KNX - Los Angeles, CA
1070 kHz - 50 kW

CW at KNX

Strange as it must seem today, seventy years ago radio stations seeking to augment local news with national and international events were unable to get access to the news agencies of the day. United Press, Associated Press and International News Service all had contracts with their newspaper clients forbidding the sale of their services to broadcast stations.  It was in this environment that Transradio Press was organized to fill the gap.

Rather than using leased wires and Teletype machines, news dispatches were delivered by shortwave Morse code transmissions from high powered commercial transmitters in New York operated by Press Wireless, Inc.  Clients would install a shortwave receiver and if one of their engineers didn't have high speed code copying ability, they would hire a radio operator who did.  The transmissions were at 39 words per minute at scheduled times throughout the day.  KNX was one of the perhaps 150 broadcast stations using Transradio Press.

At KNX, the shortwave receiver, a Hammarlund Comet Pro, was located in the room where girls put together mimeographed scripts.  In 1936 I remember one of the girls was Eddie Cantor's daughter, Natalie.  The studio engineer was Leo Shepard, W6LS.  An assistant was Bruce Piersall, whom I replaced to handle the press copy work.  The KNX chief engineer was Kenneth Ormiston who was usually at the transmitter site in Sherman Oaks.

Forrest A. Bartlett

 

A shortwave receiving antenna was installed on the roof of the building on Sunset Blvd (now the Spagetti Factory).  A support pole can be seen in the attached photograph (just to the right of the "KNX" sign).  Toward the end of 1936, CBS took over KNX.  The new management was able to secure service from one of the major news organizations.  With Teletype delivery direct to the newsroom, Transradio's service was no longer needed. On the right, Transradio engineer Bartlett is seen at a press copy position.  (KGER/Transradio newsroom, circa 1938-9)

On the left, newsman Kelly Woolpert copying press from the siphon tape recorder. On the right, The siphon ink recorder.  As the tape is drawn past the ink arm which responds to the incoming radio code signal, a short pulse prints as a dot and a longe pulse as a dash.

This is a sample showing how the received code signal shows up on tape.  A good operator can read the tape as fast as he can type.   On the right is a photo of the tape receiving position.  The two words on the sample are ARRIVED HERE.

Transradio's signals were received on equipment like this, shown on the left.  In the photo, a Hammarlund HQ-120 shortwave receiver  is seen with something called a "Dual Diversity Pre-Selector" sitting just in front of it.  The pre-selector is a clever device that can choose the best signal from either of two receiving antennas.  The Transradio remote site used 2 antennas, one vertical and one horizontal, and a Transradio shortwave receiver tuned to 15.7 MHz. On the right is shown the studio remote control that allowed operators to adjust receiving equipment at the Transradio remote receiving site.

	On the left is a picture of the Transradio remote receiving location on Montecito Drive.  In Spring of 2003, Marvin Collins (former chief of KFI) reported that, "the house ...  is still there.  However, I could barely see it due to newer homes surrounding it as well as mature trees hiding it." On the right is a photo of the receiving antenna support pole at the remote site.
The Transradio & Press Wireless Services	There was no tie between Transradio and Press Wireless.  The latter was a common carrier serving press agencies, newspapers and broadcasting stations worldwide.   However, Transradio contracted for the transmissions carried by the Press Wireless transmitters at Hickxville, Long Island, N.Y., and occasionally from their transmitters at San Francisco. During WW2, Press Wireless west coast operations were from Los Angeles with transmitters at Playa del Ray, receivers in the Palos Verdes Rolling Hills area and an operations center in the Taft Building, Hollywood. A major portion of the news covering MacArthur's return to the Philippines and action leading to the end of the war with Japan originated in field units provided by Press Wireless, first on Leyte and later at Manila.