Tape Machines At Abandoned Radio Station

mrdbdigital

The TBS Archives
Hey, guys!

You should watch this video of an "abandoned" radio station. All sorts of old broadcast equipment, including various tape machines (Otari, Technics, Tascam, etc) just sitting in a rapidly deteriorating facility. Breaks my heart to see stuff treated this way. Have a look:


Dave :music:
 
Kills me. I spent 33 years in those places and some of that equipment has sentimental, as well as tangible value.
 
That is really, really hard to watch! Someone needs to pull up with a UHaul and collect that stuff ASAP! Wish it were near me..
 
This is how I got a ton of free stuff from a closed down TV station.
Weird trip.... was given a screwdriver with the instructions "Take anything you want".

And much like this video, I spotted the Studer CD players IMMEDIATELY!
 
Okay - who is nearby to go reclaim the decks from this "Abandoned" station ...

Wikip says: WHJJ is a radio station in Providence, Rhode Island. The station was previously assigned the call sign WJAR,
adopting its current callsign on November 26, 1980 when previous owner Outlet Communications ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHJJ
 
Okay - who is nearby to go reclaim the decks from this "Abandoned" station ...

Wikip says: WHJJ is a radio station in Providence, Rhode Island. The station was previously assigned the call sign WJAR,
adopting its current callsign on November 26, 1980 when previous owner Outlet Communications ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHJJ


If the phone is still live (was the dialtone edited in later?), someone is paying the bills.....
 
WJAR was also a TV station..."was?"...Channel 10 VHF I think...surprised it is abandoned, isn't the TV station still running. thinking that was 680-AM but obviously could be wrong.

My son gifted me an old cart from a local radio station who he has a friend that now works there...old Animals tune from the 60's. Looks like a cross
between an 8-track and a BetaMax cart. Can't play it, but nice reminder from when WEIM-AM was a Top-10 station...

Postscript: Wrong about freq, must be thinking WPRO...in any case, iHeart says it all...wonder how long before the venerable WBZ-AM takes its dive :(
 
Yeah, college station WUSC (Columbia, SC) had cart machines when I was there in 73-74 ...
 
Last edited:
WJAR was also a TV station..."
(snip)
My son gifted me an old cart from a local radio station who he has a friend that now works there...old Animals tune from the 60's. Looks like a cross
between an 8-track and a BetaMax cart. Can't play it, but nice reminder from when WEIM-AM was a Top-10 station...
(snip) :(

Broadcast cart.
 
Unfortunately this is everything that is wrong about our wasteful society. Lots of fantastic gear that is/was worth a lot of money going to rack and ruin.

Sad.
 
Yeah I saw that video last week and it just made me want to cry. The RS-1700's and the Studers and the Tascams, not to mention the JBL monitors and the boards, amps etc all just left to rot...just too much. Stupid Clear Channel took over the station after all the years they've been around and abandoned that building. The power is still on because the transmitters are still operating from a remote location (more talk radio crap and pop stuff, like we need more of that!).
 
If the phone is still live (was the dialtone edited in later?), someone is paying the bills.....

Nope, there's no dial tone on that phone. That's just RNK's schtick, he does that in all of his videos for some reason. The power is still on to the building though only because they are still using the transmitter. When Clear Channel or IFart or whatever they are now bought this place they closed it up and relocated the studios but kept the transmitter going. Sad as it is I have to say it's one of the best RNK videos I think I've seen yet.
 
TheTechnics RS-1500? RS1700? would be my smash and grab :p

You know it! Wouldn’t have to smash though, the windows are already busted out. I’d imagine they are actually RS-1500 decks since they would probably want 2 track 15 ips in (what was once) a pro environment.
 
Uh, sorry to say, somebody owns the place, the folks on the video would be trespassing and anything taken would be stealing, just sayin'
 
Yeah, I know...just imagining “what if”. Truthfully the last thing in the world I need is yet another open reel tape deck or another pair of speakers to re-foam. Cool video though IMO.
 
This is what dreams are made of, if I was lucky enough to live near that place you damn well can bet i'd have emptied everything out of there. I bet it gets demolished eventually and everything will be left inside, hurts my damn heart.
 
Yea, I was a DJ for several years--what memories to see this video. Those funny memorabilia pictures, logos, etc.--I remember very well. I was at different stations, and it seemed that each station had it's own theme of artistic photos. That one group of tape decks makes me wonder if that was the production studio, where you would make commercials, promos, and psa's. That one part where that guy said--"8 tracks?"--well, I guess it was a long the same design concept, but we called them CARTS, and we plugged them into a CART MACHINE that was right a long side the DJ's broadcasting chair. That rack where he got the CART from, would be close by too, so we could reach over and grab whatever commercial was up next. What a shame to see all that equipment go like that--doesn't make sense to me!
 
Like it or not, radio stations are not normally in the business of selling or giving away old equipment. Most don't even have a full-time engineer anymore, or just have one guy whose duties are shared among half a dozen stations owned by the same company. And a studio at the transmitter site is not "abandoned" -- it is an emergency backup in case their STL (studio-to-transmitter link) does down or some other situation renders them unable to use their main studio.

And some stations do have a reason for keeping old equipment on hand even if it appears to be unused, such as maintaining at least one working cart machine and reel-to-reel deck to play archived material, and keeping the rest for spare parts. In that case it makes a lot more sense to just keep what they already have, rather than sell or give it away now, and then cause headaches later when a part they need becomes unobtainable.
 
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