[BC] forget the brain dead engineers what about the owners?

[Barry Mishkind]

Sid,

        Let me take you back a few years. I worked for an AM DA
        station in Arizona. Curiously, when I was hired, I noticed
        that every log, going back nearly a year, had exactly
        the same reading, every half hour.

        This practice stopped on my shifts, at least. And nothing
        was said, until I got my First Phone.

        One Monday, the owner walked in and asked me to sign
        the logs for the weekend (it was more of a demand!). It
        seemed he saved money by hiring thirds, and then had
        the next First Phone sign the logs.
        
        I demurred. He was insistent. By now, I smelled a dead fish,
        and called the TV Engineer where the FM transmitter was
        sited. I asked what the readings were on the front of the
         transmitter. Let's just say the TPO was about 1/10 that
        which was on the remote control. VSWR was very high.
        Let's say 5:1 or 10:1, according to the TV guy.

        On the log, I drew a line through all the hours I was
        signed on, and entered the actual readings.

        The next day, the owner came screaming down the hall,
        demanding that I "redo" the logs. I told him my license
        was far more important to my career than the small
        hourly wages he was paying - or only partially paying, as
        his game was to be in his office only 10 minutes on payday.
        (You had to know this - and find him - to get 1/2 of the
`       paycheck.) Every week.

        Yes, I started looking for other work immediately.

At 12:29 PM 4/5/2010, Sid Schweiger wrote:
>The "easy" answer, IMO, would have been to write a report to the owner once a week, in conjunction with your weekly review of the technical operation of the station, and note "an unlicensed operator is signing the log and is in control of the transmitter, a violation of FCC regulations."  Besides being a part of the DCO's responsibilities, it gets the violation onto the record and shows that you did your part to report it to the station's owner.  It also makes it less about a personality clash or an ego trip and more about fulfilling your responsibility to make sure the regulations are followed.
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