KRE PROPOSAL - 2003 The CHRS and Inner City Broadcasting are partners in the use of the 1937 KRE building in Berkeley for Society headquarters, the purpose of which is to promote radio history in California

CHRS VISION: The California Historical Radio Society will occupy, restore and maintain the historic KRE radio station building located at 601 Ashby Avenue in Berkeley. We envision a West Coast center devoted to preserving and presenting the history of radio and broadcasting. We envision a museum, open by appointment only at first, dedicated to the history of radio. It would be a place where children would come on school field trips to learn about radio broadcasting, spark transmitters, crystal sets, vacuum tubes, Marconi and "Doc" Herrold. The Bay Area is rich in broadcasting history and needs a place to teach this history to present and future generations. The historic KRE radio station and transmitter building would be an ideal location to tell the important stories of radio's golden past. It would be a place to showcase significant historical artifacts. The interior spaces could become galleries to present the history of radio and broadcasting using static and interactive displays. It would be an accessible home for the CHRS library, made available for members and others needing to do historical research. It would be an office and meeting place for our society, a place to exchange information and to network with other collectors. We envision a vintage radio repair shop where members and the public can have their treasured family antiques repaired or restored. To preserve a family's audio history, we propose a service that would be able to transfer records, reel to reel tape, audio cassettes, 8 tracks or wire recordings to CD.

We would like to reclaim and restore the large studio, control room and announce booth that was "state of the art" in 1950. The studio would be used for meetings and "how to" demonstrations, as a classroom, a staging area for displays and perhaps for recording. We would like to re-equip the control room with vintage gear. We would make the studio available to community groups for meetings. CHRS would make sure the group carries its own insurance and CHRS staff would always be present during these events. We realize that ICBC still uses some spaces in the building (KFRC and KVTO transmitters). These spaces would be locked and off limits to all except ICBC personnel. We understand the importance of protecting the integrity of the tower, transmitters and all connecting lines and cables, including the ground array.

According to a schedule determined by ICBC's needs and the resources of CHRS, we propose to restore the exterior of the building to its 1949 form. We would repair and repaint as needed, replace the standing stylized KRE logo above the front door, remove the KBLX sign from the side, remove the screens from the lower windows and re-glaze them with a modern vandal proof material. We would install flood lights controlled by motion detectors and supplemented by video cameras. We would raise the perimeter fences and add razor wire to the tops. We would encourage Cal Trans to do the same with their fence. By trimming the overgrown vegetation and trees we will eliminate hiding places. Removing the silt deposits and cutting back the brush will reclaim the parking lot. We are confident that by bringing new life and activity into this historic structure the vandalism problem will be greatly reduced or hopefully eliminated.

We anticipate that the benefits to ICBC would include:

• Relief from the cost of building and grounds maintenance.
• Improvement in the asset value of the property itself.
• Increased security for the building and grounds through enhancements in fencing, lighting, surveillance, human occupancy and increased public visibility. The 601 Ashby site will no longer appear to be an unoccupied' building.
• Demonstration to the City of Berkley (and the other communities that ICBC serves), of ICBC's commitment to community involvement and philanthropy. • A tax benefit to ICBC to the extent of the rental value being donated to CHRS.
• Prominent identification at the finished site, in CHRS materials, and in all materials used for fundraising, of ICBC's sponsorship of the first permanent Radio Museum in Northern California.

We are the California Historical Radio Society, (CHRS), an educational non-profit corporation, founded in California.

In the early 1970's a group of dedicated people, mostly electronic engineers who were also antique radio collectors, had the vision to realize the importance of the radio and broadcasting history that was beginning to fade. They founded CHRS in 1974 to preserve and protect the artifacts, ephemera and programs of the radio age, "from wireless to wireless." AM broadcast radios are generally our main interest but we also focus on wireless, amateur, commercial and military communications, early phonographs, tube hi-fi, television, advertising and literature relating to RF and the mechanical or electrical reproduction of sound.

We are a group of about 450 members, all passionate about our love of vintage radio. We have been holding public events for over 25 years without incident. We carry $2 million in insurance and have never filed a claim. CHRS has had long-standing relationships with the Ampex Corporation, Foothill College in Los Altos, the Western Railway Museum, the Presidio of San Francisco, the National Park Service and the Towe Auto Museum. Several years ago, CHRS members provided most of the display items for the exhibit "On the Air" at the San Francisco International Airport. In 1999 we held a public ceremony and re-creation to commemorate the 100th. anniversary of the first practical use of wireless in the United States. The US Park Service and the US Coast Guard also participated. In 2000 we provided a display featuring a decade of vintage radios for the Gavin Convention, at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.

While CHRS's resources include an existing dues-based treasury, additional funds neccessary will have to be raised through special events, grant writing and special donations. This of course will greatly affect  the construction schedule. Relatedly, an inspection by qualified HVAC and building professionals may still need to be performed to determine the extent of needed plant repairs. We have within our active membership, the talent and willingness to secure needed funding. Naturally, since these investments represent so much to CHRS, we would like to be protected for a reasonable lease term. We trust that we may count on a lengthy term of occupancy under any agreement.

CHRS OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS:

Mike Adams is our Web master and our Board Chairman. He is professor of radio, television and film and the Chairman of the Department of Television, Radio, Film and Theatre at San Jose State University, and faculty advisor to KSJS 90.5 FM. Mike has presented papers on broadcast history at conferences of the Broadcast Education Association, BEA, and the Antique Wireless Association, AWA. He has written articles for historical radio journals and periodicals and authored two books on radio and television production, and produced an Emmy-nominated video series for PBS called 'Radio Collector". His latest television work is a PBS documentary on "Broadcasting's Forgotten Father: the Charles Herrold Story." Adams has just had published, "Charles Herrold, Inventor of Radio Broadcasting."

Paul Bourbin is our events chairman. A native San Franciscan, Paul was President of CHRS for 5 1/2 years and Board Chairman for four. He has written articles for The Journal of the California Historical Radio Society, Radio Age, Antique Radio Classified, The Radio Collector, the Journal of the Antique Wireless Association and Vacuum Tube Valley. He is a noted reviewer of both modern and vintage books. Paul is employed by White Oak Orchids and is also a member of the San Francisco Orchid Society, The Bay Area Electric Railroad Association, and the Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society. He repairs and maintains a collection of historical artifacts and makes them available for use by historians, as props and for exhibitions.

Steve Kushman is our President. Steve is also a native San Franciscan and has been a member of CHRS for 12 years and President for 8 years. He and his radio collection have been featured on the television programs, "Marketplace," (KGO-TV), "Treasures in Your Home," (HGTV), and "The Incurable Collector," (A&E). He restores radios and has worked for KGO-TV, (ABC7), as an engineer and video editor for 26 years and received 3 Emmys for his work.

Bart Lee is the CHRS General Counsel and a published radio historian and collector of radios. He is an amateur radio operator (call sign KV6LEE) who is active in local emergency services and who worked for ten days with the Red Cross in New York, Sept. 11-21, 2001. He is affiliated with the Antique Wireless Association and in 2003 was awarded their prestigious "Houck Award" for historical wireless documentation.

Richard Look is our Treasurer. Richard was raised in New York City building crystal sets, broadcasting to his neighbors and listening to WABC and WWRL. He spent 10 years as a television engineer after attending the master’s program in Broadcast Communication Arts at San Francisco State University. Richard is a computer engineer for the City and County of San Francisco and also works as a computer consultant, specializing in small business accounting systems.

Scott Robinson is our Vice President. Scott holds a BA degree in engineering and has worked in audio electronic design, acoustics, and instrumentation for over 35 years. He currently works as a product design engineer at Dolby Laboratories. His interest in radio started at around 12 years of age and he presently applies his engineering knowledge to restoring and occasionally improving old radios and test equipment both tube and solid state.

Mike Simpson does our Mailing and is on the Board. Mike has been interested in radio and television since he was a boy. In high school he was involved with radio and TV servicing, doing service calls after school and collecting antique radios. After attending tech school Mike moved to the bay area to work for Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. He has since retired after his latest position of nearly 25 years as an Automated Test Equipment Design Engineer in the Missiles Systems Division. 

Stephen Sutley is a Board member and museum professional (M.A.). He has worked as a project manager, designer, and curator for local exhibitions and for the San Francisco Airport Museums. Recent museum projects include the inaugural exhibits for the Chinese-American National Museum and Dolby Labrotories in San Francisco.

Bill Wray is the CHRS Secretary. Bill has had a keen interest in radio and recording technology since his high-school days in the early '60s, and holds a BSEE from the University of Kentucky. He is an Engineer at Dolby Laboratories in San Francisco where he writes technical manuals for Dolby's audio products and handles the safety aspects (UL approvals) of product designs.

Also on our staff is Larry Clark, electronics and math teacher at Napa Valley College, Norm Lehfeldt, (Howard), morning announcer on KQED-FM, Hal Layer who is retired from a staff position at S.F. State, and Don Steger, vintage audio repairman. Our staff is just the core of many talented individuals who respect and understand the importance that radio and broadcasting has played in our history.

THE PLAN: Our goal as an organization is to restore and preserve the artifacts of broadcasting's history. 601 Ashby Avenue, being one of the first buildings designed and built for radio broadcasting exclusively, is a major artifact in Bay Area broadcast history and deserves proper restoration, preservation and protection. There is no better group than the California Historical Radio Society to tackle this important project and to be the caretakers of this structure. CHRS is not a rich organization, but can offer a hard working group of people who are dedicated and sometimes fanatical about historical preservation. We will provide work parties to clear brush, trim trees and clean out the interior, but we envision the majority of the building restoration to be done by professionals and we will certify that it will be up to all codes and standards. All work on the structure and the grounds would have to be approved by ICBC.

In our group, we have grant writers, architects, publicists, museum specialists and attorneys, all vital professionals needed to secure funding for this project. Being a registered educational non-profit corporation and restoring a building with such rich history, commits us to the belief that we can secure funding through grants and donations. We will provide an attractive destination for the many dollars that corporations and organizations donate on a regular basis. We will also plan numerous public fund raising activities.

After 28 years, The California Historical Radio Society now has a home.

NOW WE NEED YOU - There are probably more uses for this historic structure, but for now what we have planned is a tall order. Can we do it? Yes we can, if every person reading this takes their checkbook out of their pocket & their paintbrush out of the basement & uses them both heavily. It will take a tremendous amount of volunteer work & a truckload of money to make this happen. This is the real deal and there is no turning back. We must move forward and we need your contributions. The CHRS Sacramento Chapter realized the importance of this project and is our first $1000 donor. And now CHRS Life member Jerry Cantou is our second $1000 donor. CHRS is grateful for their contributions. They will be prominently displayed on a plaque in the building for $1000 donors. You can have your name on this plaque or on the $5000 plaque or the $10,000 plaque because you realize how important radio history is to our society and culture. We will also have some nice promotional items available for $100 and $500 donors. Yes, we will be asking businesses, corporations and other organizations for donations, but it’s a fact that for this project and others like it, the initial financing has to come from the membership. In order to attract large contributions from outside, we have to show what we have done on the project. And in order to have something to show we need your dollars. Please check the box on your renewal form & contribute generously.
We understand that not everyone can donate money. And for those members, there will be many opportunities to volunteer for work at the site. We will need people with skills in all aspects of building restoration, maintenance, and grounds maintenance.

Where is KRE? From I-80 East, take the Ashby Ave/Shellmound Exit. Take the Shellmound turnoff. At the stop sign turn left onto Shellmound. Go across the bridge and make the first left into the gate. From I-80 West, take the Ashby Ave. Exit. Go under the bridge & make a right turn on 7th St. Go right on Folger. Go left on Hollis. Go right on 67th & then right on Shellmound, across the bridge and left into the gate.

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