REVIEW OF March 28, 2006 SBE 18 MEETING

THE MEETING

The meeting was called to order by Mark Humphrey, chair of Chapter 18 with 30 members and guests present. The meeting took place at the control point and offices of Clear Channel Radio--Philadelphia, 111 Presidential Boulevard, Bala Cynwyd, PA.

Frank Grundstein, Chapter 18 program chair, stated that the Lansing, Michigan Chapter hosted Terry Baun and is "CBNT Bootcamp". This is a time in which Terry comes to a chapter who contacts him, gives a course and the test at the end--all at cost. Chapter 18 is considering offering the "bootcamp" sometime in the summer--late June/early July. We would charge $50 for the course and $50 to offset his costs--$100 overall. Terry would come Friday night, stay over and give the course on Saturday.

Jim Perry, certification committee chairperson, stated that Lloyd Roach (WCOJ) passed his AM Directional Certification. The next tests are at NAB, but deadline has passed. April 21 is the next deadline for testing the 1st week in June. There is a new HQ address for the national office. There is also an option of synching up multiple certs.

Billl Gellhaus stated that there will be a new reservation line to battle the spamming issues that have occurred. Please read the announcements to see what the new line will be.

Walt Bundy, SMPTE Section chair, stated that there will be no SMPTE meeting in April, owing to the fact that no vendor wants to show up at a meeting and at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The June meeting is scheduled to be at Videotek, Pottstown, PA.

There will be no Chapter 18 meeting in April, also owing to the NAB Convention. The tentative meeting for May will be at Day/Sequerra in Berlin, NJ. We are still looking for a site for the annual "SBEBq". Mark suggested the new nighttime site for WPEN at Germantown Pike and Foundry Road in East Norriton Township.

Larry Will brought some FCC actions to the floor. Chairman Martin hinted that there may be a ruling on AM IBOC nighttime issues. There is a filing window for Companion Translator issues in TV. It is between 5-1 and 5-12. In April, flash cut to digital, then otherwise frozen until the end of April.  Larry also stated that Gary Sgrignoli did a presentation in Norfolk, Virginia, which had a good attendance and that TV interest was very good. The course involves measurement and includes a 600 page book for the $55.00 charge.

Mark brought up that renewals are underway, with dues increasing from $60 to $63.

The chapter sincerely thanks Marcus Xenakis, Director of Engineering and IT for Clear Channel Radio--Philadelphia for his hosting the meeting along with staff engineers Chuck Benner, John Faiss and Kevin Oslen for providing the tour and the accompanying hospitality. Not in attendance were Jamie Tresch and IT specialist Jerry Abbate, but thanks to them anyway. The chapter also thanks Phil Owens of Wheatstone for sponsoring the meal that was provided by Delancey Street Bagels of Bala Cynwyd, PA.

THE PRESENTATION

The presentation was a tour of the facilities of Clear Channel Radio--Philadelphia. The facility is highly functional and was designed by Luckett-Farley Architects of Lexington, Kentucky. The tour focused on the concept and layout of the facility from the control rooms, to the new performance studio, the rack room, sales and broadcast architecture departments. It also showcased the new Total Traffic facility from which traffic reports are produced. The facility contains 250,000 square feet of space. The group has functional and logical clusters, all designed for workgroups and flexibility. the key to all of the effective operation is equipment versus people.

Phil Owens of Wheatstone provided an update on the company's products and installations. He stated that SAS, Klotz, Wheatstone and Logitek are the leaders in the digital router business.

Meeting notes taken and transcribed by Robert Weiss

SBE18 Home Page > Proceedings