Wednesday, January 14, 2009

101 jumps into the inbox today...

The funny thing about Helen's store in Vestal was the way she spelled "transvestites." On her sign it was spelled "transvites". (Tom Jester)

Hey Smoke.....YOUR Dave Young told me about this place in Vestal and asked if I had checked it out. Due to the fact that I was 6' 5 and 220 when I worked at WKGN I really didn't think they would have a THING to fit me so only drove past it...VERY FAST! I always thought Uncle Bob Bob used to shop there but I never could get "Nard" to confirm it. Truth is I do believe there was a store like this and yep I think it was in Vestal but I can't remember just where it was. If you lived South (I kinda remember going over to your house once) then you would have gone through that area in the early morning hours. Back then that was the safest time to travel those particular streets! (Walker J)

Have you ever tried to find a photo of “anyone” in the WNOX control room? IF I recall it was because they didn’t want anyone from the other stations to see their Graylab darkroom timers. I visited Stan Smith (J. Worthington Smith) while he was on air many times. I kept in touch after he moved to Greenville SC. I lost track of him after a few years. I have so many Terry Womack stories...but I hesitate...I will send a photo in a couple of weeks though! (500 Mega Watt)

Reading about the window shooting at WNOX reminded me of another story – one I have to be careful about. In the mid 1970s there were some times when WNOX was knocked off the air due to a power failure at the transmitter site. The cause was due to an unknown person or persons discovering that the WNOX transmitter was supplied power from a nearby utility pole, with electricity running directly into a manual disconnect switch – which was located OUTSIDE the transmitter building. Apparently all one had to do was pull the switch and off went the transmitter – back-up power apparently did not work. Some time later NOX installed a large fence around the entire transmitter building. Rumor has it that an employee of a competing station was the culprit. (500 Mega Watt)

Coming soon- Allen Dennis, Wilhite and Wall, and more!