[BC] Do We Still Like Our Jobs?

[Keith Hammond]

Sid Schweiger wrote:

> Some are, but that isn't the issue.  Fewer engineers 
> supporting more stations = more work, not less.  There's also 
> much more of an obsession with the bottom line than there 
> used to be, and as several others have noted, too many owners 
> treat engineering as an expense rather than a necessity...one 
> of several reasons why there are fewer engineers.


  I recall a situation that was once described to me by a former
assistant in an un-named Louisiana market in which he described the
"royal reaming" that he had gotten from a station owner because he had
the audacity to ask for $35.00 to be used for the replacement of three
50 amp fuses that were in line with the station's FM20-K. The station
was off and it seems that the station owner thought this was "too much
to waste on a few fuses". But, according to my former assistant, he was
asked to "wait until I (the owner) finish up some important business".

  Eventually, the station owner came off of the $35.00 but, not without
MUCH heated discussion. The "kicker" was that the other "important
business" was the owner's paying of a local plumber for unclogging his
toilet! Amazingly, the station owner didn't balk at paying plumber more
than $300 for 20 minutes of work while he didn't want to pay a lowly
engineer $35 (that would've been going into needed parts) to get his
50kw. Commercial FM back on the air.

  Are we actually valued at "below toilet levels"? In *some* places,
that answer is "yes". But, there are others who also will more than make
up for the difference. My question is: Are there enough "good guys" to
balance out the negativity that is caused by the "bad guys" in the
business?

  One other thing that I just LOVE is the station owner/manager who
refuses to spend anything at all on "upkeep" and then screams loudly
that they have a "bad engineer who's let things get run-down" when the
inevitable catastrophe occurs. (Same Louisiana owner who burned THREE
lines and antennae arrays due to "saving money on nitrogen bottles" and
then became upset that we wouldn't (fraudulently) sign lightning strike
affidavits after an insurance inspector had determined that the damage
was caused by "mineral deposits created due to the ingress of outside
water during rain".) But, hey, he saved almost $80 on nitrogen tanks
that year!


Keith Hammond

KBKH-FM (Shamrock, Texas)

(806) 256-1221