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It's the number-one legend which has been passed down through the years of Woovit's existence. Allegedly, a piano wire was strung up as the antenna and WUVT-AM was free-radiating, reaching as far as Roanoke and Richmond.
From a Roanoke Times article of April 10, 1998, reporting on WUVT's 50th Anniversary:
Bill King will admit to nothing, especially not to the federal offense of radio piracy. Whatever happened in that radio studio in War Memorial Gymnasium a half-century ago is best left to the ages.Legend has it that a group of Virginia Tech students (which may or may not have included King) stuck a radio antenna out the studio window and for one glorious afternoon in 1948 turned Virginia Tech's campus station WUVT into one of the most powerful stations in the commonwealth.
WUVT had been in existence for several months by then, but its weak signal had to be transmitted by ``carrier current,'' wherein the signal travels along electric wires. The Federal Communications Commission would not allow a free-radiating signal emanating from a tower, meaning that WUVT could barely be heard on some parts of campus, much less by nearby towns.
The day those boys stuck the antenna out the window, legend has it that WUVT could be heard as far away as Richmond. King, 70, again, will admit to playing no part in such a conspiracy.
``Oh, I don't think the FCC would have liked that,'' he said last weekend during WUVT's 50th anniversary celebration. ``Besides, who can remember what happened that long ago anyway?''
Most of what we know about the piano-wire incident is at best anecdotal evidence, having been passed along over the years:
I don't know if it's true or not but I'll add my $.02 worth on the infamous engineering project that boosted the signal. The story was told to be by one of the engineers, I think Dave Everett, and his version was that the engineers hung a wire outside the window and WUVT-AM could be heard all over Southwest Virginia. The FCC found out about it or someone complained and the FCC came to visit. The version I heard is that WUVT was tipped off to the FCC visit and quickly unattached the wire. The FCC visited, and after they left the WUVT engineers immediately reattached the wire. Unfortunately the FCC men were listening and came back and nailed the station. I don't know if that's true, but that's what I heard.
From Bob Sweeny (1960-1966) (Submitted in June, 2003):
Do you have anything else to add? Send it in...I first heard this story in 1960 and it supposedly happened in 1957. Yes, WUVT was tipped off and shut down for the FCC visit. There are two stories how they were caught:
I think I heard these stories from Bob Kirby, Bruce Savage, and George Gauntney.
- They waited after the FCC left, but started up too soon. The FCC visitors heard WUVT on their car radio somewhere out on Christiansburg Mountain on U.S. 11.
- It was in the late fall. The FCC engineers looked all over, but could find no antenna. The studios in those days were in Squires underneath the dean's office and next to the barber shop in the basement. It was an ideal location, since the rooms had outside access. There was a small parking lot that was used to make deliveries to Squires. Several big oaks shaded the parking lot in the summer. Frustrated, the FCC guys went to leave. They'd parked next to the studios. As they went to their car, up above their heads floated a dead leaf, held in the air by the missing antenna.