Re: [IRCA] Policing the AM BCB

[Aaron Kreider]

WTEL 610 Philadelphia was overmodulating by 200-300% for a good year or 
two before they finally fixed it.  I complained - never got any 
response.  Using 110+ khz bandwidth on peaks.


Now they finally stopped and stopped using IBOC so I'm very happy.

I'm guessing lots of automated stations make mistakes all the time.  
What they need is an automatic error checking system (ex. if your audio 
modulation is below 10% for more than 2 minutes or if your frequency 
drifts by more than 100 hz, it could trigger a text message).   Though 
from my experience as a software developer, even with error checking it 
is hard to maintain 100% up time.


Aaron

--
High resolution map of race and income --> JusticeMap.org

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Re: [IRCA] Policing the AM BCB

[Rick Lewis]

Paul,
Your post reminds me of something that happened to me. One winter, the
weekend afternoon jock forgot to change to our directional pattern, and the
six-to-midnight jock neglected to either check it or change it.
I wasn't on duty yet, but I answered the phone while a taped public-service
program was running, and it was a listener who was very glad to be receiving
our station at night for a change. I apologized for what I had to do, but
thanked him for calling, and immediately made the appropriate pattern
change.
You're right. As much fun as the DXing hobby is, broadcast violations can
have serious consequences.
In this instance, I thought that DXers had gotten a 7-hour chance to hear
the station, which was a bonus for them. And I'd have liked that if I'd
benefited from it. But once I knew about it, I would be complicit if I
didn't make sure it stopped right away.
Regarding station monitoring, I don't understand people who care so little
about stations they're involved with that they don't check on things.
I was always grateful for informative listeners, and if the information was
false, no harm done. At least the listener cared enough to call. And, often
unlike today, someone at the station cared enough to answer that call.
Good for you for giving a damn. Not enough people do.
--
Rick


-Original Message-
From: IRCA [mailto:irca-boun...@hard-core-dx.com] On Behalf Of Paul B.
Walker, Jr.
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2017 3:24 PM
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@hard-core-dx.com>
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Policing the AM BCB

Speaking as a DX'er and a broadcaster of 14 years...

I've had listeners call me and tell me one of my stations had a problem.
For instance, I answered the phone at WKBI/WDDH once and had a listener
tell me "The music on classy 1400 is playing under the news" I said
"thanks, let me run and look what happened" hung up and fixed it.

If I know a station is automated/unattended, I would check on it several
times a day while in the building, and at least once or twice at home,
usually right before bed. I also check over the weekend when not in the
office.

BUT, and this is a BIG BUTT.. that is just what *I* do. It is not meant to
be a reflection on other broadcasters, my OCD doesn't allow me not to deal
with things like this. I've NEVER EVER knowingly had a problem occur with a
station I was in charge of for more then 6 hours. In most cases, it was
fixed in an hour or less.. if not mere minutes.

As a DX'er, I have regularly called up or emailed stations when something
has gone wonky.   When living in Connecticut,  the local AM was dead air
when it should've had talk programming going. I called up the sister
country station down the hall and said "Uhh, your AM across the hall is
dead air"  Jock: "Thanks, i'll go check" clickThat was said in the
hurried, let me go fix it fashion, not rudeness

I emailed a station just this week after noticing them on well past sunset
3 days in the last week. Owner replied and thanked me for alerting him to
the problem.

When a chief engineer friend of mine had his 10KW Day/3 tower, 1kw night/6
tower station get stuck on day power and pattern well after dark I called
him up right away to let him know, so he could log in from home and fix it.

What I do find ironic, or rather interesting.. is if a station is cheating
wether on purpose or on accident for a few days, many DX'ers are known to
look the other day if it's a much needed item in the log books. However,
once it becomes a pest, they want to burn that station at the stake

You can't have it both ways.

I am a broadcaster first and foremost, it pays my bills. My responsibility
is to protect the license and reputation of the stations I work for, and to
a much smaller extent, the licenses of the stations that some of my best
friends work for. You won't be able to convince me otherwise, rea;lly

Paul


On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 6:13 PM, <amd...@core.com> wrote:

> About a week ago I noticed that WCPT 820 had a horrible
> echo effect in their audio.  I don't know when it started
> as I don't check this frequency that often.  This echo
> went on for a few more days until I finally notified the
> station by e-mail.
>
> And, a day and a half later their audio problem is corrected.
>
> The question I have is;  Don't station owners, and staff,
> check their night signal every day?  All it would take is
> a few minutes to tune in and if everything is fine tune
> out.
>
> Why do they wait for some listener to complain before
> checking their own signal?
>
> Over the past 25 years, at least once a year, I have
> contacted a station somewhere in the mid-west about a
> problem with their signal.
>
> And I have gotten mixed feedback.  One local station,
> after a phone call (before e-mail existed), actually
> thanked me for calling.  Another station when cal

Re: [IRCA] Policing the AM BCB

[Russ Edmunds]

I agree with both of you. Not everybody - in any field - is going to go the 
extra mile for their employer. Some people are there just for the check. I've 
unfortunately worked with some of those. The main reason I opted out of 
management  15 years ago was that only maybe half of the people who worked for 
me cared enough to do their best on a regular basis.


And of course again in any field you'll find people like the one who questioned 
the call.


Russ Edmunds

WB2BJH

Blue Bell, PA

Grid FN20id


From: IRCA <irca-boun...@hard-core-dx.com> on behalf of Paul B. Walker, Jr. 
<walkerbroadcast...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2017 6:24:12 PM
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Policing the AM BCB

Speaking as a DX'er and a broadcaster of 14 years...

I've had listeners call me and tell me one of my stations had a problem.
For instance, I answered the phone at WKBI/WDDH once and had a listener
tell me "The music on classy 1400 is playing under the news" I said
"thanks, let me run and look what happened" hung up and fixed it.

If I know a station is automated/unattended, I would check on it several
times a day while in the building, and at least once or twice at home,
usually right before bed. I also check over the weekend when not in the
office.

BUT, and this is a BIG BUTT.. that is just what *I* do. It is not meant to
be a reflection on other broadcasters, my OCD doesn't allow me not to deal
with things like this. I've NEVER EVER knowingly had a problem occur with a
station I was in charge of for more then 6 hours. In most cases, it was
fixed in an hour or less.. if not mere minutes.

As a DX'er, I have regularly called up or emailed stations when something
has gone wonky.   When living in Connecticut,  the local AM was dead air
when it should've had talk programming going. I called up the sister
country station down the hall and said "Uhh, your AM across the hall is
dead air"  Jock: "Thanks, i'll go check" clickThat was said in the
hurried, let me go fix it fashion, not rudeness

I emailed a station just this week after noticing them on well past sunset
3 days in the last week. Owner replied and thanked me for alerting him to
the problem.

When a chief engineer friend of mine had his 10KW Day/3 tower, 1kw night/6
tower station get stuck on day power and pattern well after dark I called
him up right away to let him know, so he could log in from home and fix it.

What I do find ironic, or rather interesting.. is if a station is cheating
wether on purpose or on accident for a few days, many DX'ers are known to
look the other day if it's a much needed item in the log books. However,
once it becomes a pest, they want to burn that station at the stake

You can't have it both ways.

I am a broadcaster first and foremost, it pays my bills. My responsibility
is to protect the license and reputation of the stations I work for, and to
a much smaller extent, the licenses of the stations that some of my best
friends work for. You won't be able to convince me otherwise, rea;lly

Paul


On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 6:13 PM, <amd...@core.com> wrote:

> About a week ago I noticed that WCPT 820 had a horrible
> echo effect in their audio.  I don't know when it started
> as I don't check this frequency that often.  This echo
> went on for a few more days until I finally notified the
> station by e-mail.
>
> And, a day and a half later their audio problem is corrected.
>
> The question I have is;  Don't station owners, and staff,
> check their night signal every day?  All it would take is
> a few minutes to tune in and if everything is fine tune
> out.
>
> Why do they wait for some listener to complain before
> checking their own signal?
>
> Over the past 25 years, at least once a year, I have
> contacted a station somewhere in the mid-west about a
> problem with their signal.
>
> And I have gotten mixed feedback.  One local station,
> after a phone call (before e-mail existed), actually
> thanked me for calling.  Another station when called
> actually told me in so many words to mind my own business.
>  The guy said "Who the hell are you to tell me that WE
> have a problem!"
>
> Tom Jasinski
> Joliet, IL
>
>
>
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> IRCA mailing list
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> http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca
>
> Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the
> original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
> IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers
>
> For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org
>
> To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
>
>
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Re: [IRCA] Policing the AM BCB

[Paul B. Walker, Jr.]

Speaking as a DX'er and a broadcaster of 14 years...

I've had listeners call me and tell me one of my stations had a problem.
For instance, I answered the phone at WKBI/WDDH once and had a listener
tell me "The music on classy 1400 is playing under the news" I said
"thanks, let me run and look what happened" hung up and fixed it.

If I know a station is automated/unattended, I would check on it several
times a day while in the building, and at least once or twice at home,
usually right before bed. I also check over the weekend when not in the
office.

BUT, and this is a BIG BUTT.. that is just what *I* do. It is not meant to
be a reflection on other broadcasters, my OCD doesn't allow me not to deal
with things like this. I've NEVER EVER knowingly had a problem occur with a
station I was in charge of for more then 6 hours. In most cases, it was
fixed in an hour or less.. if not mere minutes.

As a DX'er, I have regularly called up or emailed stations when something
has gone wonky.   When living in Connecticut,  the local AM was dead air
when it should've had talk programming going. I called up the sister
country station down the hall and said "Uhh, your AM across the hall is
dead air"  Jock: "Thanks, i'll go check" clickThat was said in the
hurried, let me go fix it fashion, not rudeness

I emailed a station just this week after noticing them on well past sunset
3 days in the last week. Owner replied and thanked me for alerting him to
the problem.

When a chief engineer friend of mine had his 10KW Day/3 tower, 1kw night/6
tower station get stuck on day power and pattern well after dark I called
him up right away to let him know, so he could log in from home and fix it.

What I do find ironic, or rather interesting.. is if a station is cheating
wether on purpose or on accident for a few days, many DX'ers are known to
look the other day if it's a much needed item in the log books. However,
once it becomes a pest, they want to burn that station at the stake

You can't have it both ways.

I am a broadcaster first and foremost, it pays my bills. My responsibility
is to protect the license and reputation of the stations I work for, and to
a much smaller extent, the licenses of the stations that some of my best
friends work for. You won't be able to convince me otherwise, rea;lly

Paul


On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 6:13 PM,  wrote:

> About a week ago I noticed that WCPT 820 had a horrible
> echo effect in their audio.  I don't know when it started
> as I don't check this frequency that often.  This echo
> went on for a few more days until I finally notified the
> station by e-mail.
>
> And, a day and a half later their audio problem is corrected.
>
> The question I have is;  Don't station owners, and staff,
> check their night signal every day?  All it would take is
> a few minutes to tune in and if everything is fine tune
> out.
>
> Why do they wait for some listener to complain before
> checking their own signal?
>
> Over the past 25 years, at least once a year, I have
> contacted a station somewhere in the mid-west about a
> problem with their signal.
>
> And I have gotten mixed feedback.  One local station,
> after a phone call (before e-mail existed), actually
> thanked me for calling.  Another station when called
> actually told me in so many words to mind my own business.
>  The guy said "Who the hell are you to tell me that WE
> have a problem!"
>
> Tom Jasinski
> Joliet, IL
>
>
>
> ___
> IRCA mailing list
> IRCA@hard-core-dx.com
> http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca
>
> Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the
> original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
> IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers
>
> For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org
>
> To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
>
>
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Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original 
contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its 
editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com