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The 1954 WLS Family Album:
The WLS Engineers
| Right:
Tom Rowe well remembers the the now antiquated equipment in the Sears-Roebuck
and Hotel Sherman WLS studios when the station went on the air, April 12, 1924.
As Chief Engineer, he has supervised WLS growth from 500 to 50,000 watts. He has
seen WLS equipment outmoded and replaced several times, for it is his job to keep
up with all technical advances. Consequently, WLS boasts the most modern studio,
control and recording equipment, complete with instant switching facilities. |
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Left:
Charles Nehlsen, assistant studio engineer, is standing beside one of the racks
of tape recording equipment used to record programs for later play-back. Auditions
are frequently recorded on tape, too. Charley recorded the famous Hindenburg disaster
for WLS on May 6, 1937. |
| Right:
Roy Huberty and Vern Felton test short wave remote transmitter and receiver equipment
on the roof. |
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Left:
Bill Taylor is shown at the new RCA Consolette in Studio A control room during
Dinnerbell Time. |
| Right:
Getting ready to check an out-of-town program pickup is Dale Shimp. He's in front
of the main jack panel in the WLS master control room. |
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Left:
Maurice Donnelly records an entire 15-minute network program on a 16-inch acetate
disc at 33-1/3 RPM. It is for play-back at a more convenient listening time. |
| Right:
Cameraman caught Chuck Ostler and Ray Ferris from Studio A as Chuck monitored
and Ray produced "Stumpus" from the control room. This is a familiar
scene to WLS performers during many of our studio broadcasts. |
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| Right:
Veteran studio engineer Burr Whyland is shown at the Studio C control panel. He
has monitored many auditions from the studio and should be a good judge of talent. |
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Left:
Bill Keller is shown coordinating all of the technical facilities during a National
Barn Dance broadcast. He's at Master Control, the "nerve center" between
Prairie Farmer studios and the transmitter, 25 miles from Chicago. |
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Left:
Homer Courchene, who was employed soon after WLS started in 1924, has been chief
transmitter engineer for many years. In this job he and his staff are responsible
for maintaining the big modern transmitter plant southwest on U.S. Highwat 45
at South 183rd St. near Tinley Park. |
| Right:
Here are engineers Ernest Serena, William T. Anderson, George Busch, H.F. Kohnitz
and R. Schmidt, seated; five members of the crew that mans the transmitter plant
near Tinley Park. |
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Created by
Rich Samuels (e-mail to rich@richsamuels.com)
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