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Why it isn't smart to have all your radio stations under one roof
- Thread starter fussbudget
- Start date
One of the "occupations" I took on after leaving radio was that of "Risk Manager" for a family owned company. If you have Business Interruption Insurance coverage in case your company loses the ability to operate for awhile, your insurance company will help you get educated rather quickly on this topic. Some manufacturing companies upon study will learn that one lowly, seeming unimportant machine can bring an entire operation to it's knees. (If that machine is only available from one vendor in Belguim and they have a backlog, you may have a long wait.)
It would be interesting to know how many broadcasting companies have really thought their way through this possibility. One of the popular criticisms of radio today is that it is run by a bunch of bean-counter spreadsheet whizzes with an MBA degree. These are the people who should trip upon the problems of "all our eggs in one basket". Does anyone have a report on how other companies have dealt with this liability.
It would be interesting to know how many broadcasting companies have really thought their way through this possibility. One of the popular criticisms of radio today is that it is run by a bunch of bean-counter spreadsheet whizzes with an MBA degree. These are the people who should trip upon the problems of "all our eggs in one basket". Does anyone have a report on how other companies have dealt with this liability.
The article says the Mulberry Street location housed studios. One assumes that sending people out to the individual transmitters in the event of the main studios being disabled just is not done nowadays. Sarcasm aside, isn't this the same as when a power failure knocks out all of the stations with transmitters on Stone Mtn. or atop a tall building some place? Admittedly, having all of an outfit's studios in a central location has its risks, but it is a fact that this is how things are done in this day and age. The article stated that a similar problem had occurred earlier in the week, and on a smaller scale. Perhaps it was a single, relatively small -- but very significant -- component which was in the process of failing that caused the earlier problem, and then it failed completely Friday evening. My first thought was that there could have been a generator available for just such a contingency, but I realized that a generator would be useless if the building's power routing equipment is what failed and took the studios off line.
Risk reduction is a wise precaution, but is it practical to expect every possible problem to be foreseen and avoided? Personally, I do not have enough information to decide in this case.
Stuff happens in Macon, GA on a Friday night, I guess.
Risk reduction is a wise precaution, but is it practical to expect every possible problem to be foreseen and avoided? Personally, I do not have enough information to decide in this case.
Stuff happens in Macon, GA on a Friday night, I guess.
Witchlover said:
One of the principal outputs of a risk management audit is to anticipate the major issues that can befall a business and plan for the ones where it makes financial/legal sense to do so. The intent is not to avoid all possible events - just the catastrophic ones that have the potential to severely damage the business.
8 stations? Sounds like someone is over the ownership cap to me.....
G
G
Putting all your eggs into one basket is ok as long as you prepare for the day the bottom of that basket breaks, as others have said here. It's all about risk and how much money you want to spend on something like this happening. There are ways to mitigate this kind of risk. A back up generator for the radio studios come to mind. They could very easily have a generator that just powers the radio stations there using the natural gas service from the city. Also, placing computers at transmitter sites along with internet service so that they could mirror the computers at the studio. Even if you forgo the mirror setup, you could have a playlist in Winamp ready and the music stations could have stayed on the air. WMAZ AM would have just had to remain off the air since I'm sure 95% of it's programming comes in from satellite. Which is kinda sad since 940 is supposed to be THE news/talk station in Macon along with an EAS Primary relay station.
I also understand they were having problems as early as Tuesday afternoon with the power? No reason for the whole cluster to go down like this. None at all.
I also understand they were having problems as early as Tuesday afternoon with the power? No reason for the whole cluster to go down like this. None at all.
Upstate, If you know the rules you would know there is such thing as grandfathered in. They had the 8 before the rules were changed. So it is all legal.
100+ year old building, much of the wiring is extremely old and has just been "spliced", first two radio stations (WCRY AM/FM, later WPEZ/WDDO), then add in WMGB, then 99.1/940/105.3(105.5)/1500/92.3, at least a dozen satellite receivers, audio processing, Scott System, office computers, boards, etc., etc. You take your life in your hands when you plug in anything in that building. And that's just the 7th floor.
Think of a six-plug power strip (with or without a circuit breaker built in). You plug another 6 plug power strip into the first one, load all of them up with high load electrical equipment with frayed and in some cases ungrounded wiring. THEN, you plug all that into an outdated building electrical system with only the two-blade kind of plugs, so you have to hack off the ground plug on the power strip to plug it in. THEN, do that about 50-60 times, AND throw in a building water supply system fed by a rusty old tank on the roof of the building, which, when the pipes from it burst, sends a wall of water down through the building, damaging the infrastructure of an already decrepit building.
Oh, and there's no generator at the studios. Even if there were an attempt to place a generator there, I don't know of an electrician worth his or her salt who would even CONSIDER installing it without a complete overhaul of the entire building's electrical systems.
Cumulus is lucky they've been able to get by this long without a major disaster on Mulberry Street.
TDO
Think of a six-plug power strip (with or without a circuit breaker built in). You plug another 6 plug power strip into the first one, load all of them up with high load electrical equipment with frayed and in some cases ungrounded wiring. THEN, you plug all that into an outdated building electrical system with only the two-blade kind of plugs, so you have to hack off the ground plug on the power strip to plug it in. THEN, do that about 50-60 times, AND throw in a building water supply system fed by a rusty old tank on the roof of the building, which, when the pipes from it burst, sends a wall of water down through the building, damaging the infrastructure of an already decrepit building.
Oh, and there's no generator at the studios. Even if there were an attempt to place a generator there, I don't know of an electrician worth his or her salt who would even CONSIDER installing it without a complete overhaul of the entire building's electrical systems.
Cumulus is lucky they've been able to get by this long without a major disaster on Mulberry Street.
TDO
Diamondtwo said:
So you answered the first question. This isn't something that just came up recently, perhaps due to some new studio construction or a move-in. This was an accident that was waiting to happen for a long time, and is the direct result of mismanagement.
Now the second and third questions:
* Was anyone at all in the building when the failure occurred that could have aided the situation?
* Does Cumulus Macon have a competent, local engineering staff that were able to help?
I can under stand cheap rent. But with state of the economy, there should an old strip center or empty store with even cheaper rent! If you’re in a long lease, find an electrical contractor (many are not very busy) and at least fix your floor. What I can’t understand why they didn’t have UPS (uninterrupted power supplies) on all their equipment racks. You can get UPS cheap! They can even be a trade out with a local computer store or service! They do protect equipment from funky power, lightning, and spikes. I will not install any system without one. The most stable AC power in the Southeast is the area around Marietta Street in the heart of Atlanta. All of the computer operations (many of which have to be up 24 7 or somebody better have a good excuse!) have a form of UPS and back up power feeds and or generators.
Even the smallest radio operation I deal has traded out time for a generator at the studios. Another Issue should be with your local EMS service. Were any of these stations important to the EAS chain? For the people in Macon area I hope not! If the local government has a good grant writer; the county or city will get you a back up generator.
Even the smallest radio operation I deal has traded out time for a generator at the studios. Another Issue should be with your local EMS service. Were any of these stations important to the EAS chain? For the people in Macon area I hope not! If the local government has a good grant writer; the county or city will get you a back up generator.
I will help answer number three. If they want someone with experience then contact me thru this board. I am out of town north of Atlanta.greg.hahn said:
K
kenglish
Guest
Isn't that the old "Persons Building", named after Mary Persons or something?
That's one of the oldest buildings around.
The big question is, why didn't someone call an electrician after the first or second time they had power problems, and have them check for bad breakers? An infrared temperature scan, and/or an ultrasonic noise scan, could have picked up on a defective breaker or loose wiring.
That's one of the oldest buildings around.
The big question is, why didn't someone call an electrician after the first or second time they had power problems, and have them check for bad breakers? An infrared temperature scan, and/or an ultrasonic noise scan, could have picked up on a defective breaker or loose wiring.
Bottom line is, there are a ton of weak links in that building.
Cumulus was scouting locations to move the stations 4-5 years ago. But corporate decided that Macon's revenues didn't justify building new studios. In fact, John Dickey came down to Macon from the ivory palaces (the old ones on Piedmont, not the ultra-plush high-tech high-rise Taj Mahal they're in now) in Atlanta to hold a staff meeting in which he dropped the bombshell that "the conditions" were just not right to move forward on those plans. You could feel the air being sucked out of the room, because we all knew how bad things were in the building, that things were being held together with baling wire and chewing gum. John Dickey even went as far as to go slumming on the 7th floor, promising that he would make sure we could upgrade the existing studios and get the Mulberry Street studios looking and sounding better. You'd have loved to see the tap-dancing and hemming-and-hawing that followed that pronouncement when those of us who were involved in the "project" starting asking John to actually pony up. Fred Astaire would have been so proud!
Fortunately, at that time there was a really sharp engineer there, named Aaron Ishmael, who was able to re-purpose some old and worn out gear and improve things for a couple of the stations. WPEZ got a spacious new control room in an old conference room, instead of the broom closet the station had been in for 30+ years. WMAC acquired WAYS-FM's old studio space and console just in the nick of time, and 105.5 (then The Fan) made use of the old 'PEZ production room and control room for a sports-talk control room and talk studio for Bill Shanks, with an old board that Aaron found from sombody he knew and got for a song. Total cost to make the few upgrades we were able to make: less than 2 grand (not including Aaron's labor, which is another subject for another time). Sounds reasonable, until you realize that these were MAJOR overhauls of three radio stations' facilities.
But it's sorta like putting perfume on a hog. Those upgrades, while helpful, didn't address the underlying problems with the infrastructure of that dump - er, uh, building - (sorry, there are a bunch of lawyers in that building... don't want to set off a firestorm of litigation).
Symptoms of a much larger problem... this 2 hour outage will only get worse. Expect frequent outages for the stations in the near future.
TDO
Cumulus was scouting locations to move the stations 4-5 years ago. But corporate decided that Macon's revenues didn't justify building new studios. In fact, John Dickey came down to Macon from the ivory palaces (the old ones on Piedmont, not the ultra-plush high-tech high-rise Taj Mahal they're in now) in Atlanta to hold a staff meeting in which he dropped the bombshell that "the conditions" were just not right to move forward on those plans. You could feel the air being sucked out of the room, because we all knew how bad things were in the building, that things were being held together with baling wire and chewing gum. John Dickey even went as far as to go slumming on the 7th floor, promising that he would make sure we could upgrade the existing studios and get the Mulberry Street studios looking and sounding better. You'd have loved to see the tap-dancing and hemming-and-hawing that followed that pronouncement when those of us who were involved in the "project" starting asking John to actually pony up. Fred Astaire would have been so proud!
Fortunately, at that time there was a really sharp engineer there, named Aaron Ishmael, who was able to re-purpose some old and worn out gear and improve things for a couple of the stations. WPEZ got a spacious new control room in an old conference room, instead of the broom closet the station had been in for 30+ years. WMAC acquired WAYS-FM's old studio space and console just in the nick of time, and 105.5 (then The Fan) made use of the old 'PEZ production room and control room for a sports-talk control room and talk studio for Bill Shanks, with an old board that Aaron found from sombody he knew and got for a song. Total cost to make the few upgrades we were able to make: less than 2 grand (not including Aaron's labor, which is another subject for another time). Sounds reasonable, until you realize that these were MAJOR overhauls of three radio stations' facilities.
But it's sorta like putting perfume on a hog. Those upgrades, while helpful, didn't address the underlying problems with the infrastructure of that dump - er, uh, building - (sorry, there are a bunch of lawyers in that building... don't want to set off a firestorm of litigation).
Symptoms of a much larger problem... this 2 hour outage will only get worse. Expect frequent outages for the stations in the near future.
TDO
The FCC has a lot of rules, a lot of regulations and it is tough keeping up with all of them. But mandating that a station must have a stand-by power generator does not appear to be one of the rules. And if the wiring is as bad in that building as some of the posters have indicated, what good would it do to have a back-up generator sitting on the ground behind the building pouring out power.... which it wouldn't do if the power company service at the ground level was still "hot"... what good would a stand-by generator do if it is the internal building wiring that failed.
Would you propose that ALL radio stations including little 250-watt daytimers should have a back up generator? Or just anybody who has maybe 3 or more stations.
Would your require a generator ONLY at the studio, ONLY at the transmitter, or both?
What would it cost a company to have one sizable generator at the building where eight studios are located, and then have eight more generators scattered around at all eight transmitters? What would the annual property taxes cost for those nine generators? What would be the fee to have a qualified generator technician to visit all 9 generators every three months or maybe every six months and "exercise" the engines to make sure the automatic transfer devices are functioning, and that the engines will start. Then at least once a year change the oil and dispose of it.
In an ideal world, every radio station would have standby, automatic power generators. But that is real easy for me and you to say. We don't have to run down to accounting and have the bean counters figure out where the funds will come from, and YOU AND I don't have to WRITE THE CHECK!
Would you propose that ALL radio stations including little 250-watt daytimers should have a back up generator? Or just anybody who has maybe 3 or more stations.
Would your require a generator ONLY at the studio, ONLY at the transmitter, or both?
What would it cost a company to have one sizable generator at the building where eight studios are located, and then have eight more generators scattered around at all eight transmitters? What would the annual property taxes cost for those nine generators? What would be the fee to have a qualified generator technician to visit all 9 generators every three months or maybe every six months and "exercise" the engines to make sure the automatic transfer devices are functioning, and that the engines will start. Then at least once a year change the oil and dispose of it.
In an ideal world, every radio station would have standby, automatic power generators. But that is real easy for me and you to say. We don't have to run down to accounting and have the bean counters figure out where the funds will come from, and YOU AND I don't have to WRITE THE CHECK!
deals3rd said:
That may not have helped one bit. From the article-
In most installations there is a fused disconnect ahead of the generator transfer switch. Any "main breaker" as described above would likely be after the generator. So had there been a generator, it never would have started. And if it did start, it still wouldn't have supplied electricity.
If the "main breaker tripped", it either tripped because the breaker itself is going bad, or it tripped because something after it is drawing too much current. There is a good chance that all they had to do was turn a few things off and flip the breaker back on to restore the stations to the air. That's why I asked if anyone was even in the building at the time.
It took 1 hour and 15 minutes to get some stations back on the air. That's pretty quick to call an electrician on a Friday night, get him in the building, and get any kind of major electrical work done. I'm betting all he had to do was flip the breaker back on.
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Then perphaps we should avoid having operators be allowed to owned eight radio stations. I know the train has left the station on that issue; however, it is not in the interest of the public to have their airwaves down as a result of incompetent broadcasters. A little regulation maybe what is needed to save this industry!
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
I would certainly propose that the EAS primary at least be required to have operable generators at both the studio and the transmitter. I should think FEMA and its counterpart state agencies would have something in place to help assure that key stations are able to broadcast in the event of a power failure. Otherwise, individual stations ought to have the option to purchase generators if management deems it appropriate as a business decision.
Perhaps stations which install generator would receive points in their favor at license renewal or when applying for approval of a facilities change. Continuation of service commitments should certainly be taken into account when license transfers or LMA's are considered. Assuming, that is, that radio stattions are indeed still operated in the public interest -- and I will be the first to concede that may be assuming a thing no longer true.
Getting back on topic, though; if the building's wiring is in as bad a condition as those familiar with the situation have described, how did Cumulus manage to be issued fire marshal's certificates, business licenses and occupancy permits. In my mind, I'm picturing the Douglas farmhouse on Green Acres!
No it wouldn't, but the discussion veered off on that tangent a couple days ago. If a bad breaker box or a faulty main breaker is the cause of the shutdown, it is ironic that one relatively small link in the chain brought the whole operation to a halt. From the description of some who have knowledge of the building, however, I get the impression that a problem in the breaker box is the least of it.
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