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- Kilgore Museum Gets a Facelift
This retro collection at the Texas Broadcast Museum in Kilgore has been collected and assembled by engineer Jerry Whitaker. The Texas Broadcast Museum in Kilgore, Texas, has a spiffy new studio setup, the work of retired broadcast engineer Jerry Whitaker. Jerry gathered reconditioned equipment of late 1970s and early 1980s vintage and he assembled and installed it to provide a functional studio. East Texas television station KLTV ran a feature about it recently. Another view of Whitaker’s work. “What I have here is a working radio station, including the ability to put a signal on the air at very low power,” Whitaker told the reporter. Thanks to the Texas Association of Broadcasters for providing the photos here. If you’ve been in this business for a while, you’ll probably recognize some old friends in these pix. How many products can you identify from these pix and the TV interview? Drop me an email to johnpbisset@gmail.com. Smith chart Looking to brush up on your knowledge of Smith Charts? Sim Smith is a useful program. A Smith Chart “enables the computation of complicated equations related to transmission lines and circuits for matching,” according to the website Lightning Chart, which adds that the Smith Chart was named after inventor Phillip Smith, who developed it at Bell Telephone’s Radio Research Lab in the 1930s. Mizuhashi Tosaku, a contemporary, is credited with a similar innovation. Insect-proof your site Warmer weather is a good time get a jump on potential autumn insect trouble spots, says contract engineer George Spence. For instance, he suggests you spray under your building eaves to guard against nesting insects, as well as around AM antenna tuning units. Our Editor in Chief Paul McLane points out that common pesticides cause great damage to local bees, pollinators and other important components of your natural ecosystem, so before you proceed, do a little online searching and you’ll find useful information about lower-impact pesticides, alternative treatments and best practices. Also fill any small empty screw-holes or bolt-holes with silicon sealant. For larger holes that could permit vermin to get in, try a combination of copper wool and sealant. Remember, mice can squeeze through very small spaces, so don’t overlook crevices. In buildings or outdoor enclosures, scatter moth balls or rodent repellent pouches liberally. Such deterrents also work with snakes. Do you keep snacks handy at your site? Rodents have a keen sense of smell. Make sure your… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 hour ago - A Summer Afternoon at the Meadowlands
The WINS(AM) four-tower array at dusk. When trumpeter Hugh Masekela recorded the 1968 instrumental hit “Grazing in the Grass,” perhaps this is what he had in mind. On a warm, windy Thursday afternoon in the New Jersey Meadowlands, the Society of Broadcast Engineers Chapter 15 held its annual summer barbecue. Bud Williamson and Andy Gladding speak at the SBE 15 summer barbecue. The Meadowlands is one of the more radio-rich sites around, and the perfect place for such a gathering. Within view at 1010 WINS(AM)’s broadcast facilities in Lyndhurst just to our southeast were 1190 WLIB(AM)’s towers, using three during the day and four at night, and 710 WOR(AM)’s three-tower site. Also within sight is the FM broadcast tower for 94.7 WXBK(FM). About three dozen members of the New York City engineering community and beyond gathered for a full tour of the facilities on Polito Avenue in Lyndhurst, N.J. Chapter chair Bud Williamson and vice chair Andy Gladding hosted the festivities. The chapter honored Jeff Schick of Sprite Media, who was named SBE 15 Engineer of the Year. Inside the WINS(AM) transmitter facility, Audacy New York City engineers Joe Stack (left) and Mindy Hoffman (far right) flank engineer George Kowal. Credit: Bud Williamson Three Audacy New York City engineers — Joe Stack, Dennis Graiani and Mindy Hoffman — generously provided a tour of the transmitting facility for 1010 WINS(AM). The site houses the station’s primary transmitter, two auxiliary transmitters and a backup transmitter for sister station 102.7 WNEW(FM). This Nautel NX50, WINS(AM)’s primary transmitter, was installed in 2012. Stack led the group out into the Meadowlands to inspect each of the four towers. He explained how the station coordinates its daytime and nighttime patterns from the array, adjusting the power field ratios and timing phases between the towers to morph the signal shape after sunset. WINS(AM) operates from a four-tower array that has stood since 1995. But visitors can easily see remnants of the original four towers just to the east, where they stood from 1943 until the mid-90s rebuild. Looking east from the current WINS(AM) array, the concrete foundations of the original 1943 towers still pierce the Meadowlands marsh. As Scott Fybush noted, then-owner Westinghouse began addressing WINS signal issues in 1995 due to same-channel protections for CFRB(AM) in Toronto. As part of that effort, Westinghouse bought KSYG in Little Rock — which also broadcast on 1010 — and… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 hour ago - Top ESPN Draft Analyst Announces He Lost an Arm in ‘Serious Car Accident’
Aaron M. Sprecher/AP Top ESPN NFL Draft analyst Matt Miller announced Tuesday morning that he was recovering from a serious car accident that resulted in an arm amputation. In a tweet posted at 9:10 a.m. ET, Miller explained that the crash occurred last week in Missouri. As a result of the accident, Miller sustained “multiple fractures” and had to have his left arm amputated. The tweet read: Last week, I was involved in a serious car accident in Missouri and was airlifted to Mercy Hospital. I’m deeply grateful for the exceptional care I have received, from the first responders to the doctors, nurses and medical staff. I’m incredibly fortunate to be writing this. As a result of the accident, I sustained significant injuries, including multiple fractures and broken ribs. I also underwent a life-saving amputation of my left arm. While I have a long road ahead, I’m focused on my recovery and taking things one day at a time. Thank you for the overwhelming support, prayers and kind messages — they have meant so much to me and my family during this time. I look forward to continuing my recovery and getting back to ESPN to talk football, including what should be an exciting 2027 NFL Draft class. Last week, I was involved in a serious car accident in Missouri and was airlifted to Mercy Hospital. I’m deeply grateful for the exceptional care I have received, from the first responders to the doctors, nurses and medical staff. I’m incredibly fortunate to be writing this.… — Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) June 23, 2026 Miller received an outpouring of support from colleagues across the industry. We are all praying you Matt as you continue in your recovery process.You have an unmatched strength and determination. We are all here for you in this journey ahead https://t.co/a2PxcxKAPK — Field Yates (@FieldYates) June 23, 2026 Prayers with Matt. https://t.co/IYJ1EjzJFI — Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) June 23, 2026 Continued prayers and a speedy recovery for my colleague and teammate. We’re all here with you for every step of this journey https://t.co/4emcPcISdd — Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) June 23, 2026 A great guy and teammate that we are all rooting for. Praying for Matt! https://t.co/Eu1glOreRo — Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) June 23, 2026 Matt is an awesome dude and I’m glad he’s… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 hour ago - 5 Wildest New Trump Bombshells From Star NYT Reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonat...
(MS NOW’s “Morning Joe”) The headline-grabbing excerpts keep coming from The New York Times star reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s new book on President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Haberman and Swan have been on a bit of a media tour to promote Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump recently, leading to plenty of juicy details emerging before the book officially released on Tuesday. That included the behind-the-scenes freakout over how the administration handled the release of files on dead sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, with ex-Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino fuming at ex-Attorney General Pam Bondi she “f*cked this thing up” at one point. More has emerged since then, though. Here are five new revelations that stood out to us: Trump Exclaimed “Holy Sh*t!” When He Found Out About His Own Tariff Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough seemed to love a moment in the book where Trump was told his administration had slapped a 125% tariff on certain goods from China — which was news that startled the president. “He goes, ‘Holy sh*t!'” Scarborough said, while recounting the story back to Haberman and Swan on Tuesday’s show. “Like, he didn’t remember. And that’s just one example… it happens time and time again. It’s all from the gut, there’s no process.” Swan added it was a “great example” of Trump having ideas, but not planning them out. He said Trump never “developed [an] economic theory of how this would work” when it came to tariffs. The President Is Surrounded by “Radicalized” MAGA Zealots Haberman told Morning Joe on Tuesday that Trump’s closest advisers were “radicalized” by the onslaught of trials — literally — and tribulations that Trump faced between his first and second term. She pointed to the assassination attempts against Trump and the politically-motivated cases that his advisers believe led him to being the first convicted felon to serve as commander-in-chief. Trump rising above those those challenges and winning the 2024 election turned them into true MAGA diehards, she argued. Haberman said, “Their theory is he can do what he wants” now that he’s back in office. She made a similar comment during her interview on MS NOW anchor Lawrence O’Donnell’s show on Monday night. “They believe there is something almost mystical about him,” Haberman said. “That he can hear frequencies that maybe they can’t. And they hate the mainstream media more than they… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 hours ago - ‘You Were Absolutely Schooled!’ CNN’s Navarro Taunts Pro-Trump Host in Bra...
CNN contributor Ana Navarro taunted pro-Trump host Jason Rantz during a brawl over the Electoral College and slavery, telling him “You absolutely got schooled” by her and fellow panelist Charles Blow. Rantz disagreed. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is getting attention this week for a new comment on the Electoral College. “Well, I personally think the Electoral College is an abomination — for obvious reasons,” Clinton said in a preview clip for the Netflix docuseries The American Experiment. On Monday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, anchor Abby Phillip hosted a panel that included Blow, Navarro, Rantz, Jemele Hill, and Caroline Downey to discuss the issue. When Navarro said that the EC was “rooted in slavery,” Rantz declared that “it had nothing to do with slavery.” That drew objections from Navaro and Blow, and disagreement over the degree of “schooling” that occurred: NAVARRO: The bottom line is changing the Electoral College is something that we talk about all the time. It’s archaic, it may make no sense, it’s rooted in slavery. All those things are true. But in practicality, getting rid of it, it’s in the Constitution. HILL: It would require a constitutional amendment. NAVARRO: And that is an incredibly high bar. And in this political environment– RANTZ: It’s not going to happen. Just to be clear, it wasn’t founded because of slavery. That’s just factually inaccurate. The reasons behind it had a lot to do with the size of the country and the lack of technology to actually reach everyone at the time. That’s why the Electoral College came out. To your point, I agree with you. BLOW: We’re not going to let that lie stand. RANTZ: It’s not a lie. It’s not rooted. BLOW: Let’s take the word rooted out. You’re not going to sit here and say it has nothing to do with slavery, which you just insinuated. RANTZ: I’m going to say that it had nothing to do with slavery. That’s just not true. BLOW: That’s not true. So the large states, the small states were already up in arms because if you had a straight vote, a popular vote, then they would always be drowned out. Some of the smaller states were in the South. Roughly a third of their populations were enslaved people. One of the compromises was to take one person or every representative you had that incorporates the three-fifths rule on slaves automatically because the… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 hours ago - Activist Group Takes Photos Under Kennedy Center Tarp — First Look After Trump...
AP Photo/Rahmat Gul Hands Off The Arts, an activist group protesting the changes President Donald Trump’s administration has brought to the Kennedy Center, took photos behind the tarp hung on the building’s façade, providing the first good look after the president’s name was removed. The controversy began shortly after Trump’s second inauguration, when he appointed himself to the board for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. He added several of his allies to the board as well, who then named him chair. The new Trump-controlled board voted to change the name to add the president’s name, and the center’s website, social media, and other digital branding were updated to say “The Trump Kennedy Center” and his name was added to the building’s façade. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), a Kennedy Center board member whose involvement predated Trump’s interference, objected to the renaming. She filed a lawsuit in late December challenging the “illegal renaming,” arguing that “[b]ecause Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress.” She has been represented by a legal team led by Norm Eisen, along with the organization he co-founded, Democracy Defenders Action, and the Washington Litigation Group. Last month, Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled in Beatty’s favor, ordering Trump’s name to be removed from the Kennedy Center by Friday, June 12. Trump’s name was in fact removed, but not without some shenanigans. The work was delayed until after the midnight deadline and workers put up a large tarp that blocked the building’s name from view. Beatty has filed a motion objecting to the tarp as a “petty act of defiance,” among other issues. The new photos showing what the building looks like behind the tarp were taken by Hands Off the Arts and provided to several media outlets, including The Washington Post and CNN, which independently verified the images. New photos show President Trump’s name is indeed off the Kennedy Center’s facade. The images were taken last week inside the tarp-covered scaffolding that has hidden the title of the venue for the nine days since crews removed Trump’s name. https://t.co/37QSALElbu pic.twitter.com/lLB7A5ekCH — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 22, 2026 New images obtained by CNN show the Kennedy Center signage with President Donald Trump's name removed, confirming a sworn court declaration from… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 hours ago
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