[SBE] Certification

[Adrienne Abbott]

Carl wrote: I liked the old days when you passed a test at the FCC office
and your certification meant something.

Carl--
Your note brought memories pouring back of how enthusiastic I was when I
began my broadcasting career and how important it was at the time to pass my
FCC exams. Several of us from San Jose State all drove up to San Francisco
together to take our Third Class exams--car pooling is not a new idea,
kids--and when we all passed we celebrated our tickets to the Brave New
World of Radio with breakfast at the wonderful French café in the basement
of what is now the Neiman Marcus Department Store. It was the same when we
got our Second's and our First's rated dinner at Omar Khyyam's in the
Financial District. Ever since then my First has been a prolific meal ticket
because inside or outside the broadcast industry, it's always meant that I
KNEW MY STUFF, a critical asset when you're a girl. No one ever accused me
of getting the job because I had passed the "profile" test. Even now, years
after the FCC did away with the First and replaced it with the "General", I
keep my First on the wall in my office. 

When I asked one of my friends at the FCC about the change, the response was
"we are no longer in the employment agency business. It's up to private
industry to decide what makes a qualified employee." Unfortunately,
sometimes when you leave things up to private business, the bottom line
becomes the determining factor and that's not always in the best interest of
serving the community. As we've seen in this discussion, there's plenty of
conflict in deciding what makes a good certification program and what's in
that program that makes someone a well-qualified employee. 

One of the biggest factors I see in broadcasting today is that the majority
of the current crop of General Managers comes from the Sales Department. As
a result, they know nothing of SBE and SBE certification programs. But even
in sales, they've heard of the FCC.

Adrienne



-----Original Message-----
From: sbe-bounces at sbe.org [mailto:sbe-bounces at sbe.org] On Behalf Of Carl
Sundberg
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 10:02 PM
To: sbe member discussion mail list
Subject: [SBE] Certification

I've been copying the mail about all this "who should do it" certification
stuff... After nearly 50 years in this business, I've seen it all and some
of it wasn't pretty. In the 60's, I was jocking at a tiny station that had a
screw driver jambed in a plate relay in the interlock disabled transmitter.
To turn the transmitter on, the operator hung a broken toilet seat on the
screw driver and that closed the plate relay. It was the seat of power. At
sign off, the shut down instructions told the operator to put the seat on
the nail on the wall next to the transmitter.  The owner didn't want me to
fix it to save money...  The morning man at that station was the local city
electrical inspector in his day job... He was also the station contract
Chief... So much for CERTIFICATION!

I liked the old days when you passed a test at the FCC office and your
certification meant something. SBE is cool and wonderful because it causes
all of us to get together and we all learn from each other and from the
great training sessions our groups put on, but even their certification
doesn't seem to carry the same weight as an FCC license.  As for all the low
voltage stuff, I like the old method of certification, the old "either -
or". In one Florida county I lived in once, I was applying for a license to
open up a two-way radio repair shop. They wouldn't give me a business
license because I hadn't passed some State or County test. When I produced
my FCC 1st phone ticket, the clerk took it to her supervisor and she came
back with my business license. Whether that was legal or not, that license
trumped the need for passing some other test. We all know how important an
SBE certification is, but I'll bet that wouldn't have gotten me the same
wickedly
 fast result the FCC ticket did.

When and where will it all end? Well it won't. Someday we'll be praying for
the good old days when gas was only $5 a gallon and when we didn't need a PE
certification to change the cord to our wireless phone box. Get used to it
gang. If there is money to be made certifying people, someone will find a
way to require us all to suck up to someone else who has their hand in the
palm up mode. Nobody ever got the real message in the Wizard of OZ. Dorothy
was always home, the straw man always had a brain, the lion always had
courage and the tin man was welded shut from so much heart he was raining
tears. The person we should all watch out for is the man behind the curtain.
While America is busy jumping through his silly mandated hoops in search for
a piece of paper,  somebody else will be building the equipment we have to
keep working... AND THE BUILDERS (WHO ARE STEALING ALL OUR JOBS) ARE NOT
CERTIFIED IN ANY SHAPE, FASHION OR FORM! Welcome to the all new and
 improved United States of America. 

 Carl Sundberg

Proud holder of an FCC license since the 60's
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