WWKB Cutting Back To 10,000 Watts?

[kmac]

I'm one more good engineer with 20 years in, who has now left the industry and will never, ever, EVER go back because radio just isn't what it used to be and all owners and managers care about is the bottom line and nothing else.

I know it's off topic, but when I was in college I did a documentary with a lot of "golden age of radio" staffers, people involved in the production and engineering of radio drama from the 30s and 40s.  They were all fired when DJs became popular, and they all told me the exact same thing about how radio was so much better when they were doing it.  So every generation thinks what it did was the best, and that owners are greedy SOBs.  Nothing every goes back to what it was.  It either changes or dies.  That's where we are now.  And by the way, radio in the 30s was also corporate owned.  If you think Clear Channel is a big greedy company, spend some time with the execs at GE.

Oh please! You think radio isn't and hasn't been going down the toilet? You must be living in a dream world. I'm not so stupid as to think when I was in radio it was even as good as it was at one time. I came in just a few years before consolidation in the early 90's. It had already been de-regulated to a fault. Now the fault has turned into a 9.7 earthquake.

[TheBigA]

Oh please! You think radio isn't and hasn't been going down the toilet?

Did I say that?  No.  I said that radio has been getting cheaper since the 1930s.  Especially with regards to engineers.  Big AM stations used to have a whole staff of in-house engineers, around the clock staffing at transmitter shacks, and studio operators.  One by one those positions were eliminated, mostly before I got into the business.  I got hired for my first job because I had an FCC license, so I could combo a board and run the transmitter.  They could fire two engineers that way.  Inspired by Scott Fybush, I've traveled around the country visiting old AM transmitter shacks.  You can see these places were once castles.  Now they're mostly empty, dilapidated shells.  And it's obvious that the decay isn't recent, nor is it directly as a result of consolidation.  Most of these 50K AMs haven't had full-time in-house engineers since the 80s.  Don't lecture me about how things aren't like they used to be, you whipper snapper!

[kmac]

Did I say that?  No.  I said that radio has been getting cheaper since the 1930s.  Especially with regards to engineers.  Big AM stations used to have a whole staff of in-house engineers, around the clock staffing at transmitter shacks, and studio operators.  One by one those positions were eliminated, mostly before I got into the business.  I got hired for my first job because I had an FCC license, so I could combo a board and run the transmitter.  They could fire two engineers that way.  Inspired by Scott Fybush, I've traveled around the country visiting old AM transmitter shacks.  You can see these places were once castles.  Now they're mostly empty, dilapidated shells.  And it's obvious that the decay isn't recent, nor is it directly as a result of consolidation.  Most of these 50K AMs haven't had full-time in-house engineers since the 80s.  Don't lecture me about how things aren't like they used to be, you whipper snapper!

And I said radio is a victim of corporate greed. The deterioration has been accelerated in the last 20 years because of de-regulation. I don't think we actually disagree, but for some unknown reason you thought you needed to counter what I stated in the first place. Old people, Jesus! 

I actually like older people but I'm giving you back a little something in return for your whipper-snapper comment 

[TheBigA]

And I said radio is a victim of corporate greed. The deterioration has been accelerated in the last 20 years because of de-regulation.

A lot of the stations I visit weren't part of deregulation, and they're not part of the corporate greed.  If you saw the bigger picture, you'd discover there's more to this than the simple "g" word.  If it was just corporate greed, less than 2500 stations would be affected.  Blaming "corporate greed" is taking a defeatist attitude, because corporate greed existed in the 1930s.  That's what led to the establishment radio networks.

[mr.jr]

When in college (RIT) in the early 70's, I made FET preamps for car AM radios so the guys could get their AM station back home. One day I drove over to Big Tree road, snooping around the KB/GR xmtr site and was amazed that when I left, could barely hear a thing after I was a few miles away - blew out the MPF-102 FET in  my car radio "preamp"!