Carrier Current?

[Russ Butler]

There were recent threads posted of carrier current AM's that the 
schools set up to broadcast on campus to dorms and lunchrooms, etc.  I'm 
curious if any AM-CC's still broadcast today since there is now 
technology to stream onlne to reach a wider audience, and if so, what 
happened to the CC transmitter-equipment from the schools?

Harvard used to have their WHRB-AM (Harvard Radio Broadcasting) CC 
studios just off Harvard Square in a basement (or lower level) area.  
The studios were painted a gruesome color green, but there were announce 
studios, boom and table mics, clocks, slanted glass windows, 
soundproofing just like a "real" radio station.

I used to (as a WGBH-FM volunteer in 1951-52) go from Symphony Hall to 
Harvard Square to engineer for the "Louis M. Lyon and The News" that was 
broadcast from the  WHRB studios.  It was a simple matter of just 
turning on the board and pushing the "''GBH"  switch with a pot volume, 
no music intro, the studio announcer introduced him, then waiting for 
Mr. Lyons to arrive in haste.

Louis ("Lewie Lions") would storm in at the very last 30-seconds before 
broadcast, trailing the AP newsprint behind him, he'd sit at a table 
with the boom mic, off goes his fedora hat (reminded me of Jimmy Fiddler 
or better yet, Walter Winchell) and the red onair light started him 
speaking while settling in his chair and rustling the paper..."Well, 
here's the news!"  And it ended as abruptly as it began, his last que 
was "...and, that's the news!"   Then he immediately would rise from the 
chair and out the studio door, not caring (I'd guess) it the mic was off 
or not. I picked up the AP newsprint, straightened up the studio, turned 
off the lights and left.

I also remember the Emerson College "wired radio" studio (I think the 
call letters were WECB) that sent programming from a rather nice studio 
set up upstairs on wires to the lunchroom downstairs.  It wasn't carrier 
current to the dorms, just a big amplified signal to loud speakers.

Fort Devens (MA) Army Hospital had a similar "radio station" set up 
above the recreation hall that sent wired programming to patients' 
bedside and amplified in some common areas as well.  The patient had a 
switch box for selecting local stations or the hospital station.  If it 
was baseball, the Red Sox were on WHDH, the news was on WBZ, local 
Fitchburg was WEIM, etc.  - but in the evening, their music requests 
were played on the hospital station which I ran for about a year during 
my Army enlistment.  It seemed that everyone listened to the hospital 
radio channel. There was a full library of AFRS ET's - lots of good 
stuff, new hit releases too that the patients wanted to hear in 1955.  
And, the studio was located next to the nurses' dorm!

Anybody else have similar experiences with CD or wired radio?   Offline 
please: songbook2@comcast.net  =Russ