How low will they go?

[Bat Fastard]

Rob's post about misprounced local references kinda dovetails with this subject.

Clearly, the big boxes (and alomst everyone else, too) have cut so far into the bone that the product is now suffering. It lends to the question: "how low will they go"?

I have a friend who works for the dark cloud in another market where they have recently consolidated stations from two markets - 50 miles apart - into a single location. A total of 11 stations. They have 6 full-time employees. They have one engineer trying to handle 11 signals at nine different tower sites.

At some point, this all becomes obvious to even the most novice of observers. We're already seeing a few instances when the public needed to know ...but there was no one at the stations.

How low have they gone where you are?

What the compliment of employees at formerly big Memphis stations?

How low will they go?

 

[oaktree]

As long as technology and station engineers wire together a big red switch that says "Push HERE in an emergency!" -- or the EANS takes control in your market (as it does here) of all transmitters - radio, TV, cable and, yes, cellphones, it doesn't matter. It's up to "local, county, state and federal officials" now ... all at a pushbutton away.

Is it a good system? No, of course not. But your broadcasters, in this economy, have a new model ... and that's NOT to staff radio stations "in case of an emergency." You'll be waiting a long time ... or, you'll face one in a second. I've griped about the practice of "dodging the bullet" for years ... and the bullet just keeps whizzing by in earthquakes, floods, snow, power outages, train wrecks, chemical spills, storms, etc. etc. etc.

Radio stations have a feeling that emergencies only happen during "daytime hours" and after 5 pm, many stations are on autopilot. Many others are run from the PD's or GM's house via remote control. Saves money that way. A good practice? Again, no. But who pays the price to keep those stations on the air? The stations do and it's not free.

As long as it's not mandated, and the NAB sure doesn't want to see it happen, the days of 24 hour "policing" of radio stations or clusters is over. That's why technology i "supposed" to take care of it "when the big one happens." Does it? No, of course not. (And I live in earthquake territory and can prove it.)

But that doesn't mean that ALL radio is like that. It's not. But .. unfortunately, we let it pass and "let the other guy do it." Plus, a lot of those minimum wage "operators" will still, as has been proven, find a way to screw things up, while watching TV in the lounge at 2:30 a.m. during "Coast-to-Coast with George Noory." Not all ... but some. Others will just sleep in at home. Others will, even if they are at the station, "just let it go" if it's a weekend because, after all, "who listens on the weekend?" (A recent earthquake here comes to mind. Sure, details were on stations 200 miles away and on the Internet, but who wants the hassle of going to the radio station(s) at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning?

I remember I did on several occasions, even when the space shuttle exploded a few years ago. The owner/GM who was present thought I was "nuts" for coming in on a Saturday morning, unnannounced to break the news. "Hell, let the network do it in 20 minutes," I was told.

I did the story anyway. And the same would have been done in any other emergency ... even when the EANS goes off and takes over the transmitter.

But that was then, this is now. I've heard EANS primaries in my market off the air for 45 minutes after an alert because the receiver didn't reset. No one was home ... until the morning jock showed up.

Sad.

But at least it saved $50 for a six hour all-night board op for one or a dozen stations in a cluster, or $350 a week, or ... $1500 a month. Or, $18,000 a year. You get the picture. Multiply that times, oh, say, three times ... and figure out where your $54,000 investment is going to come from ... when you have ownership that won't even take care of the situation.

That's what radio has come down to in a syndicated, voice tracked, autopilot world. And it will continue that way, unchecked.

 

[TheBigA]

The real story about staffing for emergencies came after 9-11, when the government created the Department of Homeland Security. They funded it with almost unlimited amounts of money to beef up local emergency response. Every town that wanted one was able to buy emergency vehicles, bomb-sniffing dogs, and any expensive device available for emergency coverage. Even in towns that weren't near nuclear power plants or any potential terrorist targets. The new law clearly stated who was responsible for local emergency preparedness, and it wasn't the broadcasters. They were left out when the money and responsibility was disbursed. So two years later, when a train crashed at 2AM Friday night in Minot ND, it was ultimately the local emergency crew that took the blame for what happened, not the radio station. That came as the result of a Congressional investigation. Why? Because that's what the law says.

Folks, here's the simple truth: If the local broadcasters are responsible for something beyond the EANS system, put it in the law, and give them some money to carry it out.

 

[w9wi]

The real story about staffing for emergencies came after 9-11, when the government created the Department of Homeland Security. They funded it with almost unlimited amounts of money to beef up local emergency response. Every town that wanted one was able to buy emergency vehicles, bomb-sniffing dogs, and any expensive device available for emergency coverage. Even in towns that weren't near nuclear power plants or any potential terrorist targets. The new law clearly stated who was responsible for local emergency preparedness, and it wasn't the broadcasters. They were left out when the money and responsibility was disbursed. So two years later, when a train crashed at 2AM Friday night in Minot ND, it was ultimately the local emergency crew that took the blame for what happened, not the radio station. That came as the result of a Congressional investigation. Why? Because that's what the law says.

Folks, here's the simple truth: If the local broadcasters are responsible for something beyond the EANS system, put it in the law, and give them some money to carry it out.

Truth be told, even if word of the 2am Minot train wreck *had* been instantly and fully covered by all of the city's radio and TV stations, almost nobody would have known about it.

What proportion of the population of Minot was listening to the radio at 2am??

The right way to handle this is with the NOAA Weather Radio. The receivers are *designed* to sit silently until an emergency situation comes up -- so if word of a chemical spill is broadcast at 2am, ordinary 9-5 workers will hear it.

 

[oaktree]

Folks, here's the simple truth: If the local broadcasters are responsible for something beyond the EANS system, put it in the law, and give them some money to carry it out.

Times have changed.

Broadcasters are NOT responsible and now, not "held responsible." Public safety officials on a local, state and federal/national basis are responsible. They have taken up the cause with technology that automatically interrupts programming on any TV/FM/A transmitters or cable head ends ... with a "no hands" approach by broadcasters who don't need to take a "fiscal" responsibility (in hiring people and paying for it,) or in the responsibility of "who does what and broadcasts what information, especially in the case of small rural areas.)

Then, there's the case of "cluster management" of the one person takes care of all scenario. Simple to "fix." One EANS receiver per station transmitter. No hands.

Does it work? Maybe. Look what happened in Dallas a couple of weeks ago ... "operator error" put out an "Earthquake Warning" that didn't result in mass panic, but certainly caught some people by surprise.

The broadcasters, because of cost, and the inability in more situations than not cannot (nor ever have) recouped costs of staying on the air 24 hours a day have, through the NAB, fought a plan to "humanize" those less-than-profitable dayparts. And why change, they feel? If you're not a "news" station, are you the station that people will turn to for information? Probably not. But if you're the blowtorch country, A/C, CHR, etc. that just happens to have designated as the Primary EANS in your market, you do what you do ... in making sure that alert is blasted to every other broadcaster automatically and that their transmitters are then taken over. It's that simple.

Now, those that are into "service" would (and do) a much better job ... but it's often easier to "wait till it happens, then we'll go into emergency mode if need be."

With hurricane season just really getting underway today ... you think there are classified ads now out for "wanted: all night weather watchers in case we get hit by a hurricane in the next three months"? Doubtful. The service part has been taken care of, largely. The implementation part in other cases ... has not been. That's the problem. It's not broadcasters place to be "responsible" in this instance. It's only their place to "serve." Some do. Some don't.

 

[TheBigA]

Now, those that are into "service" would (and do) a much better job ... but it's often easier to "wait till it happens, then we'll go into emergency mode if need be."

My view is: Rather than spend billions on a government-owned bureacuracy, with civil servants getting government salaries and benefits, why not hire outside professionals to handle emergency services. Broadcasters have the knowledge and equipment to carry it out. They just need the mandate and the money, and could do it for less than the feds. But that's not what the feds want.

I know of two private traffic reporting services (you can guess which two...they're the biggest ones) who delivered proposals to several state governments to handle all traffic reporting services for their "511" service. The state's declined the proposals, saying they'd rather own it themselves, even at higher cost (to the taxpayers). So here's another example (there are many) of government-owned services replacing private for-profit services.

 

[oaktree]

I don't (fully) disagree with.

The government has determined that EANS is the way to go ... thus, effectively, "side stepping" radio, tv & cable with a "one size fits all" solution.

The fact where I disagree with you is this. It's not about broadcasters "having the equipment" to do the job. It doesn't matter. One reciever, directly hooked to a transmitter, means less "intervention" and it's easier to do that 15,000 times (one per station) at taxpayer cost (because they, then, feel "safer" that "somebody up the food chain" will ensure that the job be taken care in "public safety." Broadcasters don't "want the job" to pay for a board op "just in case something happens" and they won't pay the, say, $18,000 a year to provide that "service" when they can't make a dime back on the investment. That's the way it is. That's "business." The government paying for that? Forget it ... it would cost a lot more to do that than mandating that as part of a license, broadcasters do their part by allow the technology approved to be required ... and no cost (taxpayers dollars) to take care of those "cases of emergencies" ... most which will never get used.

Not every station is a qualified or noted "news/talk provider" either. That's why it's easier to "trade" services between the platforms, "We'll trade your FM time on our TV station if our meteorologist can do a "branded" forecast from the Channel 9 Weather Center." It's, then, a "win-win". Doing same with Metro is not what government does with taxpayer money. Can it? Sure. But it's not what it does.

It's about "reliability" ... and the dice has been rolled that technology will be there when the $7 an hour board op doesn't show up.

 

[TheBigA]

The fact where I disagree with you is this. It's not about broadcasters "having the equipment" to do the job. It doesn't matter.

I understand. The government wants to run everything. We know that. And there is a mistaken impression some people have that it actually IS the responsibility of broadcasters to act unilaterally in terms of disaster coverage. They haven't been following the changes in broadcasting and disaster law over the past 50 or so years. The broadcasters lost that fight a long time ago. Broadcasters are only expected to do what local officials tell them to do. That's it.

The point I want to make is that emergency services and reporting can still be a profit center for some companies, even though it's not required. There are companies that could have made some money, and saved a lot of jobs if they had picked up some state traffic contracts. Instead, those jobs went to the state, and the salaries are being paid by tax dollars instead of ad dollars. Just as weather was once the domain of broadcasters...until NOAA was formed about 45 years ago.

 

[FUN]

This is why we have the need for small town LPFM radio,the big stations don't cut it anymore! there are no good radio stations left in Memphis and all the counties next door to memphis want a buck or two....hope everyone of them go belly under,the formats just suck!!! record what you will on CD or ipods and only use radio for weather updates if some of them even give us that.

 

[oldTomG]

Long as a station keeps paying me I don't care. It keeps me eating.