WRKO transmitter Re: Passing of Joe Kruger

[Roger Kirk]

Alan Tolz wrote:
> WRKO used "Metrotech" recorders and reels of thin ply tape to record 
> each day's programming when I was there in the early '80s.  The 
> recorders moved quite slowly and each reel held 24 hours on each side 
> of the tape.  They kept the tapes for 30 days and then recycled them.
>
> The recorders - two of them, as I recall - were in a room across from 
> the engineering office at 3 Fenway Plaza.
>
> I have no idea where those tapes are today.
When I worked at RKO General (4/70 - 1/73)(Government Center) two 
Metrotech recorders were located in racks (in the Automation Room of 
WROR-FM) along with tuners for WRKO, WROR-FM & WNAC-TV.  They were 
4-channel with AM, FM, TV & CHU (for time stamp) filling the tracks.  
Each night shortly before midnight, the idle recorder was started and 
the active recorder was allowed to run tape out.  It was then re-loaded 
and made ready for the following night's recording.  The idle recorder 
could also used for playback whenever it was necessary to recover on-air 
audio.  My recollection was that they were uni-directional i.e. all 4 
channels of 1/4 track configuration were used simultaneously and there 
were no unused channels in the opposite direction.  They used 10.5 inch 
NAB reels.  I recall the sad day that one of us techs was asked to dub 
off incriminating evidence subsequently used to fire another of our 
brethren.