Wind. Rain. Reader board. The trifecta of misery! One of my first jobs at the station was changing the board on a daily basis. We prided ourselves on clever and sometimes adolescent witticisms. Rarely was it simple. I’d trudge out to the sign and put something new on the back and front. At first I thought it would be fun, but the elements and equipment problems quickly ended that notion.

Changing a reader board should be a fairly simple task. Not here. The board was elevated and required a suction cup extension pole for installing the letters. The problem was that the suction cup never worked well. It was rare that I could easily get the previous day’s letters off the board unless the weather was dry — also rare. The wind wasn’t particularly accommodating either with the extension pole.

The suction cup would get wet and barely grab hold of a letter on the board. Then the letter would either stick to the wet reader board or the suction cup would release the letter as I tried to lift it out of the board’s retaining lip. Maddening!

I finally learned the more practical approach of pushing the letters along each retaining row and shoving them off the side of the reader board. I had to pick the letters off the sidewalk or out of the bushes, but this inelegant way doing the job was so much easier and effective. Then, I’d dry off the suction cup and put up new letters for the day.

I was originally hired as the overnight studio engineer and air talent. Once we launched I slipped into that role, but I was still responsible for the sign. I’d come in to relieve Jack, who never understood why I wasn’t thrilled when he handed me the daily message he had been cooking up all afternoon. Frankly, I preferred cleaning the toilets. I stayed drier!

Indeed, changing the reader board was synonymous with getting soaked. It took up to an hour to remove the previous messages on both sides and then put up the new letters — the rain and wind adding to the torment. I quickly learned to bring a change of clothes.

In the early days, our radio station had an ancient automation system that was equipped with reel-to-reel machines. Our music was recorded on multiple reels for playback on each of the four machines. When a reel ended, an audible and visual alarm was set off so that the operator knew to change the tape. I tried to time my battle outside with how much time I had left on the reel closest to ending, but it didn’t always work out.

There was nothing like rain, wind, uncooperative letters, soaked clothing and a strobe light alarm (visible from the street) to send me into a Lieutenant Dan-styled rant aimed at the reader board and perhaps worthy of an Oscar. When we had a serious windstorm in December 1995, it destroyed most of the board. I remember being thrilled. The sign was repaired with the reader board section removed and replaced by plain panels. Good riddance!

A couple of pictures:

Before I get too far into the future, it’s time to back up a bit and introduce the cast of characters we had by sign-on day in March of 1995.

More to come in Part V…