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Do you remember?

McCurdy Radio Industries began selling radio equipment in 1948. When this ad from Broadcast Engineering's August 1974 issue came out, the company had already been doing business for 26 years! Its “package system allows the user to easily locate his new equipment without the added burden of wiring to auxiliary equipment.” This setup covered everything from news booths to music production and could be assembled in unique packages. McCurdy Radio is still in business today in Canada. Visit the company's website at www.mcradio.com.

That was then

Marvin Collins, retired chief engineer of KFI/KOST Los Angeles, sent us this photo after seeing J.R. Reid seated at the WUSJ General Electric console in the May 2008 issue. Here, Collins is seated at a similar GE console at KCBH FM 98.7, Beverly Hills, CA. It was taken in 1956, during his first job in radio. This job involved driving to Crawford's of Beverly Hills and picking up a stack of LPs and voice track tapes. After that he would drive to the KCBH transmitter, which he turned on at 3 p.m., and play the proper voice tracks and LP albums for the day's programming. At 11 p.m., the voice track tape would sign the station off and after turning off the transmitter, he would drive home. After 54 years, Collins says he still has fond memories of his first job in radio.

Interestingly, Collins notes that when he started at KCBH in 1954 and would tell people where he worked, they had no idea what FM radio was. Today, the former KCBH is KYSR-FM.