KPVH 850AM Pinole

This is a page I have been wanting to do for long time. This is the first version of it and I hope to add a few items and pictures in the future. All of us in radio have that defining moment when the broadcasting bug bites us and invades our soul. It grabs us and won't let us go. Some of us know at a very early age that radio is the future. They remember listening to radio as a child and imitating what they hear. Others, like myself, wait until they are older. No matter what age, at some point it finds you.

My moment of revelation came when I was a sophomore in high school. I listened to the radio but never really thought about what the heck went on behind the mic. I was just learning about electronics and was fascinated with computers. Big boxes with flashing lights and punch cards, filling entire rooms just like on T.V. I signed up for the electronics course (this was in the days when schools in California had enough money for courses other than the basics, but I'm dating myself with comments like that) and after awhile the instructor, Wayne Perry, decided I knew enough not to electrocute myself, so he told me about how the student radio station needed a chief engineer for next year and would I be interested. To make a long story short, I went down to the studios, introduced myself, spun a few records and was hooked. Radio, I knew, was going to be my life. I have never looked back. Well, that isn't true. I occasionally wonder about that early love of computers. I gave that up and concentrated on radio. Little did I know that the computer boom was right around the corner (this was 1970). I sometimes picture what would have happened if I had continued with computers....large silicon valley company, 45,000 square foot houses, a different car for every day of the year, a different trophy wife for every day of the week!, hmmm, oh well.

Anyway, after this long intro, here is the story of Pinole Valley High Schools own little bootleg radio station.

By the way, if you or a family member are in any of the pictures you see here, please feel free to copy them for your own use. My only request is that you credit Steam Powered Radio for the picture. That way, if someone else sees it, they will know where to go to look for the pictures. Thanks!