[BC] Dealing with the Brain Challenged

[Bill Brister]

I think engineers do, quite often, get relegated to the back of the room. If
all of the equipment is working acceptably they tend to be overlooked,
ignored, not needed. These threads are a natural reaction to that and are
saying to the rest of the station, "we are here too", "don't forget about
us", "we need attention also". Under normal circumstances that's OK, but
when you get a bunch of engineers sitting around talking to each other the
conversation can sometime morph into a mean spirited "we are the best",
"everybody else is nothing", "if it weren't for us you wouldn't be on the
air" kind of conversation. When that happens it seems to tell you that those
particular engineers are having a particularly hard time getting the
attention they want. I'm not trying to justify anything here, just saying it
like I see it.

I say this after 39 years as an engineer in both radio and TV. I have felt
the situation above personally at times too. Even so, sometime people tend
to forget that they are part of a team effort and this kind of thing
happens. I'm sure it can happen in other departments too.

Bill

 >I appreciate your sensitivity to the issue, but possibly, maybe, you
over-reacted a LITTLE?  :)<

If it happened once in a while, maybe. Read some of the archives. 
You'll find it happens with awesome regularity. In fact, it appears to be
contempt for any other department. This particular thread targeted DJs.
Others have been sweeping generalizations that elevated engineers to the top
of the food chain. All others are relegated to pig slop.

You're right. Jocks have no need to be trained as engineers any more than
engineers are trained as entertainers.

In most major markets if one treads on the other's turf someone files a
grievance. In my experience they come from IBEW and NABET. That creates even
less incentive to learn even the basics.

Rich