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KGEI Transmitter Building, Redwood City, CA, 2024. (fedia.io)

submitted 8 months ago by mattblaze@federate.social to c/photography@fedia.io

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KGEI Transmitter Building, Redwood City, CA, 2024.

250 kilowatts of pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54131707918

#photography

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[–] mattblaze@federate.social 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

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 in 1994.

[–] mattblaze@federate.social 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] mattblaze@federate.social 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

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 remains in excellent condition. It currently belongs to a wastewater treatment plant now located adjacent to the site. I believe it is leased out as office space.

[–] peterhoneyman@a2mi.social 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

@mattblaze@federate.social that is a handsome building!

[–] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 8 months ago

@peterhoneyman@a2mi.social Isn't it?

[–] ClimateJenny@mastodon.social 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

@mattblaze@federate.social I’m a complete sucker for Art Deco architecture. Funny, though, how the windows allude to grass brick without actually being glass brick. I wonder why they didn’t use glass brick?

[–] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

@ClimateJenny@mastodon.social Yeah, it doesn't seem to be a retrofit, either. The windows are similar in historical photos.

[–] _L1vY_@mstdn.social 1 points 8 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social @ClimateJenny@mastodon.social Isn't that kind of a common industrial-building window style? Like in manufacturing / warehouses.

[–] stuartmarks@mastodon.social 1 points 8 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social Cool! I lived in Foster City long ago. In the evening if I tuned an AM radio between stations, I could listen to the KGEI broadcast.

[–] mangotable@famichiki.jp 1 points 8 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social love the embossed effect and fonts.