seven second delay?

[Dale H. Cook]

At 12:52 AM 7/15/2006, A. Joseph Ross wrote:

> > In the 70s, BZ had a audio tape loop that ran between 2 15-inch reel
> > to reel machines for their 7 second delay.  One has to assume it is
> > all solid state today.
>
>That's the system I remember them using at WMUA in the mid-1960s
>whenever they did a call-in talk show.

We were still using it at WMUA in the early '70s. You must have used 
the two Ampex 350s in the control room. By the early '70s, after the 
station rebuild, we used a tape loop rigged up on two Ampex 442s in 
the new production room.

In 1980 I built a station that used an Audicord cart machine that was 
designed for delay. It was terrible - I never could get the erase 
head to do a thorough enough job. Fortunately we had two Otari 
MX-5050s side-by-side in that room, so I rigged up a loop.

Although I am rather nostalgic about old technology, I wouldn't want 
to use it at work today. I far prefer my Eventide digital delay to a 
tape loop, just as I prefer audio workstations to carts and 
reel-to-reels, and prefer solid-state transmitters to the tubed variety.

Dale H. Cook, Chief Engineer, Centennial Broadcasting, 
Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA - WZZI / WZZU / WLNI / WLEQ
http://members.cox.net/dalehcook/starcity.shtml