[SBE] In Need of Mentoring

[russ at russvanderhorst.info]

Howdy,

So it sounds like to me to make it in the modern broadcast engineering, you have to have 
quite a depth of knowledge, IT, compression schemes, Digital principles, modulations 
methods, and a slew of other information. Yet, it seems like the broadcast engineer is being 
phased out due to automation...much of these functions are handled by boards which can 
easily be replaced by someone with very little training (and hence paid very little money). 
Then of course (although I have no practical experience with this), you have general 
managers who are trying to squeeze every penny out of their station that they can, and the 
engineering department is the group that gets hit hard due to this automation. Who knows, 
with the advent of modern 3D graphic technics, they will even be able to replace the on-air 
personallities with computer generated animations which look real enough that nobody will 
care (and they never get sick, want more money, or try to negotiate a new contract). 

Personally (and I don't know if this is accurate or not), it doesn't seem to me like a television 
or radio station has a very high profit margin and have to cut as much as they can and 
squeeze as much out of their technical personel as possible. 

any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Russ


On 12 Oct 2009 at 15:16, Stu Casteel wrote:


> I'll add my two cents here, although I've not been involved in the day to

> day operation of a broadcast facility for some time and other than some

> post flood repair a few years ago haven't been in a radio facility in a

> few decades I still consider myself a broadcast engineer (one of my labs

> is in a Tx manufacturing facility and I still drive a 4wd with a winch -

> chainsaw, boots and gloves in the back)

> 

> but stop to consider the current state of the world, besides call letter

> stations with a stick in the backyard or on the hill, there is

> "broadcasting" via satellite, there is content distribution through cable

> and IPTV systems and of course YouTube - Hulu and now cell phones

> 

> with rare exception these days component level repair is a thing of the

> past (except for those working at PBS stations ;->) although you would be

> surprised at the number of automated functions in state of the art MPEG

> systems that depend on GPI/O and diode 'OR' circuits for interface

> 

> to survive as something useful engineering wise these days consider the

> depth and breadth of what we deal with

> 

> Frequency range from DC to beyond daylight

> power levels from Pico to Mega Watts

> general purpose computers forced in to broadcast usage to purpose built

> number crunchers, operating systems that span the history of 'puters that

> range from 'user indifferent' to 'user hostile'

> modulation schemes from simple AM and FM to 8VSB, COFDM. QPSK/8PSK, QAM

> (32 to 256) DVB-S2 to name a few

> 

> Baseband Audio and Video in all their nuanced glory - despite what some

> folks tell you the real world and our basic interface to sights and sounds

> is ANALOG - then, when you really mess it up there is Digital - oh, once

> its 'bits' TCP/IP is the easiest way to move it about - except when it

> comes to audio and video in realtime - something the bit packers &

> shippers of the world have been learning - Oh, and once its bits they take

> up way too much 'space' so, here comes compression in an ever growing

> number of methods and standards along with multiplexing and all the other

> bits (SI/PSI/PSIP) that allow you to find the audio and video bits (deep

> breath) and that doesn't touch on interfacing to automation, traffic and

> billing

> 

> and all I've noted above just reflects my path through the years

> 

> "Broadcast engineering" is a very broad brush

> 

> Stu

> 

> 

> 

> 

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