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By Paul Thurst, on September 21st, 2010
The tower climbing video that has gone near viral pointed out a few things. Climbing towers is dangerous business, best left to those who are trained for it and have the insurance.
It is true that tower climbing contractors have the responsibility to protect their own workers while working on a clients tower. That does not completely absolve the tower owner from liability. The it is incumbent on the tower owner to provide a safe structure to climb. This can mean the mechanical integrity of the tower, reduction of transmitter power while workers are in high RF energy fields, and providing the proper permanently attached safety equipment on the tower itself; Climbing ladders, ladder safety cages, rungs, elevators, and fall arresting gear.
In that tower video post, I mentioned something called a safety climb. That is a cable, usually 3/8 inch stainless steel aircraft cable, attached, about eight inches from the climbing surface like this:
 [ Western Electric 200 foot tower with retro fitted safety climb The tower itself was built in 1959 and did not have this equipment when new. This was a retro fit kit, installed in 2003, I believe.
The tower climber wears a harness with a special karabiner attached to the front and waist level. When climbing this ladder, the karabiner slides up the cable. If he were to fall, the karabiner has an auto locking or braking mechanism that would stop his fall.
 Tower safety climb, attached to climbing ladder Many tower climbers, especially those that have been in the business for a while, do not like these things. When climbing, especially if one has long legs, the tendency is to bump your knees on the bottom of the next ladder rung. This is because the belt holds the climber’s waist in making it difficult to get the rear end out, away from the ladder the way most people like to climb. The alternative is to climb with the knees spread apart, like a frog, which is hard on the hamstrings and quite literally, a pain in the ass. However, if a tower is so equipped, it must be used.
I have, wherever possible, retro fitted towers with these devices. Of course, all new towers come equipped with them. In some situations, it is not possible to retro fit towers with safety climbs, either because there is no attachment point at the top of the tower that meets the OHSA spec, there is not a climbing ladder, or it would affect the tower tuning, as in an AM tower or near a TV or FM antenna.
Hundreds of gallons of ink have been spilled by Los Federals in OHSA regulations 29 CFR 1926 and 29 CFR 1910.268(g) regarding fall protection and fall protection equipment for telecommunications workers. In this litigious world we live in, tower owners and or their on site representatives should know these rules and make sure they are followed.
By Paul Thurst, on September 20th, 2010
This is the quandary that I have been in these last few months: Time, as they say, is money. The end product might not seem like it, however, this blog takes up a goodly amount of time. There is the writing, research, taking pictures, editing, and what not. Then there is back end stuff, updating software, plugins, etc.
Then there is actual money expended: domain registration and web site hosting.
In short, it is not free, at least not for me anyway.
I did place a few Google Ads in line with some of the content to offset the money part, which they have met that goal, but not much else.
While it is nice to have a hobby, and fun to tell stories about radio engineering, in the end, it really does not help me earn more money, support my family, advance my carrier or my standing in the community. The children are young, but that will not stay that way for long. Before I know it there will be braces to pay for, a car or two, college education and whatever comes after that. Not to mention my own superannuation to look forward to, with such considerations as adding to the retirement account.
There is another shift in my status coming up, with my wife off to work again as a school teacher. I find there are not enough hours in the day to work the part time radio engineering gig and meet the school bus to off load the children. Therefore, something has to give, that being the part time radio engineering gig.
I am, therefore, looking for ways to make money at home. Developing this blog or turning it into a full fledged radio engineering news website might fun, but it would be much more work, and there is the rub. I can’t do more work on this site without seeing some return. I don’t mind working, in fact, I enjoy working, but I can’t do it for free.
So, I am open to ideas on how to monitize this blog or develop it into something else that will make some money. The third option is to let it go… I’d rather not do that.
By Paul Thurst, on September 19th, 2010
Pictures and story sent along by occasional reader John. I worked on diplexing an AM station in 2003, it was a 5 KW and a 10 KW on a single tower. Those power levels require using some pretty large components, however, the set up was pretty straight forward. Each station had it’s own ATU (antenna tuning unit) which was then fed into band pass filters to isolate the other station and coupled to the tower. The ATUs were set up as low pass and high pass filters respective to their frequency. The whole thing had something like 45 dB isolation, which worked(s) very well.
Doing this with a directional antenna system is another problem altogether. Add to that the tight filter networks required as the station are only 100 KHz apart. One saving grace, the power levels are relatively low. The higher the power gets, the more the magnetic fields build up around the coils and mutual coupling becomes an issue.
As John notes:
1560 (WGLB) owns the site and has been there for about 8 years. Originally WGLB was in Port Washington, WI with a BTA-250M running into a 2-tower array. The city of license was changed to Elm Grove, and this necessitated a move about 30 miles south to the site shown. A 6 tower combination array was needed to protect 1550 in Lake Geneva, WI, 1550 in Madison, WI, 1550 in Morris, IL, 1540 in Hartford, WI, 1570 in Appleton, WI, 1530 in Cambpellsport, WI and 1530 in Elmhurst, IL. A 4-tower in-line array is used on 1560 during daytime, and a 4-tower parallelogram with the two south towers switched in and the North two in-line towers switched out (floated) for 1560 nighttime operation.
 WGLB WJTI combined directional antenna system Looks interesting. Fortunately the towers are not required to be painted or lighted, that is a big maintenance headache.
 WGLB WJTI antenna field Another thing to note; the site looks well maintained, the grass is mowed, no trees growing up by the transmitter building, the building is painted, etc. Likely these stations are locally owned and making a modest profit, not some abandoned after thought.
 Antenna Tuning Units Each tower has separate ATU’s for each station. The ATU’s then feed what is likely a very tight band pass filter for each station, which then combines the two signal and feeds the tower. John continues:
An arrangement was designed when 1460 approached 1560 about leasing tower space for moving 1460 (ND-D) from Racine, WI north to West Allis, WI. This design is ingenious in that the array tower usage between the two stations is reversed for day-night operation! In other words, the 4-tower in-line array is used for 1460 nighttime, and the 4-tower parallelogram array consisting of the four south towers is used for 1460 daytime operation.
 WJTI Phasetek antenna phasor The 1460 pattern is pretty tight to protect 1470 at West Bend, WI approximately 30 miles north, and nighttime also to protect 1460 in DesMoines, IA. The friendly folks at Phasetek (Quakertown, PA) did the 1460 phasor and notch traps at each tower to prevent cross-modulation (inter-modulation) of the two signals feeding the towers, and after assembly on-site tuned up like a dream!
And that is saying something. I have dealt with phasor manufactures before, sometimes they nail it, sometimes they don’t. Tune up can be a real challenge, which tends to put everyone on edge.
I might add that the high-tension electrical transmission towers nearby were de-tuned at 1560 years ago, and upon checking were broad enough to not require any further de-tuning at 1460! Another attribute of this design is that if something ever changes in the future, the deal can be easily be dissolved, because there is no mutual ownership of any equipment on site! It is truly one of the best “Win-Win” instances of AM station directional antenna combining I have ever seen!
It is good to see stations taking advantage of co-location these days. It is a great way to save money on real estate and hassles with the zoning boards, who all see dollar signs when someone talks of putting up a tower. With the amount of computing power and the lessons learned in the past 90 years or so, we are beginning to get this medium wave broadcasting thing down.
By Paul Thurst, on September 18th, 2010
It’s the middle of the night and the phone is ringing. That is never good. The transmitter is off the air. You call the remote control and try to put the main transmitter back on the air. No good. The backup comes up, no problem. Shaking off the sluggishness, you get dressed and head out the door. The transmitter is about 30 miles away, but it’s the middle of the night, so there is no traffic. While driving, you are thinking of all the things that could be wrong. The blower motor was sounding a little loud last trip. The exciter has some reflected power. The PA tube is two and a half years old.
Upon arrival, there are several overload lights lit, including the driver plate. An investigation is in order. You turn everything off and open the doors. The trouble seems to be a bad IPA power supply. There are spares on the parts shelf, so you put one in. Put the transmitter into the dummy load. You turn on the filament and the transmitter comes to life again. Reset the overloads.
 Broadcast Electronics FM35A transmitter ready to be turned on Now you are standing there looking at the plate on button. Was it really only the IPA or was that just a symptom? Was there something else that took out the IPA power supply? What will happen when I press the plate on button? Will it come on normally or go BANG! I hate BANG! By the way, my tradition in a situation like this, if on a mountain top somewhere, I go outside and pee. I give the situation one more run through the mental checklist, then come back inside and press the button.
 Broadcast Electronics FM35A transmitter high voltage on button Please excuse the blurry picture, it is hard to take a picture of yourself turning on a transmitter…
By Paul Thurst, on September 17th, 2010
 I found this in the great clean out of 2010, Bridgeport, Connecticuit. Once upon a time, I had a slightly newer version of this, I think from 1972 or so. This version is from 1964 and gives a complete run down of most small tubes that were manufactured back then.
There is something about a well designed, well maintained piece of tube gear. I remember an old Collins tube console that was in a production room at a small AM station. The console went dead (paper clip shorted the B+) and I fixed it.
I recall listening to the test recording of my own voice from a reel to reel machine when I fixed the console. It sounded better than I’d ever heard it, not that I have a great radio voice, by any means.
A tube is a voltage amplifier versus a transistor, which is a current amplifier. A tube does not have the same fidelity as a transistor, as the voltage reaches it’s peak, it gets a little fuzzy, adding some distortion and harmonics. Tube gear adds warmth, what a musician might call Timbre. The combination of fundamental frequency and varying amplitudes of harmonic frequencies that allow a listener to tell the difference between a piano and a guitar playing the same note.
This is what the current crop of tube mic preamps and other tube products tries to reproduce. Several companies have come out with an amplifier design that has mostly transistors and one tube, usually a 12AX7. Unfortunately, at least in my opinion, the fall a little short. If you want to have the “tube sound,” it needs to be all hollow state.
What is intriguing to me are the schematic diagrams in the back of the book. There is one for an audio amplifier:
 RCA receiving tube manual audio amp schematic diagram, C 1964 This is a single channel unit, for stereo, it would need to be duplicated. Also, I would loose the tube rectifier in favor of a solid state full wave bridge, that would simplify T2 somewhat. The OA2 could also be changed to a diode. Looks like unbalanced audio in, which could be modified with an input transformer.
Another interesting diagram is this one, which can be used as a mic preamp:
 Microphone Preamp schematic diagram RCA receiving tube manual C 196 That looks like a pretty solid design, a few tweaks here or there to add some gain reduction and some type of output level adjustment and I would be a really cool piece of gear. Again, the tube rectifier could be replaced with something solid state. The output transformer would likely have to be changed to something like 600 ohms.
Couple that to something like this, the Collins 26U compressor/limiter, and one would have a great sounding microphone processor:
 Collins 26U compressor limiter Looks pretty cool. R10 is used to balance the two plate currents. I would be interested in the transformer values, input/output impedances, voltages, etc. The 6386 tube is very hard to find these days, a good substitute would be a 5670 which are still made by several manufactures.
Update: This is a picture of a Collins 26-U sitting on my bosses floor.
 Collins 26-U compressor limiter A great online source for tube information is: Electron Tube Data Sheets.
If I have some time this winter, it may be a fun project to fool around with.
By Paul Thurst, on September 16th, 2010
 It they don’t care all that much about traditional phone service anymore. Through attrition, they have reduced their tech work force to about half what it was 15 years ago. All of the infrastructure; over head cables, buried cables, office frames, switching equipment, is getting old. Some of the cabling around here, both buried and overhead, is the original stuff, installed 100 years ago. Because it is expensive to replace, they don’t want to change it out, opting to simply limp along, swapping out pairs when a line or circuit goes dead.
I will be surprised if the traditional wired telephone network still exists in ten years. Think about it, ten years ago were were just heaving a collective sign of relief that Y2K turned out to be nothing, remember that?
For the local phone giant, offering 3 in one (telephone service, internet service and cable TV) is more appealing than servicing their existing accounts, including HICAP (high capacity) data circuits like T-1, BRI&PRI ISDN, etc. Much less so for a POTS line, which, good luck if you really need it fixed right away, we’ll be over when we get to it, just keep your paints on mister.
I’ve written about this before. A particular station for my former employer uses a T-1 circuit to relay the program from the studio to the transmitter site. This is fairly common in larger metropolitan areas where 950 Mhz STL frequencies are not available, nor is line of site between the studio and transmitter site obtainable.
Back in 2002, when the company was in the process of aquiring said station, I recommended a 950 Mhz STL. There was an existing STL license, fully coordinated, that came with the main station license. Only the equipment was needed. No, I was told by the CFO, we will do a T-1, thank you very much. I argued my point, saying that putting our radio station exclusively in the hands of the phone company was a bad idea. We would have problems with outages and service. No, said the CFO, this is New York, all the radio stations do that. Not exactly, New York is about 15 miles SOUTH of here, this is Westchester, the cables are old, a lot of them are overhead, which exposes them to lightning, vehicle damage, water, etc. There will be service issues if we rely solely on a T-1.
No, he said, “We are using a T-1 and that is final.” I hate to say I told you so, but… Let us examine the history between then and now:
| Date of outage |
Date of restoration |
Total days |
| April 5, 2004 |
April 9, 2004 |
4 |
| September 8, 2006 |
September 10, 2006 |
2 |
| May 2, 2007 |
May 5, 2007 |
3 |
| August 27, 2009 |
September 4, 2009 |
10 |
| September 5, 2010 |
September 15, 2010 |
10 |
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Fortunately, I wrote all this down in the transmitter site log. I was able to check it yesterday, when I went to restore the station to normal operation after the latest T-1 failure.
During those periods, we have used BRI-ISDN, which is okay but it was carried the same phone cable. It is likely to go down if there is a major cable interruption. We have installed a second T-1 circuit, which fails when the other T-1 circuit fails. We have used 3G wireless sprint card and streamed audio from the internet. That didn’t sound great, but we did clear inventory. We have moved one of the AudioVault servers to the transmitter site, and updated it once a day via shoe leather network, that sounded great, but it was difficult to do. We have borrowed an ethernet connection from another tower site tenant onsite and streamed internet audio via wired connection, which sounds pretty good.
Still, the best thing to do would be to establish our own STL path to the transmitter and get rid of the T-1 lines.
The Problem with the Phone Company is they are not all that interested in simple copper circuits anymore. Now, there is something called FiOS, which, it would appear is a much better profit center than ordinary copper circuits.
By Paul Thurst, on September 15th, 2010
 Every so often, I check my in coming traffic logs. I like to know where my visitors are coming from, this way, if a blog has added me to their blog roll or linked to me, I can return the favor. Proper blogging ediquette and that.
I was surprised to learn of a facebook broadcast engineering group. I don’t know why that surprised me. Anyway, here it is:
Facebook engineering group
There is also this Yahoo group called TVBROADCASTENGINEERING, which seems to include radio too. Other sources of information include the two forums included in the links section of this blog
By Paul Thurst, on September 14th, 2010
I love wire. I know, what a geeky thing to say, but it is true. For no reason that I can explain, I have always been fascinated with wire, cables, and electricity.
Category 5e and up cabling is amazing stuff. Designed for computer applications, it can fulfill a wide variety of rolls in radio and television stations, mostly because of its high bandwidth capacity. Category 5e cabling has a 100 MHz bandwidth, category 6 bandwidth is 250 MHz, with 6a (augmented) being 500 MHz. AES/EBU audio uses ATM and requires from 4-26 MHz bandwidth, depending on the sample rate (highest sample rate is 200 KHz). Category 5e cable has a minimum common mode balance of -60 dB, which makes it nearly impervious to RF, electrical noise, mutual interference and other noise issues.
Further, each pair in a category 5e or 6 cable has a different twist rate, to reduce cross coupling between pairs.
Here is a chart of electrical characteristics for Cat 5e, Cat6, and Belden AES/EBU cable:
|
Category 5e |
Category 6 |
AES/EBU* |
| Impedance (ohms) |
100 +/- 10% |
100 +/- 10% |
110 +/- 20% |
| Bandwidth (MHz) |
100 |
250 |
52 |
| DC resistance 1K Ft (ohms) |
27.12 |
27.42 |
23.68 |
| Capacitance per Ft (pF) |
15 |
15 |
12 |
| Velocity factor (%) |
72 |
72 |
76 |
| Common Mode Balance (dB) |
60 |
63 |
30 |
| NEXT |
-44.3 |
-53.4 |
- |
| Configuration |
UTP |
UTP |
SPT |
| Wire |
Solid |
Solid |
Stranded |
| Gauge |
24 |
23 |
24 |
* Belden 1800F
Specifications above are for Belden cabling, but are typical for high quality category cabling available from other sources as well.
Although the AES/EBU cable specifications call for 110 ohm impedance cable, that specification is pretty loose, calling for +/- 20%, which means 88 to 132 ohm cable will work well. Category 5e and 6 cable is 100 ohm impedance, +/- 10%, which translates to 90 to 110 ohms, nominal.
Category 5 and 6 cabling can also be used for analog audio, RS232 and RS485 applications. One area of caution, however, is for T-1 or fractional T-1 services. On the DS side (between the smart jack and the CSU), T-1 type service runs 3 volts peak to peak. That is much higher than AES/EBU or ethernet, which run 1 volt peak to peak. As a result, cables in this type application should be 22 gauge or higher to reduce emissions from the cable.
Shielded category cable is available in Cat5 and 5e. The shielding acts to reduce emissions from the cable in low noise environments. It can also act to reduce RF fields around the cable pairs, so long as the proper cable terminations for shielded cable (RJ-45 or more properly 8P2C connectors) are used and installed correctly. The shield must be connected to a ground on at least one end. I know a facility that has all shielded Cat5 cable, but they used standard RJ-45 connectors, so both ends of the shield are floating, which completely defeats the purpose of the shield.
 25 pair category 5e cable is available for trunk cabling between studios and the technical operations center. For one studio project, I purchased pre-made cables with RJ-21 connectors on both ends. Those connectors were then plugged into KRONE LSA-PLUS blocks. Cable, connectors and blocks were all 100 ohm impedance, category 5 equipment. Since we did not have to strip any insulation or punch down any wires, we pulled and terminated the studio to rack room trunk cables for five air studios and three production rooms in one morning. This greatly sped up the studio build out process.
The studios and TOC use SAS 32KD (Sierra Audio Systems) audio router and Rubicon SL consoles, so most of the audio is AES/EBU. There are, however, several analog audio sources that are included in this system, things like telephone caller audio, off air monitors, satellite feeds and remote broadcast sources.
This facility is located about 1 mile away from a 5 KW AM station on 850 KHz. Several concerned people commented on the possibility of RFI on the cabling. In the five years since that project was completed, there have been zero issues with the cabling or the audio quality.
One thing to consider in these installations is the length of the cabling and the sample rate being used across the network. The capacitance per foot is the deciding quality in cable lengths. This is because capacitance, which is the ability to store an electrical charge, will begin to distort the signal (turn it into a saw tooth waveform) in the cable if certain lengths are exceeded. A good way to calculate maximum cable runs is thus:
Most professional AES/EBU devices sample 24 bits per channel, if the sample rate is 48 KHz, the 24 bits x 48,000 Hz = 1,152,000 bits per second per channel. For stereo, as most applications will be, that is doubled to 2,304,000 bits per second, or 2.3 Mbps. There is some overhead in an AES/EBU signal, so, for arguments sake, we will call it 4 MHz.
In this facility, the sample rate is locked at 48 kHz by a master clock. The longest cable length is 145 feet, which adds (15 pF x 145 Ft) up to 2,175 pF capacitance. From the chart above, we know that Cat5e has a resistance of 27.42 ohms per 1000 feet, or 0.02742 ohms per foot. That works out to be 145 feet x 0.02742 ohms = 3.9759 ohms.
To calculate the capacitive reactance, the following formula is used:
Xc= -1/(2π FC)
Where Xc is the capacitive reactance, F is the frequency in Hz and C is the capacitance in Farads.
Therefore Xc = -1 / (2 x 3.1415 x 4,000,000 x 0.000000002) = -19.89 ohms.
The characteristic impedance of Cat5e and Cat6 is 100 ohms. The DC resistance is 3.97 ohms and the capacitive reactance is -19.89 ohms, make the circuit impedance of a properly terminated cable 145 foot cable 84.08 ohms.
The design formula for a low pass filter is thus:
fc = 1/(2πRC)
Where fc is the cutoff frequency, R is the resistance and C is the capacitance.
Therefore, fc= 1/(2 x 3.1415 x 3.9759 ohms x 0.000000002 farads) = 20,014,958 Hz or 20 MHz.
Generally speaking, one should try to keep the capacitance below 2500 pF in a 10 Mbps circuit. Belden datatwist 1212 cable has a 4.0 dB insertion loss and a 23.0 dB return loss per 100 meters (328 feet) at 4 Mhz.
145 feet is well within the limits of this cable for AES/EBU applications.
Further, all cable circuits need to be properly terminated to reduce return loss. Using common impedance wiring blocks, connectors and terminations help keep return loss to a minimum. Stranded wire works better in applications where cabling may move. There are Cat5e and Cat6 stranded cables available.
As data transfer rates approach that of RF, ethernet, digital audio, and RF are going to seem more and more similar. 1000 Base T (1GBT) and 10000 Base T (10 GBT) networks are coming.
By Paul Thurst, on September 13th, 2010
The rack room, engineering room, technical operations center, frame room, whatever it is called, is a central part of any radio station studio facility. Normally found in a rack room are things like computer servers, switches and routers, structured cabling, telephone equipment, audio routing equipment, audio processing equipment, satellite receivers, wire termination blocks, microwave transmitters and receivers, and sometimes even broadcast transmitters and phasors.
 TOC equipment This is a rack room for one of the clients we service. This particular facility has 6 FM and 2 AM radio stations. Several stations share the same programming, however, so more accurately, there are four formats, thus four air studios, and four production studios. The station uses AudioVault 100 for it’s audio playback and automation. It is probably one of the few AV100 systems still in use.
 Broadcast Electronics Audiovault 100 system There are four servers and drive bays mounted in two racks, right next to the 5 KW AM transmitter. Doesn’t seem to be an issue.
 TOC AM transmitters and Gates Phasor The studio is also co-located with one of the AM station’s transmitter site, which is always creates a special set of engineering problems. The antenna array consists of two 90 degree towers phased 210 degrees, which creates a figure eight pattern to the north and south. The studio building is in one of the main lobes of the antenna system. This means extra grounding is needed in the rack room and special attention needs to be paid to things like phone wiring and computer network cabling. This facility uses shielded Cat5E, which seems to take care of any stray RF. Of course, all the audio is balanced and properly terminated.
 ATI DA 416 wiring connections For audio distribution, ATI DA416 audio distribution amps are used. These are used to distribute the air signal, the program and audition audio, the satellite feeds and remote broadcast feeds.
There are several considerations for well designed engineering rooms:
- Future wiring work will needed, there is no way that an engineer can plan for every contingency. It is difficult to plan one or two years ahead, much less five or ten. Keeping the wire conduits, raceways, trays or troughs accessible is key to a happy existence. This can be done by using overhead trays or raised floors and good cable management.
- Ground everything to a single point ground buss. There is no such thing as too much grounding, so long as everything is bonded together. Be sure to include TELCO and service entrance grounds.
- Have direct paths outside to accommodate STL transmission line, satellite cabling, etc. If those antennas are located on the roof, have a roof access in the rack room.
- Environment directly impacts the life of equipment. Keeping the rack room environmentally isolated from the rest of the facility is highly desired. HVAC systems should be sized for the highest equipment load on the hottest day of the year. Having some type of back up air conditioning is also a good idea.
- Leave plenty of room to work behind racks or on the wire wall. Cramped spaces create mistakes.
- Make sure there is plenty of light to work, lack of light also creates mistakes.
- Reserve some space for future growth. Extra room on the back wall for more punch blocks, extra space for additional racks is always a good plan.
- Keep the wiring neat and documented. There is nothing worse than an undocumented engineering room, it makes life difficult and in many cases, will eventually knock a station or two off the air when a wire gets snipped or pulled out.
- Make the room secure. Keep the doors closed and keep unauthorized people out.
There are two conventions of though when it comes to rack planning. The first is that all like equipment should be mounted in close proximity. It is easier to run all the STL transmission lines to one rack, all the satellite cables to another, etc. Then there is the “rack assigned to a station” method, where each station has one rack with all of it’s processing, STL, EAS and other equipment in it. I prefer the first method, as it makes the room look more uniform, your mileage may vary.
When done right, engineering rooms can be a great center piece to any facility. It is very impressive to take a client through the studio building and end up with “And this is the heart of the facility, all the radio stations run through this room…” Several larger facilities have glass walled rack rooms for just that purpose. It can be a positive attribute when everything is buttoned up.
By Paul Thurst, on September 12th, 2010
One of the great side benefits of working at a radio station is the regular availability of free food. I almost don’t want to do a post on this because somehow, some corporate boss is going to read about it and a no free food edict will result.
Every so often, some local deli or pizza place will drop off something for the air staff. Usually, it is a friend of a friend and nothing nefarious is going on. When it arrives, the odor of good things to eat wafts through the building. With the smell of blood in the water, the sharks swim out of the sales bullpen and a feeding frenzy develops. Just watch out for your fingers, during the scrum, it is difficult to tell the difference between a digit and a sausage.
It goes fast, when I walked by this table 15 minutes ago, there were five full pizza boxes, just delivered.
 radio station food Now there is one box with two slices of some meat lovers heart attack special.
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Axiom
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
~1st amendment to the United States Constitution
Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
~Benjamin Franklin
...radio was discovered, and not invented, and that these frequencies and principles were always in existence long before man was aware of them. Therefore, no one owns them. They are there as free as sunlight, which is a higher frequency form of the same energy.
~Alan Weiner
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers
~Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, Article 19
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Heard in the clear