![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/memo-July-17-1975.jpg\" "\\"memo")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThat is the classic engineering department bitch-o-gram, typed out on a typewriter. \u00a0There were no fewer than eight memos to Ron (Stratton), who appears to be General Manager, from Don Coleman, the lowly engineer. \u00a0Since WBEC was a directional AM station, the engineers had to walk out to the towers every day and take a set of base current readings to confirm that the antenna sample system was working properly. \u00a0A rule is no longer in effect. \u00a0Like many AM stations, WBEC is located in a low, swampy area. \u00a0You will notice that this engineer had given the swamp a name and one wonders what the significance of that name is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back in the day of typewriters, sending off memos was no easy task. \u00a0After the document was typed, a copier had to be found, copies made, and distributed to all parties. \u00a0Oftentimes, distribution consisted of handing a copy directly to the person and waiting for a response. \u00a0It was a way to put things in writing and to create a paper trail if needed in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is another one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this memo, our hero references all of his previous memos on the same topic. Obviously, this engineer was very concerned about tower access and not breaking his or anyone else’s leg. I like the invitation for a walk out to the tower. The studios and general manager’s office are located at the WBEC transmitter site, so it would not have been a long walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are fairly mundane, I can remember typing a few memos to the programming department on asbestos paper to keep them from bursting into flames. Ahhh, those were the days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway, it is a lost art, one of many.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was cleaning out the engineering room at WBEC in Pittsfield, MA today. The previous engineer, Ken Jones, passed away last July and we have been hired to do the engineering work. Part of that job is knowing where key information and parts are, thus the clean-up. Whilst in the middle of that fun, I … Continue reading The Engineering department bitch-o-gram<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,83],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-3862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-humor","tag-station-personel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3862"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11706,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3862\/revisions\/11706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n