A Sad, Beer Drinkin Video

grjohnson

grjohnson

Active member
Yesterday, March 16th, marked the end of an era for our Munich, Germany Station. Over 50 years ago the Voice of America began AM radio broadcasts from here with a 300,000 watt AM transmitter and a four tower antenna system. That radio service ended last year and yesterday we tore down the old towers. I recorded most of the work with my DVX100. It was bitter cold and overcast, but the camera performed well. Of course, we were sad to see this era in broadcasting end, but we decided to have a little fun with it. I have edited a short 5:08 presentation, set to a durge and some beer drinking music, showing three of the radio towers as they crumple and collapse, and up close footage of where they fell. Natural sound on the clip was taken directly from the DVX100's internal microphone. The final product was mixed/edited on a Sony Vegas 6 system.

Your can see the clip here:

http://www.christiangeology.com/video/IsmaningTowers.html

It is in the DivX format. Enjoy!
 
WOW, amazing stuff! Thanks for that one, oh, and well done too!

I'd have a ton of questions, but the main one is: why was the transmission stopped in the first place? No money in AM? lease on land run out?
 
vidled said:
WOW, amazing stuff! Thanks for that one, oh, and well done too!

I'd have a ton of questions, but the main one is: why was the transmission stopped in the first place? No money in AM? lease on land run out?
Click to expand...

There are a multitude of reasons. Mostly, because with FM, TV, Internet and Satellite the audiance has migrated away from AM. In addition, since the end of the Cold War, those areas covered by that particular transmitter are, these days, modern and have free access to information from multiple sources. Because of that fact the Voice of America no longer aims broadcasts towards western Europe. Lastly, because of shrinking funding and a shift in target audiance and concentration of assets on the Near and Middle East. In sum, that particular transmitter successfully performed its mission, then outlived its purpose. You may be surprized to know that this coming fiscal year the U.S. Government is reducing its shortwave broadcasts to many areas, for the same reasons outlined above. They will be completely closing their Greek stations and reducing broadcast hours at others. I hope that is helpful!
 
Yeah, thanks for that. It was for reasons I hoped it wasn't! ;-)

Driving long distance sure makes you appreciate AM, as reception lasts many more miles than FM. Yeah there's satellite...if you wanna pay.
Thanks again for the clip; it needs to be kept: I bet there's museums/archives that will be VERY glad to get a copy.
 
vidled said:
Yeah, thanks for that. It was for reasons I hoped it wasn't! ;-)

Driving long distance sure makes you appreciate AM, as reception lasts many more miles than FM. Yeah there's satellite...if you wanna pay.
Thanks again for the clip; it needs to be kept: I bet there's museums/archives that will be VERY glad to get a copy.
Click to expand...

I guess I belong in a museum myself. When I first started in radio, AM was king and everything still used tubes! I'm older than those towers!! - smile
 
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