[BC] Re: Ignoring Station Procedures. "I Know Better"

[Rich Wood]

------ At 03:13 AM 8/21/2006, Jeff Allen wrote: -------

>There was a day here recently I produced three spots, fixed two
>transmitters, repaired a studio problem and updated content on four web
>sites whilst one of the jocks was complaining about doing four spots and a
>morning show all in one day.  Gosh...good thing he didn't have anything else
>to do.

I realize you put in a good day's work. However, it gets very tiring 
to hear people berate the work involved in doing a good morning show 
or airwork in general. At WOR we had a major cable cut by thieves 
thinking it was full of copper (rather than being mostly insulation). 
Our Talk Show hosts had to literally do 3 and 4 hour monologues. All 
that was still working was the STL. Despite the lack of phone calls, 
the station still sounded pretty good. I don't think professionalism 
is limited to the engineering department.

I'd like to know how involved all that work was you did. I know how 
to update web sites. Not heavy lifting. Did you have to rip the 
transmitters apart and spend hours repairing them or did they just 
need breaker resets? How about the studios. Major reconstruction or 
replacing a defective mic? I'd have to know that to be able to judge 
how much more burdensome your day was than the Jock's. Then we can 
set up a scale of who does more valuable work and who suffers most.

Talk to a TV personality who has ever done a radio Talk Show. They'll 
tell you it's one of the hardest things they've ever done. You're on 
your own for hours at a time without the TV sized support staff that 
allows you to do little more than read a Teleprompter.

Everyone's job is important. Over the years I can recall complaints 
by engineers about how tough their jobs were on days where nothing 
more strenuous than lifting their feet onto the desk was required. 
Anyone who's been on this list for any length of time knows how much 
I respect engineers. I just think it's only fair to give others who 
contribute to our product a bit of respect, too.

Rich


Rich Wood
Rich Wood Multimedia
Phone: 413-454-3258