* David Kaye wrote, On 4/17/2010 7:46 AM:

And did working with record cutting lathes and the NBC chimes help you in your
broadcasting career? Fun though it may have been if I'd paid a bundle to go
to a private broadcasting school I'd have wanted to be trained on equipment
that I would typically deal with.

Read again: I said that it was fun _speculating_ about what would have
been there in the NBC days. The actual equipment was not necessarily
the very latest, but it was more than adequate to train us in the arts
and crafts of contemporary radio broadcasting.

We had recently up to date consoles, we learned how to program cart
carousels (which were still in use at many stations, though not for
long), we were voice trained, we were trained in spot scripting and
production, news writing and delivery, sales (hated it!) sports
writing and delivery . . pretty much the full gamut of what we would
encounter in small to medium markets, or for the lucky few, even SF.
Among our "finals" was the production of an hour demo in the format of
our choice.

Among our instructors were Aldy Swanson of KYUU, former KGO-TV
reporter Paul Wynne, and a former PD at KSOL, whose name I don't
recall. Oh, and a guy (whose name I *should* recall but don't) heard
on several stations for his sports reports from the Oakland Coliseum.

We were told from the start that we would gain the skills to move into
an "entry level" job, most likely *way* out of the SF market. There
were no promises that we'd go to KFRC, KCBS or any other station in
the #5 market. We were told to expect to go to Yreka or places like that.

One former student came by during the course and addressed us. At that
time he was the #1 morning man in Phoenix, but had worked his way up
from small stations in SoCal and Arizona. He also told us that our
control rooms were probably average to above average compared to a lot
of small stations, and to learn all we could about workarounds for
technical problems that might occur.

Ironically, out my class and the one just prior to ours, a sizable
handful went to work in one fashion or another in the SF market- most
of the rest did little or nothing in broadcasting-- not for lack of
opportunity, but for lack of willingness to spend a year or two in
Yreka or some similar community-- no love for broadcasting: Fatal.

As it was, I turned down Yreka and Clear Lake because I had a job in
this area that I didn't want to leave.

The problem with Bailie and other courses was that the days of local
personality radio were coming to an end. The conglomeration of the
industry was just beginning, and the school lost relevance within a
couple of years after I was there.

In any case, Bailie was a legit operation at that time, and was a
stepping stone for many into small to medium market radio and/or TV
work-- and for a few it was an entrance directly into the SF market.

JT
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