Ibiquity's "Gag Order" on engineers

[rbrucecarter5]

This was documented in another thread. I've encountered this before in my career. Usually - it was to protect some "golden boy" - maybe the boss's nephew or something. Anybody daring to demonstrate that golden boy was incompetant was ushered out the door in short order. Or - when golden boy inevitably goofed up - the one who pointed out his mistakes was deemed the one to blame.

Other times, a gag order is because there is a lot of money to be made - by somebody powerful. Everybody knows the project will fail, but they are told to keep quiet until somebody has cashed in their stock options and left. I have heard of cases where physical harm was implied to anybody who spoke out too soon.

HD radio has all the earmarks of the second scenario. Since there was a gag order - you can bet there are technical issues we haven't even heard about yet. Ibiquity - you can stick a fork in them, they are DONE. At some point, the people in the company with the most to gain financially are going to sell their stock and retire somewhere exotic, out of reach of US law. Their legacy? Broadcast bands in shambles, radio manufacturers with warehouses full of unsold HD radios, stations with an orphan system that is unsupported. Listeners with buzzing in their ears. But - it will have made a few people very rich. Shouldn't we all be happy about that?!

 

[SUPERCASTER]

They're making an Enron around everyone?

 

[LinoNYC]

This was documented in another thread.

No, it was alleged. It might be true or not. It does no credit to a board like this and if anyone wonders why few named engineers who are in favor of iboc post here, you have to ask yourself "why bother".

Lino

 

[SUPERCASTER]

This was documented in another thread.

No, it was alleged. It might be true or not. It does no credit to a board like this and if anyone wonders why few named engineers who are in favor of iboc post here, you have to ask yourself "why bother".
Lino

That "might be true or not."
Or the un-named engineers might have reservations about HD radio but may feel they might be accused by their employers of disloyalty, or having a conflict of interest.

 

[LinoNYC]

Or the un-named engineers might have reservations about HD radio but may feel they might be accused by their employers of disloyalty, or having a conflict of interest.

Well then they can do what you and "dumber" up in Boston do: come here post under a handle and try to spread opinion as fact.

You still havn't brought anything concrete to this discussion.

Lino

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Or the un-named engineers might have reservations about HD radio but may feel they might be accused by their employers of disloyalty, or having a conflict of interest.

Well then they can do what you and "dumber" up in Boston do: come here post under a handle and try to spread opinion as fact.

You still havn't brought anything concrete to this discussion.

Lino

You have brought no substance, nothing but HD hype, plenty of useless "concrete" debris (red herrings), denials, and personal criticisms to this discussion.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Or the un-named engineers might have reservations about HD radio but may feel they might be accused by their employers of disloyalty, or having a conflict of interest.

Well then they can do what you and "dumber" up in Boston do: come here post under a handle and try to spread opinion as fact.

You still havn't brought anything concrete to this discussion.

Lino

News flash: Pot calls kettle black. What's YOUR real name?

BTW, for the record, there is no "gag order" clause in iBiquity's standard broadcaster contract. Anyone can read it for themselves at iBiquity's web site, under the "Broadcasters" link. Time for that urban legend to die.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

BTW, for the record, there is no "gag order" clause in iBiquity's standard broadcaster contract. Anyone can read it for themselves at iBiquity's web site, under the "Broadcasters" link. Time for that urban legend to die.

Do you really think - they would be stupid enough to put something like that in WRITING?!

 

[Savage]

The "allegation" concerning the Ibiquity nondisclosure was related to me by a major group CE who has worked with the system and who would gain nothing by gratutitously dissing IBOC. If you want to be suspicious, be my guest.

Can someone else offer a PLAUSIBLE explanation as to why numerous engineers would dislike/distrust the HD-AM system but be afraid to say so? What other reason could there be for engineers, many at major heritage stations, to allow the system to be essentially jammed down their throats by management - other than that there is some kind of agreement, tacit or explicit, forbidding public criticism?

Naturally the company would not post some kind of contract on their website which would have the effect of enabling engineering staffs to construct counterarguments to dissuade managers inclined to buy the system. Who says a publicly posted "broadcasters agreement" has to ACCURATELY portray the actual agreements inked with stations?

Okay, okay. So if IBOC-AM is so terrific, why are so many people - this poster admittedly included - passionately against it? Public comment in the last Commission cycle ran 4 to 1 negative AGAINST nighttime adoption of IBOC, yet it was okayed. Explain (a) why the FCC would ignore the overwhelming negatives including CC's own engineering VP's comments to the NRSC, and (b) how plausible it is for 75% of the AM engineering authority in this country to be reactionary obstructionists dead set against a "wonderful new development."

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

The "allegation" concerning the Ibiquity nondisclosure was related to me by a major group CE who has worked with the system and who would gain nothing by gratutitously dissing IBOC. If you want to be suspicious, be my guest.

Can someone else offer a PLAUSIBLE explanation as to why numerous engineers would dislike/distrust the HD-AM system but be afraid to say so? What other reason could there be for engineers, many at major heritage stations, to allow the system to be essentially jammed down their throats by management - other than that there is some kind of agreement, tacit or explicit, forbidding public criticism?

Naturally the company would not post some kind of contract on their website which would have the effect of enabling engineering staffs to construct counterarguments to dissuade managers inclined to buy the system. Who says a publicly posted "broadcasters agreement" has to ACCURATELY portray the actual agreements inked with stations?

Okay, okay. So if IBOC-AM is so terrific, why are so many people - this poster admittedly included - passionately against it? Public comment in the last Commission cycle ran 4 to 1 negative AGAINST nighttime adoption of IBOC, yet it was okayed. Explain (a) why the FCC would ignore the overwhelming negatives including CC's own engineering VP's comments to the NRSC, and (b) how plausible it is for 75% of the AM engineering authority in this country to be reactionary obstructionists dead set against a "wonderful new development."

As to engineers not speaking out in public: It's really quite simple. If you want to keep your job, you don't publicly diss your employer. If your employer decides to spend thousands or millions of dollars on a tech that you have doubts about, decides to stake their future on it, and you express those doubts in public, you are seen as a roadblock. Or, to put it another way, you just became expendable. In a day when employers show little or no loyalty to employees, they'll drop you like a hot potato if you don't toe the company line.

As to why AM-HD was adopted in spite of supposedly overwhelming advice to the contrary (and we don't even really know what FCC engineers told the honchos at the Media Bureau), there's only speculation.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

BTW, for the record, there is no "gag order" clause in iBiquity's standard broadcaster contract. Anyone can read it for themselves at iBiquity's web site, under the "Broadcasters" link. Time for that urban legend to die.

Do you really think - they would be stupid enough to put something like that in WRITING?!

How else are they going to enforce it? Taking someone to court for violating an imaginary contract provision that's not in writing anywhere is about as useful as a refrigerator is to an Eskimo.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

How else are they going to enforce it? Taking someone to court for violating an imaginary contract provision that's not in writing anywhere is about as useful as a refrigerator is to an Eskimo.

A quick call to a group owner committed to the system would be all that it would take to get a dissident engineer fired on the spot.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

How else are they going to enforce it? Taking someone to court for violating an imaginary contract provision that's not in writing anywhere is about as useful as a refrigerator is to an Eskimo.

A quick call to a group owner committed to the system would be all that it would take to get a dissident engineer fired on the spot.

Thanks for proving my point, which I posted previously:

As to engineers not speaking out in public: It's really quite simple. If you want to keep your job, you don't publicly diss your employer. If your employer decides to spend thousands or millions of dollars on a tech that you have doubts about, decides to stake their future on it, and you express those doubts in public, you are seen as a roadblock. Or, to put it another way, you just became expendable. In a day when employers show little or no loyalty to employees, they'll drop you like a hot potato if you don't toe the company line.

No contracts or clauses in contracts are necessary...especially where they don't exist.

 

[Tom Wells]

How else are they going to enforce it? Taking someone to court for violating an imaginary contract provision that's not in writing anywhere is about as useful as a refrigerator is to an Eskimo.

A quick call to a group owner committed to the system would be all that it would take to get a dissident engineer fired on the spot.

Thanks for proving my point, which I posted previously:

As to engineers not speaking out in public: It's really quite simple. If you want to keep your job, you don't publicly diss your employer. If your employer decides to spend thousands or millions of dollars on a tech that you have doubts about, decides to stake their future on it, and you express those doubts in public, you are seen as a roadblock. Or, to put it another way, you just became expendable. In a day when employers show little or no loyalty to employees, they'll drop you like a hot potato if you don't toe the company line.

No contracts or clauses in contracts are necessary...especially where they don't exist.

This is also why I have been outspoken on this issue. I have the Radio >Engineering< degree, took a semester
of FCC Laws, and have remained active in Radio, but I don't have a radio job to lose.

I can respect the silence of those who must protect their employability, but I know how they feel
from being trained in the old-school by old guys who only did it the right way.

I speak not only for myself, but I believe I speak for all the instructors who formed my radio education
at Valpo Tech.

This thing on FM can work. The AM is a bust or needs its own band.

 

[davideduardo]

I have the Radio >Engineering< degree, took a semester
of FCC Laws, and have remained active in Radio, but I don't have a radio job to lose.

That makes two things that don't exist... your radio job and the iBiquity gag order.

I think someone with a poor understanding of business and law has mistaken a nondisclosure clause with a gag order. Nondisclosures are as common as beer at a baseball game in every kind of business that has trade secrets.

 

[dbdigital]

Someone in an earlier post mentioned Cris Alexander, CE with Crawford Broadcasting. Cris wrote a letter addressing the issue of nighttime HD-AM in the latest CGC newsletter.

He said:

"I don't think that AM nighttime IBOC is going to be the
Armageddon that some are predicting. Based on our own company's
facilities, I doubt there will be 100 stations on the air at
night before the end of the year....we are not planning to invest
heavily in additional transmitter and antenna work to get those
facilities up at night in the digital mode until we can evaluate
the effectiveness and impact of AM nighttime digital. I suspect
that much the same situation exists across the board. As such,
I think we will have some time to really get a look at this
thing before we have a thousand stations radiating digital
signals at night."

He then mentions that the total number of AM stations on the air with HD signals is 227 and predicts that only about 90 will "light up nighttime digital signals within the next few months."

So, in addition to the concern over interference, it may not even make sense economically for some stations to broadcast in HD past sunset. This would especially be true if relatively few people listen to AM at night, as some assert.

db

 

[Savage]

Well, there you have it. One of IBOC-AM's biggest proponents has just made my case far more persuasively than I could. Hear Mr. Cris Alexander: "Well, the interference shouldn't be too bad as long as relatively few stations turn on HD-AM at night."

Just imagine if Ibiquity ran a restaurant:

"Come to the IBOC Cafe! We've had 100 cases of ptomaine so far this year, prices are high and the service is slow. But we're pleased to announce: the food still sucks, and patrons are still horking all over their shoes, but there are 30% fewer cases of waiters dumping soup on people!!

 

[hipporadio]

As to engineers not speaking out in public: It's really quite simple. If you want to keep your job, you don't publicly diss your employer. If your employer decides to spend thousands or millions of dollars on a tech that you have doubts about, decides to stake their future on it, and you express those doubts in public, you are seen as a roadblock. Or, to put it another way, you just became expendable...

This is also why I have been outspoken on this issue. I have the Radio >Engineering< degree, took a semester
of FCC Laws, and have remained active in Radio, but I don't have a radio job to lose.

As usual, Tom has hit the nail perfectly! I recall the classiest prior performer in pro football—Joe Montana... When Mother Nature finally ran her course with his body; that former Fighting Irishman didn’t aspire to a second rate franchise [IIRC, he didn’t even “coach”] – he “moved on”! I fully expect his current contemporary, Peyton Manning, will do the same. There is something beneficial [and entertaining] about “emeritus status” – one has little to gain and NOTHING to lose! After a rewarding 20-year career in radio sales and ownership, I too am on a different highway. My expectation to munch bananas with the corporate radio chimps borders at theoretical-ZERO – so who’s going to “blackball” or fire me?

Technical types are [BY FAR] the LEAST-political and given to drama inside their professional environment – that’s why I tended to respect [and enjoy] radio engineers so much, and the feeling was mutual! These folks are also more-likely to be “family men” with concerns and obligations that far-exceed the hysterics that haunt the halls of corporate radio. If I were sharing their shoe-size, I wouldn’t be “raising fur” at radio-info either!

AM radio [and popular music modulating it] is much-akin to my life in the college frat-house... It WAS fun, but trying to relive the latter would be inappropriate – and expecting ANY facsimile of the former is mere fantasy [of the same variety as “HD Radio”]. Very simply, the enemies of AM reception are noise and restricted audio bandwidth – BOTH further-exaggerated by the misguided and selfish attempts to market IBOC. It is mind-boggling to witness otherwise “competent” technicians [on this board] futilely-flounder at marketing barely-better-than-telephone grade audio and intolerable [and formerly-illegal] interference on a broadcast band that is already little-more than the AF equivalent of a sewer. Sadly, their compromised integrity is for no other reason than to support the sale of a tract of “technical swampland” to a self-indulgent industry. Corporate radio may be buying [probably because they are simultaneously selling], but the very-crucial PUBLIC is not – and will not! Within my current marketing discipline, the probability percentage given to the survival of “HD Radio” can be expressed in a figure that amusingly-resides on right-hand side of the decimal point!

 

[Tom Wells]

I have the Radio >Engineering< degree, took a semester
of FCC Laws, and have remained active in Radio, but I don't have a radio job to lose.

That makes two things that don't exist... your radio job and the iBiquity gag order.

I think someone with a poor understanding of business and law has mistaken a nondisclosure clause with a gag order. Nondisclosures are as common as beer at a baseball game in every kind of business that has trade secrets.

It is certainly true that non-disclosure clauses are common. I have used these in my patent dealings. Language preventing public disscussion of this technology would be easy enough to craft without being an overt gag order. I have seen one or two posts removed quickly when it seems
the poster shows enough inside knowledge coupled with an HD-averse opinion.

I knew full well at the beginning of my formal radio engineering education that I would not go into radio broadcast, much as I might like.
It was clearly being squeezed to death back in the 70's by format calcification and serving the bottom line.
When it became clear the FCC 1st class ticket was to be eliminated, I was happy I had made "other plans".

A radio job is too much like an undependable car. I have only had 3 jobs since 1980, changing at my choice, living in Chicago, and having the ability
to put down roots here. While I love radio, I wouldn't trade everything else just to be a CE or consulting engineer in a place I'd rather not live,
and/or be subject to routine job-hopping.

 

[hipporadio]

That makes two things that don't exist... your radio job and the iBiquity gag order.

I knew full well at the beginning of my formal radio engineering education that I would not go into radio broadcast, much as I might like. It was clearly being squeezed to death back in the 70's by format calcification and serving the bottom line. When it became clear the FCC 1st class ticket was to be eliminated, I was happy I had made "other plans"...

Tom... You don’t need to justify your employment and profession here to the likes of D.E. He is emblematic of an industry that amuses itself with resume comparison and one-upsmanship [re: “I have 50kw – you’re in single-digits... I’m in a major-market – you’re unrated... My job’s more impressive than the one you don’t have”] : I have some sobering news for Mr. Ed... I work in an industry that’s essential to his gratification – and our gratuity is fast-fading for his product and performance!

For the first time since Elvis ushered-in the age of modern pop-music, his coveted corporate radio has failed to energize its next target generation – one soon to emerge into the [so-called] “money demo”! Slapping a self-gratifying IBOC band-aid on fledgling terrestrial radio is a comical “solution”. Has Mr. Agency/Arbitron ever heard the term, “inside joke”? “HD” Radio is essentially the inside creation of its own corporate radio misers... and it’s a joke!

In the marketing industry, we are always cautious about predicting success - we are seldom blind to an impending failure. In that respect, “HD” Radio is a root-level no-brainer!