http://www.abc11.com/3335967/
Cool Article on the tour of WPTF Radio and its history.
Cool Article on the tour of WPTF Radio and its history.
RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) -- The distinct Art Deco style clearly defines the WPTF radio station as a 1940's classic.
With rounded windows and curved edges, the building looks tiny on the outside, but cuts deep underground into a shelter that allowed announcers to broadcast through wars and hurricanes.
Today, it's hidden behind tall shrubs, a chain-link fence, and a set of train tracks - it often goes unnoticed, a relic from a long past era of Raleigh history.
Decades ago, this station was staffed 24-hours a day, which means it provides amenities like a kitchen and shower. However, this enticing building has been closed to the public, mostly forgotten, for decades. Nearly 80 years old and sealed to most of the outside world, it harbors dust-coated secrets that time forgot, like a living time capsule.
A Museum of Retro Radio Equipment
Alongside Director of Engineering Allen Sherrill and QDR disc jockey Jimmy Lloyd, I was allowed a peek inside this living time capsule.
Sherrill explains, "Oh yeah, back in the 1950's we had nighttime shows, and at least one engineer had to be out here at all times. Disc jockeys might sleep over, and the building has a bedroom for them. Downstairs, we have a bathroom, and there's even a bomb shelter in the basement."
Dusty amps, soundboards, and equipment date back to another era. Yellowed paper with scripts and set instructions are scattered about in a small office where the radio announcer once sat, encircled by glass. I stepped into the room with the 360-degree view, approaching the soundboard.
I tried to imagine what it might be like to live in this building, producing live shows 24 hours a day during the Golden Age of Radio.
Had Raleigh-area radio stars like Jimmy Capps, Bill Jackson, Bob Farrington, or Wally Ausley touched this very board?
Raleigh Radio History-Social Media in the 1950's
"Jimmy Capps," shares Don Curtis, CEO and Chairman of Curtis Media Group, "hosted a show called Our Best to You. He had the highest radio audience of any Raleigh personality ever. And he was the first form of social media."