KCEY and KMIX-FM

By Eric Rench

( Air Name Danny Knight)

(Note: Following are excerpts from the personal story of Eric Rench regarding his days at KCEY. Click here for his complete story.)

During the broadcast day, KCEY was live at all times, with a disc jockey spinning records, playing jingles, promos (promotional announcements) and commercials on tape and reading "rip and read" news, sports and weather.

KCEY's control room in 1975 was small, probably only about 10 by 18 feet or so. The walls featured that vertically-lined, off sound-absorbing tiles that were so popular with radio stations in the 1970's, and they were painted flat, dusty, light mustard yellow. The studio was shabby, out-of date, but fairly comfortable and fully functional.

KCEY operated at the power of 5000 watts day and night with a three-element antenna array arranged in the shape triangle located about 15 miles east of Turlock, near the small community of Montpelier. The antenna patterns were directional, both day and night, so to be an operator at KCEY required a valid F.C.C. First Class Radiotelephone License.

The night time signal was focused west and it wasn't unusual for us to receive cards from listeners in New Zealand, Australia and all over the South Pacific Ocean.

KCEY's studio equipment was old, and well-used, even by 1975 standards. When they moved to their new studios in 1978 on Geer Rd near Hughson, the station was equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. About 75% percent of the music we played was on 45s, and the remainder, mostly "oldies" was on 33.

Every radio station that I ever worked at had a "program clock" to some degree. Naturally, the clock was a closely guarded secret and would be removed even during a visit of a casual visitor. However, to the trained ear, it wasn't difficult to figure out a station's clock after listening to the station for a few hours. Many radio stations, particularly those who played rock music, had a slightly different clock according to the time of day, as it was reasoned that the older audience was watching TV in the evening, therefore a lot of "Top-40" rock stations would slip in an album cut or two during evening and night time hours. KCEY's format was country, and the clock never changed.

Yes, I have some vivid memories of my days at KCEY, 1390, Turlock, CA.

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KCEY / K-MIX: First New Building in 29 Years, Worth Waiting For

BEST STATION AWARD CONTEST AM/FM RADIO ENTRY 2

Submitted by Richard Sweetland, Technical Director,

KCEY/K-MIX, Modesto, Calif.

KCEY (THEN KNOWN AS KTUR) began broadcasting in 1949, and during our first 29 years we remained in the same building. But in 1977, when we were about to receive an FM construction permit, It became obvious that the old building had finally outgrown its usefulness. Rather than try to adapt the old building to accommodate both the AM and FM operations, it was decided that the best plan would be to construct a completely new building.

It was also decided that we would "do it right the first time" and use all new equipment in the new studios, rather than try to cut costs and put together a piecemeal operation with some old equipment and some new equipment. This approach had the added benefit of allowing us to maintain the old studios at full operating capacity while building the new studios, rather than try to move the equipment while We were still using it. This greatly reduced the technical problems in our transition period.

Local news has always been extremely important to KCEY. So, when we designed the new facilities, all the studios were clustered around the news studio. This allowed us to position the windows in the studios in such a way that it is possible for a person in anyone of the studios to look in to any other studio. This eye-to-eye contact is very important when you are switching between one studio and another. The windows also allow visitors to see into the heart of the station without going on a formal tour.

All studios (with the exception of the news studio) use the same control console, the Harris Stereo Executive, and were made as much alike as possible. This was done for three fundamental reasons. First, it is easier for a DJ or engineer to learn how to use just one new board rather than several new boards. Second, the engineering department needs only one set of spare parts for all the consoles, and it is possible to switch parts from one console to another as an aid in troubleshooting. Third, because all the studios are essentially the same, and because we have a very sophisticated system of patch panels, it is possible to use anyone of the four studios for AM control, FM control, or production. It is also possible to feed any two studios into a third studio.

K-MIX 98-FM Stereo is an automated station with a fast-moving contemporary format. Therefore, we needed an automation system with a large memory capacity, sophisticated programming capabilities, and a good maintenance record, that would not be too complex to teach the average DJ how to use. The only system that met all of these requirements at the time was the Harris System 90.

The assignment of offices is extremely important to the overall efficiency of the building. The engineer's office and shop are. close to the transmitter room, the automation room, and the control studios, so that in case of trouble the

engineer will not have to waste valuable time running all over the building to get to the trouble or to get parts and test equipment. The program director must work closely with the sales manager; therefore, their offices are relatively close together. The sales manager and salesmen must often review the production of commercials, so their offices are close to the production studios. The general manager spends most of this time working with the sales manager and the bookkeeping department, so his office is close to theirs. It also is away from the studios so he can have a quiet place to work.

The sales and bookkeeping offices are purposely kept separate from the rest of the building to give the salespeople a quiet place to work away from the rest of the station. It also helps reduce the traffic and noise in the halls. The conference room can also be used as an air studio for group discussions or an informal sales office.

In spite of all our efforts in designing our new studios, any project of this magnitude is bound to have a few mistakes. Originally, we put the AP News teletype machine in the news studio so that it would be close to the news person, giving him easy access to it. In spite of the "soundproof" enclosure that we built around it, the machine was still unacceptably noisy. Therefore, we had to move it to the transmitter room. This not only eliminated the noise, but also gave the news people more room and a neater working area.

When we first started to plan for K-MIX we decided to use the AM DJs as operators for the automatic system. We reasoned that since it would take only a few minutes each hour, they could easily handle both jobs. Unfortunately, because of our complex format we had numerous minor problems that would upset our programming. Often the first indication the DJ had that something was wrong was when a listener would call in and complain. This problem was solved by building an alarm system to warn the DJ of any problem with the automation system. The system is designed so that the DJ must go into the automation room to turn off the alarm in the studio, because we were afraid that if the DJ could turn off the alarm from the studio, he might forget the problem in the automation room.

The new facilities have had a remarkable impact on our ability to meet our programming objective. AM is a 24hour-a-day 5000-watt station that programs a modern country format. The FM side is fully automated and programs an adult contemporary format 24 hours a day. The five K-MIX disc jockeys record their programs for each day of the week, thus providing a live sound for the station.

Both stations place a heavy emphasis on news and sports. Though we use the AP wire and ABC Radio Network news every half hour , the majority of our news is gathered locally by our two-person news staff. Plans for extending our news operation include the addition of the Wall Street Journal wire service for economic news and a KCEY K-MIX mobile news car for covering on-the-spot news events.

(Courtesy of BME Magazine December 1978 and Bob Neutzling)

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