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CLICK THUMBNAIL TO JUMP TO ENLARGEMENT In January 2008, the Bay Area Radio Museum acquired via auction a collection of fifteen photographs bearing images of Radio Station KYA — its transmitter building and tower, various staff members, and studio facilities — apparently dating from the 1930s through the 1950s. A selection of these photographs, some of which included notes on their reverse sides, and others that did not, are reproduced below.
ABOVE: A view of the KYA transmitter
building atop Candlestick Hill in the southeastern section of San
Francisco. The building was designed for station owner William Randolph
Hearst by Julia Morgan, and represents one of her more "plain"
creations; she had also been commissioned to design Hearst's sprawling
castle at
San Simeon,
among other projects he commissioned with the classically-trained Morgan
over the years.
ABOVE: Members of KYA's staff. According
to the hand-written legend on the back of the photograph, the men shown
are (top row) Paul Schulz, Russ Pray, Toby Hamma and Joe Landells;
(bottom row) Clair Morrison, Chrisman [no first name noted] and Bill
Overstreet. According to the timeline history of KYA, Mr. Morrison was
manager of the station beginning around 1928.
ABOVE: An unidentified studio at KYA. The
location, which could be at Candlestick Hill or at either the Hearst
Building or the Fairmont Hotel, is not noted on the photograph.
ABOVE: An unidentified person, shown at a
small console with microphone, telephone, turntables and phonograph
records — as well as a bottle of Coca-Cola. Location unknown.
ABOVE: According to the hand-written notation on the back of this photograph, shown is: "Engineer This photograph dates from after the Summer of 1958, when KYA moved from the Fairmont to the Mark Hopkins annex at 1 Nob Hill Circle, and perhaps significantly later, owing to the appearance of cartridge recorders and well-stocked cart racks, as well as a 45 r.p.m. record on the turntable. In March 2009, former KYA production engineer and promo producer Carl Grout (1973-1980) provided the following comment on the photo: That picture is taken in the mid 1960s (as you mention - the obvious give-away is the cartridges). I worked in that control room, did board shifts there and recognize it well. From 1958 up until the early '60s the control room was over on the outside glass wall of the building. Then they moved the control room to the inside walls of the building, a series of four rooms in a square as below:
Other telltale notes of the location of that control room (hence the mid '60s) is the large air booth through the glass. The on-air booth next to the glass wall in the '50s/early '60s was a fairly small booth. Though the equipment in the room pictured was mostly changed by the time I started there, the board's counter was the same. (I've seen that view of the on air booth from this view point many many a time). ORIGINAL SIZE: 3x3 inches.
ABOVE: The generator room in the
"transmitter basement" at the KYA building atop Candlestick Hill.
ABOVE: This photograph of an audio mixing
console and telephone-line switchboard includes the notation "KYA in
Hearst Building" on the reverse. KYA was purchased by William Randolph
Hearst in 1934, and was located in the Hearst-owned Examiner Building at
Third and Market Streets in San Francisco from 1934 until July 1949,
when the station moved to the Fairmont Hotel.
ABOVE: The RCA "Speech Rack" housed at
KYA's facility in the Fairmont Hotel.
ABOVE: This photograph is annotated
"Studio A Console" on the reverse. It may be the same console shown in
the "Hearst Building Studio" photograph (above on this page).
ABOVE: Another angle on the KYA
transmitter building and the base of the 450-foot Bethlehem Steel
antenna tower, apparently taken on the same date as the first photograph
(top), but showing the freshly- (or recently-) graded site, which would
perhaps date the photograph to mid-1937; the station moved into this
facility on May 15, 1937. Another view of the building, probably taken
on the same date and showing the full height of transmitter tower, may
be viewed by
clicking here. RELATED EXHIBITS:
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