This is the McMartin Section of
The Broadcast Archive

Maintained by:
Barry Mishkind - The Eclectic Engineer
Last Update 12/18/20

Ray McMartin headed an interesting company.  McMartin's company had a history of "re-starts" and production of a lot of low-cost equipment, including SCA generators and receivers.

McMartin Industries Inc. was founded as Continental Manufacturing Inc. in 1956, initially as a manufacturer of consumer electronics products. Continental Manufacturing made “controla-tone” remote TV volume controls and the “Harmony” line of radio intercom systems. Starting out after business school in the late 1950's, McMartin bought "Harmony Electronics" in Omaha - manufacturers of small solid state amplifiers and speakers (one product was a "pillow speaker"). Leonard Hedlund was hired to design multiplex (SCA) receivers.

In 1962, the corporate name was changed to McMartin Industries Inc. The first products sold under the McMartin name were FM receivers designed to pick up SCA signals. The TBM-4500 and 4500A modulation monitors were introduced in 1968. Starting in the late 1960's, after an OEM contract to build consoles for Visual Electronics failed, McMartin began selling consoles and transmitters under his name, many of them designed by Charlie Goodrich, Richard Johnson, some with help from Juan Gregorio (x-Sparta).

Ray operated till the early ’80s when a bank took over and liquidated the company. By 1979, things were tightening up as interest rates soared and Ray had a difficult time paying back his loans, so the last 3–4 years were a struggle.

After McMartin Industries Inc. failed, Ray started McMartin International in Gunnison, Colo., which lasted only approximately a year. Jerry Martin and John Miller re-launched the company as McMartin Inc. in 1983, operating in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but that closed in 1985.

AM Transmitters

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	BA-1K 1971  Used a solid-state exciter and 4-500 tubes (later converted to 4-400s).
	BA-250/500 - 1972
	BA 2.5K  2500W - 1974
	BA 5K  5 kW Consists of dual 2.5 kW transmitters
	BA 10K  10 kW
	BA 50K  50 kW Richard Johnson design. Only three were built. They were said to still be on the air, in South America, in 2008. "One of these went to Portugal and one to Brazil. The transmitter that went to Brazil was previously operated by Morris Blum at WANN, Annapolis, Md"

FM Transmitters

Misc Items