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FCC to require 24-hour staffing?

T

ThePickleReport

Another radio news website is reporting that the FCC might require stations to be staffed 24-hours a day. Now, I know of a couple of groups in my past that require someone to be in the building 24-hours that could head-off any issues. I'm not sure if that would satisfy the requirement (there are no details listed) but I'm guessing it would.

I thought the group here would provide some insightful comments, possibly on Buffalo/Rochester stations. So, have at it!
 
ThePickleReport said:
Another radio news website is reporting that the FCC might require stations to be staffed 24-hours a day. Now, I know of a couple of groups in my past that require someone to be in the building 24-hours that could head-off any issues. I'm not sure if that would satisfy the requirement (there are no details listed) but I'm guessing it would.

I thought the group here would provide some insightful comments, possibly on Buffalo/Rochester stations. So, have at it!
Click to expand...

Can you get a copy of that report and place it here without infringing on any copy written material? Either that or provide us with the website itself.

I would like to read what the FCC means by 24 hour staffing. Someone in the building could be anyone from a board operator to the night watchman.
 
I saw something about it on Inside Radio Friday morning. I don't know if it's still up there or not, though. What it basically said was that the FCC was considering requiring 24 hour staffing but would also relax the main studio rule if it did so.

I have mixed feelings on it myself. From a service standpoint, most stations are attended 24/7 in one capacity or another as most operators have at least one person in the building at all times. Even in the small market where I work, 80% of the stations are attended 24/7. I also can't imagine any additional benefit if stations are simply being attended by someone in a remote location. However, it would be beneficial if stations were able to provide better service than just the EAS in the afterhours and radio truly became a dependable medium in all respects.

From a personal standpoint, most of us got our start in this business because 24 hour staffing was required, and we got a chance to go on-air in the overnights to prove how badly we sucked. It would be nice if more of those opportunities once again became available to those eager to get into the business. However, I also have to say that I like my current station's situation of just being able to turn off the lights, set the alarm and lock the doors without having to worry if my relief will show up. I don't have to think back too far to when a PD was fired the Friday before Thanksgiving at 7 PM after most everyone had gone home, and he called his entire part-time staff, all of whom were unaware he'd just been fired, and told them to take the holiday week off and have a great Thanksgiving because he was able to cover all of their shifts. The following Sunday, I ended up working a 22 hour day!
 
Mark_Giardina said:
Can you get a copy of that report and place it here without infringing on any copy written material? Either that or provide us with the website itself.

I would like to read what the FCC means by 24 hour staffing. Someone in the building could be anyone from a board operator to the night watchman.
Click to expand...

It WAS briefly mentioned on Inside Radio. Maybe a subscriber got more info?
It did say that an overnight failure of the EAS system is one of the things the FCC was concerned about and that the main studio rules COULD be relaxed as a trade-off.

Another unrelated development was that the FCC is toying with the idea of requiring a station to post their public file on their website.
 
Kent said:
I don't have to think back too far to when a PD was fired the Friday before Thanksgiving at 7 PM after most everyone had gone home, and he called his entire part-time staff, all of whom were unaware he'd just been fired, and told them to take the holiday week off and have a great Thanksgiving because he was able to cover all of their shifts. The following Sunday, I ended up working a 22 hour day!
Click to expand...

Bwahhhhaha! What a kidder, that guy! Not like you'd be the first guy ever to work a triple shift (outside a blizzard or some natural disaster.) I can remember working a daytimer from sign on to sign off when the entire staff came down with severe diarrhea. I prayed that at least ONE of the fulltimers would get better by morning, or at least be able to get to Rite Aid and pick up some Kaopectate... and wash their hands if they came back to work the next day. They did. You got me beat by seven hours.

As to the FCC proposal, feh! Won't make a bit of a difference, for all the reasons already cited here. Stations already have one live body watching the cluster from midnight to 5 a.m., usually a guy or woman who knows how to run Profit or AudioVault and sounds capable doing all four formats. Years ago, the FCC ruled that after-hour meter readings could be taken by duly licensed operators (3rd phone with broadcast endorsement) at remote locations such as fire and police dispatcher head ends. Yeah, Third Phone. Ha! I've been out a long time.
 
Mark_Giardina said:
Can you get a copy of that report and place it here without infringing on any copy written material? Either that or provide us with the website itself.

I would like to read what the FCC means by 24 hour staffing. Someone in the building could be anyone from a board operator to the night watchman.
Click to expand...
THe FCC had not posted the NPRM and 2nd R&O yet. It is under the EAS rule revisions proceeding that also gave Governors direct access to the airwaves, if they choose, and proposed doing the same for local officials. Keep checking the FCC's website for it to be posted. There should be a link on the main page or it will be under the EB.
 
Kent said:
I have mixed feelings on it myself. From a service standpoint, most stations are attended 24/7 in one capacity or another as most operators have at least one person in the building at all times. Even in the small market where I work, 80% of the stations are attended 24/7.
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Really? Not in this area. With most of the small market stations owned by 3 "group" owners, 80% is way too high. 50% might be more the norm.
 
In my market, very few stations are staffed 24/7. At my group of 6 stations theres no one in the building from 10p to 5a, and theres literally no one in the building on Sundays....
 
Radknowski said:
Bwahhhhaha! What a kidder, that guy! Not like you'd be the first guy ever to work a triple shift (outside a blizzard or some natural disaster.) I can remember working a daytimer from sign on to sign off when the entire staff came down with severe diarrhea. I prayed that at least ONE of the fulltimers would get better by morning, or at least be able to get to Rite Aid and pick up some Kaopectate... and wash their hands if they came back to work the next day. They did. You got me beat by seven hours.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt you're right, my friend! I've heard a lot of stories about people working long shifts for various reasons. I honestly can't blame the PD for being upset. After all, he moved halfway across the country to take a job that lasted 10 weeks! However, I never did like his solution! The bad part about it was that I was partying with my girlfriend the entire night before because she was going to spend Thanksgiving with her family in Kansas City, and I was going to spend it with my family in Springfield. So, I went for close to 48 hours with very little sleep! At the time, it was somewhat doable since radio was my only living. Now that I just do it part-time, I can't stay up all night Sunday into Monday and succeed at my real job!

As to the FCC proposal, feh! Won't make a bit of a difference, for all the reasons already cited here. Stations already have one live body watching the cluster from midnight to 5 a.m., usually a guy or woman who knows how to run Profit or AudioVault and sounds capable doing all four formats. Years ago, the FCC ruled that after-hour meter readings could be taken by duly licensed operators (3rd phone with broadcast endorsement) at remote locations such as fire and police dispatcher head ends. Yeah, Third Phone. Ha! I've been out a long time.
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Yeah, really! The FCC doesn't require meter readings, or even transmitter logs, in most cases these days. You just have to monitor the transmitter enough to be reasonably expected to catch any problem within the required time frame, and you have to be able to prove your transmitter is reliable. Directional AM's and the occasional station that has a transmitter that can't stay within tolerances without constant monitoring are the only exceptions that I'm aware of.


[/quote]
 
voicetrack said:
In my market, very few stations are staffed 24/7. At my group of 6 stations theres no one in the building from 10p to 5a, and theres literally no one in the building on Sundays....
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I think if I had that many stations under one roof I'd spring for at least one live body in the building for comfort level.
 
ThePickleReport said:
I think if I had that many stations under one roof I'd spring for at least one live body in the building for comfort level.
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In most cases, a group with that many stations will have at least one person in the building because of insurance costs. At my two station group, you can probably justify the higher insurance cost as it's probably cheaper than having a live body there at all times. However, when you're talking about insuring six stations, it gets a lot more expensive!
 
I feel that if you have a radio station and it's on 24 hours a day there should be at least one person at the station listening to it. If you can't afford to run it right...sell it to someone who can.
 
Sadly, there are some pretty large sized radio operators (and you know who you are), who have clusters that
have no one in the building overnights...and only scant staff on weekends. (Go to some of these stations on
a Saturday night after about 6 ot 7 pm...or a Sunday after, perhaps 4 and no one is home.)

I can remember numerous nights sleeping with a weather radio near my head...only to have the alert tones go off at 2:40 in the morning, causing me to dress quickly and dash to the station to broadcast storm warnings.

Yes, you can do it that way, if you have people who care. The problem is: finding people who care.

I've also suggested allowing for remote operation of a station from someone's home studio, though most companies are gun-shy (for security reasons) about that.

Even though there could be some hardship involved for some smaller operators, I'm all for a ruling requiring at least one warm body in the building 24/7. Any college aged person with a reasonable command of the English language and decent speaking skills can read a tornado warning, keep station logs, while notifying the station's News Director and PD of the emergency, so they can monitor the situation or come in if needed.

And this should be required for every station (even LP-FM's and Translators) if they participate in EAS.
 
KevinFodor said:
Even though there could be some hardship involved for some smaller operators, I'm all for a ruling requiring at least one warm body in the building 24/7. Any college aged person with a reasonable command of the English language and decent speaking skills can read a tornado warning, keep station logs, while notifying the station's News Director and PD of the emergency, so they can monitor the situation or come in if needed.

And this should be required for every station (even LP-FM's and Translators) if they participate in EAS.
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Um, translators can't orgininate programming, so they are passing through those warnings from the primary. Of course, that is for local translators, not the satellator networks. LPFMs were cut out of EAS from the start. And, remember, weather warnings are NOT required under current EAS rules!
 
That makes sense. If you can afford 7 stations in a cluster, you ought to be able to afford a body in the building 24/7. Maybe small groups etc can be exempt, but for large owners/large clusters it should be mandatory!

PTR
 
If a local translator is on the air...it should be required to air local EAS warnings. Period.

It might be "network programming", but it's targeted at a "local" audience.
 
Where I work (part-time) my station is not always staffed. However the CHR sister station next door keeps the program log and transmitter log. We log power output on the even hours.
 
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