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The Tour Begins

     Welcome to international station KNLS in Anchor Point, Alaska!  We appreciate your stopping by for this virtual tour. At the end of the KNLS station tour, we'll also give you a chance to visit our Operation's Center located in Franklin, Tennessee.

     We begin our tour with an aerial view of KNLS.  The transmitter building can be seen at the top-center. Station staff housing can be seen just above the transmitter building.  The dark posts of the transmission cable can be seen running from the back of the transmitter building out to the antenna field. The New Life Station's twin broadcast towers can be seen at the extreme right and left of the photo. These towers stand 360 high, and 300 feet apart.  The antenna is a wire mesh screen, not visible here, strung between the twin towers.

    Here you can see the KNLS transmitter building under construction in the early 1980's. Alaska's bitter climate made construction especially difficult.  Most of the work took place during the short summer months.  Special measures had to be taken to protect roads, buildings, antennas, and cable anchors from the effects of perma-frost.  An arsonist set this building on fire just as construction was nearing completion.  A dedicated crew repaired the damage in record time.  KNLS went on the air in July of 1983.

    This is how the station KNLS transmitter building looks to summertime visitors today.  Station staff housing is just out of the photo on the right.  The station towers are just out of the photo on the left. The front portion of the 10,000 square foot building contains offices for the Chief Engineer and his staff. The broadcast control room occupies the middle of the building.  The two-story transmitter bay takes up the rear of the structure.

    We're now standing at the back of the reception area looking toward the transmitter building's front door.  A group of Russian air-traffic controllers were touring KNLS on this particular day.  Notice the world map at right.  Staff offices are just out of the photo on the left. A staff lounge can be entered through the doorway visible at the top right.  Station staff housing can be seen through the large window at the front of the foyer.  A doorway leading to program control stands just behind the photographer.

    This is a shot of the KNLS control room console.  The audio mixer can be seen at the top center.  Tape decks are seen on the bottom left. Early in the life of station KNLS, technicians manually controlled the New Life Station's programming from this area.  Today, an all digital automation system makes programming KNLS a largely hands-free operation.  The window seen just above the audio console gives station operators a second story view of the transmitter bay just beyond.  A tape storage room and the electronics work shop are just out of sight on the left of this photo.  Automation control and a rarely used audio production room are out of the photo to the right.  The door and stairs leading to the transmitter bay are also to the right.

    Take a look at the automation control console.  The computer keyboard and screen at the bottom right control the New Life Station's 100,000 watt shortwave transmitter and antenna switching system.  The computer at the bottom left controls the all-digital KNLS program automation system.  We're proud to say that the transmitter control system was constructed in-house by our own engineering staff.  The program automation system was built specifically for station KNLS.  Now in operation for more than five years, the program system is still unique in the broadcast industry.  One system controls every piece of programming and the audio remains in digital form all the way from the microphone to the transmitter.

    In the transmitter bay, you see Chief Engineer Kevin Chambers (in the blue shirt) talking with the same group of Russian air-traffic controllers pictured earlier.  The 100,000 watt transmitter is the large white box in the center background.  Notice the antenna switching system on the wall at the top right.  The final stage transformer is out of sight behind the visitors at left.  The heat exchanger along the ceiling recycles excess transmitter heat to keep the building warm in the coldest Alaskan winters.  The control room is just out of sight at the top right.  Power distribution and a small wood-working shop are just out of view on the left. This bay was constructed to house two additional transmitters.

    This is a view of the front of the KNLS shortwave transmitter.  Two of the three front panels are open. Former World Christian Broadcasting President, Bob Scott, is seen here manually tuning the transmitter just prior to broadcast. The transmitter has since been fitted with automated controls that preclude the need for manual tuning.  The antenna switching system, out of view to the right, is also now driven by computer command.  Some of the tubes used by this transmitter are worth more than $10,000 each!

    Our tour continues with a photo of the antenna field under construction in the early 1980's.  The base of one tower is showing at the extreme right while more of the second tower is visible at center.  At the extreme left you can see the antenna slew switch.  The transmitter building is out of the photo to the left.  The transmission cable, not yet installed at the time this photo was taken, will enter the field from the left.  Construction of the antenna field structures was made especially difficult by the layer of permafrost, perpetually frozen ground, found throughout Alaska.

    This photo shows how the antenna looks today.  In this picture you can just make out the wire mesh screen hanging between the towers.  This wire mesh is the actual antenna, or to be precise, several antennas strung together.  This shot was taken about half way down the mile long access road leading to the transmitter building.  When in operation the antenna pushes more than 16 million watts of radio energy into the atmosphere. Every year or two station staff must perform routine maintenance on the antenna.  To do so they use a bosun's chair, sometimes suspended hundreds of feet off the ground.  They must also routinely climb to the top of the towers to replace the aircraft hazard lights.  The lights of the distinctive twin towers are an aid to local navigation.

    The cement cylinder seen standing beside the base of the antenna tower is part of a system designed to protect the antenna from Alaska's bitter weather.  A similar cylinder stands at the base of the second tower as well.  The wire mesh screen of the antenna is actually suspended, not from the twin towers, but from large cables attached to these cement counter weights. When the antenna becomes coated with winter ice and snow, or when strong winds blow, the counter weights are pulled free of the ground.  Allowing the antenna to "flex" in this way, keeps it from being damaged or destroyed.

    The wire "octopus" standing midway between the twin towers is the antenna slew switch. This giant switch allows the antenna to be slewed, or aimed , along any one of five different transmission paths.  The most northerly of these paths takes the KNLS signal across the arctic circle and into Siberian Russia. More southerly paths take the New Life Station's programming into the heart of Russia, eastern China, and along Asia's Pacific rim.  Notice the insulated "booties" covering the feet of the slew switch supports.  This insulation keeps the steel supports from conducting heat into the ground. To do so would melt the surrounding permafrost, and cause the entire structure to sink into the mud.

    World Christian Broadcasting's Tennessee Operation Center was opened in the fall of 1989.  Prior to that time, the programming, follow up, and administrative staff were scattered throughout the United States.  This early ministry photo shows members of the Chinese programming staff at work in their original studios in Lubbock, Texas.  The English and Russian programmers worked for a time in Akron, Ohio.  The administrative staff worked originally in  Abilene, Texas.

    Finally, in November of 1989, all production personnel were brought together at a new state-of-the-art facility near the city of Nashville in the state of Tennessee. In addition to the programming department, these new offices also house World Christian Broadcasting's President, Director of Development, Director of Frequency Coordination, and Director of Listener Follow up.  The 10,000 square foot facility houses four digital recording studios, including the English Service's studio "B".  All KNLS programming is produced at this facility.

    Here you see KNLS Chinese Service Host, Edward Ho, and his wife, Salina at work in studio "C". The four Operations Center studios are specially designed for audio production.  The recording booths are isolated from outside noise by a separate foundation, double wall construction, independent air handling, and protected power supply.  The studio "C" control room is behind the glass to the left.  The Russian studio "D" is beyond the glass at the right.  Notice the sound-deadening material on the wall between Edward and Salina.  Sure SM7 microphones are used in all the studios.

    In this photo a KNLS Russian service studio technician is at work in control room "D".  Each of the Operations Center studios are equipped with digital editors. Recordings are made directly to the computer hard drive.  Technicians edit recordings using the keyboard, mouse and screen.  These digital audio systems are capable of edits as precise as one one-thousandth of a second.  Notice the Tascam twelve channel audio console at the bottom left.  This studio is also equipped with a minidisk recorder capable of recording 74 minutes of stereo audio on a disk that fits in the palm of your hand.

    Digital programming originating in the studios is fed into a digital program automation system built by Broadcast Electronics.  An entire KNLS broadcast day is compressed and burned on to a single compact disk.

    That concludes our tour of station KNLS and the Tennessee Operations Center.  Thank you for taking time to visit with us. If you have any questions not answered by this virtual tour, please don't hesitate to ask using the email link below.  If you ever find yourself actually in Alaska, give us a call and we'll make arrangements for you to visit in person. 

                     KNLS International, © 2001 - Mike Osborne webmaster