[BC] The things licensees get away with...

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

Many radio stations in New England will cry poverty when one points out serious violations of the FCC Rules. I recently visited a DA-2 which had no operational metering in any tower, no working phase monitoring, no modulation monitor operational from the remote-control point, and no metering of the transmitter parameters. Furthermore, the transmitter site was overgrown with trees and other vegetation.

The owner claimed; "A small-town radio station cannot possibly afford to comply with all the rules." When questioned the owner said, "Do you turn yourself in at the nearest police station every time you realize you broke the speed limit?" The owner obviously believes that violation of the "rules" if not really like violating the "law." To him, they are different and, just to remain on-the-air, some rules must be broken.

When I worked in "radio," there were technical rules which were rigidly enforced. No stations were given any preference so there was a level playing field. The spot rates included the fact that all stations were required to have a full-time First Class Licensee on the staff. You can blame the current devastation of the broadcast industry on the station owners who, with the help of the NAB, lobbied the FCC to eliminate the checks and balances that an engineering staff created.

Similar things occurred in other industries as well. Only nuclear power plants are required to have an engineer on duty. All those coal, gas, and water, powered electrical generating plants now have no engineering staff whatsoever. When some site goes off-line, the owner (like Unitil) hires "consultants" to fix the plant.
 http://unitil-must-die.blogspot.com/

Sleep well.

Cheers,
Richard B. Johnson
Book: http://www.AbominableFirebug.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas G. Osenkowsky" <tosenkowsky at prodigy.net>

I had an inspector visit a few years ago. He was there for only one of our
AM stations. The inspection, including trip to the transmitter, took about
90 minutes. No problems or concerns at all. The GM was miffed because the
ABIP inspector took most of the day (for three stations) and nit picked
minor details.