[EAS] It's not rocket science...

[Mark Piepkorn]

Disclaimer: I'm not a rocket scientist, and this isn't a technical post. 
It's another perspective.

Our community station was a first-window LPFM, and is now licensed as 
Class A NCE. It serves a rural, dispersed, primarily low-income 
population that otherwise receives no local origination broadcast radio 
or TV. The station is entirely run by nonprofessional volunteers like me 
- by necessity, not choice. (Median household income locally is $30,343 
vs $51,939 nationally; poverty rate is 17.5% vs somewhere between 4.5% 
and 14.9% nationally depending on who does the figuring. If we had the 
funds for an actual staff engineer - or staff anything - we'd jump on it.)

When Hurricane Irene came through a few years ago, there were people 
stranded behind washed-out roads for days with lines down and no cell 
service. Our "wanna be" radio station was their only source of local 
information. That sort of thing motivates some of us.

With the understanding that there are whiners everywhere, I sympathize 
with those trying to provide an important community service that their 
area's commercial or Big Public providers either won't or can't. And I 
completely get where nonprofessionals are coming from when they talk 
about how confusing things can be, especially when rules change.

However, I agree with those saying that the burdens of currency, 
education, and compliance are on the licensee. It's part of the deal. 
Yeah, it would be nice if everyone could be walked through 
whatever-it-is, whenever-it-happens... but decreasing the downstream 
workload means increasing the upstream workload, and that just ain't 
gonna happen. Sadly. It sure would make my life easier sometimes.

At our station, we do our level best to keep abreast. That's why I 
monitor this email list, and others: to try to keep up, and to learn 
(with gratitude to all of you). We're stewards of a tiny slice of an 
asset of the commons - our local frequency - and that's a responsibility 
that we take seriously.

All I'm saying is don't throw out all the babies with the snarky 
bathwater. I know our station isn't the only small fry doing everything 
we can to do everything right. (That said, even from my limited 
perspective down here in the mucky bottom, there's no denying that there 
are LPFMs - and big stations alike - that deserve to be called 
hobbyists, and worse.)

Thanks again to all of you for the good work you do. It's important, 
whether anybody else thinks so or not. And I think the same thing about 
what we're doing here in the hinterlands with severely limited resources.

Mark