Has there ever been or is there still any broadcast facilities at High Camp. Does anyone know exactly where it is? I've been trying to find it on several maps and have been unsuccessful. I appreciate the help.

I believe channel 32 will continue to broadcast from High Camp until February 17th. 105.1 ran out of there for upwards of 20 years. 103.7 has a booster there.

Let me say this: The High Camp tower is the bane of pilots everywhere. Look towards the SE at the Cascade mts in the north Willamette valley area and you'll see those flashing red tower lights that seemly go up endlessly in the sky.

High Camp Tower is located East of Mollala, having worked on it and stranded there with Gary Hilliard and Dan Polladori.

Tagged along with the Chan 32 crew a few years ago to the site. Scary ride up and down. It was cloudy so you could not see much of the valley but was told you could see everywhere on a clear day. It won't be much up there in a few weeks except a few buildings and a lot of metal...kinda sad...it's a great site.

Thanks for the help, I found it.

Alex, at least you were blessed with good company.

I was up there on a job a few years ago with the old RTC. At the time, it was still a well populated facility, but that has changed quite a bit. On the way, we saw a whole lot of damage from flooding in the greater Molalla area. Once we got past the gate, the way up was a hairy, unforgiving, narrow and winding ribbon through the hills. We were busy dodging log trucks and stayed glued to the road channel most of the way. It was a bumpy roller coaster ride along a slick and muddy, then slick and slushy, then icy and snowy road that seemed about as wide as a balance beam.

Once we were up there, we found that the problem was not isolated to the relentless valley rains that had spilled streams across the road and caused landslides. The downpour created a winter wonderland at High Camp. Everything was glazed over with ice well over an inch thick. The road was a sheet. We had to gingerly make our way around, chiseling through to thaw the lock and hinges on the gate, and carefully breaking free all the doors that were frozen shut. Of course, anyone familiar with the site knows that ice has been far and away the biggest problem over the years. When it finally closes, I am sure the view will be missed, but not the commute and the weather.

As Skep pointed out, private pilots in Mulino will no doubt appreciate it too.

Glennwood: I've never seen High Camp plotted on a map. If you want to find where it is. Look for Emerald Lake. High Camp is a mile and a quarter southeast.

Anybody have a date for when was the High Camp transmitter site was constructed ?

Channel 32 began operation as KUTF on May 8, 1989.

105.1 was there from 1987 to 2004, providing a greater coverage area than any other Portland area FM.

So KRCW has it's TV Antenna on an FM built Tower? I was told, when KUTF went dark, KYXQ inherited the tower. So KXYQ always owned the tower?

>>providing a greater coverage area than any other Portland area FM.

I believe one of the best facilities in the country with height and equipment...full 100kw power using 2 35kw transmitters combined to 70kw into a 2 bay antenna for low gain/multipath coverage. Surprised they had problems downtown to deal with that lead them to move closer to Pdx.

I don't know the power situation at this site... if generators are used 24/7 for electricity, it would be quite expensive to operate. Is this the case?

When I started at KXYQ (4/87), the High Camp site was on generators 24/7. Once TV32 decided to put their transmitter there, PGE agreed to run power lines to the site.

I wonder what it was like to truck diesel fuel up there during bad weather. Of course, with a big storage tank, one could fill it up each summer, however, not likely due to the fact that diesel fuel doesn't like sitting around in a tank for more than a few month without causing "issues". Then, of course, is the gelling problems of winter months. Probably spent extra dough for anti-gel fluid additives.

Me thinks there was someone at the site 24/7 to keep eye on the generator and fueling system.

"Me thinks there was someone at the site 24/7 to keep eye on the generator and fueling system."

And disaster can still strike:

http://www.ccdx.org/scrapbook/MtWash/MTW.htm

Yikes! Fire supressant. Hadn't thought of that.

Steve: Thanks for the dating of High Camp to 4/87. I'm now thinking KYXQ switched to High Camp in Summer or Fall 1986 given the weather.

Interesting about the generator 24/7. I now seem to remember someone mentioning this to me. It would interesting to know for a fact that someone was stationed up there to watch over everything.

Are there living quarters at High Camp, just like at Mt. Fanny for KTVR, back in the day?

No one was stationed at the High Camp site. I can remember several times having the generators fail during my shift and being off the air until an engineer could get up there.

Can we confirm the date when 105.1 began broadcasting from High Camp?

I remember a few times when 105.1 was broadcasting at low power for many days in a row.

Google Earth 45 00' 35" N, 122 20' 17" W. Great view. No wonder it was such a good site. Wouldn't want to drive it in bad weather. Did that too much in my past life keeping the old tubes hot and burning on mountain tops.

Where was the 105.1 Backup Transmitter? Must have been at a lower site.

Are there living quarters at High Camp, just like at Mt. Fanny for KTVR, back in the day?

Craig, not that I recall, but I suppose somebody could have stayed in an emergency. When I was up there, one building was relatively new, climate controlled and housed the television and radio gear; one building was older, had limited power, little by way of equipment, no heat, and was being gutted for what looked to be a renovation; and one building had been destroyed with nothing left except a concrete pad.

As Alex Hart mentioned, he was stuck up there with Gary Hilliard and Dan Polidori. I bet they know the answer to your question.

KXYQ had the best overall coverage but reception in the metro area was noisier than other stations. It's much cleaner now and I'm pretty sure HD would have been a major headache from the old site.

>>Are there living quarters at High Camp

Ch 32 had full living facilities for days at their end of the site...pretty neat pad.

[Littlesongs] mentioned "one building had been destroyed with nothing left except a concrete pad."

This could have been the 32 living quarters [Broadway] mentioned.

Transmitter power would sometimes have to be reduced during severe winter storms. At an elevation of 4500 feet, ice tends to build up on the antenna.

Transmitter power would sometimes have to be reduced...

Naw. Crank it up. Melt that ice!!!!

>>32 living quarters

It was really nice inside with the TX's...don't think it was the pad...the transmitters and living quarters were all together under one roof.
Really thought things out for backup situations there.

If 105.1 had remained at High Camp, could a booster have been used in Beaverton, without causing too much interference?

103.7 KXPC's booster usually seems to blend quite well with the main signal.

105.1 tried a booster on Mt. Scott around 1988 or 1989. The High Camp and booster signals did not blend well in Portland which was the goal. I believe Mt. Scott was the only booster location we tried.

Didn't they try one in the downtown (Portland)core?

For a glimpse into life at one of these remote transmitter sites, I recommend "Marty on the Mountain":

http://www.mountwashington.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_i d=36

"Former WMTW-TV 8 engineer and TV personality Marty Engstrom has written a book about his many years working atop New England's highest peak. Thirty-eight years to be exact, and in that time span he had many adventures and misadventures on Mount Washington."

Broadway...It is possible the KXYQ engineers did additional tests. I was only involved with the Mt. Scott test. One evening, the entire air staff (armed with 2-way radios) were assigned to monitor various areas of Portland when the booster was fired up. For about a minute, we even shut off the High Camp transmitter to see what the booster sounded like solo. I was in the Parkrose area and the booster sounded great with High Camp off. Probably was not covering downtown Salem very well though.

Steve,
Thank you for sharing these very interesting stories. With it's huge signal and mass-appeal format, Q105 was the ultimate station in the Northwest, during the late 80's & early 90's. You and Jim Springer were the personalities who most inspired me to get behind a mic. With it's tight programming precision, Q105 really ignited my passion for programming.

>>were assigned to monitor various areas of Portland

call me when another "experiment" happens...ah...don't think so...would of loved to be there/listening that day.

Radioxpert...Thanks for the kind words. Since this thread is about High Camp, here is one of my favorite Q105 positioning liners voiced by the late Ernie Anderson.

http://www.divshare.com/download/6265509-6a7

I'm disappointed. I wanted to hear Ernie say.

"KYXQ Salem-Portland is Q105... and The LOOOOOVVVVE Boat is next!"

Steve,
Thank you for posting that clip! It certainly brings back good memories. Are there some Q105 airchecks posted, as well?

Here's a Q105 station composite (all dayparts) from October 1990. Enjoy!

http://www.divshare.com/download/5827952-f22

Thanks again! What a wonderful piece of radio history!

Thank you for the posting, Steve. Who is the voice between you and Jim Springer?

That was John Travis. I think he was at a Tri-Cities station before joining Q105.

Yes, John Travis came from "OK95" KIOK, and later returned to the Tri-Cities and KIOK.

Steve: It's been a busy week so I just got a chance to listen to the 5 minute composite. Very well put together.

Thought I'd build a DJ line-up but I'm lost with John Travis in there. What were the shift times:

October 1990 KXYQ Q105 DJ line-up:

Terry Jacobs & "Big" Jim Ryan (The Breakfast Q)
Vanessa (Middays)
John Travis ?
Steve Naganuma (Afternoons)
Jim Springer (Evenings)
Chris Collins (Overnights)

Craig...on that composite this was the air shift schedule:

Big Jim Ryan & Terry Jacobs 5:30am-9am
Inessa 9a-1pm
Steve Naganuma 1pm-5pm
John Travis 5pm-9pm
Jim Springer 9pm-1am
Chris Collins 1am-5:30am

Thanks Steve! I'll add this line-up to "Portland Radio History" on "Portland's Greatest D.J. Line-ups" thread.

Steve -

Wow. That's a great composite. Brings me back to my youth when I enjoyed Q105 a lot!

Question - was the music on Carts or CDs or some other playback method?

Q105 music was on carts while in the US Bank Tower (87-94). When Q105 moved into the Pioneer Tower building with K103 (around 1994), that is when we started playing CDs. Q105 had very heavy audio processing in 1987. I may remember the cart tape hiss noise being very prominent during low volume passages of songs.

Google Maps

High Camp Lookout

Around 1990, Q105 was broadcasting in "QSound." The audio sounded great!

Interesting. Thanks Boringguy.

>>High Camp Lookout

Loved the fire lookout platform with the guy wires...must of had lots of high winds up there over the years.

Yes, it could get very windy at High Camp. The base elevation at Mt. Hood Meadows is 4,523 feet (bottom of Hood River Express), which is close to the High Camp elevation. The Q105 engineering staff use to watch the weather conditions at Mt. Hood Meadows to get a ballpark idea of what the weather was doing at High Camp.

CD's were still being used on Rosie 105 in the late '90s. The overnight jock would sometimes cue up the wrong track, and go into a Homer Simpson "Doh!" cart, while he re-cued the disc to the correct track.

Hey, Steve:

Great notes on High Cramp as Joe, McGoo (Kyle) and I called it in days before the Big Pink Tower of Power. (For those keeping tabs, was with Q105 from our days in Salem to the move in Portland, 1986 to 1988. It's why I left Z100.)

Joe E invited me up a few times during some problems before we were in the new digs in Portland. We had to use sleds (snowmobiles) the last few miles. One time we needed the sleds for about seven miles. Back then it was just the generator and no power lines, a couple of sleeping bags, a few cans of food and some critters. Kind of like the old KSKD (Q105) studios in Salem, except we had the fall out shelter, (GREAT production room) with the geiger counters, masks and more.

After reading your notes, I didn't know Springer was bumped later at night at Q105 after my departure. I was working KUBE then so didn't get to listen you guys much.

Hope all is going well man!

Later, TA (Todd Allen)

Todd,

Can you put a date on when Q105 switched to the High Camp transmitter site? I started at Q105 on 4/17/87. I believe that was the week Q105 moved the studios from Salem to the US Bank Tower.

I think this was the line-up when you were there (1987):

Todd Brandt & Rick Rydell 5:30am-10am
Big Jim Ryan 10a-12noon (Larry Rogers would frequently fill-in when Jim was busy with his PD duties)
Steve Naganuma 12noon-4pm
Gloria Johnson 4pm-8pm
Todd Allen 8pm-12mid
Michael Jack Kirby 12mid-5:30am

When Inessa joined Q105, most time slots shifted one hour later. That is when Jim Springer would have shifted from 8pm-12mid to 9pm-1am.

Hey, Steve:

I'm trying to remember the exact date. I might have to call Joe E to double check. I thought it was late 1986 as we were on it before we moved into the Big Pink. We just didn't say much.

Oh, thanks for the correct order or flashback on the line up after moving to Portland. Just when it was out of my memory. LOL

Until our official Portland move, while we were still down in Salem in the fall out shelter, I was 6 - 10pm after Leonard. Then Michael Jack Hairpiece, I mean Kirby (always joked with him on that) was the LONG over nighter.

FYI, I don't know if you heard about the story when Q105 flipped KSKD. On that day, our original owner, Ron Samuels, TOTALLY catered our kick off. Dom P, salmon, lobster, the WORKS. ALL of us were ripped when Ryan popped the mic. I'll never forget the buzz I had by the time I went on.

I've only beaten that once doing the old "getting drunk on the air with the Washington State Patrol" in 2003 in Central Washington. Nothing like 8 shots in 2 hours! For folks that don't know. I'm more Native American than I look, so me and fire water don't mix. :LOL

I'll call Joe E tomorrow and see if I can get an exact date. He always remembers that stuff.

Later.

Todd,

We spoke on the phone once when you were at Rosie 105 in the late '90s. (I didn't get to hear you at Q105, since I discovered the station after you left.)

I've enjoyed listening to you on 92.5 KLAD, while traveling through Southern Oregon and Northern California. Are you still voice-tracking for other NNB stations?

Radioxpert. Thank you on the compliment. Appreciated!

Regarding the Rosie. I didn't work there. Wanted to, but couldn't get in. My voice was not what they wanted. You might be thinking of Jim Allen or Todd Tolces? I believe they both might have been there.

In the late 90's, 1996 to end of 1998, I was over at KUPL. Lee Rogers and Rick Taylor brought me on board for weekends, then come that first Monday, Susan Barr asked if I would do afternoon traffic, and two hours later, Billy and Bean wanted me to be the "man on the street". After the B&B departure, I was kept with Jim E and Susan.

Worked all of 1999 doing mornings at KRKT in Albany before the Clear Cut world started their process. Early 2000 spent three days at Marathon, but immediately turned Cumulus "Cat Country", so out of a gig.

Yeah, been doing odds and ends for Tri-Cities when needed. Miss that market for the energy. I'm just now starting to put my studio back together so I can venture like others into voice tracking and additional voice work.

I'm pretty much live now during the week at KLAD, but it's voice track on Saturdays and Sundays. However, I still go in Saturday morning and pull some phone calls to use for the weekend to make it sound live.

Thanks again. Drive safe!

Todd & Steve: I want get this DJ line up strait for April 1987. Even with the one hour time shift, I can't match up the times given.

TODD SAYS: [Ron Leonard, shift time?, Todd Allen 6pm to 10pm, Michael Jack Kirby 10pm? to 5:30am?]

STEVE SAYS:
Todd Brandt & Rick Rydell 5:30am-10am
Big Jim Ryan 10a-12noon (Larry Rogers would frequently fill-in when Jim was busy with his PD duties)
Steve Naganuma 12noon-4pm
Gloria Johnson 4pm-8pm
Todd Allen 8pm-12mid
Michael Jack Kirby 12mid-5:30am

Who came first? Ron Leonard or Gloria Johnson?

Craig:

Mine was just before we moved to Portland as in March 1987. Steve's was after we fired up in Portland. We were already on High Camp and booming before our move.

Ron Leonard was hired a little bit after our flip in 1986. So when we moved to Portland, Ron was removed and Steve and Gloria were put in to replace Van Kleek and Leonard respectively.

Honestly, it was tough for me, as I used to listen to Ron, Steve and Gloria in my younger days when I was just running Omega Location Dance Company and working the clubs and not even thinking about working radio. Keith Allen changed all that for me after putting together the first 10,000 plus dance in Pioneer Square, Video Bash '84.

Ah, the days of Q105, were just as fun as when I worked at Z100 from 1984 to 1986. Loved working for Dave Crowl. A guy who REALLY stood up for his jocks.

OK, reality check, not in Oz anymore.

There you go. Steve's line up is right starting April 1987. Also note, Jim made sure High Camp was up and smooth before we ever took over the Big Pink Tower of Power.

Side bar:

Steve, do you know of anyone that has some of old Ernie Anderson's out takes from our imaging package? I can't find my reels in my boxes and was telling someone about his hilarious out takes he did for our initial start up.

If all else, I could shoot JR an email and see if he saved anything.

Thanks, TA

Todd...Send me an e-mail to the address in my profile.

Todd...I'm sure that Nag has got 'em. If we're both thinking of the same outtakes...I got 'em, too!

Hope that you're well, man.

Thanks guys. I'll shoot ya an email Steve. Appreciate it!

TA

Todd: Ok, so the March 1987 line-up looked something like this?
(please tweak shift times).

Todd Brandt & Rick Rydell 5:30am-10am
Big Jim Ryan, 10-noon
Van Kleek, noon-3
Ron Leonard, 3pm-6pm
Todd Allen, 6pm-10pm
Michael Jack Kirby 10pm-5:30am

Todd,

You were at Rosie 105 one night (after midnight) and you were telling me how you were hoping to be added to the airstaff. I wish they would have hired you! It would've been great to have some of the Q105 personalities back on the station.

Radioexpert:

I totally forgot about that. Yes, yes, I was in the building visiting after hours. I think Joe E King was showing me around, as I've worked three stations with him. I'm still a bit foggy on who else was in there, but I remember meeting a few folks. Yes, it was late at night. Come to thing of it, I believe it was in 1996, just before KUPL hired me.

I could be mistaken after too many headers in soccer, or some banging on the boards in basketball. Thanks for the memory jog. Funny, you also just jogged a memory of me hanging out at another studio late at night, Dream Weaver's show when I was a quest a few times.

Craig:

In March 1987, it I haven't totally lost it, it went as...

Todd Brandt & Rick Rydell 5:30 - 10am
Steve Van Kleek 10am - 2pm
Ron Leonard 2pm - 6pm
Todd Allen 6pm - 10pm
Michael Jack Kirby 10pm - 5:30am

Ryan was off the air in the prior weeks as he had so much to get together before the move to PDX. Ryan was on the air when we started in 1986 because he was still figuring out the staff. Back then, I was lucky, because I worked hard and was cheap. Hmmm, funny how the latter comes back around. LOL

Hopefully, that answered it for you.

Thanks,
TA

Todd: Thanks!

Ye High Cramp Welcome.