[SBE] Dwindling numbers of engineers

[Henry's AFLAC]

WHen I graduated HS, I went to DeVry, got my FCC 1st, and started at University of Wisconsin to become a HS teacher. I had worked in electronics sales (Olson Electronics for those old enough to remember them) and 2-way radio repair to earn tuition.  I found my way into Broadcasting at WFAW AM</FM Ft Atkinson, WI, as a combo/weekend DJ/engineer.  THe path was move up by moving to bigger markets and bigger stations.  Some 20 years ago (some will say 30)  Broadcasting took the public service gloves off and put the make all; the $ you possible can gloves on. Mergers, buy outs, staff reductions, reductions in benefits became the mantra. It was un heard of to have a CE run more than 1 TV station in the top markets, now they may run 3 TV and any number of radio.  At NBC we had about 186 "engineers" in Chicago, I was told it is now in the teens. The department I worked in at NBC 30 ROck is completely gone. THere are more walking around wearing CONTRACTOR badges than EMPLOYEE.  A former CBS exec was hired at Telemundo to trim it down for sale to NBC. Last I heard 2 of the 56 people from local Telemundo 44 still had a job under NBC/Telemundo/Universal/Comcast whomever.  My last project after nearly 10 years at the helm as CE was to make the station an automated unattended operation. That done, the boss threw out every high paid and long time employee in favor of kids and beginners.  My advice for anyone that still has a job, prepare yourself with a 2nd income,  investments, [I like high dividend stocks and MLP's] some on the side business, or prepare for a career change.  For at least 20 years top level have been asking, do we really need a transmitter? Can't we just make it with cable, sat and internet delivery and shelve ther whole thing?  And their answer has been ever growing numbers of not OTA program channels that are delivered only by cable, sat and internet. BTW, although a DTV pioneer,  for those that thought I was daft in saying NTSC would still be in use in 2012,  check out all the LPTV stations on NTSC.  
The list of highly qualified, highly experienced OUT OF WORK engineers continue to grow.   But the economy must be getting better, Indiana just announced that the last 20 weeks of the 99 week unemployment is ending because unemployment has improved so much the state no longer qualifies for the Fed program. McDOnalds must have hired another 25,000 burger flippers. SO newly unemployed will only qualify for a max 79 weeks. 


Henry





Ask me about AFLAC, It pays YOU!
 



-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Steck <matthewjsteck at gmail.com>
To: sbe member discussion mail list <sbe at sbe.org>
Sent: Tue, Apr 3, 2012 2:06 pm
Subject: Re: [SBE] Dwindling numbers of engineers


I guess this would be a good time to ask...  Just out of curiosity, I am a 23 year old engineer working at a group of stations in a smaller market, making the salary mentioned above.  I do the IT work, am familiar with computer programming and also enjoy doing hand-in-transmitter/audio repair/wiring.  I can't help but think what the future may hold for me years down the road.  My degree is in telecommunications (Penn State).  All of my electronics knowledge is from collecting and repairing vintage consumer audio since I was a kid.  Is it true that the real-world experience I have may out-weigh a degree in the future?  I love the work I am doing (and love radio) so I'd like to stay in the field.  When I made my decision to go this route, I figured that someone my age would have a good amount of luck finding positions, as the current guys begin retiring.  Was that a reasonable assumption?


On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 2:15 PM, Jeff Carter <sbe at hidden-valley.com> wrote:

On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 9:54 AM, Bob Reite <br at telcen.com> wrote:

> There is a dwindling number of jobs.  Party because equipment has become

> more reliable.  I remember when I first started you could always find a job

> within a month if you knew RF.  Now, unless you know IT as well, you'll be

> out of work for 6 months or more if you lose your current job.  Even if you

> know IT, chances are you'll find your next job in an industry other than

> broadcasting.



Well put.

I should never post.  If I wait, one of you guys is always going to
say what I'm thinking, and say it better and more concisely than me.

Jeff

_______________________________________________
The SBE Roundtable, SBE at sbe.org
To unsubscribe, go to http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/options/sbe

http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/sbe





-- 
Matthew J. Steck
Chief Engineer / Operator
Forever Broadcasting
109 Plaza Drive
Johnstown, PA 15905
(610) 858-5682
MatthewJSteck at gmail.com 
Msteck at foreverradio.com



_______________________________________________
he SBE Roundtable, SBE at sbe.org
o unsubscribe, go to http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/options/sbe
http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/sbe

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/sbe/attachments/20120403/bd776470/attachment.html>