KGEI Transmitter Building, Redwood City, CA, 2024.
All the pixels, no radio required, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54131707918
#photography
@mattblaze@federate.social I wrote the KGEI article on Wikipedia, mostly based on this source: http://www.theradiohistorian.org/kgei/kgei.html
Looks like they covered up the KGEI and General Electric relief back in 2002.
Glad to see it’s back.
@W1PAC@mastodon.radio ah, I also relied on that site when looking for background on the station.
@W1PAC@mastodon.radio (they also added a historical plaque, I think from the DAR, which you can barely read in the full res version of the photo).
@W1PAC@mastodon.radio Here’s a crop of the plaque (upscaled to 200%, with some somewhat mangled auto-detected alt-text)
@mattblaze@federate.social Thanks for this! I could barely make the plaque in the original.
@mattblaze@federate.social cool looking building. thx for sharing.
Captured with the Rodenstock 50mm/4.0 HR Digaron-W lens (@ f/6.3), Phase One IQ4-150 digital back, Cambo 1250 camera (vertically shifted -5mm).
This modest but handsome, art-deco-accented building was built in 1941 to house the transmitter for “KGEI”, a commercial shortwave radio broadcast station whose programming could be heard across the Pacific. It shut down for good in 1994.
KGEI was a 250KW commercial shortwave international radio broadcast station. Originally constructed, owned and operated by General Electric, the station opened in 1939 on San Francisco’s Treasure Island. In 1941, it moved to a permanent site in Redwood City. This building housed the transmitter and control facilities; the exterior walls are three feet thick, to better resist any WW II enemy bombings. At the time, KGEI was the only US broadcast station capable of reaching across the Pacific.
In 1960, the station was sold to the “Far East Broadcasting Company”, which changed the format to chiefly Christian religious programming. The station ceased operation in 1994, and its antenna field was razed soon afterward.
Fortunately, the transmitter house survives and remains in excellent condition. It currently belongs to a wastewater treatment plant located adjacent to the site. I believe the building is now leased out as office space.
