That Was Then

These photos come from Dino Corbin who has been in radio and television for 35 years. The photos are of some broadcast pioneers from the West Coast. Dino writes, “KHSL 1290 and KHSL TV 12 were the first commercial stations in Northern California, owned by Golden Empire Broadcasting.”

Russ Pope was the VP/chief engineer for Golden Empire Broadcasting, owned by Mickey McClung one of the industry's very first female owners. She owned KYOS in Merced, CA, KHSL in Chico, CA, and KVCV in Redding, CA. In this picture Russ is adjusting the antenna on the news car in preparation for a live report circa late 1940s. In 1953 they put the first TV station on the air in Northern California: KHSL 12, a CBS affiliate. McClung owned both the radio and TV stations until the mid 1990s.

Frank McDonald (right) was the Host of Paris Startime during WWII. The show was heard on stations all over America and Europe. He was also on CBS Playhouse 90 in the early days of television. Frank was the morning show DJ at KHSL 1290. Here he is interviewing a client during a remote broadcast in Chico at the remote Kahisle Bug studio from the 1960s.

Bob Gheller was the KHSL Radio 1290 station manager in the Sixties and Seventies. He hired Dino. Here he is with the “Kahisle Bug” (KHSL) promotion vehicle at the Silver Dollar Fair Grounds in Chico.

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Tommy Nelson was one of the original announcers at KHSL Radio and later for KHSL-TV. He served for more than 30 years at KHSL. In retirement, through a program at California State University, Chico, he converted books to audio for the blind. In the foreground of this 1930s photo is the RCA ET cutter.

Sample and Hold

How many people are in your engineering department?

Every year our Salary Survey rolls around and we are always sure we'll hear about one thing: A lot of you feel overworked. Data doesn't lie, so here are our statistics from 2008 on how many staff members respondants are working with. Feel this data is misrepresenting your field? Get involved and respond to our survey next year! And in case you missed it, check out more coverage of this year's report on page 34.
Source: Radio magazine 2008 Salary Survey

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