[BC] My SBE Suggestions

[Fred Gleason]

Have *really* been trying to stay out of this, but...

On Thursday 19 May 2005 17:25, Mario Hieb wrote:
> 9. Explore state licensure for broadcast engineers.

I think 'state licensure for broadcast engineers' would be an absolute 
disaster.  Fifty different versions of what constitutes 'qualified'?  We've 
already seen how the states do with areas like RFI compliance -- what makes 
us think they'd do any better here?  Broadcasting is a Federally licensed 
endeavor, and any government-sponsored personnel certification should 
properly come from that same level of government.

And, before we cite 'related' fields that are currently state-regulated (like 
electricians):  it's a totally different situation.  Electricians perform 
work in virtually every structure erected today.  This makes for a huge 
number of people in the regulated field, and hence the state and local 
governments concerned have ample resources to develop the necessary expertise 
(and even then, the results can be none too impressive -- ever go through an 
electrical inspection of a new radio facility?).  Broadcast engineering is a 
tiny field by comparison, and so very little knowledge or understanding of it 
exists below the Federal level.  Do you really want the same people 
responsible for doing the electrical inspection for your last project to be 
the ones drafting and enforcing a 'code' for broadcast engineering?  That is 
the way it would play out, in every locale outside of (perhaps) LA and NYC.

Cheers!


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| Frederick F. Gleason, Jr. | Director of Broadcast Software Development  |
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