?? I've always
> > wondered about that.  I don't remember MEX sounding like that.
> 
> I don't think WMEX used an echo all the time, but certain DJs used it for
> certain effects.  In 1985, when WROR did its Rock & Roll Reunion Weekend,
> Mel Miller/Melvin X. Melvin started out his shift by saying "Turn up the
> echo!" and the echo came on.  Back in olden times, he did a morning shift
> as Mel Miller ("The Housewives' Hit Parade") and an afternoon shift as
> Melvin X. Melvin ("The Gold Platter Show").  My recollection is that he
> used a bit of an echo on his voice as Mel Miller, perhaps so that we
> wouldn't guess his secret identity.
> 
> I always loved the name "Melvin X. Melvin."  It seemed like the epitome of
> the zany atmosphere that made WMEX sound so special in those days.
> 
> I think that WCOP, for many years, had a slight echo all the time, for
> some reason.
> 
> ===========================================================================
>  A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                         617.367.0468
>  15 Court Square                                      lawyer@world.std.com
>  Boston, MA 02108-2503                       http://world.std.com/~lawyer/
> ===========================================================================

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