About Alan
I’m Alan Bowker, a broadcaster by trade, a traveler by curiosity, and a tinkerer by inclination. From the Red Hill is where I collect stories and images from a lifetime spent around microphones, transmitters, cameras and keyboards.
The site pulls together several threads of my interests – from radio stations in Wyoming and California, to early microcomputers, to journeys across Spain, New Zealand, Namibia and beyond. It’s part notebook, part scrapbook, and part archive.
The Skinny
Over the years I’ve worked in broadcast radio, experimented with computers starting in the North Star days, and pointed cameras at everything from egrets on Corte Madera Creek to city streets in Havana and Kyoto. The posts here reflect those experiences rather than a strict chronology.
On the Site
- Broadcast – stations, people and airchecks from KATI, KUWR, KCBS and more.
- Computers – notes and photos from the North Star era and other machines.
- Travel – photo essays from Spain, New Zealand, Cuba, Iran, Japan and other places.
- Aerial Photography – views from above.
- WA6DNR – amateur radio, solar power and antennas.
- Stanley Kubrick – odds and ends related to the films.
Book Reviews
From time to time I post brief reviews of books that intersect with broadcasting, technology, or the craft of storytelling. Among them:
- Vocal Recall – a look at life on and off the air.
- The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester – precision, engineering and the people behind it.
If something here sparks a memory or a question, feel free to get in touch – that’s part of the fun of keeping an online notebook like this one.