[BC] Radio training

[Alex Hartman]

Wow, tell us how you really feel. That little community station might produce some pretty useful people. Engineering especially. It may be a waste of taxpayer money to you, but i bet that the people who donate to the station sure don't see it that way. 

IT people in this industry are dangerous. I'm one of them. But without someone competent enough to diagnose a gunshot in the coax on the RF side of things (or diagnose a bad rectifier in a power supply, or someone who knows how to simply change a fuse!), radio is dead.

More and more of a radio station is coming around to the IT world, most stations now are built like data centers than radio stations. But the core of the station is still the fact that it IS a radio station. Without having a breeding ground, where will you find your next engineer? You honestly are going to tell me you're going to hire a kid out of college with an EE degree and whom has NEVER seen the inside of a transmitter? That kid will kill himself without proper field training. And an IT monkey is going to settle for replacing CD players, consoles, and audio processors? Not without any sort of passion for the music they won't. 

The era of people like Steve Jobs is over, kids these days are taught how to just replace, not repair. I started in IT at 16, got into radio at 20, and have been merrying the 2 ever since. Why? Because i loved radio before computers. :)

So saying the public station is a waste of money may be correct, but it's the only outlet for the TRUE public, not what corporate goons want you to hear. Besides, without public radio and wasteful taxpayer grants, who else is going to be your beta tester group? :)

--
Alex Hartman

On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 6:22 PM, Scott Bailey <wmroradio at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>This is why I don't understand why our Community College here in Gallatin
>(Volunteer State Community College) still teaches radio, and has 1 KW FM
>Station.  Having those radio courses and buying all that expensive automation
>gear is wasting the tax payers money!  The radio instructor at the college is a
>friend of mine and I hope after he retires, the state board of regents sells
>that station or just turns it off!

>In Nashville, we have 2 College Radio stations for sale. Bott Communications
>just bought one college station, WNAZ, and it's Gallatin translator. We need
>more IT people in this industry than kids playing around learning nothing, and
>this industry just shrinking! 
> Scott Bailey
>WMRO-AM, Gallatin, TN

>----- Original Message ----
>> From: "dpuopolo at usa.net" <dpuopolo at usa.net>
>>
>> I would have a tough time teaching radio broadcasting to anyone today. Whether
>> we like it or not-radio is a shrinking, possibly dying industry. To say
>> otherwise is to be in denial. People need to be trained to work in industries
>> that are new and (still) EXPANDING.
>>
>> -D