North High School (Torrance, California)

North Torrance High School
Location
3620 W. 182nd Street Torrance, CA 90504
United States
Information
Type Public Secondary
Established 1955
Principal Ronald Richardson
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 2,100
Color(s)           Blue and White
Mascot Saxons
Website northhighschool.org

North Torrance High School is a four-year public high school located at 3620 W. 182nd St. in Torrance, California. Of the four public high schools in the Torrance Unified School District, North High is the second oldest. The school's mascot is the Saxon and the school colors are blue and white. North High is accredited by WASC.[1]

Demographics

School facts

Athletics

North High was 1971 CIF 4A (Largest school division) Baseball Champions beating Chaffey HS 9-0 Jim O'Brien head coach

North Highs Dennis Littlejohn (San Francisco Giants drafted 1st rd #2 overall) named 1971 CIF baseball player of the year

North High was 1972 CIF 4A (Largest school division) Baseball Runner Up losing to Dominguez HS 5-4 Jim O'Brien head coach

North High was 1974 CIF 4A (Largest school division) Baseball Champions beating Lakewood HS 1-0 Jim O'Brien head coach

North High was also named Cal Hi best school baseball team for the 1974 season with a season record or 26-6-1

North Highs Tim O'Neal was named CIF baseball player of the year (who pitched both sides of the 21 inn championship game)

The 1974 Championship game began at Anaheim Stadium ended in a 0-0 tie after a curfew of time then to be completely replayed a couple days later at USC's Rod Dedeaux field for a 1-0 victory for a total of 21 innings, clearly one of the if not the greatest championship games in High school baseball history. North High's Tim O'Neal pitched both games.

Prior to 2003-2004 North High was in the Ocean League and also The Bay League. In 2007-2008 North High was voted by the Pioneer League as the runner-up for Most Athletic School.

Team accomplishments

Current administration

Principal- Dr. Ron Richardson
Assistant Principal- Ms. Portia Rivera
Dean of Students- Mr. Andrew McCarty
Athletic Director- Mr. Brian Ormsby

Notable alumni

KNHS campus radio station

KNHS
City Torrance
Los Angeles County, California
Broadcast area North High School campus
and adjacent neighborhood
Slogan The Rock of the Block
Frequency 89.7 (MHz)
First air date 1967 to 1991
Format Variety music radio
Power 10 Watts
ERP 13 watts estimated
Class D
Facility ID 67342
Callsign meaning N–orth H–igh S–chool
Owner Torrance Unified School District

KNHS, was an FCC licensed FM radio station at 89.7 MHz from 1955 to 1991, with a variety music radio format broadcasting diverse recordings chosen by North High School's student disc jockeys. In the latter years it was usually an eclectic mix of classic rock, heavy metal, and rap.[5][6] Its nickname was "The Rock of the Block". A person that had worked in the FCC's Washington headquarters at the time said "The Federal Communications Commission does not keep an official count of high school stations, but it is the first high school station she ever had encountered."[5]

History

KNHS served the local Torrance area, with the signal reaching from 1–3 miles (1.6–4.8 km) beyond the campus.[5] Although it was against school rules for students to carry radios on campus, some students managed to listen with transistor radios and later Walkmans, or on tape recordings the student broadcasters' parents made.[5] KNHS temporarily ceased legal broadcasts when the Torrance Unified School District allowed the station license to expire on 1 December 1983, although it was FCC compliant into 1989.[5] Former North High School students recall that the station broadcast until 1991, raising the possibility that the station was a pirate broadcaster in its last years.

According to the High School newspaper, The North Wind, the station broadcast with 1-Watt from 1967 to 1972.[5] The antenna tower was first above the original KNHS studio located near the cafeteria. The transmitter and limiter were mounted on a shelf in the old 3-room radio studio, which included an announcer's booth, a control room with a Gates audio console, and a storage room for vinyl records.[7] The facility survived the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake. In 1972 the KNHS studios and equipment were moved to the second floor of the Industrial Arts Building.

The KNHS antenna tower was also moved, to the roof of the Industrial Arts Building, and its transmitter power increased to about 10-Watts. FCC rules did not set a lower power limit for that class of FM station. The tower was a local landmark, with its two omnidirectional "halo" elements at its top and below. The tower was damaged in a 2010 winter storm and subsequently removed.

Operations

In later years new disc jockeys were Juniors who learned from the previous year's students, applied for a Radiotelephone Operator Permit, and as the school year progressed shifted away mid-year from music to begin writing public service announcements and conducting on-air interviews.[8][9] Carol Shakely, a teacher who oversaw the station, said in 1989 "It's really a radio station. We're really subject to the whims of the FCC. We really have to read public service announcements every half-hour. People really can pick it up on their radios."[5]

There was no professional manager for KNHS, students managed it with some supervision by schoolteachers, including Mr. McKenzie, Ms. Carol Shakely, and Mr. Fields. There was no engineer for the station, however a contract engineer was called when something was known to be wrong, and a monitoring company that measured the KNHS frequency monthly to comply with FCC regulations. A student remembers "We would turn on the transmitter, call the monitoring company, who would record the specific frequency of the radio station."

In 1970, the radio station got its first phone line, allowing it to take music requests from its listeners, though with limited broadcast hours and 1–3 miles (1.6–4.8 km) broadcast range, the listening "public" was limited. Students also performed remote broadcasts of sporting events, begun due to the technical knowledge of Mr. McKenzie.

North High School had audio speakers on the "Quad" and in the cafeteria so students could listen to KNHS broadcasts on campus during the lunch period.

References

  1. ↑ "Directory of Schools: Search Details". acswasc.org. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  2. ↑ Crowe, Jerry (4 December 2006). "The story arc of his life has some real hooks to it". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  3. ↑ KOMAI, CHRIS (28 August 2014). "THAT GUY IN THAT COMMERCIAL". The Rafu Shimpo. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Emanual Newton Facebook profile".
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Los Angeles Times: "High School Station Fine-Tunes Students' Broadcast Skills on Air", 10 December 1989, article by Janet Rae-Dupree . accessed 2.28.2016.
  6. ↑ Americanradiohistory.com: "White's Radio Log of home-town FM stations", Science and Electronics magazine, December 1969 issue, KNHS listing−pg. 83.
  7. ↑ "A Quest for a Gates Console"
  8. ↑ Youtube.com: Video of "1982 news report on North Torrance High School's radio station, KNHS"
  9. ↑ Torrance Herald: "North High Student Larry Lutz Attends SC TV Class", 21 July 1957 issue, pg 2.

Coordinates: 33°51′53″N 118°20′13″W / 33.864748°N 118.337029°W / 33.864748; -118.337029

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