Mount Vernon's Dave Hebert Speaks Out

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Mount Vernon's Dave Hebert Speaks Out

Postby jon » Fri Feb 14, 2014 6:21 pm

Just found this written 18 months ago by Dave Hebert, who many of us knew as the Chief Engineer at KAPS in Mount Vernon in the late '60s. Eldon asked about him in another thread:

My radio career began on my nineteenth birthday when my first radio job started in Mt. Vernon, Washington. I was hired as afternoon deejay, which was why I went into radio in the first place. I was a deejay at KAPS radio. After I worked for 2 months, I was promoted to chief engineer, which suited me just fine. I knew nothing about being chief engineer, but the idea had a particular ring to it. Over the next 3 1/2 years, I picked up the job quite well. Before I left, I had rebuilt the station, not to mention repaired the equipment several times, including two temper mental cartridge machines. Step two happened with me going to work in Aberdeen when I went to work for KXRO. I was happy there, and picked up alot more knowledge in the process. I rebuilt a 2 tower directional antenna system, took care of a cranky 5,000 watt transmitter and rebuilt the control room. The station had no ground system, so every once in awhile the entire station would break out into oscillation. One by one, all the problems were solved and the station was quite stable, as far as the antenna system was concerned. Before I left, I worked on the technical part of the application for them to buy KDUX-FM. After almost nine years, it was time to move on, so I came to the Tri-Cities to work for KONA AM & FM.
I don’t think I got a day off for 4 years. Again, I helped rebuild the antenna system, installed two transmitters, converted the station to AM stereo, and rewired the AM control room, complete with a new console. My knowledge was rapidly increasing and by the time I left, I was quite an authority in almost everything. We had fun experiencing what that job had for me.
But, it was time to leave again, so I started my own technical consulting business, and went to work for stations all over Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Alaska, and Montana. I had written several magazine articles, became a ham radio operator. This time, I moved to Dallas, Texas, to work for Continental Electronics.I’m out of radio now, sad to say. I see where the business gave me a ton of knowledge, met many fine people, and I enjoyed many, many good times.
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