[BC] Re: RE: That Guy at the PAB who inspected Dana Puopolo'sStation

[Broadcast List USER]

I see nothing wrong with having a mother ship with EAS there, or (and  
better) a mother ship with the ability to control the station based  
EAS units, and insert audio for EAS from the mother ship.

Having to hire four or five people for 24 hour a day coverage of a  
bunch of radio stations seems like a good idea to me.  It is sure  
better than the current situation at many stations, where you cannot  
raise anyone at the station even if lives depend on it.

I met one owner who gave everyone his cell phone number.  If the  
police, fire department, or whatever needed something to be put on  
the air, he would just go to the station and take care of it,  
including local EAS.  He was an LP-1, but only covered 9-5, M-F.  He  
got his coverage by making the receptionist the "Business Manager,"  
even though he did the books, and his son the "Programming Manager."

I may be really old school, but I do think the water department  
should be able to call the station and speak with someone at any  
hour.  Announcing a water main break "on Main Street near Market  
Street has Main Street closed, and people in the area will find low  
or no water pressure, and should either use bottled water or boil  
water for five minutes before drinking or using it for cooking..." is  
a REALLY good thing.  If that is the mother ship, six hours away,  
that's fine.

Today, T-1 circuits are really inexpensive.  Audio can be fed down  
them, as well as phones, or use VoIP with a company like OnSIP  
(hosted PBX), or Junction Networks (SIP) and have the phone ring at  
the local studio, and at the mother ship.

Again, I may be old school, but I trust running audio to and from the  
mother ship on a T-1, but I don't think Internet streaming is the  
right way to go.  "In the event of an actual emergency" there is a  
chance the Internet may be temporarily broken, or just so heavily  
loaded the audio breaks up.  Using a T-1 gives the station a  
dedicated line.  Of course, those facilities can be cut as well, but  
there is MUCH less chance, and the providers fix the dedicated lines  
first.

Last I checked, the EAS logs have to be available at the Main  
Studio.  Not having them complete would be an issue.  Even if one has  
a printer based logging system, it would be pretty easy to scan them  
and send them to an electronic Public File at the Main Studio, or  
print them and put them in the Public Inspection File.

--chip

On Mar 4, 2009, at 6:00 AM, broadcast-request at radiolists.net wrote:

> Message: 2
> From: "Matthew Lightner" <matt at LightnerElectronics.com>
> 	Puopolo'sStation
> [...]
> 	So was my suggestion that your client install a local EAS unit
> wrong? I'm looking for the opinion of other engineers on the list.  
> As an
> ABIP inspector, I am required to inspect the EAS system. How for  
> sure did I
> know the system was setup to automatically interrupt the program chain
> without driving over 6 hours to the location of your ENDEC in MA to  
> see if
> it was setup correctly.
> [...]
>
> Matt Lightner - President