Rural Radio Network
[1] It began operation in 1948 as an innovative broadcast service to the agricultural community, but competition from television—and a lack of affordable, well-performing FM receivers—caused the founders' original business plan to fail.
A decade later, Robertson decided to sell the stations and the licenses were gradually transferred to individual owners in 1981 and 1982, thus dissolving one of the nation's earliest FM networks.
GLF, also noted for its role in founding the P&C Foods supermarket chain, began to use radio several years before the start of World War II and later assembled an informal network of about ten AM stations, connected by leased telephone lines, over which a weekly five-minute program was aired.
[2] This foundation, which formally incorporated on March 18, 1947, would be sole owner of a subsidiary commercial broadcasting corporation, The Rural Radio Network, Inc., with any operating profits to be turned back to the founding groups for educational and research purposes.
[3] They were convinced that the recently opened 88-108 MHz FM band offered superior reliability over AM "standard broadcast"—particularly before sunrise when many farmers would start their daily tasks—and broader opportunities to establish new stations where needed.
A primary objective was to provide satisfactory rural coverage throughout the "milkshed" of New York State extending from the Niagara Frontier to the Capital District, and north to the Saint Lawrence Valley.
[6] With the help of engineering consultants Dr. Miller McClintock, Murray Crosby, and William S. Halstead (the latter two would later develop an FM stereo system), six hilltop transmitter sites, each over 610 m (2000 ft) AMSL[7] and spaced roughly 80 km (50 mi) apart across line-of-sight paths, were identified and acquired for the project.
Gervan had promised his managers that the network would be ready for operation by the summer of 1948, requiring de Neuf's engineering staff and contractors to construct transmitter buildings and towers through the winter season.
The likelihood of heavy precipitation in upstate New York's snowbelt required temporary heated shells to be erected around each building site, allowing concrete to be poured and masonry work to proceed on schedule.
The worst weather conditions, by far, were encountered at the Turin site on the highest point of the Tug Hill Plateau, a remote area due east of Lake Ontario known for record lake-effect snowfall.
Pending installation of telephone service, RRN engineers assigned to each construction site kept in contact by means of high-band VHF mobile two-way radios that were later modified for remote-pickup use.
None of the existing models offered sufficient sensitivity to perform at all locations within the network's expected coverage area, so North American Philips was contracted to design a special high-sensitivity GLF-branded "farm radio" and serve as its OEM.
A major complication was the lack of electric power at Turin; the site was so remote that the local utility would not run lines, so a redundant pair of Smith-Meeker 15 kW Diesel generators were installed along with a 12,000 gallon fuel tank, sufficient to operate the station for four months.
[12] Behind each building was a 30.5 m (100 ft) self-supporting tower that supported a four-section aluminum RCA"Pylon" tubular slot antenna, 16.5 m (54 ft) high with a power gain of 6. de Neuf's choice of RCA's FM antenna over GE's competing "ring radiator" was likely based on the Pylon's reduced exposure to the elements, which would lessen the chances for VSWR problems during icing conditions.
Thursday evenings at 7:30, WVBN in Turin carried a program called "County Students Speak", while WFNF in Wethersfield featured the live music of a barbershop quartet.
After another pause, Bristol Center's engineer would go live—followed in turn by the Ithaca, DeRuyter, Turin and Cherry Valley transmitter staff—who would each flip the necessary switches to air their respective reports and relay the rest "down the line".
[14] On February 1, 1960, the network was purchased by the Ivy Broadcasting Company, a corporation headed by Woody Erdman, who also owned WTKO (AM) in Ithaca and WOLF (AM) in Syracuse.
At that time, FCC regulations prohibited control of broadcast licenses by national phone companies of Continental's size, so the new parent was forced to divest the stations.
During CBN's period of ownership, the stations underwent significant equipment upgrades, including installation of new RCA stereo transmitters and circularly polarized antennas.
In its earliest years of ownership, the fledgling CBN stations gained credibility in their communities and increased its listening audience in part because of its partnerships with Christian organizations that were meeting the needs of the community, including a new Teen Challenge Center in Ithaca (a drug rehabilitation center sponsored by the area Assembly of God churches) and The Love Inn ministry, which brought in up-and-coming musicians like Phil Keaggy and Ted Sandquist to the barn that housed their worship services in nearby Freeville and which was the brainchild of CBN station manager Scott Ross.
