This is a very important year in the history of KCEQ. This is the year that Jonathan Hymer arrived at Del Valle.
Or is it Jonathon Hymes?
Jonathan Hymes?
Jonathan Hymen?
It’s Jonathan Hymer!
Why the 1977 Del Valle yearbook had four different versions of his name depending on where you look is beyond us. They used his correct name in the yearbooks for the remaining years he was at Del Valle.
The F.M. Radio Club began working this year toward obtaining a F.C.C. license to enable them to broadcast on the F.M. band throughout the Walnut Creek area. Money to accomplish this expensive project was raised by auctions of electronic equipment donated to the club by students, parents, and residents of Rossmoor.
For the sake of completeness, here’s the cover of the 1977 Del Valle yearbook. Why there’s no text on the cover to identify it is as much a mystery as the incorrect names for Jonathan Hymer.
The members in the photo are as follows:
Kenneth M. Landis
Dave Pierce
Craig D. Batchelder
Richard (Rickie) Spargo
Darrell Haydon
Eric R. Otto
Derek Douglas
Barrett Davis
David Crane
Jay R. Shindell
Rafael Leidy
Scott Butterfield
Aron Branscomb
Kirk Weir
Preston D. Sherwood
Ralph Sbragia
David Haydon
Jonathan Hymer
According to Wendell Pleis, KCEQ’s faculty advisor, while there had been other students that wanted to do an FM station, it wasn’t until Hymer came along that things really got going. As he put it in an interview he did with us back in November of 2011, Jonathan had the “moxie” to make it happen that previous students didn’t have.
His importance is also brought up during KCEQ’s first broadcast where he was one of two former members that were given a permanent membership in the Acalanes Radio Club. We’ll talk about the other when we get to him. Hymer was the key student at Del Valle. This other person, while having started at Del Valle, became the key student at Acalanes.
We find the Del Valle amateur radio station in the Winter 1976-1977 amateur radio call book.
The entry states the following:
B Del Valle ARC, 1963 Tice Val Blvd, Walnut Creek 94595
The B indicates a club license.
That’s all the information on this part that we have at the moment. As with all these posts, please feel free to share any information you might have.
For more on the Acalanes Radio Station KCEQ rabbit hole and other Lafayette History Rabbit Holes.
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