[Swprograms] OT: Fw: [roadgeek] Fwd: [Deathwatch] Loyd Sigmon, Creator of California Traffic Alerts, 95

Subject: [Swprograms] OT: Fw: [roadgeek] Fwd: [Deathwatch] Loyd Sigmon, Creator of California Traffic Alerts, 95

From: "Richard Cuff" <rdcuff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 08:35:29 -0400

While this is not uniquely related to shortwave programming, fans of shortwave technology might not be aware that shortwave was an enabling technology for the SigAlert system back in 1955.

Aside: John Mayson, who posted this message at the Road Geek group I belong to, recently authored an article on scanning frequencies in Austin, Texas for Monitoring Times.

Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA

----- Original Message -----

From: Mayson, John

To: Roadgeek list on YahooGroups

Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 7:07 PM

Subject: [roadgeek] Fwd: [Deathwatch] Loyd Sigmon, Creator of California Traffic Alerts, 95

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Deathwatch Central <cdw@xxxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 11:28:59 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Deathwatch] Loyd Sigmon, Creator of California Traffic Alerts, 95 To: deathwatch@xxxxxxxxx Another one from a reader - Ed. Loyd Sigmon, 95, Creator of California Traffic Alerts, Dies By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 7, 2004 LOS ANGELES, June 6 (AP) - Loyd C. Sigmon, the inventor of SigAlerts, the broadcast messages that warn Southern California drivers of freeway traffic jams, died on Wednesday in Bartlesville, Okla. He was 95. His death was announced by the head nurse at the assisted living facility where he had lived for four years. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease. In 1955, Mr. Sigmon invented a system that allowed the Los Angeles police to issue emergency warnings to local radio stations. At the time he was an executive for the KMPC radio station and wanted to raise ratings by providing traffic information. Mr. Sigmon developed a $600 device that used a tape recorder and shortwave radio receiver. It allowed a police dispatcher to activate it using a special tone, then to record a message that could be broadcast. A red light and sometimes a buzzer alerted the radio station engineer that a message was ready. William Parker, then the Los Angeles police chief, accepted the device on the condition that it be available to all interested stations. He is also said to have named the bulletins SigAlerts, a term that became commonplace. The first SigAlert was broadcast on Sept. 5, 1955, by six radio stations. It urged doctors and nurses to respond to a train derailment outside Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. The system was also used to report rabid dogs, a ship collision, a pharmacist's potentially fatal error in filling a prescription and the impending collapse of the Baldwin Hills Dam in 1963. Mr. Sigmon was honored by governments, broadcasting organizations and the National Safety Council. He even had personalized license plates that said SIGALRT. SigAlerts are now computerized and handled by the California Highway Patrol, which took over freeway traffic duties from the Los Angeles Police Department. The alerts are now limited to any unplanned event that causes the closing of one lane of traffic for at least 30 minutes. Mr. Sigmon was born in 1909 to a cattle-ranching family in Stigler, Okla. He was fascinated by electronics and got his ham radio license at 14. In 1941, after helping to build a radio station in Kansas City, Mo., he joined KMPC-AM as an engineer and eventually became a partner with Gene Autry in KMPC's parent company, Golden West Broadcasting. During World War II, he was on Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff as head of noncombat radio communications in the European theater. After the war, he returned to Golden West and became an executive vice president. He retired in 1969. In the late 1990's, he moved back to Oklahoma to be near his family. _______________________________________________ Deathwatch mailing list Deathwatch@xxxxxxxxx http://slick.org/mailman/listinfo/deathwatch -- John Mayson [jmayson@xxxxxxxxx] Austin, Texas, USA

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