Getting your First Class ticket (was: Music Till Dawn on WEEI)

[Roger Kirk]

Just for the record, a clarification of my comment:

1. I know full well that Arnie has (had) a First Phone license.
2. It was intended neither to impugn nor give short shrift to his 
technical skills.  I certainly learned many things from him while we 
worked together at WRKO.
3. I simply based my observation on a conversation I had with him in the 
mid-late 70's. He noted that, in the past, he had "avoided mentioning" 
that he had a First Phone to avoid being stuck doing transmitter duty.   
He did not elaborate on where or when.

Just for the record:
    A. I visited 1600 Custom House in summer of 1964 to get my Third 
Class license with Broadcast endorsement.  I had been promised a job at 
South Paris' premier broadcast facility - 1450 WKTQ-AM - IF I could get 
my license.  I was too young to drive (different license) and my mother 
(God rest her soul) actually braved Boston traffic for me.
    B. I passed my First Phone (honestly, of course) in April of 1966 at 
the Post Office on Forest Avenue, Portland (a stone's throw from WPOR's 
tower) - shortly before graduating from what is now Southern Maine 
Technical College.  Many in our class went that day.  The examiner 
forgot to bring the grading template for Element I.  He said I passed 
Element II and either I had a First Phone or was still stuck with my 
Third.  The license arrived two weeks later.  To me, that was a BIG 
DEAL.  Bless your little heart, Ben F. Waple.


> kvahey@comcast.net wrote:
>> Arnie was proud of his First Phone license and it was issued in Boston
>> which indicates he passed the test honeslty. Many jocks back then went
>> to the school in Sarasota, FL that had the Miami FCC office on the
>> payroll.
>>
>> On 2/26/08, Roger Kirk <rogerkirk@ttlc.net> wrote:
>>     
>>> kvahey@comcast.net wrote:
>>>       
>>>> A lot of people don't know that Arnie
>>>> designed and installed the new studios at 111 Broadway.     
>>> I would have thought that was Arnie's brother.
>>>