KOMA Radio

KOMA radio was a powerhouse with 50,000 watts at 1520.  It had the greatest coverage area of all the Storz stations with a nighttime signal that covered much of the country.  Listeners would call in with record requests from across the country and beyond, including Hawaii.   

The Storz Top-40 sound, blending the most popular music of the day with engaging personalities and weather, news and sports, plus promotion, was rather primitively produced in those days.  There were five turntables, two for the top-40 hits and three for commercials and promos, along with an echo chamber, filter mic and a MacKenzie Repeater.  Not too many people are familiar with the MacKenzie, but it was the forerunner to the tape cartridge machine and at KOMA its five decks were loaded with the time tone, slow and uptempo jingles, weather intro and news intro.  Commercials and promos were produced on tape and then transferred with a record cutting lathe to acetate records for playback on the air.  All of this controlled by a Western Electric audio console that I think was designed for ambidextrous disc-jockeys.  The filter mic, which had a telephone like sound, was used for the KOMA weather tower reports and the Hammond Organ reverberation unit was used to underscore datelines in newscasts.

	Midway through my year at KOMA, it was decided to move the studios from the downtown Globe Life Building to the transmitter building at Moore, OK.   That's where I met up with the blowtorch, the 50,000 watt Western Electric transmitter dating back to the 1930's.  This water cooled beast was massive with huge six foot tubes. The move coincided with yet another Storz innovation, an experiment to automate the top-40 format.
	Todd Storz, who was intrigued by electronics, took an active interest in the installation of the Shaffer automation unit.  Four tape decks were used for music, one for voice tracks for the intro and outro of records and spot breakers, and two Shaffer spotters.  The spotters were random access tape decks that were used for commercials and promos.  It was hoped the automation would create greater efficiency and a more consistent sound.
	To me, automation was not what top-40 was meant to be, so I went up the road to Wichita, KS, and KLEO where the high point was meeting my bride, Carol.  In three years, KOMA's automation was abandoned, proving Storz national program director, Graham Richards, right when he confided in me when he dropped by one night that, "It'll never fly."