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When was the last time an engineer got laid off from an LA Radio station?

3

34james

Frequent Participant
Just wanted to know, we talk all the time about DJ's and upper management getting the boot but I've never heard of an engineer getting laid off from LA radio stations. My guess is they have too much knowledge to get canned . If something goes wrong they need someone that has the know how to fix the system when it goes off air.
 
That's funny...it's been my experience that no one is too valuable to save them from getting laid off. Some stations have gone to outside engineering consultants who provide all the technical support without the in-house expense.
 
TheBigA said:
That's funny...it's been my experience that no one is too valuable to save them from getting laid off. Some stations have gone to outside engineering consultants who provide all the technical support without the in-house expense.
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I know of a few that have been laid off lately. Seems that management thinks anyone can fix a transmitter.
 
34james said:
Just wanted to know, we talk all the time about DJ's and upper management getting the boot but I've never heard of an engineer getting laid off from LA radio stations. My guess is they have too much knowledge to get canned . If something goes wrong they need someone that has the know how to fix the system when it goes off air.
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It's been pretty common in recent years. Just last week, one of the larger clusters laid off two technical staff members.
 
What makes it complicated is there are many different kinds of engineers, many kinds of specializations, and a radio station actually needs different engineering talents, and they might not be able to find one or two who have all those talents. Engineering is more than maintaining the transmitter. There are studios, automation systems, information technology systems, telecom, production, and on and on and on. Some people look at engineering as just one thing, and each of those can be its own area of specialization. It obviously can get very expensive.
 
There used to be around 6 Engineers for one Station. Now there's about one Engineer for 6 Stations
 
TeaPartyDude said:
I was once a custodian engineer at a SF Bay Area radio station, do I count?
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Absolutely! I was KIIS & KPRZ's 7th Engineer doing the same stuff that the other 6 did, or at least 3 of the 6, but #7 didn't count to join the Union according to their contract. The joke was on Gannett though because I would have paid them to work there, during that #1 period from 83 to 85
 
Hot Hits said:
Absolutely! I was KIIS & KPRZ's 7th Engineer doing the same stuff that the other 6 did, or at least 3 of the 6, but #7 didn't count to join the Union according to their contract. The joke was on Gannett though because I would have paid them to work there, during that #1 period from 83 to 85
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Did you work in that odd little brick building at the foot of the Bay Bridge?
 
34james said:
Just wanted to know, we talk all the time about DJ's and upper management getting the boot but I've never heard of an engineer getting laid off from LA radio stations. My guess is they have too much knowledge to get canned . If something goes wrong they need someone that has the know how to fix the system when it goes off air.
Click to expand...

There have been varied reasons why technical staff at broadcast operations get RIF'ed:

* Engineers or technical staff that haven't, or refuse to stay current with technology and workflow changes, rather only wanting to work on the transmission side of things or legacy equipment, are out of step with current times.

* Modern solid state transmitters are really reliable, requiring far less maintenance.

* Current IP-based broadcast equipment have caused the IT and Engineering technologies to merge. The station can have a smaller count of technical staff which can serve everything from desktop support to the transmitter site rather than having staffs of both.

* It used to be a single station would have a Chief and an Assistant. Now a group of six stations will have a Chief and some sort of Assistant.

I've had peers in the business who truly believed they had a gig for life because of their institutional knowledge of the station(s). "They would never get rid of me! All the technical knowledge is in my head." Surprise.. when they get replaced by someone much younger and willing to work for half the salary.
 
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