Art Bell,  W6OBB Retires, HA HA HA

15 years on the air in Las Vegas, then he announced retirement. Well folks, check this web site:

http://www.knye.com/

 

So? Thats the station he owns, since Nov 16, 2001 it seems. A 6KW, probably barely covers the town of Pahrump

 

He and his wife set that station up starting about six years ago. its a small FM station. he didnt retire before, he quit because of personal matters about his boy. if you know the story then you will know why I wont go any further about it. Yes he does own a radio station. every amateurs dream.

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (AC7UX @ Jan. 09 2003,00:04)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Yes he does own a radio station. every amateurs dream.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Not Mine!

Never wanted to spend most of my time worrying about selling a bunch of stupid advertising that nobody wanted to hear... and that is what an AM/FM commercial station is all about... Has nothing to do with entertainment... It has to do with audience segments and S E L L I N G...

I was very naive about this until I walked into my first commercial station... 2 sales types for every Jock... I never met a Jock that knew anything about the Electronics in the station other than a few buzz words, which knob to turn and the phone number of the engineer... And the engineers are all rent-a-ticket-techs (nothing wrong with THAT) who come in once a while to check the meters and sign the logs so there was never a chance for chit-chat there...

My bubble got burst on that dream early on...

 

Last year, art and his wife ran the station the whole year without any advertisements. When you pay the bills these are choices you can make. Think about it though, you own the only radio station in town and can do what you want with it. Sweet!!

 

Best thing about BC stations is when one closes down and the local hams can use what's left.

A 10kW AM station in NJ went bankrupt back in the 60's, and happened to be pretty close to where I lived as a kid. When they pulled out, the towers remained, as did the tuners, radial systems, xmtr blockhouse, etc. The power was shut off, but it was easy to get into the blockhouse and access the antenna feeders. Using a small portable (gasoline) generator, a bunch of us fired up on 160m using the towers, retuned the matchboxes, and worked our first European DX on 160.

Since then, I have always looked forward to living near an AM station that goes belly-up. Hasn't happened yet, but I keep looking....

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (WB2WIK @ Jan. 09 2003,09:59)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Best thing about BC stations is when one closes down and the local hams can use what's left.
...
Since then, I have always looked forward to living near an AM station that goes belly-up. Hasn't happened yet, but I keep looking....[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>


Now that's what I love about ham radio. Making the best out of whatever you have available. &quot;When life hands you a bunch of lemons, make some lemonade.&quot; I guess sometimes those lemons just drop into your lap.

Nice going Steve.

Roy
AD6ZU

 

Steve, I've had the same thought more than a few times. I wonder if you're talking about WERA? There's a ham who in fact I think has posted here at some point, and I've run into him on 2m, who says he is trying to get WERA back on the air. Yes, the blockhouse and towers are still there.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm now I'm thinking, since that's about 1/2 mile from my sister-in-law's . . . .

73,

Chris

 

Chris, no it wasn't WERA (I don't think). I think it was the old WNJR site, although since this all happened about 35 years ago and I haven't lived in the area for about 15 years, maybe I'm mistaken.

It was in Union County, in fact, actually in Union, NJ as I recall. I lived very close by, in Springfield, and my co-conspirators in this event lived in Hillside.

WB2WIK/6