This dusty little box of switches doesn’t look like much. They’re probably fifty years old. Despite being housed in a small, slim housing, they’re actually VERY heavy for their size. They bear only handwritten numbers as their labels, and they’ve been banished to an almost-forgotten equipment rack in the back of what used to be the KFYR-TV weather center (before we built the First Warn Forecast Center). In fact, the narrow room itself has a history, as it once served as the KYYY-FM control room. But I digress…back to the switches.

These switches once served a very important purpose: they switched the Provident Life Weather Beacon. See the little colored markings next to some of the switches? They were: 1-Red, 2-Flashing Red; 3-Green, 4-Flashing Green; and 5-White, 6-Flashing White. When on duty at the station, I used to update the Weather Beacon every few hours. A reminder showed up on the station’s program log at the appropriate times. I’d duck around the corner and push the corresponding button if a change was needed, the heavy action of the pushbutton switches confirming my action. Nowadays, the KFYR-AM staff have to rely on a telephone-based touchtone system, and get a confirmation tone that isn’t 100% foolproof. Gotta love that old-school hardwired technology!

I still freelance for the company that owns the North Dakota NBC stations, and still have my keys and electronic pass for the station. A while back I asked my friend and former co-worker (“Spiderman” is his nickname) if the switches still existed. He dug around in the aforementioned rack and found that yes, they’re still around…they just aren’t hooked to anything on the roof of the Provident Building any more. He invited me up to take a look. They were behind a panel, but we stood them up for these photos.

Thinking about this post got me on a hunt for one of my more treasured Bismarck souvenirs: a little red and white pamphlet from the Provident Life Co. which describes the Weather Beacon. It has the jingle on it, and everything. But I can’t find it! I’ve checked my files, my safe, my lockbox, my bookshelves…no luck. I know it’s around here somewhere, and I’ll keep looking frequently until I find it someday. The scan of it above is from one of my Beacon pages, which I saved from my days as KFYR Radio’s webmaster.

Yeah, I asked if I could have the switches. No such luck. Hopefully, now that someone at the station knows about them, they’ll find their way to a display case as a part of the station’s history. It would be a shame to have them disappear back into the racks again, or to be discarded by someone who doesn’t know what they are. I’m not worried; I think they’ll be in good hands. Spidey likes local history just as much as I do.