[BC] Radio training

[Alex Hartman]

So, instead of wishing it dead, take it on. Sounds like a good community involvement tool to develop. The station i work at is a state college owned station as well. The station was put on the air in 1967 and by 1980 was pretty self-sustaining. It does take time, commitment and involvement. KVSC is owned by SCSU, a state college, and they give us office/studio space and the help of the computer guys on campus for little things, and pay 3 salaries. The rest of the station is completely self-sustaining. (granted, we do get CPB money and some state grants, and we allow the mass comm department to use a studio or 2 for classroom space)

Even if the school doesn't teach engineering (does any school REALLY teach engineering, let alone BROADCAST engineering?) it's still a good teaching tool for people. If they have a staff engineer/GM/OM/PD/etc (i'm guessing he wears all the hats) it sounds like it'd be better off run by the inmates. :)

Nashville is a tough market, i get that. But if it is truly a "community" station, let the community work with it. You might just be amazed at what the general public can do. :)

But first and foremost, run a damn pledge drive, get some cash in the door. Even if it's an extra few thousand, the school will see the viability and VISIBILITY of having it's own station. KVSC had that problem not too long ago, the community en mass gathered and beat  down the board of trustee's door during a meeting. I still have a job if that tells you anything. :)

It just sounds poorly managed by the college, not the stations fault itself.

--
Alex Hartman

On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 8:32 PM, Scott Bailey <wmroradio at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>First, it's a State College. There are NO outside donors to it. It now sits
>there, running automation, and maybe one kid helping out.  They don't teach
>engineering at that school!  And no, it does not serve the community. It's too
>worry about being a "Metro Nashville" station, than our towns station. The
>people here in town, if they want local, listen to the two AM Stations. To my
>knowledge, there has never been an engineer come out of that school. It's was
>designed strictly to learn mass communications classes. The school has a "paid,
>on staff" engineer that fixes the equipment if it goes down. He's been there for
>about 25 years or so.  The students are NOT allow to fix anything!  This is a
>situation that is out of date.
> Scott Bailey
>WMRO-AM, Gallatin, TN

>----- Original Message ----
>> From: Alex Hartman <goober at goobe.net>
>>
>> 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? :)