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The role of a Chief Engineer?
- Thread starter easyfm
- Start date
K
kyscott
Guest
It's just too bad they don't give him the budget, time or help to prevent lost air time.
M
menotti1
Guest
Another role of the CE, Expect prompt payment for services rendered.But sooner or later a good thunderstorm with lots of lightning will hit.Hey they will really want to pay you then.You have to do a little foot dragging or even cut them off to get their attention.i;ve seen good engineers get screwed really bad by clients.One group owed over 6K,hey i would have cut those bastards a long time ago.
Several of us were having a cold beverage one evening when a friend's pager (shows you how long ago!) went off. He spoke on the phone for a bit, and the final statem,ent was "OK, just tape the check to the front of the transmitter". After which he enjpoyed another cold one and then left, presumeably to heal the limping radio. Semed a reasonable approach to me.
I bet the GM of that station gets paid on time too. LOL Ahhh! The joys of contract labor and trying to get someone to pay for what they got.
N
NSPUNX
Guest
You just wait until they are off air with a big emergency and tell them that you wont even unload your tool case until they give you a certified bank check for what they owe you plus a down payment for the call they need you for now 
When I did a stint of piakup work back when, I extended terms to Cox, Jacobs, and Clair Brothers. Everyobne else was MUF (Money Up Front). Never had a problem. I figured whatever I missed was probably going to be pro bono anyhow.
i thought the role of the chief is to sit behind the desk and email and blackberry messages all day and then when the project or job was done, the chief is there and only to show what "we" did
K
kyscott
Guest
menotti1 said:
I'm with you. I'll never let a client build up that much in arrears. I'll cut them off after $500. Actually had to do that last year when it took a station 6 months to pay me to move their studio. I cut them off, and have no desire to help them again.
A good chief can work with the management to keep the clock ticking, while making suggestions for more productive operations, and the least cost in repairs and maintenance.
He should be the guy that knows when things start to wear out, and when he needs to advise management to look into replacing things. Knowing how to do a 5-year budget helps.
But most of all a chief engineer should be like the town fire chief. Hopefully you never see him. But when stuff happens, he is the guy that will save your bacon.
You are as you present yourself and you skills. A chief, or just another member of the tribe.
He should be the guy that knows when things start to wear out, and when he needs to advise management to look into replacing things. Knowing how to do a 5-year budget helps.
But most of all a chief engineer should be like the town fire chief. Hopefully you never see him. But when stuff happens, he is the guy that will save your bacon.
You are as you present yourself and you skills. A chief, or just another member of the tribe.
Like many things in this world, radio has seen cutback after cutback as profits drop and GM's salaries increase! The station manager always seems to have a new car, an overseas holiday for him, his wife and the four kids, but the budget request to buy a new on-air desk because the old one is nearly dead usually draws a blank look.
"We can't do it this month, just keep it going a bit longer will you?"
6 months down the track and it's the same story.
Heck, one of my clients called me the other day immediately after a 4 hour power outtage asking if I could supply them a UPS for the studio.
"Sure I can, but what about the transmitter site? No back up there. No point in the studio being live if your TX is down!"
Up til this power outtage, back up power hadn't even been on the agenda.
Being a freelance (contracting) technician I am essentially the CE for the stations I work for, and my philosophies are fairly simple:
1) Keep the client on the air as much as possible, make the studio as reliable and user-friendly as money and equipment will allow, and extract a fair return from them for doing so.
2) If you want me at short notice - emergency callouts etc - then you pay me extra for having to drop what I am doing and come running. I have a life as well outside of your station.
3) When I give you a bill, pay me within 7 days. I am in the business of radio, I am not a bank or lending institution. If giving credit was my interest, I would be operating a finance company. I have done the work, you give me money - it's a simple concept.
4) The station's lack of money is not a reason for me to work until 4am trying to fix something that should have been binned 3 years ago.
5) Lack of planning on your part does not justify an emergency on my part!
"We can't do it this month, just keep it going a bit longer will you?"
6 months down the track and it's the same story.
Heck, one of my clients called me the other day immediately after a 4 hour power outtage asking if I could supply them a UPS for the studio.
"Sure I can, but what about the transmitter site? No back up there. No point in the studio being live if your TX is down!"
Up til this power outtage, back up power hadn't even been on the agenda.
Being a freelance (contracting) technician I am essentially the CE for the stations I work for, and my philosophies are fairly simple:
1) Keep the client on the air as much as possible, make the studio as reliable and user-friendly as money and equipment will allow, and extract a fair return from them for doing so.
2) If you want me at short notice - emergency callouts etc - then you pay me extra for having to drop what I am doing and come running. I have a life as well outside of your station.
3) When I give you a bill, pay me within 7 days. I am in the business of radio, I am not a bank or lending institution. If giving credit was my interest, I would be operating a finance company. I have done the work, you give me money - it's a simple concept.
4) The station's lack of money is not a reason for me to work until 4am trying to fix something that should have been binned 3 years ago.
5) Lack of planning on your part does not justify an emergency on my part!
Many blame Ronald Reagan for the state of radio today. ??
Are you old enough to remember when one engineer per station was cutting edge? Many stations had several engineers. An AM station sometimes had both transmitter engineers and studio engineers.
The Rule used to be you can be a disc jockey as long as you kept the transitter log up to snuff.
The problem is the Rules have changed and the duties haven't been defined.
Recent ads expect the Chief to be a miracle worker. (6 station cluster in Nowhere North Dakota needs team player (idiot?) who is take charge and can complete our new studio build out (when he will find himself without a job... it's cheaper to hire you for 6 months than to have Harris do this). No others on staff mind you so vacations and any life are now 2nd place.
Ads are asking for multi faceted multi discipline hire. (IT, RF, studio, weekends, remotes, etc.)
It's kind of like being a slave and picking your master. In the real world the old school Chiefs are retiring and those who are willing to exhibit buyer beware are now entering the work force.
How many years were you classified as management (and unable to receive overtime) when you didn't manage anyone?
Not ALL companies are this way. Problem is too many are.
Burnout is rampant. Technology is ever changing. SBE unfortunately has no basis for exhibiting force to make changes and is in bed with enough of the corporate giants to keep an organized force from demanding what even air talent receives in most markets. Their legal representation ahs SBE as a side job and this in itself keeps any real work for Engineers from taking place.
Are you old enough to remember when one engineer per station was cutting edge? Many stations had several engineers. An AM station sometimes had both transmitter engineers and studio engineers.
The Rule used to be you can be a disc jockey as long as you kept the transitter log up to snuff.
The problem is the Rules have changed and the duties haven't been defined.
Recent ads expect the Chief to be a miracle worker. (6 station cluster in Nowhere North Dakota needs team player (idiot?) who is take charge and can complete our new studio build out (when he will find himself without a job... it's cheaper to hire you for 6 months than to have Harris do this). No others on staff mind you so vacations and any life are now 2nd place.
Ads are asking for multi faceted multi discipline hire. (IT, RF, studio, weekends, remotes, etc.)
It's kind of like being a slave and picking your master. In the real world the old school Chiefs are retiring and those who are willing to exhibit buyer beware are now entering the work force.
How many years were you classified as management (and unable to receive overtime) when you didn't manage anyone?
Not ALL companies are this way. Problem is too many are.
Burnout is rampant. Technology is ever changing. SBE unfortunately has no basis for exhibiting force to make changes and is in bed with enough of the corporate giants to keep an organized force from demanding what even air talent receives in most markets. Their legal representation ahs SBE as a side job and this in itself keeps any real work for Engineers from taking place.
And about five years from now or so we, the guys that will likely still be left will be able to pick and choose which one of the slave-masters to work for, at a hansome salary rate. The joke is soon to be on them, not us as there are few new radio engineers being made these days. It's sorta like oil: Supply and demand baby!
Yes, I remember the 80s, when every station here had 3 or 4 fulltime techs on staff. Then it got cut back to two - then down to one, then that guy was part-time, now he's on contract or, like myself - self-employed and supplying my services to a number of stations.
I am not aware of ANY broadcast techs that have been trained in the industry since back then either. There is no formal training here for broadcast engineering. The closest you can get is a certificate or degree in telecommunications. I don't think there's any specific industry relevant training with that.
Many of the old guys here have retired or moved overseas. I know of two broadcast people within a 150 km radius of where I am - that's it.
Have we done ourselves out of a job? Most stations seem to run quite smoothly for months at a time with no technical input. Computers do all the donkey work and the average PC is pretty reliable.
Most electronic stuff (with the exception of things with moving parts - fans etc) is also reliable and rarely gives problems.
By far the main problems I encounter at stations are caused by operator error - people pushing buttons and playing with things they know nothing about. These issues can be sorted over the phone in most cases, further reducing the need for someone to be on-station with the advent of cellphones that mean we are always in touch.
With the way stations are going, and the advances in electronics, will studios and current broadcast methods be redundant in 20 years time?
I am not aware of ANY broadcast techs that have been trained in the industry since back then either. There is no formal training here for broadcast engineering. The closest you can get is a certificate or degree in telecommunications. I don't think there's any specific industry relevant training with that.
Many of the old guys here have retired or moved overseas. I know of two broadcast people within a 150 km radius of where I am - that's it.
Have we done ourselves out of a job? Most stations seem to run quite smoothly for months at a time with no technical input. Computers do all the donkey work and the average PC is pretty reliable.
Most electronic stuff (with the exception of things with moving parts - fans etc) is also reliable and rarely gives problems.
By far the main problems I encounter at stations are caused by operator error - people pushing buttons and playing with things they know nothing about. These issues can be sorted over the phone in most cases, further reducing the need for someone to be on-station with the advent of cellphones that mean we are always in touch.
With the way stations are going, and the advances in electronics, will studios and current broadcast methods be redundant in 20 years time?
Yeah, it seems to be happening around the world, so I guess we can't blame Reagan
But you raise an interesting question. Defacto more and more of the CE's duties are being outsourced to manufacturers. By that I mean a few things. As mentioned before on other threads, most repairs are not done in house. But I also mean the troubleshooting to determine whether there really is a problem is done by "some guy" and the manufacturer, not by a station engineer.
Furthermore, to a greater degree than ever, no troubleshooting is possible, nor information is available, because a secretary calls for an RA for a uit already in the box and has no idea what the problem is with the unit. This the number of "no problem found" repairs grows.
But you raise an interesting question. Defacto more and more of the CE's duties are being outsourced to manufacturers. By that I mean a few things. As mentioned before on other threads, most repairs are not done in house. But I also mean the troubleshooting to determine whether there really is a problem is done by "some guy" and the manufacturer, not by a station engineer.
Furthermore, to a greater degree than ever, no troubleshooting is possible, nor information is available, because a secretary calls for an RA for a uit already in the box and has no idea what the problem is with the unit. This the number of "no problem found" repairs grows.
Studio1 said:
The ship it back mentality is born of manufacturing techniques which don't allow themselves to be field repaired very well. Without a rework station and some idea how to use it, playing with a surface mount board using a hot iron will likely do much more harm than good.
Where this idea falls down is twofold - first people often don't send the right card in to be fixed. Second, many manufacturers have found themselves short of help and consequently the guy telling you which card is busted may not be correct. If the Factory Guru gives me misinformation, I don't pay a reastock when I send back the mistakenly sent card. If I decide it's bad, then I'm on my own. This is compunded in many instances by the 'repair' being headed up by someone who has no idea what he or she is doing save trying to fix it so he can talk on it, or sell spots about it.
One of the best I ever saw was a guy - now retired unfortunately - who would put the phone to his ear, and tell the guy at the other end, "I can fix your problem. Unfortunately, I can't see it. But, if you will be my eyes and hands for a bit, it will work like new." And in maybe two questions, he could tell whether he had the sales manger, or someone who knew what plugged into where, and adjust his technique to whichever he had. That's not at all an easy task, nor is it learned overnight, even by the people who have the expertise on the equipment.
Perhaps the evillist of all this is the modified vendor item. The manufacturer doesn't want - for whatever reason - to design a component or sybsystem, but there isn't one commercially available at a price he wants to pay. So he buys an off - the - shelf box and then modifies it to the purpose to which he's going to put it. Now, the initial manufacturer won't tougch it or warranty it, and often the modifier doesn't know the ins and outs of its initial operation well enough to tell why it isn't behaving properly. You the end user get hosed for a new one. The only way around this is to make yourself familiar with the equipment before you buy, and pass on anything which has this sort of stuff in it - and tell the rep why you're passing on his product. The maker needs to know, this isn't a profit center, it's a resistance to buy.
Where this idea falls down is twofold - first people often don't send the right card in to be fixed. Second, many manufacturers have found themselves short of help and consequently the guy telling you which card is busted may not be correct. If the Factory Guru gives me misinformation, I don't pay a reastock when I send back the mistakenly sent card. If I decide it's bad, then I'm on my own. This is compunded in many instances by the 'repair' being headed up by someone who has no idea what he or she is doing save trying to fix it so he can talk on it, or sell spots about it.
One of the best I ever saw was a guy - now retired unfortunately - who would put the phone to his ear, and tell the guy at the other end, "I can fix your problem. Unfortunately, I can't see it. But, if you will be my eyes and hands for a bit, it will work like new." And in maybe two questions, he could tell whether he had the sales manger, or someone who knew what plugged into where, and adjust his technique to whichever he had. That's not at all an easy task, nor is it learned overnight, even by the people who have the expertise on the equipment.
Perhaps the evillist of all this is the modified vendor item. The manufacturer doesn't want - for whatever reason - to design a component or sybsystem, but there isn't one commercially available at a price he wants to pay. So he buys an off - the - shelf box and then modifies it to the purpose to which he's going to put it. Now, the initial manufacturer won't tougch it or warranty it, and often the modifier doesn't know the ins and outs of its initial operation well enough to tell why it isn't behaving properly. You the end user get hosed for a new one. The only way around this is to make yourself familiar with the equipment before you buy, and pass on anything which has this sort of stuff in it - and tell the rep why you're passing on his product. The maker needs to know, this isn't a profit center, it's a resistance to buy.
Part of that problem is due to manufacturers making a smaller range of products in an attempt to fill the "one size fits all" market.
In the 80s, you'd be hard pressed to find a piece of broadcast gear that had RCA connectors on it.
Now, there is stuff all over the place that has them - ultimately to allow semi-pro users to interface their junk to an on-air console.
Used to be that you went out and bought industry standard units with balanced outputs - but now, such units are dearer than the $100 piece of crap chinese equivalent - and in the pursuit of higher returns and better profits for the shareholders (a term I hear far too often) the industry standard gear is sidelined in favour of the chinese junk.
True, I think budgets for equipment were bigger back then and manufacturers made a wider range of gear that suited more applications without need for modification.
Over time however, the budgets have been pulled back and CEs forced to find cheaper alternatives - so manufacturers have stopped making such a large range of items - this in turn has forced us to buy a lower spec unit and modify it to do the job at hand.
As for SMD boards, I refuse to touch them. If it's broken, and under warranty, it goes back to the manufacturer. If it's out of warranty, the station is told to replace it. It's impossible to repair the stuff - simply because it's not designed to be repaired. Multi-layer boards and components the size of a flea are not for human hands!
In the 80s, you'd be hard pressed to find a piece of broadcast gear that had RCA connectors on it.
Now, there is stuff all over the place that has them - ultimately to allow semi-pro users to interface their junk to an on-air console.
Used to be that you went out and bought industry standard units with balanced outputs - but now, such units are dearer than the $100 piece of crap chinese equivalent - and in the pursuit of higher returns and better profits for the shareholders (a term I hear far too often) the industry standard gear is sidelined in favour of the chinese junk.
True, I think budgets for equipment were bigger back then and manufacturers made a wider range of gear that suited more applications without need for modification.
Over time however, the budgets have been pulled back and CEs forced to find cheaper alternatives - so manufacturers have stopped making such a large range of items - this in turn has forced us to buy a lower spec unit and modify it to do the job at hand.
As for SMD boards, I refuse to touch them. If it's broken, and under warranty, it goes back to the manufacturer. If it's out of warranty, the station is told to replace it. It's impossible to repair the stuff - simply because it's not designed to be repaired. Multi-layer boards and components the size of a flea are not for human hands!
".. If the Factory Guru gives me misinformation, I don't pay a reastock when I send back the mistakenly sent card..." Boy, this brings up a VERY bad experience I had with Big H about a year ago. I'll certainly think twice about ever ordering an expensive part from them, even if it means I have to rig up something else until I'M damn sure it's the failure point. I had one of their finest tell me it was one thing and it was really another lesser associated part. Too bad I spent nearly 800 in restock and shipping over it. That's still the value in many cases about having someone other than the janitor for a engineer. Someone that is technically inclined can tell when they are getting hosed and try to prevent it while those that don't know just have to pay and go on for another hose job later. Part of our job in reality is to be a gate to prevent losses that aren't necessary.
I think you are confirming the point I was trying to make (as a manufacturer/support person).
While LittleJohn is correct, a good troubleshooter can do amazing things over the phone (been there, done that).
That said, there is no doubt that what OKC say is right. Having the skill (and time) of a qualified engineer (and depending on whether we are talking about, telephone stuff, Processors, xmitters, studio gear, etc etc any given engineer may or may not qualify) who understands the context (e.g the equipment surrounding the equipment in question) and can answer questions about it can be a major asset when troubleshooting.
Of course no one is perfect.
While LittleJohn is correct, a good troubleshooter can do amazing things over the phone (been there, done that).
That said, there is no doubt that what OKC say is right. Having the skill (and time) of a qualified engineer (and depending on whether we are talking about, telephone stuff, Processors, xmitters, studio gear, etc etc any given engineer may or may not qualify) who understands the context (e.g the equipment surrounding the equipment in question) and can answer questions about it can be a major asset when troubleshooting.
Of course no one is perfect.
OKCRadioGuy said:
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