Healing Cart Machines
Before the digital revolution, radio stations in the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s relied on cart machines. These are 8 track looking, self cueing tape cartridges. One song or one commercial per tape. Radio stations relied on thousands of these "carts" for programming. In the 70’s one of the more popular models was the ITC Triple deck. This machine had three playback decks in one unit. Many stations utilized one, two or three of these units for everything broadcast. If one of them needed to be repaired, often it was difficult to produce radio shows. Enter: Bob, the chief engineer. Exactly who & when isn’t critical here - but what Bob did was amazing. I know, I witnessed it with my own eyes. Bob was a religious man. Bob was also a talented technical man, but on this day he used his faith to fix an ITC Triple deck. The ITC had been on the fritz for weeks. The jocks complained. Bob was having trouble finding the parts he needed and the time to replace them. One night late, Bob & I were discussing the dilemma. Bob said, "Let’s try this." Bob laid his hands on the cart machine and said, "Lord, allow this machine to help these men do the work they do. Bring this machine to life so as to not hinder these men any longer. This machine touches the life of so many - and if you, Lord - will work your magic, this machine will no doubt raise the faith of those that operate it." We then plugged it in. It fired up and I had it on the air in minutes. The ITC was back and good as new. I know it didn’t work before the healing - I tried it myself. Had I been conned? I never got to the bottom of that. In the years since, I’ve come to believe that Bob & I witnessed an Electronic Miracle that night.
