In many places, working in a radio station is no longer the “plum job” that used to be prized. Not only are many stations run by skeleton staffs, but a frightening number of stations have no real live on-air presenters. In some stations, you can walk through a dozen or more studios and […]

As the new Administration takes office, a change in the makeup of the FCC is under way. The new Chairman, Ajit Pai, has been an advocate seeking to help broadcasters, especially AM broadcasters, hoping to improve their prospects. As always, Clay has a sober view on the challenges facing AM stations and possible […]

It is time for Clay again – this time remembering the Good Ole Days before evolution changed the way station engineers got called. Recently, I had been doing some reflecting (it comes with the territory at this age) about how the broadcast station reached me before the advent of cell phones. I thought […]

Lately, there is a lot of interest in “AM Improvement” in general. But Bill Putney points out that many rural stations – AM and FM – are in the best position to serve local audiences. Putney believes opening a special translator window for rural stations will be a big help to them, But […]

A lot of ideas are being tossed around as to how to help AM radio. Revitalization, translators, FM allocations, and other ideas are being advanced. The FCC has been rather slow to actually do anything substantial, aside from allowing many translator owners to get windfall prices selling to AM stations. What is lacking […]

Ever since FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai announced his i support of AM Revitalization, stations around the country have been hoping the Commission will actually do something to help them. Clay Freinwald looks at the local situation in Western Washington, and sees a trend – backward. You probably have read about some FCC Commissioners’ […]

Maintenance, repair, or replacement of transmission gear can be very simple when your station is alone on a site. But what do you do when you have a shared tower or live in an antenna farm? Clay has some thoughts. Question: How do you remove a top-mounted TV Antenna that has to be […]

The Spring NAB Show had more than the usual EAS activity this year, at least four sessions focused on status, problems, and solutions. The big takeaway: it is always a good time to check your EAS receiver and local practices to ensure everything is working correctly, but a lot of work remains to […]

Decades ago, many AM stations were built on the edge of town, or out in the boonies. Growth has often led suburbs – even pricy ones – to be built around transmitter sites. Combined with many station transfers which left the land in the hands of someone other than the station owner, problems […]