Great Moments in WFMU History #33

Live at the Transmitter - by Rob Weisberg

One afternoon in the mid-90’s, when WFMU’s studios were housed in East Orange, NJ, the power went out. Even though the station's transmitter 5 miles away was still on and fully functional, there was no way to get audio from our studio to the transmitter… without actually plugging a turntable and microphone into the transmitter itself.

To complicate matters, DJ Rob Weisberg had scheduled a trio called the Atmosphere Crew to perform live on his program that day. The band, consisting of accordionist John Sherman, sax player Sasha Sumner (a member of the Hungry March Band), and a drummer known only as The Dog, had just arrived from Brooklyn, following an hour-long journey through world-renowned New Jersey traffic.

When it became apparent that the power wasn’t returning any time soon, Rob and a few other WFMU DJs made a heroic decision. They drove everyone to the transmitter shack - located in the glamorous parking lot of a local restaurant - plugged the band directly into the transmitter, and said 'go'. The Atmosphere Crew gamely performed through a steady drizzle in WFMU's only known transmitter-parking lot live set.

Illustration by Danny Hellman

Comments

[WmMBerger]

I was one of those who broadcast for a few hours from the transmitter site that day, armed with only a cassette deck and a mic. I was seated inches away from a huge, open-backed rack of broadcast gear. When then WFMU engineer Chuck Russo was getting me set up, he said, "See that. 40,000 volts. Don't touch." Those were revolutionary times for the station, and I miss 'em like hell.

[WmMBerger]

Or am I thinking of another time in the 80s when the transmitter went out? Ken?

[Devon]

I wish I was there for that! Sounds totally cool! Any recordings available of the performance? That might sound a bit unique, considering the change in acoustics and mood of the band. I'd like to know how the DJ explained the dead air to listeners too

[Dale Hazelton]

Cool. Can anybody do that? What's the address of that diner?

[hyena sparerib]

Hey I just figured out you can open two winamp streams at once. Fabio plus Seven Second Delay! you got peanut butter in my chocolate!!

this is transmitter related, esp. since they're talking about broadcasting on 7-sec

[Rob Weisberg]

To answer Devon's question, nope, we couldn't tape it there and no tape has ever turned up. The world was a lot less thoroughly documented in those days. I can't remember if I made any witty statements about the dead air or being in the parking lot of the Mt. Fuji steak house. Of course I could say I did and nobody could ever prove otherwise. Ah, those were the days...

[tarafireball]

I love the drawing by Danny Hellman. It captures the moment. I am especially fond of Sasha with her shades, sax, purple bra and tight pants with the radio transmitting. Now I understand.