There's also a well-preserved First Aid pamphlet, printed in 1960.Īs we head back out, I linger a moment to look at a vintage WPTF sign and a black-and-white photo of the basement when it was decades younger. Sherrill laughs, "If the world was ending and Raleigh citizens were all trapped in their houses, you'd be listening to this music a lot. The shelter is stocked with turntables from the 1950's and a couple of old-timey albums: Coffee Break by Reg Owen and Canadian Sunset by Eddie Heywood. In a city-wide emergency, we'd want to keep lines of communication open," shares Sherrill. "The reason we build shelters into our transmitter sites is so, in case of an emergency or nuclear attack, the radio could still keep people, who are trapped in their houses, up to date on the latest news. The basement of WPTF is more like a disaster shelter, but I guess it could have been used for bombs, too." Curtis explains, "The main WQDR site in Auburn actually has a true fallout shelter. The WPTF shelter, built before the Cold War, was not originally built for nuclear attack. "This is the bomb shelter," says Sherrill. Faded brick-red and metal, it dwarves modern-day extinguishers, appearing instead like a miniature cannon, propped up on a rusted metal contraption with wide-spoke wheels.įinally, we approach a small room in the corner. "We'd lower the equipment in here, then pull it into the basement," Sherrill gestures.īeside the doors sits an old-timey fire extinguisher. Instead, there's a rusted metal ladder attached to the wall, and a ceiling that opens to the outside world. "There's where we used to load in all the massive equipment required to make this place run." He opens the doors, revealing a dark concrete room with no doors or windows. "Want to go see the bomb shelter?" asks Sherrill.ĭusty metal stairs curl in a steep spiral as we head into a deep basement that Michels describes as a "Frankenstein Laboratory."Įnormous metal doors with a huge bar locking them into place tower at least three times the size of a regular doorway. Old equipment spills out over shelves and fills overflowing boxes - who knows what classic radio treasures might be found inside? The cabinets are still stocked with untouched dishes, as if waiting for DJs and engineers to come eat there once again. I found a faded McDonald's cup that looks straight out of the 70's or 80's. The kitchen is a retro-collector's dream. "But back in the 50's, it was staffed round the clock. At night, WPTF is directional, it has to protect some other stations on the same frequency, so the two smaller towers are used at night," shares Michels.
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