WAPE (defunct) - The Facility

The Facility

Late 1960s WAPE afternoon personality John Ferree recalls, “I knew that Big Ape had a swimming pool, but I was astounded when I drove up and found much more than the usual utilitarian spaces that most stations occupied. This place was built for radio and it was obvious that it was built by someone who had some class. There was a parking lot on the left (facing the building) of the pool. To enter the station, you walked up onto the apron of the pool, and along a curved canopied walkway to the large glass doors. The right side of the building was a curved arc of white stone with tropical landscaping.

The pool was an organically shaped structure that narrowed where it passed under the long glass front wall into the beautifully laid flagstone floor of a large lobby. The pool had a high diving board and a separate low diving board. The framework for the metal canopy and the diving boards was of bent steel tubing painted sky blue. Impressive!

The lobby of the building was paneled in real wood… no cheap panelling for the Brennans, finished in a medium dark natural stain. Upon entering the lobby through the glass doors, to the right (around the shallow end of the pool) was a large glass window with the disc jockey looking out from over the control board. To the left of the control room window, there was a glass door that provided access to the transmitter room. Passing through that door, you saw the transmitter in front of you, the transmitter control console to your left, and another glass door (this one into the control room) on your right. About halfway down the long paneled lobby wall was a door into the production room. The offices were straight ahead of you when you entered the building. They were also behind a glass wall. Everything was open and airy.

The transmitter and control boards were all custom made… not just the internal electronics but also the visible surfaces… made of grooved gold anodized aluminum. I had never seen a board with sliding pots before The control board started at desk height, with the sliding pots right at your fingertips, then curved up and away from you with the VU meters and toggle switches mounted higher on the board. The jocks were surrounded by glass with views outside to the pool, into the lobby, and into the transmitter room. The entire front of the transmitter was of the gold anodized aluminum with glass portals looking into the huge tubes.

There really was a hidden door into Brennan’s private quarters. Someone had to show it to me. It was, as I recall, one of the wood panels that was somehow hinged to pivot open if you knew where the key was and how to do it. The door was to the left as you entered the business offices. I went in there briefly once or twice… probably to help carry something, but it was his private quarters and we respected his privacy. The suite, as I recall, was two large rooms, a living room and bedroom, both fully and immaculately furnished and beautifully lighted with indirect fixtures. I don’t recall that the private suite had any windows.”