June 5, 1949
Portland Press Herald
Portland, ME


Bangor Hydro Directs Crews With Radio Bangor, June 4.---The Bangor Hydro Electric Company, after months of preparation,
is now on the air with a radio network second only to the Maine State Police in covering the Pine Tree State.  Sixteen
different towns have been linked together with FM radio in a vast move to speed up company operations and get line crews
to disabled areas in the shortest possible time.  Twenty eight mobile units are in operation and company officials and
employees are as near the home office as they are to their respective vehicles.  In operation the radio units are in
every way similar to radio used in police cars, and even in severe storms and bad weather are nearly as clear as your
every day telephone.  Past operations have pointed out the need for rapid communication between the home office and the
dozens of line crews and maintenance men scattered throughout the Central and Eastern half of Maine.  When it was
necessary to get in touch with a crew for emergency repair orders, the dispatcher had to wait until that crew called in
from some distant town before the new orders could be given.  With the new radio hookup, a power failure in Milllnocket as
an example, will be covered by a repair crew in the shortest possible time.  The new stations are located at Mllllnocket;
Medway; Lincoln; Howland; Stanford; Milford, and Old Town; Ryders Bluff, where there are three outlets for the Bangor
office; Ellsworth, with three remote outlets; Bar Harbor, Harrington; Machlas with two remote outlets; Eastport with two
remote units; Milo with two remote units; Grand Lake Mattagamon: Telos Lake and Lock Dam.  The station is operated on
37.54 megacycles and employes all the latest General Electric equipment for the complete operation.  If by chance you
should hear KA-294 car 4 calling KCA-305 for orders, it will simply mean that mobile unit number four is calling the
Bangor office for further orders.