[SBE] Certification

[Henry M. Seiden]

Here Here!

Well said, Adrienne! As articulate as you sound, I'm sure that your  
technical skills are least as good. Your employer is lucky to have  
there, make sure he/she knows it!

Regards,

Henry
On Jun 24, 2008, at 13:33 , Adrienne Abbott wrote:


>

> 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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--
Henry M. Seiden
info at techworkspro.com

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