Back again
See this list? Those are all the radio stations I am dealing with in one form or another. Some of them are listed multiple times, because each listing represents a particular machine and some stations have more than one.
I bring this up as a way to explain why I haven't been around much lately. Some of my recent challenges include:
1) A set of boxes that my predecessor installed to feed an FM radio station through the Internet have stopped working reliably. The FM station is so stuttery and broken up that it's not listenable, and my only recourse is to replace these boxes with a pair of Comrex BRIClinks, which are better able to handle Internet congestion.
2) The satellite that most national radio networks, including the ones we use at our New Hampshire and Vermont stations, died at the end of June. The networks moved to a new satellite in a different position in the sky. We had to install a new dish at our central Vermont station because the old one couldn't get a signal from the new satellite. We pointed our New Hampshire dish at the new satellite, but it only receives Rush Limbaugh reliably. We keep getting dropouts during Boston Red Sox broadcasts, among others.
3) The microwave system that delivers programming to one of our transmitter sites from the local studio is working, but just barely; trees have grown up to the point where they're starting to block the signal.
4) An asshole performance rights organization wants us to pay a lot of money for the rights to stream music from three of our stations. These stations are not making money; they're being supported by our talk stations, and I'm sorely tempted not to stream them at all.
5) We had to spend the weekend before last disassembling the studio of our classical station and reassembling it in a new space. But it works and is reliable.
6) One of the most powerful AM stations in New Hampshire was running at 20% power when we took it over. We have it up to about 95% power now, but one of the other tenants at the site says it's intermodulating with their transmissions.
7) We have an AM station in Vermont and a construction permit for a translator that will allow it to broadcast also on FM. We have been trying to get our prospective landlord to agree to let us put in a telephone pole with an FM antenna and a small box at the base for the transmitter, but after agreeing in principle to the project and agreeing to the proposed rent amount, the landlord is nitpicking over the language of the proposed lease.
8) We don't have enough sales talent, especially in Vermont. One of the Vermont stations needs a General Manager.
9) McDonald's is changing ad agencies and refocusing on national rather than local advertising. They'll be dropping our stations, and we'll have to replace the lost business somehow.
I bring this up as a way to explain why I haven't been around much lately. Some of my recent challenges include:
1) A set of boxes that my predecessor installed to feed an FM radio station through the Internet have stopped working reliably. The FM station is so stuttery and broken up that it's not listenable, and my only recourse is to replace these boxes with a pair of Comrex BRIClinks, which are better able to handle Internet congestion.
2) The satellite that most national radio networks, including the ones we use at our New Hampshire and Vermont stations, died at the end of June. The networks moved to a new satellite in a different position in the sky. We had to install a new dish at our central Vermont station because the old one couldn't get a signal from the new satellite. We pointed our New Hampshire dish at the new satellite, but it only receives Rush Limbaugh reliably. We keep getting dropouts during Boston Red Sox broadcasts, among others.
3) The microwave system that delivers programming to one of our transmitter sites from the local studio is working, but just barely; trees have grown up to the point where they're starting to block the signal.
4) An asshole performance rights organization wants us to pay a lot of money for the rights to stream music from three of our stations. These stations are not making money; they're being supported by our talk stations, and I'm sorely tempted not to stream them at all.
5) We had to spend the weekend before last disassembling the studio of our classical station and reassembling it in a new space. But it works and is reliable.
6) One of the most powerful AM stations in New Hampshire was running at 20% power when we took it over. We have it up to about 95% power now, but one of the other tenants at the site says it's intermodulating with their transmissions.
7) We have an AM station in Vermont and a construction permit for a translator that will allow it to broadcast also on FM. We have been trying to get our prospective landlord to agree to let us put in a telephone pole with an FM antenna and a small box at the base for the transmitter, but after agreeing in principle to the project and agreeing to the proposed rent amount, the landlord is nitpicking over the language of the proposed lease.
8) We don't have enough sales talent, especially in Vermont. One of the Vermont stations needs a General Manager.
9) McDonald's is changing ad agencies and refocusing on national rather than local advertising. They'll be dropping our stations, and we'll have to replace the lost business somehow.