On the beach

[K5UJ]

Geeez Rob, you need to get your ears cleaned out. An AA-5 doesnt have enouch of a speaker to get to decent highs nor enough iron to crack the plastic case with lows. Run a response test on those 4-5" $.10 speakers sometime.

Heh heh, well I will freely admit that I'm no audiophile but I did remove the speaker in it (it was some non-stock junk) and put in a bigger magnet 8 ohm that would fit in the mount for it.  But no matter what, it's a single ended 50L6 and an envelope detector...it sure sounds a hell of a lot better than the solid state radios I have around here.  Makes them sound like they have a pillow jammed up against them.  It's the narrow passband of new receivers.

Okay Steve you're on    I'd prefer coffee though    BTW one thing I probably didn't make very clear is that my point was not that I thought you are incorrect--you may very well be right--what I was trying to point out was that you were to me, unconvincing.

[N4LTA]

You can be the #1 staion in the Arbitron rating - but if only 5% listen to radio  - it makes no difference.

Digital is the new king - radio is dead - gone - and local TV is right behind.


If that isn't plain to see - you are not looking or in denial.

On demand TV, movies news etc are here and newer fastre formats to carry the data are coming fast.

My college age kids don't own any kind of radio or CD systems. They stream everything - CDs are dead - on demand digital everthing.

[W2JRO]

they have been saying local tv was dead since the formation of networks...has not happened, wont for a while. the same for local radio. people like the local feel of such media.
there will always be room for local media...heck, even time warner has a 24/7 local news channel because they understand the demand.

[KB2WIG]

"  they understand the demand. '

probably so....  but I think its 'cause they have to have something to offer that the birds don't.


klc

[W2JRO]

"  they understand the demand. '

probably so....  but I think its 'cause they have to have something to offer that the birds don't.


klc

the only thing they can offer is a dedicated local news channel. imho, their news reporting quality is a joke compared to local channels and they often run the exact same news story set for hours in a row

[K2PG]

WARM 590 used to be a powerhouse back in the day from those big towers alongside I-81.  I thought I read some time ago that Citadel simply turned it off and was going to give back the license.

The WARM towers are in Falls Township, about 15 miles west of I-81. The studio used to be in a building in Avoca, alongside I-81, but they never had a transmitter there. Citadel did not turn WARM off. The transmitter self-immolated on April 1, 2009, taking out the solid-state audio driver in the Gates BC5HA. Citadel had been toying with the idea of leaving WARM dark, but I was a "naughty boy" and got the transmitter working again after rebuilding the modulator section. The station is still on the air, but Cumulus is not buying a new set of tubes and the signal sounds terrible. The engineer in Allentown who now covers my old market is an I.T. guy with little or no RF and transmitter background.

[K2PG]

It is more cost effective for broadcast engineers to work independently and offer engineering service to stations on a contract basis, since there is no longer enough technical work at a small station to keep an engineer employed full time.

The only problem with contracting is that I do not have much test equipment and I cannot afford to buy it. This area is also saturated with contract engineers. I will probably end up having to retrain for a different career, although there are still some good companies in the broadcasting industry. CBS and Greater Media come to mind and I check with them periodically. Cumulus is a notorious "slash and burn" operation that is gutting all of the clusters that they picked up from Citadel.

[w3jn]

You can be the #1 staion in the Arbitron rating - but if only 5% listen to radio  - it makes no difference.

Digital is the new king - radio is dead - gone - and local TV is right behind.


If that isn't plain to see - you are not looking or in denial.

On demand TV, movies news etc are here and newer fastre formats to carry the data are coming fast.

My college age kids don't own any kind of radio or CD systems. They stream everything - CDs are dead - on demand digital everthing.

I have not seen my two college-age sons listen to the radio in years, although if the fact that everytime I drive their cars the radio is set to the local hiphop station is any indication, they do listen to the radio when they're driving.

It's no different here in Europe.  I've been to a couple of parties lately where there was no radio at all in evidence at the home.  Party entertainment was provided by iPads; in one case, with a 5 TB server full of music.  Young Greeks are embracing digital delivery with a passion.

It's a shame because there are some outstanding radio stations here in Athens - wonderfully engineered and a really good variety of music.  On AM, the ERT (Hellenic Radio/Television) station on 666 KHz approaches FM quality.  And some of the local TV stations are threatening to go dark due to lack of ad revenue.

[W3LSN]

The WARM towers are in Falls Township, about 15 miles west of I-81. The studio used to be in a building in Avoca, alongside I-81, but they never had a transmitter there.

I have not been up that way in 30-years, but I distinctly remember a huge directional array alongside I-81 in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area.  I think there was a billboard for WARM nearby which made me think the site was WARM along with the towers being tall enough for a halfwave at 590. I believe it was a 3-tower site and it was miles away from that tower group on the mountain between SCR/WB. This would have been in the early 80's, so I wonder who it was?

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[KA3EKH]

I have been in broadcasting for a little while, think I started back in 77 while in High School/ Vo-Tech. got my third class ticket and the like, worked in commercial radio, then television, was chief of a PBS station for a while and then went into working in education but still do part time television and radio maintaining a half dozen radio and two television transmitter sites. Says a lot about the state of the art that I can keep on top of two 5 kW AM, two class A FM (3kW), two class b (50 kW) FM and two digital television transmitters (WCPB, WDPB) on a part time basis but state of the art in the industry combined with management that invested in new equipment, backup transmitters and keeping the plant in good condition when the economy was good has really paid off now that the economy is in the toilet. The Clearchannel office I work for has gone from around sixty employees in 2008 to fourteen today and both of the PBS stations I work for have cut staff and not replace people who have retired. Don’t know if broadcasting is dieing or not but know for sure that the “Happy Days” of investors buying and not caring what the property cost of the nineties, the time of consolidation and cutting expenses by centralizing facilities is thru, just about all the cost you can cut have been cut and everything you can combine has been combined. Sorry to hear about how things went down for you and your market. Don’t know if its as much the company as the market manager knowing that CC Ocean City/ Salisbury has never had issues spending money on keeping the plant in good condition although do remember that 2009 was the year of no cap ex budget. About twenty years ago got into working in education taking care of equipment for a university and never regretted that, have had the opportunity to work full time for CC or go back into commercial television but stayed with the university and have no regrets. If you have any background in digital television can tell you of a couple jobs or also know of a NPR station where the chief is going to retire soon and they will be looking for a replacement. They have two class B FM stations one with a hideous BE FM-30 and a Harris Z-10 and are located in Maryland and Delaware.
Ray F

[steve_qix]

I would have to visit the ratings, but it would appear that certain formats (such as country), and news/TALK seem to do well around here.  I am very surprised by the numbers for so-called "country" and the number of stations involved in that particular format.

Just speaking for myself, there is *absolutely nothing* music-wise in this market (on the radio) at all that I can listen to.  So, if I want music, it's from the Internet.  But, I do listen to talk radio, and that's local (and locally produced), and I believe the station (WRKO) does pretty well in afternoon drive (which is when I listen).

It would appear as if the station management is under the impression that the cost/benefit ratio for having someone locally available to fix problems quickly is not worth it.  Having been a chief engineer of a number of radio stations over about a decade, this is not an uncommon belief.

Unfortunately, they don't care about quality.

Phil, all the best in finding new work - I'm sure you will with your background and knowledge!!!!!  The more M.I.S. you know the better, also, since I know many radio stations like the Chief to be the M.I.S. person as well.


Regards,

Steve

[wd9ive]

Phil. sorry to hear this new but I'm not surprised. In my 30+ years as a blue collar worker and low level manager I've learned the following lessons:

1. It's not about your "body of work" over the last 15 or 20 years, it's about "what have you done for me today"
2. Quality vs Quantity...they will always trade off quality for quantity as long as the revenues increase.
3. RISK MANAGEMENT...they would rather roll the dice and hope nothing bad happens than spend the money to ensure nothing bad happens.
4. Your Boss wont be in his position long enough for his mistakes to catch up with him...They push these inexperienced kids through the mid level manager positions so fast that there's no way the consequences of their bad decesions will ever impact there career goals.

I hope things change back someday...before I die

Good Luck Phil

Dan

[W2PFY]

Good luck to you Phil. I remember WARM from when I was a kid in the fifty's living south of Scranton near Danville, PA. I still remember to this day someone talking about the transmitter in use at the time and it was mentioned that the transmitters used 450TH's in it. If it did use those tubes, it would have been the only BC transmitter that I ever heard of doing so.

[K2PG]

I have not been up that way in 30-years, but I distinctly remember a huge directional array alongside I-81 in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area.  I think there was a billboard for WARM nearby which made me think the site was WARM along with the towers being tall enough for a halfwave at 590. I believe it was a 3-tower site and it was miles away from that tower group on the mountain between SCR/WB. This would have been in the early 80's, so I wonder who it was?

The only 3-tower site visible from I-81 is the WILK site in Hanover Township. It is on the banks of the Susquehanna River and operates at 5 kW nondirectional during the day and 1 kW directional at night. WILK has a talk format.

[N4LTA]

Both of my sons and my daughter get into the car and plug in the IPOD - really - they don't even think of radio. Now they keep music on the Iphone.

My oldest son, who is 27 uses some contraption that I gave him for Christmas (cost about $80) to connect to his TV and loads Netflix programming directly from his wireless internet to the TV in HD format. Uses a remote to order and no intermediate computer. He is thinking about shutting off the satellite.

I shut the satellite off in my truck and now just play music via bluetooth off the phone.

BTW - I used to be the engineering manager for the largest printer in the world and all I heard from the the company "party line" was "we have heard that printing is going the way of the buggy whip for years and it will never happen" - I worked at one of the largest catalog plants in the world - guess what they are saying now?

Things change and the tipping point for a digital world is past. They just wired Edisto Beach, where I have a vacation home with fiber. Edisto is known as Edislow because it is about 40 years in the past (which is the way I like it) - but soon it will be all digital high speed fiber for telephone, TV and internet.

I just finished a tube stereo amp for my Clemson student son's IPOD complete with an honest to good Stop Light wired with a three channel color organ. Four 6AQ5s - 10 watts a channel to warm up that digital sound. He thinks the tubes are "cool" so maybe there is a ray of hope.

Pat

[W3GMS]

Phil,
I am sorry to hear about the loss of your job.  In the volatile job market today, especially in the radio market, its a tough time to loose a job. 

Well try to turn a negative into a positive as I always try to do.  List all your skills and you will likely find that your qualified to do many other things.  Networking through your friends that are employed can be very successful in landing a new job.  The traditional method of sending a resume around seldom produces any positive results since companies are overwhelmed with resumes and your just becomes another one. 

If by chance, you find a job listing that you believe you could do, you need to tailor your resume to fit that job.  The companies look for a match and they don't take the time to dissect your resume to see if your a fit.  People tend to come up with a standard resume and apply for positions without making the match connection and the end result is not positive.

Don't underestimate the importance of soft skills.  These are non technical skill that you need to project which gives an indication of your ability to work with other people.  Nobody today wants to hire a maverick that can not work well with the rest of the team.  The work environment today is looking for team members and not lone rangers!  Sadly, often the end solution may not be the best, but its one the company supports and you need to bend and go with the collective team decision on things. 

Keep us posted on how you make out.

73,
Joe, W3GMS