Gates Model 20
A broadcast-board nameplate that shows up in the strangest places — including a barter ad for a whole station's worth of gear.
Overview
The Gates Model 20 is one of those pieces that surfaces almost entirely through documentation of the equipment around it rather than through any catalog entry of its own. The clearest trace comes from a period classified ad in which a Florence, Alabama station, WJOI, offered to trade a $3,000 interest in a new station for a package that included a "Model 20-B Gates control board" alongside a Western Electric 1 kW transmitter, a Gates limiter, two Gates CBII turntables, two Magnecorders, and a Doolittle frequency monitor. That single line is the most concrete thing available about the Model 20 — it places the board in working broadcast service and in the company of Gates' other studio hardware. The "-B" suffix on the ad's unit is worth flagging: whether it denotes a revision of the Model 20 or a distinct variant is not documented.
What the Model 20 actually was — a control board, per that ad — fits the broader Gates product line, which by the late 1950s spanned transmitters, consoles, turntables, and limiters sold to AM and FM stations. Beyond that placement, the record goes quiet. No service manual, spec sheet, or period review naming this exact board has turned up in the available material.
Collectors chasing Gates broadcast gear should treat the Model 20 as a name to watch for in station liquidations and equipment lot sales rather than something with a documented paper trail. The classifieds of the era are where these boards changed hands, often bundled with transmitters and turntables as a station upgraded or went dark. Anyone who finds one should expect to identify it from the chassis markings rather than from published documentation, because the published documentation simply is not there yet.
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