THE KFI PIONEER’S PREEMPTION

Now, it seems so old fashioned and so long ago. I am Mr. Anthony’s youngest engineer, standing alone at the speech rack at his 50,000-watt KFI transmitter in Buena Park, Cal. I can feel the reeded, texture of the Bakelite, switch, lever in my hand. The on-air monitor is alive with KFI’s programming, heard over the hum of the transmitter in the next room. I am listening for a word cue. “Floyd Young”

(This is the only program switched at the transmitter site. It is only switched once a day, only during California’s coldest months, and only to provide Central and Southern California with Frost Warnings from the U. S. Government Weather Station in Pomona.)

When the KFI announcer at the Vermont studios in Los Angeles introduces the weatherman, Floyd Young, I will pull this small lever down, disconnecting the program line that has served KFI listeners all day. This includes the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company! NBC hasn’t stopped programming! Mr. Anthony and Southern Calif. have stopped listening!

This is a double throw switch. Not only will my movement of the lever cutoff all lines to the transmitter. It will connect Floyd Young directly, bypassing everything else!

Fifteen minutes ago I began monitoring our line to the weather station. I could hear as Floyd readied his broadcast. I could tell that his was a small office. It had that sound. It was sparsely furnished. I could hear his footsteps on the bare wooden floor. I could hear as he rustled through his papers at the microphone. I even heard Floyd pick up the receiver of the old dial telephone. He was dialing me! Soon my telephone rang! His hello was part of my reason for listening. If his line was dead or there was no room noise, I would have called him!

The second and equally important reason is for what he is about to tell me! Floyd had timed himself as he read over the reports for this night. (The colder the weather the longer the report would last.) This might be for-seen as a warm night requiring a minimum time of several minutes. Or to be a deep freeze that might take ten minutes!

He makes some remark about the weather and gives me his time estimate. We hang up but Floyd leaves his mike on. (I will connect him directly to our transmitter very soon; I am still listening for his introduction from L.A.)

Floyd is listening too and will know when to start speaking. I have time now to call the Vermont studio engineer with Floyd’s time requirement.

California temperatures are warmer as one moves south through the Central Valleys and warmer yet as we reach Riverside County.

The Frost warnings began as an aid for Citrus Ranches, to prepare to protect unpicked fruit and tender, young trees, as they might. The warnings became important to row crop farmers too.

While people in the Midwest and Eastern states are reading their temperatures as above and below zero, Californians are referencing 32 degrees. Frost and dew point are important too. Ripe oranges can survive as low as 17 or 18 degrees for short lengths of time. Floyd Young mentions dew point and any winds that might be expected.

My father cultivated and produced oranges commercially. We sat close the radio tuned to KFI. What Mr. Young said would determine whether we went to bed or stayed up all night! Thousands of other growers and tens of thousands of workers listened too. This army of men might soon be carrying their flaming torches through the groves, dripping splashes of burning oil into the waiting orchard heaters. (Smudge Pots) The following day tanker trucks would be ready to deliver oil to replace that burned away. There would be railroad tank cars on the sidings to re-supply these trucks.

Mr. Anthony knew that a year of expensive, Citrus Culture might be lost in a single night. He also listened to the Litany that Floyd recited. The colder the night, the farther north Floyd started. If he began with Lemon Cove or Ivanhoe we knew the sky would be black from oil smoke, at sunrise.

We became familiar with the names of little places, along the way south, Orange cove, Exeter, Linsay, Strathmore, Zante, Porterville, Terrabella, Ducor, Bakersfield. Some nights were cold enough to include the San Fernando Valley and Riverside. Each town was supplied with the temperature extremes, dew point and a brief statement of changing conditions during the night. Floyd Young would also tell us what to expect in the several days to come.

This broadcast would not be heard on KFI except for Earle C. Anthony alone! It is by his orders that I am waiting to switch to such a radical departure, in Prime Time, evening programming.

We all knew the consequence of throwing this little switch. We were aware of the contrast, between NBC’s Chesterfield Supper program and Floyd Young’s dusty little report of uninteresting numbers, for little places, miles away.

People still tell me how they hated losing the music of Paul Weston with Jo Stafford and the celebrity guests, when KFI ‘cut away’.

NOTE: The Frost Forecast was more accurate when broadcast at eight P.M. and further delay would not allow time for a proper response to the danger.

The California audience was so important that the M.C. at NBC would add remarks to include us, when KFI re-joined the network! They delayed some of the best parts of the program, by several minutes so that California wouldn’t miss too much!

Our KFI station was ‘wagging’ the NBC network! I don’t remember just what they said but the live audience laughed at the situation.

Obviously N.B.C. didn’t own a station, in L.A. It is also obvious that Mr. Anthony needed the network too. ( KFI is still licensed to operate “in the Public Interest.”)

Some Growers placed a line of heaters along the upper edge of their orchards. The sagging cooler air would pull the warmer air into the trees. A prevailing breeze was used this way too. It follows that any breeze is beneficial, even without warming the air!

Wind Machines have replaced Orchard heaters in most groves. They not only keep the air in motion but also are tower-mounted to access warmer air. These huge, oscillating, fans are directed downward by several degrees, to blow warmer air into the trees.

Frost formation; the deposit of frozen moisture on leaves and fruit, is the result of a combination of dew point, air temperature, air motion and surrounding, surface temperatures.

Fruit resists damage from freezing as it ripens on the tree. As sugar forms, the density of its juice increases. Colder and colder air is required to form the bursting crystals that ruin the fruit.

Note: Ripe fruit should be picked before freezing weather arrives. But cooperative marketing requires prorated harvesting!

This citrus culture is more detailed than mentioned here. The point taken is that FROST is the Villain in this story and THE FROST WARNING is an Important weapon in our hands.

The combined value of the powerful voice of KFI, the determination of its owner Earle C Anthony and the predictions of Floyd Young were priceless.

Each freezing night, as the line switch closed, we were creating these lasting, memories……………………..

"Dew Point 41, Floyd Young speaking, Goodnight."