|
  |
Gary Blau: WPUV in Pulaski used to get its ABC network audio feed on a 5KHz telco loop that originated at WJJJ/WVVV in Christiansburg. (It was a daisy-chain arrangement common at the time to allow more stations to get their net feeds without unnecessarily duplicating expensive land lines.) It had been pointed out by crafty Old Hud (Randy Hudson) that the line was accessible at WJJJ, for someone with the knowledge, to permit interrupting the ABC feed to WPUV and inserting whatever one liked. This concept got wheels spinning in several heads, which resulted in this bogus newscast being produced and fed down the network line to WPUV on April Fools Day, 1976, in place of the final newscast of the day right before signoff. As I vaguely recall, the whole thing happened pretty quickly, from concept to execution in the same day. Hud was at the Triple-J end. The unsuspecting local lady at the receiving end at 'PUV had no idea what was happening. As it turned out, she apparently didn't even notice. Along with everyone else listening... I think the statute of limitations is up on all this... The cast of characters (in order of appearance): Graham Wilson (pictured here), Gary Blau, Randy Hudson. Included is the lead in, newscast, and 'PUV signoff with Pepper-Tanner sign-off jingle, and transmitter off. This is from an aircheck done in Blacksburg, you can hear some noise, pops and clicks on the signal now and then. (Sorta like what rap artists intentionally mix into their records these days to get that Old School sound. What's next, cue burn?...) Running time is about 6 minutes. Hud, as usual, had the best line out of the whole thing: "This should give us our first good look..." Also, partially obscured by the RealAudio artifacts, there is Graham's tag line, "A cervix of ABC news". |