A short story about management’s deprecative attitude about the engineering department at the average corporate-owned radio market cluster in the post-Reagan, deregulation and consolidation era. These stories are based on real experiences I had as both air talent and an engineer from the late 80’s to the 2020’s.
You have this transmitter that keeps dying. Every damn storm. Every time the wind blows, it seems. It’s so old that some new parts have to be fabricated and it’s been modified so many times by so many people over the course of decades that documention is unrelable and it’s just an unpredictable, unreliable pile of shit that keeps you awake at night. You don’t get a lot of time to really dig into it and fix it right, and even if you had the time you won’t dare because the backup transmitter is even less reliable and it won’t make full power.
You don’t want to risk having one transmitter completely down and ripped apart for days or even weeks if you end up waiting for hard-to-find parts, and the transmitter has just been so abused over the years that putting a lot of money and time into it just isn’t worth it. You’ve been requesting a new transmitter for years but every year it’s ‘not in the budget’.
Finally, management has good news! You are getting a ‘new’ transmitter to replace the old shitbox. You’re excited. Finally the end is in sight to the constant queries from salespeople as they pass you in the hallway regarding the station going off the air again in the middle of a show sponsored by their best client. Yes, Mr. Salesguy. I am aware that this makes us look stupid and that Booty Bob’s Big Beefy Burgers is big mad that we went off the air while a spot from their rebranding campaign that just went to air this morning was playing. Go talk to that guy [points to GM who bitches every time something breaks but never has your back when it comes to funding proper repairs].
Back to the transmitter. New transmitter, woo! I do love the smell of newly uncrated broadcast gear. Wait, what? What the fuck is this? What am I supposed to do with a 30 year old transmitter that ‘survived’ Hurricane Katrina? How did we end up with this? Oh, they got all brand new shit paid for by insurance and they wrote this off as unfixable. OK. And you thought it was a good idea to ship it here, why exactly? Because we can fix anything and you believe in us? I see. Yes, I’m really excited to clean four feet of mud and sediment and corrosion out of the inside of an ancient Gates and replace half its components. I’ll get right on that.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
@katt
Katt