WMUR

[Kevin Vahey]

To be fair it wasn't Eaton so much as the GM Sam Phillips.

The station was fortunate to have tech gurus like Pete Fasciano and
Tom Sprague around who could do magic. Tom pretty much invented a time
base correcter for the old Ampex VTR that would allow it to run color.

When they finally were ordered by ABC to get color in the studio they
found a company IVC that had a camera that was impossible to balance.

We fed a Wide World of Sports out of there around 1970 and the ABC
guys were in shock at how primitive we were. They actually gave us a
new switcher as they felt sorry for us.

Jim McKay was doing his voice overs in Gus' announcing booth and
actually had to do our ID.

I was told once that the reason local news was never seriously covered
was that if we became a factor the Union Leader would forbid
advertisers to be on our news. I remember one night ABC called looking
for footage of a plane crash and we never knew there had been one.

On 3/20/08, Sid Schweiger <sid@wrko.com> wrote:
>
> >>Richard Eaton wound up with the station and he was a frugal owner to put
> it mildly.<<
>
> When I first went to work for WGIR back in the late 1970s I was told that
> Eaton would not spring for a proper color transmitting setup.  The reason
> their color pictures were so awful was that he was sending a color signal
> through an exciter designed for monochrome.  Almost the instant Eaton sold
> the station, the new owners installed the proper equipment and their picture
> finally looked right.
>
> Sid Schweiger
> IT Manager, Entercom New England
> WAAF/WEEI/WEEI-FM/WKAF/WMKK/WRKO/WVEI/WVEI-FM
> 20 Guest St / 3d Floor
> Brighton MA  02135-2040
> P: 617-779-5369
> F: 617-779-5379
> E: sid@wrko.com
>