I worked for KJQY, San Diego, which was owned by, I think, CapStar or else SFX, at the time. That company bought KyXy (where Lee McGowan, whom I'd known since I cut my teeth at KPSI in Palm Springs in 1980, was CE) from the John Parker family and moved us down to the KyXy bldg from the old Bank of America / Home Fed bldg at B'way and 6th. I still remember removing the STL antenna and FM offair antenna from the very peak of the bldg, in a storm. They were accessed thru a hatch that came up into the very base of the the remaining tower (a foot or two) of Jack Rabell's parents' station which started up there in the 40MHz FM band. The old xmsn line was still present last I knew.
Anyway, the generator at KyXy was in need of replacement and Lee told our borderline personality disordered GM this about the time KJQY moved in. It was beyond repair. Some months later in 1995, this GM told ME to make sure Lee had it FIXED (not replaced). Lee and I were co-chiefs, not chief and asst., so why I was given the task of getting on Lee about a generator that was beyond help is beyond either of us.
For whatever reason, the generator did not get repaired or replaced. On that day, the power went out at the KyXy bldg at Linda Vista Rd and Stalmer St. in Linda Vista. Lee was out of the bldg so I went up to the roof along with San Diego veteran announcer Sam Bass. We couldn't get it to start. I bypassed all the relays and stuff and applied power directly to the starter and all we got was rusty water shooting out of the exhaust stack. We knew we weren't going to get that thing running.
Meanwhile, we heard a commotion and, looking west down Stalmer (which hits Linda Vista Road at a Tee directly in front of KyXy) we saw a tank coming toward us. We were totally blown away and racked our brains and all we could come up with was that, since the Oklahoma City bombing had been recent, maybe a similar disaster had occurred locally and the National Guard had been called out. This baseless assumption was supported, in our minds, by the police escort coming up behind him. "Cool", we thought, "the cops are escorting him!!". If the police video (screenshot below) had panned 20' to the right, you would see me and Sam as we were on the roof of KyXy at that very moment. You're looking at the T-intersection of Stalmer and Linda Vista Road, with the front of KyXy to the right, here:
He drove within inches of my Jeep parked on Stalmer St. We didn't know that the tank was the cause of the power failure.
Next he turned north onto Linda Vista Rd and crossed the bridge over I-805 where it became Convoy. He stopped on the bridge and when the cops surrounded him (at least that's why my feeble mind recalls) we decided he might not be the "good guys" after all. He disappeared up Convoy. Here are some videos of this incident online as of June 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AcVSEY2DP0
http://www.webmunism.com/vids/of/video+tank+in+%22san+diego%22+1995
http://www.kusi.com/home/18883169.html
A little later, the station staff came out into the parking lot which overlooks 163 directly and we realized they were watching the tank come south on 163. Presently a police chopper came overhead and used the PA system to tell the staff to get back into the building since they had no idea what kind of ordnance he had on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Nelson
Rumor has it that footage from either that copper chopper or a TV news chopper shows me and Sam on the roof with the tank behind us on 163, but I could find none online. There are some video archives, such as at Vanderbuilt University, but at $100 a pop I'm not that interested. Still, if anyone finds any footage that DOES show us, please share!
Epilogue: I got busted back to PT for not ensuring that Lee didn't get the irreparable generator fixed. There was no logic here and no acrimony between me and Lee. The GM got axed not soon after. I stayed on PT managing "my transmitter" (103.7 in the KGTV building) and doing IT work for the stations. After awhile, I started a business with John Parker's son Brian, selling semi-custom software I wrote (it was really a kluge of spaghetti code in FoxPro 2.6 and batch files - I am not a coder) that interfaced a famous listener maintenance app with fax cards. The company still exists as just Brian today. I continued in IT and have my own business but recently got back into broadcasting, also, as a local Retained Engineer for Qualcomm's MediaFLO division. You can never really get away from TV/Radio once bit.
Last Updated May 31, 2008