Joe Harris: Bad DJ

I was reading Radio-Info and caught the second half of a story I wish I'd had been paying better attention to.  It turns out that Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris put the Benton Harbor city LPFM radio station, 96.5 WBHC on eBay. It turns out that it's not legal to do that, not even a smidgen. The auction was listed with a starting price of $5,000. It ended on February 9th with zero bids. Even today, the FCC still has not received notification for an STA for the station to remain silent. The FCC has taken no action, probably trying to stay out of the very ugly politics. More here and here and here. The expired eBay listing is here.

The city was operating with huge budget deficits so there is certainly a valid argument for cost-cutting. Harris was of the opinion that closing down the radio station could save the city $10,000-20,000 a year. The station hasn't been in the city hall basement all that long either. Benton Harbor had applied for a license in August of 2000, and the FCC granted a CP on June 17, 2003 for the 100 watt station.  They signed on in November of 2005 shortly after Thanksgiving. Harris shut down the radio station on January 1, 2012, just about 50 days ago. Let's review: How did this happen?  There's a lot of back story.

It's hard not to get a bit political when something like this goes down.You may or may not be aware, but in 2011, the Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder [R] signed a law allowing him to appoint an Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) to take over any city in his state with the power to overrule all local governance. He has used this law in about a dozen cities. In Benton Harbor he appointed Michigan's worst DJ: Joe Harris. Now I will admit that Benton harbor clearly has some serious money problems, but is this legal? There's some debate as to Mr. Harris' power within Michigan state law. But there is no debate as to his sway over federal law—bupkis.  the law is clear. Allow me to quote the Broadcast Law Blog:

"Once a station has ceased operations for 10 days, a notice must be filed with the the FCC providing notification that the station is not operational.  If the station remains silent for 30 days, specific permission, in the form of a request for Special Temporary Authority to remain silent, must be sought from the FCC."

So the question remains.. who will file the complaint that earns Benton harbor a big 5-digit fine? Nassau Broadcasting Partners was served a $17,000 fine for a similar incident regarding 960 WPLY-AM in Stroudsburg, PA just this January. That sort of makes the imagined 5k payday seem a bit short-sighted.

The Voice Of Temperance

I first found an odd pamphlet named "Liquor Advertising On The radio. It was authored by the host of the obscure radio program "The Voice Of Temperance." I did a bit more research, and I found the testimony of its author, Rev. Sam Morris in his two appearances before congress. Morris testified in 1948 and again in 1950 and said almost the exact same thing each time. At first I thought it was a reprint, but Sam Morris was just repeating himself almost verbatim. He was consistent, you can give him that. Prohibition had been repealed over a decade earlier, only running from 1920 to 1933. In that time it had led to rashes of alcohol poisoning from methanol, and the brutal rise of organized crime. Morris wanted to go back to those halcyon days and so once a week on XERA-AM he made his case. Let me post both quotes side-by-side...

In 1948:

"I am Sam Morris, of San Antonio, Tex.,  radio speaker for I be National Temperance and Prohibition Council, field speaker for the Temperance League of America and associate editor of the National Voice, America's oldest prohibition newspaper. For the past 12 years I have conducted the Voice of Temperance broadcast, a nation-wide radio program urging total abstinence for the individual, and prohibition for the nation..."

...and in 1950:

"I am Sam Morris of San Antonio, Tex. I am field speaker for the Temperance League of America; I am associate editor of the National Voice, America's oldest prohibition newspaper. For the past 15 years I have conducted the Voice of Temperance broadcast with radio listeners in all parts of the nation... "

This was a part of his testimony on the subject of alcohol advertisements on the radio.Interestingly, there are some contemporary federal laws that do limit the presence of certain types of ads in certain circumstances. For example, the tobacco industry is forbidden to advertise on TV at all. But alcohol is allowed... technically. But there are limits: they can only be placed in media where 70% of the audience is over 21. The content also cant be targeted at the young, no cartoons characters etc. It also cannot advertise it's effects and cannot encourage irresponsible drinking. The limitations are such that you'd think there was very little alcohol advertising at all. Well the CDC would be happy to show you where they still do. In Q3 of 2006 VMS found 67,404 alcohol advertisements  in a sample of the top 104 markets, though they were very regional. More here. The Broadcast Law Blog covered the topic in great detail in 2007 here.

Sam Morris managed to get his puritanical message out on a number of border blasters back in the 1940s: XEPN-AM, XENT-AM, XEAW-AM, XERA-AM, XELO-AM, and XEG-AM. he also bought time on WHO-AM in Des Moines, KWBU-AM in Corpus Christi, KWKH-AM in Shreveport and WHAS-AM in Louisville. He also manged to get some syndicated time in 1944 on CBS and on NBC in 1947. A 1946 radio listener survey by Benson & Benson in Princeton, NJ, as the 15th most popular radio program in Louisville. It sounds good, but his damning proof is that the "beer broadcasts" have lower ratings than his own.  This is sort of like bragging that your program is more popular than the other program's advertisements.

In 1946, CBS actually produced and aired a 13-episide series called "Alcohol and You"  that was about alcoholism, and social problems.  In a didactic fit Morris wrote a letter to CBS complaining that the free evening airtime that networks gave to that series was too late in the day and had low listener ship. Ed Murrow even responded to his crazy letters politely. Morris sort of reminds me of Rick Santorum: just a looney puritanical zealot.

But even a puritanical zealot has his day. Following his appearance on NBC in January on '47 the trade magazine Beverage retailer Weekly called Morris "the most dangerous enemy the liquor industry has ever known."  It's a bit dramatic, but Morris was certainly troublesome. By the mid 1940s Morris was finding that certain broadcasters wouldn't even sell him air time because he was intent on chasing off their liquor advertisers. So in 1948 Morris published a pamphlet that listed off his works, and also named names as to who did and did not run what he calls  wine beer and liquor broadcasts. He names specifically: WEEI, WCBS, KMOX, WTOP, WCCO, KNX, WJR, WBT, WHAS, WLAC, KLRA, KTRH, WWL, WDOD, WKRC, WBBM, KRLD, KOMA, WNOX, KIRO, KWFT, KSL, KFAB, and KMBC... notably singling out all the big market powerhouses of the CBS network. He then drops some of these calls over maps of "dry" and "wet" counties. His logic is that a town voting out the sale of booze has also somehow by connection voted out advertisements for it ... as if somehow the radio waves could steer around temperance households...

I scanned his whole pamphlet, it's well worth the read and the fine details about radio airtime make it a fine piece of research material.

You can download all 56 pages 

HERE

Nocturnal Nighthawks

The story starts with the Coon-Sanders Original Kansas City Nighthawks.  The orchestra began broadcasting in 1922 on WDAF-AM. At the time they were a share time on 730 AM with WHB-AM. They were broadcast live from the Muehlebach Hotel, which still exists today. More here. The group started in 1919, as the Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra.  There's nothing racial about the name, Mr. Coon is Carleton Coon and Sanders is pianist Joe Sanders. They took the name Nighthawks because their program aired late at night an approach they took around the country with them on tour in 1924. They first played in Chicago on KYW-AM. More here.

The group left Kansas City for the first time in 1924 for a three-month engagement in a roadhouse in Chicago. WBBM specialized in local, live programming, including a station promotion called the "Nutty Club." With over a million listeners in the US and Canada wiring, phoning or writing in for membership, it was clear that Program Director Charlie Garland, aka "Colonel Nut," and his crew had something good going.Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians, who were named as the official "Nutty Club" orchestra. I'll quote teh St. Petersburg times from 1927...

"...the Nutty Club of WBBM, the Stewart-Warner Air theater known from coast-to-coast for its "Cuckoo Signal" and the other is the orchestra that has made insomnia a famous indoor sport —Coon-Sanders Original Kansas City Nighthawks. Under an arrangement just completed this orchestra is to broadcast exclusively over WBBM by remote control from the Blackhawk Grill; Chicago. It will be heard during the three weekly sessions of the Nutty Club, which start at midnight Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday Nights."

They actually played quite regularly on WBBM and were syndicated coast to coast on CBS after 1928. A 1926 news article described them as playing nightly there at 8:00 PM and again from 11:00 PM to Midnight Tuesdays and Thursdays. the band recorded a large number of sides for Victor, and at lease a few furtively for Vocalion. In 1928 Henry Sellinger made them an offer to bring their late night shindig over to WGN-AM. For the next twenty years they performed at the the Blackhawk Restaurant live on that Chicago Tribune radio station. More here.

In 1932 Carelton Coon came down with a jaw infection and died. He was only 38 years old. Joe Sanders tried to keep the band together, but failed. He started his own group and stayed in music until his death in 1965. The band is celebrated annually at the The Coon Sanders Nighthawks Fans' Bash in in Huntington, WV. Why it's not held in Kansas City or Chicago... I have no idea.

Text Message Abbreviations

I've had a little problem that's been becoming more common. Certain common (and uncommon) acronyms that get used in texting, IM and other quick SMS-type text messages happen to also be call letters. Some are more common than others, and on rare occasion, in context both meanings can be possible for those of us that work in radioland. I found a few rather large lists online that included many I'd encountered.

I cant' speak for the veracity of any claims to the regular usage all of these.  But I expect you will recognize most of them. I list below all that I've found with 4 characters starting with a "K or a "W". I exclude those that might match 3-letter call signs as their increasing rarity diminishes the confusion.

KHYF - Know How You Feel
KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid
KMBA - Kiss My Black Ass
KMUF - Kiss Me You Fool
KMWA - Kiss My White Ass
KOTC - Kiss On the Cheek
KOTL - Kiss On The Lips
KWIM - Know What I Mean?
KAEO - Keep An Eye Out
KYCU - Keep Your Chin Up
KYEO -Keep Your Eyes Open
KYFC - Keep Your Fingers Crossed
KYNC - Keep Your Nose Clean
KYPO - Keep Your Pants On
WAEF - When All Else Fails
WAFB - What A Fucking Bitch
WAFM - What A Fucking Mess
WAFU - What A Fuck Up
WATB - Water Under the Bridge
WAYD - What Are You Doing?
WAYN - Where Are You Now?
WDYM - What Do You Mean?
WDYS - What Did You Say?
WITW - What In The World?
WMPL - Wet My Pants Laughing
WRUD - What "R"You Doing?
WTFH - What The Fucking Hell?
WUWH - Wish "U" Were Here
WWJD - What Would Jesus Do?
WYWH - Wish You Were Here
WYCM - Will You Call Me?
WYRN - What's Your Real Name?

Transcription Mystery Disc #100

This is a Wilcox-gay Recordio acetate. It has an outer edge starts and spins at 78 rpm. This is not a typical home recording in that it's been stamped across the label with the name of a business "Rowden Radio." The text reads " -SALES AND SERVICE - ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES - RADIO - PHILGAS STOVES - BOTTLED GAS - PHONE 16 - AUBURN, MICHIGAN."  Below that the word "radio" is written in pencil. the recording turns out to be a band scan, a very strange noisy one.

Rowden Radio


The audio hops from channel to channel with vocals, news and an array of AM band noise. Lacking an address I cant look up much about the business. Rowden is surely a surname and if not the proprietor probably the founder.