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Kevin D. Quitt (kdq@emoryi.jpl.nasa.gov) wrote:
: On Wed, 5 Jun 1996 15:28:11 GMT, tweek@netcom.com (Reverend Tweek) wrote:

: >BossJock  <bossjock@frontiernet.net> wrote:
: >>But enough to drive an entire house??
: >
: >Here, I do agree with you...  it is insane to think that one can
: >power an entire house from a radio station's signal... surely the
: >station engineers would notice the drastic change in their coverage
: >contour as you turned on the dishwasher.

: The story I had heard involved a beamed signal and a house on a rise.  Yes,
: the station figured out what happened (particularly when their signal didn't
: make it to LA), and couldn't force the guy to cease and desist, and ended up
: going out of business.  Again, this is purely a story - no documentation.


: >>It's gotta be urban legend.

Before houses were built in what is now Foster City, the area was home to 
several large chicken farms (Foster Farms?).  Several large barns were 
located to the north of KNBR's tower, and coincidentally the station had 
a noticeable hole in it's non-directional pattern towards San Francisco.

Someone noticed the hole lined up with the barns, and they were
illuminated whenever the radio station was on the air.  When the station
engineers investigated, they discovered the light switches in the barn
were turned off, but the lights still burned from the energy the barn's
wiring was absorbing from the radio station.  The wiring in the barn was
approximating a tuned loop at 680 KHz.  When the farmer was asked about
it, he said the switch had been off for years. 

This story was told to me by the late Walt Palmer, who worked for KNBR at 
that time.  It might be urban legend, but at least it's close to the source.

Lou Schneider
lous@crl.com