Digital Transition - One Year Later

June 12th, 2010 makes the first anniversary of the termination of full power analog broadcasting in the United States. So how has the broadcasting world changed in that first year? Actually not that much. Over the air digital television has certainly gone through some teething pains and continues to do so. Some people on the fringe of analog stations can no longer receive those same stations as digital stations. Some stations have had to change digital channels after the transition to improve reception to it viewers. Some stations have had to add low power translator stations to cover the same area they did as analog stations. Over the air viewers are relearning the lessons about antenna reception with digital as their parents and grandparents did in the 50's and 60's before cable and satellite. While we still field reception questions, it really isn't more than what it was in the analog days, believe it or not.

Certainly the transition to digital over the air television was not 100% painless as some in the government and trade organizations made it out to be. Some viewers have lost stations they grew up with because those stations are no longer on VHF channels and UHF doesn't quite carry as far way out on the fringe while other viewers are now receiving stations they never received before. Of course if you are one of the viewers who lost stations, this whole digital TV thing sucks. If you were one of the viewers who picked up new stations, this digital TV thing is pretty cool. It is all in your perspective.

What we are finding is that viewers with decent outside antennas pick up all the local stations with no problems. Those with inside antennas have problems. Truth is, those viewers always had problems in the analog days but because they could see something, even a noisy static filled signal, they put up with the aggravation of a bad signal. In the digital world, if the signal isn't a certain signal level, a "NO SIGNAL" will be seen on the screen so those viewers see nothing. We have proven time and time again that a UHF screen antenna mounted in a bucket on an apartment porch or balcony will receive more stations and better signals than an indoor antenna. Yet, when you tell people that, they think you are lying to them to just get them off the telephone. We WANT YOU as viewer. Why would we lie about something like that?

I must admit, I always have to suppress a laugh when I get a viewer who tells me, that the problem they are experiencing is with our station only. And just about EVERY caller tells me that. Listen folks, you aren't the first ones to tell me that and that will NOT make me move any faster. Been there. Done that. Got the tee shirt. 99% of the time, after asking several questions, it turns out that we are NOT the only station they are having a problem with. Most of the time, the viewer doesn't realize they have problems on other channels. One such example was a call I got from a little old lady about 15 years ago. She called up complaining she could get all the other channels except us and she wanted us to "fix our problem." After questioning her about her problem, I asked her how old was her TV. She immediately snapped back, "I can guarantee you it isn't MY TV. It is only 20 years old!" Twenty years old? Right. Not your TV. Well it turned out it WAS her TV. The mechanical tuner in this late 1970's model TV (this was before the electronic tuners we have today) had just worn out after 20 years of use. It happens. It is mechanical. She finally admitted after a few more questions she had to rock the channel knob back and forth on ALL stations to get them to come in. Classic mechanical tuner issue. But remember, she only had this problem with OUR station.

I got a call a few months back from a lady who lives about 5 miles from the transmitter complaining she could get all the other stations but couldn't get us and we needed to "fix our problem." (See the pattern?) After asking the usual questions, it sounded like the signal wasn't getting from the antenna to the TV. But no, it was only our station. I recommended some things to do and a few days later, she called me back to say that her son had gone on the roof and found where the coax had become disconnected from the antenna and she now had a perfect signal and thanked me for the information. (I like THOSE calls!)

I can honestly say that 99% of the callers are truly nice people who really want to watch our station and are looking for answers (sometimes miracles) from us. They are just very adamant about it at times. But that last one percent can be so vile and so hateful, we just hang up on them. That is verbal abuse and we are not required to deal with those callers and we don't.

Most of the issues these days deal with antennas and their placement. Lots of bad information out there about antennas and how to install them. A big one we are seeing are people installing two antennas, one pointed to Sauratown Mountain for WXII and WUNL and the other pointed toward north of Randleman where the other stations are located and using a splitter in reverse to combine the two into one to avoid having to use a rotor. On paper, this looks like a great idea. In reality, you have to know you are doing to make this work. The problem is you can introduce multipath (ghosting) in the system. With one antenna pointed in one direction and the other antenna pointed in another direction, the signals of the stations arrive at slightly different times to your receiver causing ghosting since one of the signals has to travel a longer distance by bouncing off of something like a water tank or building and then being received by the other antenna. Your receiver sees the two (or more) signals and is not sure which one to lock and so you don't get any picture at all or it breaks up at best. You have to use special antenna combiners and the length of cable between the antennas and the combiner is critical as well to not have this internal ghosting. You may also need specific channel filters to reduce ghosting or overloading of the receiver. It can get very complicated and you will need expensive test equipment to trouble shoot problems as well to make it work. You are basically creating a small cable headend and they are not simple or cheap things.

I must admit, I have gotten smarter myself as people call and I have to try and troubleshoot their problems over the phone so it has been a win-win as far as I can tell. As time goes by, things will get better. The same thing happened with analog TV. It got better over time. Digital will also. In just 12 months, things have gotten much better and the ratings show it. So hang in there. We are.

KJL-88

Time moves on. It is only one of two constants in the world. The other being death. And that is certainly true in broadcasting. After the Digital Transition, it has amazed me at how fast the industry as a whole is moving away from analog. In less than a year, you walk into most any TV station in the country and you may not recognize it from this time last year. Widescreen news is just one of those things. Two years ago widescreen newscasts weren't on ANYONE's radar. Now, stations that don't have widescreen newscasts are going the way of the dinosaur faster than the Chicxulub meteor that wiped them out.

The past two weeks we have been upgrading our intercity microwave systems from analog to digital. It hit me that some of this equipment is the oldest in the whole station. Some of it was manufactured while I was still in junior high school! (As the kid on the add says, "That's oood!") The first question that hits me is why hasn't this stuff been changed out sooner! These are the links that bring back the video from the news scenes out in the community. The simple answer, Why? It works. It is bullet proof. It never fails. It is out of sight. It is out of mind. And there are literally TENS OF THOUSANDS of these transmitters and receivers slaving away all over the country. And have been for decades!

Starting in 2008, due to a rule change by the FCC, and the money of Sprint/NEXTEL who wanted to carve out a piece of the broadcast mobile microwave band for commercial use, all broadcast mobile microwave transmitters and receivers nationwide had to be changed out. In order to fit the new band, it had to be digital. The Piedmont Triad was one of the first areas to convert. So from the trucks to the microwave receive sites it has been digital since 2008. But from the receive sites back to the studio, it has remained analog. And the pictures provided it. Hence, the change out.

But one link holds a special place in my heart. And that is KJL-88. If you saw the changeover from analog to digital last June, after the Star Spangled Banner played, you saw a "slide" of an old WGHP ID logo sign off. On it, in the lower third, KJL-88. It is on YouTube. Check it out!

You may be asking, "What is a KJL-88?" KJL-88 is the call sign assigned by the FCC for a specific fixed microwave link. It just happens to be the first microwave link assigned to WGHP back when it came on the air in 1963. (We now have over 10 fix point microwave links running all over the Triad to bring back live pictures of news events.) If you ever watched WGHP from October 14, 1963 to March 31, 2006, you were watching KJL-88! It was the main, and at the time only, studio to transmitter link. That is how the programming got from first the Old Sheraton Hotel studios and then later the current Francis St studios. After the new transmitter site went on the air in March 2006, KJL-88 was reclassified as the backup microwave link since the original tower (which we now call the "Plainfield Transmitter Site") became the stand by tower site. (SIDEBAR, WGHP is the only TV station in the Triad that has two completely separate and independent transmitting sites so if thereWGHP Auxiliary Transmitter Site - 1999 is a major problem at one site, the other site can come up and we can continue to broadcast.) For the next 3 years, KJL-88 continued to operate as it had for the preceding 43 years, just no one was watching since the backup transmitter was not turned on except for testing into the dummy antenna. After the June 12th 2009 transition to digital television, it looked like KJL-88 may have broadcast it last. The analog equipment was not compatible with digital broadcasts and the equipment itself was over 30 years old. We had placed a digital receiver that was on the main microwave link to the new tower site (which is call the Courthouse Site) at the Plainfield Site to keep the channel 8 digital backup transmitter serviced, but that wasn't a permanent solution. You see the Plainfield Site is also the location of one of our microwave receive sites so we have to be able to send video from the trucks back to High Point from there. When the return link was put in back in the late 70's, early 80's, it too was analog. In order to continue to keep communications with that receive equipment, we had used some of KJL-88 to send the controlling signals over it. How to do it now? The microwave link back TO High Point (WLD-423) was staying. What about the link FROM High Point (KJL-88)?

The old analog equipment for KJL-88 was removed last year and it was traded in for other microwave equipment we needed on other microwave links. So for the first time since 1963, that link was open. We maintained the license (good ole' KJL-88) but what to do with it now? It is interesting to note that the equipment removed from KJL-88 last year was not the original equipment. Even though the equipment removed was installed in 1976, it replaced the original KJL-88 equipment (version 1.0) from when WGHP went on the air in 1963. That equipment was a RCA tube type microwave system. It had no backups that I have ever heard of. One story of interest was the receiver. There was one tube that would go out on a fairly regular basis. Since the transmitter site was manned in those days when the transmitter was on the air, if the tube went bad, there was a case of tubes sitting close by. As the signal started to fade into snow, which viewers at home could see just as easily as the engineers could, the duty engineer would pull the offending tube out and plug a new one in. But these tubes were famous for not always working straight out of the box. I am told it was not uncommon to try 5 or 6 tubes before one was found to work. Of course while all this was going on, there was no picture on the air. Just black or a trouble slide on air generated at the transmitter site. Remember, it would take 30 to 60 seconds per tube to see if it would work so this process could last 5 minutes or more! The station suffered through this until KJL-88 version 2.0 was installed in 1976, with the solid state equipment I pulled out of service last year.

Earlier this year it was decided that there would indeed be a KJL-88 version 3.0 and it would be digital. It would feed the new channel 35 backup transmitter at the Plainfield Site and continue to provide control signals for the receive site. And since we were upgrading this link, what about the return path back to the studio (WLD-423)? It was decided to make that link digital as well. And I guess while we were on the subject of microwave paths, what about the others. Obviously, the main microwave link to Courthouse Site was already digital so we didn't have to worry about that one. Pleadings and beggings were performed. Arms were twisted. Compromising pictures taken. Deals cut. Money extorted. In the end, it was decided that while we had the attention of the microwave companies (who were begging us to buy and willing to give first borns if we did) let's upgrade the other paths as well and clean up our microwave shots that would then be digital from the field all the way to the viewers TVs. Equipment was ordered and after waiting what seemed an eternity, it began arriving several weeks ago. First link to be installed? KJL-88 and its return link sister WLD-423. Since then, we have installed the link from Greensboro back to High Point and next on the list, the link from Winston-Salem to High Point and the link from our news bureau at the Winston-Salem Journal. As sweet as it is to have those links converted to digital and the improved pictures from the field that viewers can see now, to be able to fire back up KJL-88 after almost a full year of being dark, was a great feeling. A connection to those engineers of yesteryear who first put KJL-88 on the air in 1963. The link I remember watching as a kid. A year ago, I didn't know if KJL-88 would ever live again. Today, it will live for the next 30 years at least.

So if you are awake around 3 or 4 AM, that is when we run the ID graphics of the microwave links and you will see KJL-88 on it. And that's the story of KJL-88.

"So long! Farewell! See you NEXT time! NOT."

On Friday the 5pm newscast producer put together her last show. She is moving up to a larger market and WAAAY up the east coast. Several of us were taking a coffee break in the Green Room across from the control room about 3pm and she came by getting things ready for her last show. We called her in and told her how we would miss her and don't forget the little people and oh yeah, come around occasionally. She said she would and I don't think ANYONE believed she would be coming back. She might THINK she will, but it will NEVER happen.

It isn't that she doesn't WANT to. It is just life doesn't move like that. She isn't from around here. She has no family here. She came to college here and that is what brought her here in the first place and this was her first job out of school. No real reason to come back except to see former co-workers who may or may not even be working here then. I mean, it isn't like we are FRIENDS or anything. Why would she or why should she want to come back? Nothing personal. Honest. Circle of life, Simba.

I speak from a certain first hand knowledge of such situations. I have seen it a thousand times in my career. I have even been in that very position myself a couple of times before believing life would go on as before with worker-friends, just that I would be a little farther down the road, that is all. But the truth is I was moving on to a new job in a new town and any ties I had were being cut in two with all the precision a surgeons scalpel. I just wouldn't acknowledge it.

The first time it happen to me it was in the town I grew up in. But by the time I moved on, family had moved away and all my growing up friends had moved on and it was only co-workers I associated with. A couple of them I even considered good friends, but in the post move era, I have only talked to one of them twice on the phone and have never seen the other one in over 20 years. I do feel bad about that, but the 2 times I have been back that way, I was passing through going somewhere else with no time to spare it seemed and my hometown was on the route. In all honesty, the one who I haven't seen since I left, I did go by his "house" to see him one time, but found out he had moved somewhere else in town, but I didn't know where and didn't have the time to find out where. People just don't stay at a job like they used to. Normally.

My station is unique in that many people stay for 10's of years. That isn't the case anywhere else anymore. My immediate supervisor has been there for 30 years and my department head for 31 years. The General Manager has 34 years of tenure there! Some are on their second time around! Some have never worked anywhere else in their lives! Me? I am a newbie. A rookie. Only 18 years of service to the station. People cross town? If they make it 5 years, they consider themselves lucky.

Now adays those being hired don't plan on staying. This is a stepping stone to bigger and better things so I really expect we who have the tenure of decades are the last of a dying breed. To be honest, I never expected to still be working at the same place after 18 years and counting either. Bright lights are always over the horizon.

Have I had other offers? Yep! You bet! More money too! But not only what you make, but the environment you make it in is just as important to me and so far I haven't found anything better, yet.

So Jen, enjoy Connecticut and be as successful as you want to be! Nice knowing you and working with you! But we shall never see each other again. Blame the Gods of life.

Time Flies

Holy cow Batman! Where did the time go?

May 23, 2009 was my last blog. And it was a rant at that. Surprisingly no hate mail from it either. So either no one cared, no one read it or no one reads me. That is Ok. No hard feelings. Honest. I have had nothing really to say. Well, I have, but I have had no blogging energy to do it. Have pretty much ignored facebook and Twitter too over the last year. Trying to get better.

Writing takes a lot out of me. Don't know why. It just does. The run up to the actual act I have LOTS to say. Sit down to do it and BAM! Nothing. Or it comes out WAY too long that even I don't want to read. I don't know how professional writers do it. I don't mean the people who write books (God I would kill myself if I knew I had to write a 200 page book. I don't think I have 200 pages in me for an entire life). No I mean the people who write everyday for a living like news reporters, PR people, Editorialists, etc. I slave hours over what piddle I write here. With this posting I am trying to do it all in one take with one proofread, not the over and over and over proofing and touching up I usually do. It seems when I do that, that is when my "few lines" grow into a novel.

I hate when others do that and I REALLY hate it, when I do it so I guess that is the real reason why I have been tardy in this endeavor, even though my life has been pretty full the last 12 months and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Lots to write about, just need to be more brief and concise about it.

I am starting to fall into the old funk. OK, I'll stop now.

The Bill of Rights Only Apply to Liberals

I must admit I had not intended to blog on such a volatile topic so soon from my last bomb blast. I need to mention something about the upcoming digital transition, a topic I have been blogging on the work web site, but not so much here. But here I am. And here goes.

I have been amused over the last few days how the extreme left has blown a gasket over comments and remarks of former Vice President Dick Cheney taking to task the Obama Administration's continual pounding on the Bush Administration's handling of the whole "War on Terror" and what is the definition of "torture." After a chance encounter with the "Randi Rhodes Show" on satellite radio and her tirade of how Dick Cheney needs to just "shut up and go away and stop lying to cover his own ass" to a new Facebook group called "Telling Dick Cheney to shut the hell up" to comments made by MANY DIFFERENT people on MSNBC to even the Obama Administration on the defensive over Mr. Cheney's comments.

People, "you doth protest too much." Hate to be the barer of bad news, but the Bill of Rights and particularly the First Amendment, one that the Ultra Left clings to like a baby to its mothers breast appears to only be allowed when they use it and everyone else who doesn't believe what they believe just shut up and go away. You saw the same thing with the Tea Parties. It would appear that in their minds, only Obama supporters are covered by the Bill of Rights and everyone else is just s*** out of luck.

Now I don't agree with EVERYTHING Mr. Cheney says, but I do believe in his right to say it. Our laws protect that right to EVERY citizen, Obama supporter or not. I don't remember this country becoming the United Socialist States of America yet, even though some on both sides of the issue thinks it has. And if you objectively look at what has happened in the last 4 months since Mr. Obama came into office, one could argue it has lurched in that direction.

My own opinion is the Ultra Libs are afraid that Cheney is making points, and many on both sides believe in this round, the current Administration is losing this war of words and the only way to stop Cheney is to marginalize him. Which seems to be back firing. It has the sound of desperation in it and mainstream America and many in the media have picked up on that. If you analyze what the Administration is doing, it is very quietly following the Bush Administration in lock step, which has the uber left bloggers going after Obama viciously, in a wonderful demonstration of the left eating its own for its own cause. So much for transparency and "change we can believe in."

So far I am not believing what I am seeing. This country is more divided now than it was under Bush. I am seeing a smart but naive man who holds the most power in the world, squandering it and our position in the world away just so he looks good to the Europeans. All I have to say to that is if it wasn't for the US in the 1940's, they all would be speaking German in Europe now. But then they say memories are always short lived in poltics.

Don't "Threat" On Me

Being from the old school in the media, where you do not show sides when covering a story, I refrain from speaking my mind in public. I don't display bumper stickers on my vehicles, I don't allow political signs to be placed in my yard, I don't protest and when out in the public away from friends, if people ask my opinion about issues of the day, I always attempt to be as neutral as possible.

This blog is about as far as I have gone into the "public opinion arena" and even it has been tame with mostly issues that deal with the business of broadcasting, not hot button issues of the day. But I am about to break that public silence, at least this once and it is a doosy of an issue to break the ice on, but I feel very passionate about it.

First off, I am a life long registered Democrat from a long line of Southern Democrats. I am a moderate. I am pro-Choice. I am pro-Gay civil unions but believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. I am fiscally conservative. I have voted in every election I have been able to vote in. I vote for whom I think will do the best job, not ideology. I judge a candidate by their policies, nothing else. Because of that, I voted for Ronald Reagan, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Al Core, but I must confess, I voted against John Kerry in 2004 and I voted against Barak Obama. Yes, I admit I didn't vote for President Obama. And it was because of his policies. I have never believed in big government nor socialism/fascism. I am no fan of John McCain's policies either. It boiled down to Ultra Liberal with Obama or Liberal with McCain. What a choice!? I sure wanted to vote for "None of the above."

I don't know why people are all up in arms about what the President is doing. He said he would do all this and more when he was running. And he has done most of it within the first 100 days of his Presidency. DUH! And you are surprised? You bought it, you live with it. You will have another chance in 2012 to put someone else in the White House. Until then, just SHUT UP about it. You can't do anything about it now anyway, the election is over. You want change? Start next year in the mid term elections with the bums we call Congress people. Reign them in and the White House will follow right along behind them. It won't have a choice. It will be in their interest to do so. George Soros may think he owns the country at this point, but he is a fool if he really believes that. The real power still resides in the ballot box. You don't believe me? Just ask Arlen Spector. His reason for changing parties last week? He spouted off about the Republican Party not seeing things his way, yada, yada, yada and then he said it. He couldn't win in the primaries next year as a Republican. BOOM! There is. Winning is more important that serving the voters. That is one of the major problems with our elected officials today. Me, first. Voters, second. Schmuck. It is past time for term limits. Spector proves it, again.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is an embarrassment to the Party. Majority Leader Reid can't put two words together to make up a complete thought if he had to. Both parrot what they THINK people want to hear. That isn't leadership. That is stupid, plain and simple. They are too afraid of failing and loosing power. I certainly respect someone who honestly tries and fails than someone who never tries and believe me, they ain't trying. During the President's speech to the joint Session of Congress, I swear, I got tired of seeing Speaker Pelosi jumping up and down every other word to clap. I kept shouting at the TV, "Nancy, SIT DOWN! It isn't about you!" Another SCHMUCK. Sec of State Hilary Clinton. She is a Clinton, what else do you need to know? By the way, what is so damn funny that just about every time she speaks in public now she feels she has to laugh? Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. He is a Bush. I don't trust him. In all honesty, he may have the real stuff, he does act differently than George H. W. or George W., but we will never know, thanks to his big brother George. On second thought, he may be the greatest guy for the job but I still don't trust him. Mitt Romney. Which side of the political spectrum does he live on anyway? Don't trust him. Bobby Jindel. Republican's Obama. Too young and wide eyed. He needs to learn to read and speak at the same time. And then there is Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. Don't know. First glance, impressed. Second and later glances, too soon to tell. Seems to have peaked already and so may not matter after all.

As you might guess, I don't like ANY of them. Well I don't. They are all bums. I am getting more and more of the feeling like my own Party is not my Party anymore. I find that I am disagreeing with the planks in the party platform. I am thinking of myself more like an Independent these days and not a Democrat. The current extreme left leaning Democrat Party is not the Party I grew up in. I don't know this Party anymore. I am no Republican either. I don't identify with that Party either. And I guess that is why I feel the way I do about the next group.

I guess my biggest anger is with my beloved industry (HHMMM, I guess I get back around to the media anyway!). They are so in love with Barak Obama, The Myth. Many in the media were so anti-George W. Bush, they would have supported Hitler in 2008 if he were alive and running for President. No joke. I know several of them who would have. The media will jump on a bandwagon for a tenth of a ratings point and Obama had a back story that couldn't be resisted that could be used against Bush. Now, for complete disclosure, I know many people in the business who are right wing and many are in newsrooms. The problem is there are more Liberals than Conservatives in the newsroom (have been for years and it is mostly the younger ones who lean left since the older ones who either were Conservative or became Conservative move on to real jobs sooner or later) and they are frequently drowned out. Also, for complete disclosure, I know many Liberals and Conservatives in the newsroom who both try very hard to not let their political bent distort their reporting. To them, the profession is worth it. But then you have almost as many on both sides of the political spectrum that will prostitute themselves out for a story. SMUCKS!

The coverage, or lack there of the Tea Parties is very troubling. While I do not believe there was a coordinated effort within the industry to embargo the Tea Parties, the attitude of many in the media on the Tea Party story was a small group of disgruntled Republican stalwarts stirring up trouble and so it wasn't worth their time. FOX on the other hand saw it for what it was, a true grassroots effort of public protest having been hearing about it for several months and played it for all it was worth, and very successfully getting mentions on all the other news programs and cable news channels. The confrontation of CNN reporter Susan Roesgen with Tea Party participants in Chicago showcases in very negative terms what the Media perception of the Tea Parties were. Believe me, the media is now KEENLY aware of what the Tea Parties are all about and Susan Roesgen is the poster child for the media's and the Administration's reaction to it. Why do you think the President continues to talk about it weeks after it happened? THEY GET IT! If not, they wouldn't STILL be talking about it. But it ISN'T their agenda so how do you get around that? When you can't fight them with logic and reasoning, you start to demonize your opponent, loudly and often. It is your only weapon. Why do you think people like Janeane Garofalo and Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddox spouted hate speech about the Tea Parties? Why do you think they called participants "Redneck Tea Baggers?" For those who don't know what a "tea bagger" is, it is a euphemism for a sexual act performed by a man on another man. It is meant to be degrading to the Tea Party participants. It IS HATE SPEECH in all of its horrible glory. Actually what it does is shows how hypocritical the extreme left is. Free speech is all the rage until it is something they don't like. The Tea Parties are exposing that in a way nothing else has been able to. Susan Roesgen has become a symbol of that hate, something CNN is not real happy about these days I am sure. That one clip is still played on the air at FOX as a rallying cry. Now while I don't think continuing to do that is helpful, it keeps ratings up. So they do it.

Personally, I support the Tea Party concept. I pay way too much in taxes now and $13 a week tax cut is a joke. When all this Stimulus and budget hits, taxes are going up, FOR EVERYONE. Get ready. You heard it here first. It doesn't take a financial genus to figure that one out. You can't keep spending what you don't have. It has to come from somewhere. And before the taxes go up, the inflation that is a direct result of all this deficit spending will be here. I remember the Jimmy Carter years of 23% mortgage interest rates. If we don't stop with the spending, it will be worse than that. Would I participate in a Tea Party? Probably not because of that "old school media" thing. I help bring the story to the masses, I am not a part of it.

But if things get worse, who knows, maybe I would. There are a lot of ticked off people in this country right now and I am one of them. Oh yeah, I vote too. And pay taxes. A LOT OF TAXES. And I am no where NEAR making $250,000 a year. Or even half of that.

IT'S THE little THINGS

Early Thursday morning my work cell phone rang. I looked at the clock and it was 1:05 AM. When the work phone rings in the middle of the night, that usually means that the rest of my sleep for the night is over. But it has been a while since I had one of those calls. With the new transmitter, it just doesn't happen anymore. But I still begrudgingly answered it. It was the synthesized female voice of the remote control unit at the auxiliary transmitter site saying "Hello...... Hello........ Hello." Translated, "Put in the password dummy and I will tell you what I want!"

Fumbling with the phone with one eye still closed in a dark room, I was hoping that I hit the correct key that would light the keypad so I could enter in the password because if I hit the wrong button that nagging "Hello" voice would hang up and call me again. After I satisfied the computer I indeed was the correct person it was looking for, it very coldly told me in its robotic type female voice that the backup generator was below temperature. Translation? The block heater that keeps the diesel engine at a warm temperature on cold days had stopped working. Since it is at the auxiliary transmitter site and there is no analog channel 8 transmitter there anymore but just the digital channel 8 transmitter waiting for June 12th to make its debut and it was one o'clock in the morning, I acknowledged the alarm, hung the phone up and rolled back over to sleep.

First thing in the morning I arrived at the auxiliary transmitter site and looked over the 1981 generator engine in the water heater jacket area. The wiring from the thermostat that turns on the heat had literally burned up from years of being next to a heating element. I pulled off the wire and went into the building to find some replacement wire. As I was preparing the wire and then installing it back on the generator, I was reminded of the time before we built the other tower and building and installed the new channel 8 and DTV transmitters with all this neat redundancy and I spent all my time at this site. Since we had built the other site as the main site, we had retrofitted this site as a backup with no more equipment than is required to do the job. And since the auxiliary site isn't on line 24/7 as in the old days, nothing breaks at the rate it used to so I don't spend much time there anymore.

As I worked I remembered the first time I ever went in that building and how much has changed in 17 years in this fairly small building. It was 1992 and I was interviewing for my job. The man I was to replace, Roy Allman, was preparing to retire after 30 years and as part of the interview process I was to go to the transmitter and he was to "scope me out" for my soon to be boss to see if I really knew anything about transmitters and about not killing myself around 10,000 volts.

I spent about 3 hours there that day with Roy talking about the old Harris tube transmitter that 13 years later I would remove from the air and ship half of it to sister station KSTU Salt Lake City and the other half to sister station KTBC Austin, TX. I got to know Roy and decided that if I could land this gig, it would a great place to work (still is!). Roy was from the old school of engineering. He never got in a hurry, even if the transmitter was off the air, but his knowledge was vast. Even though I worked with the old Harris transmitter longer than Roy did (his 12 years vs my 13 years), I firmly believe he knew more about that transmitter than I did. Roy had about 11 months before he retired when I was hired so, I got to work with him a for a while. That was a blast. Sadly, Roy is no longer with us, having past away last year just missing the Digital Transition but I think that is the way Roy would have wanted it. Change wasn't easy for him.

I then remembered the time we "remodeled" the building in 1994 updating the electrical systems and changing the microwave antennas and adding a full audio system for stereo broadcasts that we hoped would be coming in the not to distant future. It did, the next year when FOX purchased the station.

I then remembered the time in 1998 when we replaced the center conductor in the transmission line sections on the tower. In those days we only had one antenna and one transmission line so all the work had to be done from 1:30 am to 4:30 am. It took months replacing the fifty-six 20 foot sections of center conductor line in the transmission line in that nightly 3 hour window. About as soon as the tower crew got up the tower, it was time for them to come down! It was also during all this overnight work, I had my gall bladder removed.

The night of December 31, 1999 I found myself at the transmitter "waiting" for Y2K and any possible disaster that might befall the human race. Y2K came. Y2k went. I was home in bed by 3 am.

On September 11, 2001, I was instructed to go to the transmitter and lock myself in and wait. So I did that and watched the pictures all day on our air as we rebroadcast FOX News Channel as I sat in my little office there at the transmitter.

I then remembered the day we put the new site on the air and the original site passed on to auxiliary status. I finished up the testing of the generator, put the tools away, locked the building and headed to the studio.

Man, there are times when I miss those old days when we were just one catastrophic event away from disaster. Now we have back ups for back ups. We have come a long way since I started work here. But it IS the LITTLE things in life. Life is good.