[BC] ABC Network in the wired days

[R J Carpenter]

From: Barry Mishkind <barry at oldradio.com>
Subject: [BC] ABC Network in the wired days
At 06:31 PM 7/10/2005, R J Carpenter wrote
>Back in the distant past WMAL-FM used to carry the ABC news from the
>outgoing wire when the network was fed from DC.  WINC was at the
>tail-end of the big eastern loop.  One could hear a word on 'MAL and
>quickly tune to 'INC and hear it again - having traveled thousands of
>wire miles.

         Bob,

         When was that?  In 1970, the net was fed from
         NYC, and when I was shown the net control center,
         the loop was approx four seconds from "out" to "in."

I got my Howard FM tuner in late summer 1950 with money from ROTC
summer camp, so it would have to be after that time. I was away in the
USAF from July 1951 to July 1953.  .I would think it was probably
before January 1958 when I moved to Boulder.

Back when the networks were loops in the east, stations at various
places could break the loop and originate.  Typically they were NYC,
Chicago, St Louis (CBS), maybe Atlanta, DC and back to NYC. The 1954
Broadcasting Yearbook contains maps showing the routing of the eastern
loops. The location feeding the net was supposed to take its audio
from the tail-end to verify that all was working.  What was
interesting was when a location finished feeding and closed to loop,
but no other station opened the loop to start feeding.  Then whatever
audio was in the loop would continue circulating lating lating lating.

Yep those LC loaded lines really had slow propagation.

bob c  w3otc