For the winter of ’86 – ’87 I had a 6 to 9 morning show called “The Gray Zone”every Monday on the old 50-watt station in Gorham. ‘MPG wasn’t a 24 hr. operation in those days. There were five 3-hr. shifts from 6am to 9pm, and I would sign the station on the air for the 6 o’clock shift. I would first have to go to the campus security office for the key to the studio. There was a hook next to the board where the key was kept for whoever signed off later in the day. For signing on, there was a 4-track cartridge prerecorded specifically for that purpose, kept in a rack of a half-dozen or so other 4-track cartridges for various other commonly used announcements. For my station i.d. I would announce, “broadcasting with the power of a lightbulb…”. The signal was strong enough to cover the Gorham campus, and if the weather was just right, it was usually possible to get a shaky one in most of Portland, usually fading completely before it reached the Old Port.

The 4-track cartridge was the same size and shape of the more common 8-track, but the 4-track machine had a big one-inch rubber wheel on it, on a mechanically pivoting arm that was designed to hold the tape tightly to the playback head of the machine. When not operating, this pivoting arm was retracted into the machine below the slot for inserting the cartridge, and with a loud clunky “ka-CHUNK”, would pivot up into the cartridge through a large round hole in the bottom of it, as it was inserted into the machine. Other cartridges were for signing the station off the air, emergency alert broadcast tests, a stock station i.d. for those who didn’t want to bother to announce one themselves, and that sort of thing. The e.a.b. tests would pop up randomly, straight from the F.C.C., with no warning or notice of any kind, and with a jarring, screeching noise that the on-air person would have to scramble to respond to by pushing a few buttons, in addition to putting the tape into the machine. The station’s whole operation was comprised of only a couple dozen people with, as I recall, no formal or official management structure of any kind. It was during my six months or so on the air that we went from that, to the “why not?” decision to make Peter Twitchell the manager. I think he was the only one willing to take the job. I was there when he came up with the “Beg-a-thon” idea that we still use today, almost 40 years later. That name was also his idea. He was a nice guy and did a good job.

I would sign the station on the air at 6, and as often as not the 9 o’clock person would be late — sometimes not showing up at all, or even calling — and my schedule would usually allow me to stick around to stay on the air until the shift at noon showed up, or whenever it was I had to or wanted to leave. And with a loud clunky ka-CHUNK, I’d stick in the sign-off cart, lock the door behind me, and take the key back to campus security. There were also a few times when even the noon person didn’t show up, and I’d cover ’til 3!

Bashful Bob

currently airing “Tossed Salad”, every other Friday morning, 8:30-10