Mark Heller Biography
Employment Dates(KFXM/KDUO): |
11 Months Total (Chief Engineer KFXM/KDUO) |
|---|---|
Time Slots while at Station: |
Engineering |
Stations prior to KFXM/KDUO: |
Worked in Wisconsin |
Stations right after KFXM/KDUO: |
WVON-AM & WCGI-FM Chicago |
All other Stations after KFXM: |
KWST-FM, KMET-FM, KYMS/Anaheim, CA, KCLB/Palm Springs, CA (weekends). |
Current Employment: |
President and General Manager, WTRW, Two Rivers, Wisconsin |
Born: |
Sheboygan, Wisconsin |
Birthday: |
April 26th |
Education: |
Associates Degree in Electronics |
Hobbies: |
Ham Radio (WB9WRT) |
Children: |
1 Son born in 2000 |
KFXM's SOLID State Transmitter
The AM transmitter you briefly referred to, was fire bombed with a Molotoff Cocktail (glass bottle filled with kerosene with a rag stuck in the top, and lit). Howard always blamed Ray Conniff's son Jim Conniff for the act, during the AFTRA strike. He got a full settlement from the insurance company and purchased a new Gates MW-1 transmitter which was solid state. While I was there, the transmitter tipped over during an earthquake, and we didn't know it at first, as it kept on working! I rebuilt the burnt out transmitter as it required rewiring but all the components still worked. It was used as a back-up.
I worked for Tullis-Hearne Broadcasting when Howard
lost his engineer to a UHF station in Hawaii. I had moved out to LA and
had interviewed at a couple of places, but Howard was in great need,
and wanted somebody (anybody) that day. We put a deal together on Sunset
Blvd. at his office filled with piles of papers and those Marguarita
Girl paintings on the wall. He made me drive to the Holiday Inn to meet
with Bunnell and Anthony, but the deal was really pretty much done in
LA. I have enough stories to fill a book, and I'll stop now.