Have you read any reports lately about copper theft from transmitter sites? Likley the weather has kept many of the thiever away for the moment. But you can be sure that as the weather warms up over the next few months, they will be back around. As Clay Frienwald originally wrote, site security […]

Many stations have mascots, or even station pets – a dog here, a cat there. Beyond that, animals are probably not the best tenants to have. Evicting them can be a pain. Jeff Welton offers some ideas on how to prevent them from coming in the first place. It is that time of […]

When the storm hits, it is already past time to get ready. Now you get to see if your preparations will carry you through – or leave your station as a silent hole on the dial. Patrick Roberts had just a brush with a tornado. Having a plan kept his station on the […]

What would you do if you could not reach your transmitter site for an extended period of time? Forest fires can and do isolate mountain sites, sometimes for weeks. Stations that plan ahead are the ones that stay on the air. Those whose sole focus is cutting expenses are the ones that fail to […]

Solving intermittent problems can be the most perplexing of engineering tasks. Every engineer who has worked for a while learns some of the tricks that help identify and solve those problems. Gary Minker has seen a few in his time. Here is his story about one such intermittent. In a land far, far […]

When a lightning storm hits, it is a time when engineers and station owners hold their breath, hoping that nothing bad happens at the transmitter site. But, sometimes, things do happen. Here is Gary Minker’s version. I got a call the other day from an old bibb overalls-wearing customer of mine with […]

The relationship between station engineer and the program director can be productive – or a constant battle. Each wants the station to be the best sound on the dial, but can the effort to provide solid, clean audio co-exist with being the loudest on the dial?  Your station has just spent a lot […]

Security is a more significant than ever concern these days, as more and more studios are as empty as transmitter sites. Installing cameras on site is an excellent way to monitor what is going on and be able to react to anything from a water leak to vandalism. It is getting easier to […]

This is another of a series of checklists the BDR has worked on to help broadcasters focus on different parts of the facility. What are the key things to check regularly? The advent of Spring is a good place to start. Each year, as we muddle through the winter months, waiting for the […]

We have seen a lot of attention lately to AM radios in vehicles. Yes, there are issues with RFI of various sorts. But are stations sending out the best audio possible? For the technical folks who are mostly experienced in FM, AM is sometimes a mystery as to how to get the most […]