I have worked in five of Top 10 major markets, including New York City, and none of the stations had generators. I'd love to see an actual statistic from the NAB or the DHS about the number of radio stations with generators. I bet it's not a majority.
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Let's watch everyone lose their minds. KRTH is playing...
- Thread starter michael hagerty
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I have worked in five of Top 10 major markets, including New York City, and none of the stations had generators. I'd love to see an actual statistic from the NAB or the DHS about the number of radio stations with generators. I bet it's not a majority.
In some high density areas, there are none allowed. We moved KTNQ/KLVE/KSCA/KRCD-V to a building with generator capability from an older one that could not operate one.
In NYC, most transmitters have generators and a lot of stations that can't generate at central studios can originate at their sites.
In the cast majority of stations I have been in, there is today both a heavy UPS and a generator so no time is lost on the air. Heck, even the stations I had in Ecuador had generators... in Argentina both the 200 kw FM and the 100 kw AM had full power generators.
I have worked in NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Houston and Dallas and every station had generators or backup studios with generators. Even in my smallest markets like Lake City, McAllen, El Paso and Tallahassee we had generators at all locations.
Sites like the master tower in Miami have shared generators.
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Your experience is different from mine.
You don't seem to have an engineering background, so you may not know the way backup power is provided and how seamless it can be. But when even stations in tiny markets have generators (they are not very expensive for lower power AMs and Class AM FMs, by the way) I would believe nearly all have them.
I have a 25 kw automatic generator at home, and with automatic start, automatic exercising and controllable load shedding it was less than $12 k fully wired and installed. That would run most of a studio location nicely, including studio AC.
A 50 kw Generac "continuous duty" is around $20,000. A 60 kw Chinese generator is $7,900 plus ocean shipping.
I was a NABET engineer in NYC.
So, when I found this message board about 6 months ago, I thought it was a great opportunity to talk about some way to set up a radio station that played all sorts of oldies ( 60's) and classic hits ( 80's), that everyone would like and that lots of baby boomers, Gen. X, and younger folks like yourself would like. After all, the baby boomers were a huge number of people - about 75 million at one time-- and then Gen. X was also large, because so many boomers had children. Then, there are younger people like you and some others who just like rock music, so they'll listen also.
But, even though radio is still popular ( here's a Soundcloud article that explains that average weekly audio consumption of radio is 14 times greater than combined consumption across all other audio streaming services) , what I realized is that it can't be done. The professionals here explain that even when music is programmed for boomers and Gen. X, they won't buy enough products to keep advertisers interested in buying ad time. And without sponsors for commercial radio, there is nothing.
No one wants to buy advertising time on stations that play music for primarily listeners over age 49 -- no matter if boomers and Gen. X are huge numbers of the population.
And that includes big Audacy stations like KRTH, KTWV and even smaller stations like KCAR in Joplin. It is not going to happen.
(Took me 6 months and dozens of chat threads for me to figure that out. As the population ages, commercial radio serves the needs of fewer members of the population).
So, eventually, no one will play Prince, or Madonna, or any rock music - a dying genre-- and eventually, not even Bruno Mars. None of that will work, because there won't be any sponsors.
So yes, start saving your music from the 60's- 2010's etc., or make a playlist that Alexa can play on demand - because all of the old music will leave commercial radio. It's' sad, but nothing lasts forever. ☹️
That statistic about audio consumers is included in this article below for artists about how to get their music played on the radio.
Radio Airplay: How to Get Radio Plays & Have Your Songs Heard
Radio still dwarfs streaming in weekly US listening. Learn practical tips to get radio airplay and reach one of music's most powerful audiences.
A little clarification is in order. I had "union engineers" in Puerto Rico and Birmingham and even NYC. None could tell a resistor from a capacitor. They were board ops or guys who sat at the transmitter site to take readings before the FCC eliminated those requirements. They had First Tickets they got at one of those 6-week schools and knew enough to just be dangerous.
Again, except for some cases where I did due diligence for lousy, rat-hole stations (high on the dial AM daytimers, etc.) I never saw a station without a generator unless it was in an old building where zoning did not permit fuel storage and no natural gas lines were available for a gas powered genny.
Good for you
Not so good. In one of the decertification hearings, the union rep revealed the gun he had under his jacket and told me "We know where you live".
In another location, I had all my tires pierced and the paint scratched.
Most of the stations I worked at did not have generators so if the power went out......toodle-ooo until it came back on. Some of them could have boogied out to the transmitter site and done remote radio from there but never bothered....well, only one did and by the time they got there, set up, etc. power came back on at the studio. And generators don't do much good when the tower site is compromised or loses power. Case in point, high windstorms one day, turned on the radio and station was off the air but the AM signal that feeds the translator was still working but they're on a different tower, tuned another one, off air. There are 5 or 6 radio/TV station repeaters/translators for AM stations and more on the tower. One wasn't back on till way later that evening, the TV repeater wasn't back on for 3 days, not sure how long the others were off for. You would think they'd have alternate antenna sites they could have switched to. Don't know if wind ripped off cables feeding the antenna, whether the power lines/systems were down or what happened. All I know is that the tower was still standing because I could see it in the distance as I was driving on the Interstate.
And generators are not infallible. Worked at a PD, installed a new generator, tested weekly. First time we lost power, generator never kicked in. Everybody's like "Now what do we do?"
And generators are not infallible. Worked at a PD, installed a new generator, tested weekly. First time we lost power, generator never kicked in. Everybody's like "Now what do we do?"
Yes, but the nice thing is that when the Chinese generator explodes, the flames can provide enough illumination for everyone to safely flee the station.
Where do you think most generators are made?
A couple of the known brands are made in the US above 30 kw, but the portable or small ones are Chinese. Even Generac small units come from there. Generac products made in China - country of origin, manufacturing locations | ProductFrom.com
What size market was that? I can't imagine a significant station in a rated market not having a generator for studios and transmitter locations.
But in most markets, there are enough stations so that some are still on. Even in the huge Miami hurricane that brought down the South Dade towers, the ones to the north survived as did the FMs downtown at the time.
That is very expensive, if you consider capital expenditure plus land rent or purchase. And it adds to engineering costs. If the loss of revenue potential is far less than the cost of backups, there are no backups. Same goes for auxiliary transmitters and other redundant gear.
Yet in a number of small markets with an agricultural base, stations traded out generators with the farm supply dealer and got maintenance from them, too!
That is why at every place I have built a new site or studio with a generator, we picked a time like 5 AM on Sunday and "faked" a power failure to test the generator. In a significant number of cases, the first try did not work. By the second or third attempt, it was perfect and never had issues again... until decades later I had an old generator that worked marvelously during every power failure... an average of 30 to 40 a year... until the day pump on the diesel engine failed and went dry. Nothing like sucking a little pipe filled with diesel to get the air out....
I know that some of the stations I applied at were eye-gawkingly beautiful facilities and others........let's just say I expected Dracula to pop out from behind a door at any minute.
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Yes, small stations that can't find a trade or really cheap ones may not have a generator. Today, even the small ones that will run a studio and not much else have good frequency regulation and can keep a station on for hours and hours. Those can be bought at all kinds of hardware and camping supply places.
Even a generator capable of at least running a lower power auxiliary transmitter and the tower lights is going to cost less than a cheap entry level car.
I suspect that some stations that don't have a generator as so secondary that they can't even find a dealer to trade one with.
Even a generator capable of at least running a lower power auxiliary transmitter and the tower lights is going to cost less than a cheap entry level car.
I suspect that some stations that don't have a generator as so secondary that they can't even find a dealer to trade one with.
The children of baby boomers are generally millennials. Gen-X is between them and their numbers are much smaller than the other two.So, when I found this message board about 6 months ago, I thought it was a great opportunity to talk about some way to set up a radio station that played all sorts of oldies ( 60's) and classic hits ( 80's), that everyone would like and that lots of baby boomers, Gen. X, and younger folks like yourself would like. After all, the baby boomers were a huge number of people - about 75 million at one time-- and then Gen. X was also large, because so many boomers had children. Then, there are younger people like you and some others who just like rock music, so they'll listen also.
But, even though radio is still popular ( here's a Soundcloud article that explains that average weekly audio consumption of radio is 14 times greater than combined consumption across all other audio streaming services) , what I realized is that it can't be done. The professionals here explain that even when music is programmed for boomers and Gen. X, they won't buy enough products to keep advertisers interested in buying ad time. And without sponsors for commercial radio, there is nothing.
No one wants to buy advertising time on stations that play music for primarily listeners over age 49 -- no matter if boomers and Gen. X are huge numbers of the population.
And that includes big Audacy stations like KRTH, KTWV and even smaller stations like KCAR in Joplin. It is not going to happen.
(Took me 6 months and dozens of chat threads for me to figure that out. As the population ages, commercial radio serves the needs of fewer members of the population).
So, eventually, no one will play Prince, or Madonna, or any rock music - a dying genre-- and eventually, not even Bruno Mars. None of that will work, because there won't be any sponsors.
So yes, start saving your music from the 60's- 2010's etc., or make a playlist that Alexa can play on demand - because all of the old music will leave commercial radio. It's' sad, but nothing lasts forever. ☹️
That statistic about audio consumers is included in this article below for artists about how to get their music played on the radio.
Radio Airplay: How to Get Radio Plays & Have Your Songs Heard
Radio still dwarfs streaming in weekly US listening. Learn practical tips to get radio airplay and reach one of music's most powerful audiences.soundcharts.com
When I worked for the Census Bureau, the millennials were described as having been born between 1981 and 1996.
The baby boomers were generally described as being born between 1946 and 1964.
So, if an early member of the boomers, born c. 1950, had a child when s/he was in his/her twenties, then that child would be born sometime in the 1970's. And that child would be a generation X.
So, that's why I included the generation X audience in my message. However, you are correct in saying that generation X is smaller than the millennials.
The baby boomers were generally described as being born between 1946 and 1964.
So, if an early member of the boomers, born c. 1950, had a child when s/he was in his/her twenties, then that child would be born sometime in the 1970's. And that child would be a generation X.
So, that's why I included the generation X audience in my message. However, you are correct in saying that generation X is smaller than the millennials.
And, Semoochie, people don't have children at neat intervals.
My childhood best friend and I were born four days apart in the same city, lost our fathers the same month and our moms moved us to the same small town 270 miles away the same month. We met there.
Seemingly parallel lives. We lost touch when he went in the military but re-connected when we were 44.
I had two kids, ages eight and six.
He had seven kids, the oldest of whom was 22 and had already made him a grandfather.
The girl I walked in the processional with at my high school graduation was pregnant. Her first child is 20 years older than my younger child.
My Mom was born in 1936, I was born in 1956 but my first child was born in 1986, so I guess I was 10 years late in that reproducing thing.
Some commentators sub-divide the Boomers into leading-edge boomers (children of World War II vets) and Generation Jones (children of "Silent Generation" parents) born between 1954 and 1965.
I still very much have a hatred for “Uptown Funk,” but that song is the least of our worries. A classic hits radio station I listen to regularly has decided that it’s time to start playing “Oops I Did it Again” and “Hit Me Baby One More Time” by Brittany Spears. Talk about pure terror. I’d rather listen to Bruno Mars sing the phone book over those songs!
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