[BC] Telco and the program loop

[Ron Nott]

In ancient times, Collins sold a turnkey package of a new Class A FM 
in a small town in SD.  The GM had wheedled an audio proof from the 
Collins salesman, so he and I began running it at midnight.  Soon it 
became obvious that there was a big dip in audio freq response about 
1 kHz.  Naturally, the GM blamed the new equipment, so I ran a quick 
check on the transmitter to prove that it was good.  Then he blamed 
the console, so we checked and it was good.  I said, "Lets do a proof 
on the AAA phone line" to which he resisted, but finally 
consented.  We found a dip of about 10 dB near 1 kHz. The GM then 
went to the phone company where a small crew was working in the 
shop.  The station was to simulcast the AM & FM, so the audio was on 
a common line (yes, the GM was cheap).  He learned that for years, 
the shop crew had hung a 4" speaker across his 600 ohm line on clip 
leads to "listen to the radio" in the shop.  When the speaker was 
removed, the line was good. I advised the GM to buy a cheap radio and 
give it to the shop crew.  He had never noticed the effect on his AM 
signal, but noted that the quality improved after the speaker was 
removed (DUH!).

Ron Nott, DVP