From Engineers to Babysitters: How Corporate Consolidation Transformed Broadcast Technology

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Remember when your local TV station actually felt local? When engineers knew every inch of the equipment and could fix problems with a screwdriver instead of a help desk ticket? Those days are rapidly disappearing as corporate consolidation reshapes the broadcast landscape.

The quiet revolution in local television has transformed independent stations into remote outposts of massive media conglomerates. Since 1995, we've witnessed a 40% drop in companies owning local stations while giants like Nexstar and Sinclair now control hundreds of stations across the country. This isn't just changing what viewers see – it's fundamentally altering how broadcast engineers work and what "local" television actually means.

Today's broadcast engineers face a radically different reality. Instead of maintaining equipment they can touch, they're managing playout servers across multiple states, troubleshooting automation systems via VPN, and hoping their remote connections don't fail during breaking news. As legendary consultant Fred Baumgartner puts it, "We used to be engineers, now we're IT administrators with a broadcast badge." Technical staffing has been cut by 30% over the last decade, while the average engineer's workload has doubled. Meanwhile, nearly one in five TV markets has lost locally produced news entirely.

But it's not all doom and gloom. The evolution has brought new challenges and technologies – IP systems, virtual machine playout, remote workflows – that push engineers to develop new skills. The question remains: are we empowering engineers to truly run these systems, or just babysit them? If you've lived through this transition, text me your experiences with the link in the episode description. Whether your story involves multimarket automation nightmares or MacGyver-level engineering solutions, I want to hear how you're keeping television signals flowing in this brave new world of consolidated broadcasting.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Thank you, hey.
Welcome back to fully modulatedthe podcast where signal meets
system and sometimes wheresarcasm meets signal loss.
Today we're diving into a quietrevolution that completely
reshaped local TV Corporateconsolidation.
You know how this works Fewerowners, more automation, way

(00:53):
less local flavor and if you'vebeen in this game for a while,
you've seen it happen in realtime.
Independent stations bought upnewsrooms, gutted master control
.
Well, that was shipped threestates away and renamed hub ops.
But here's the kicker the tech.
It didn't stop.

(01:13):
It evolved.
So today we're asking what didconsolidation really do to local
TV?
Not just for the viewers, butfor us, the engineers, the
operators, the people trying tokeep the wheels turning when the
play out servers go.
Nope, all right.

(01:34):
So let's rewind a little bit.
There was a time when everylocal TV station had its own
team, its own tech and, yeah,its own vibe.
You knew the transmitter, youknew the microwave paths and you
even knew which studio micbuzzed if the HVAC kicked on.
But starting in the late 90sand really accelerating in the

(01:58):
2000s, big broadcast groupsstarted gobbling up all the
little independent guys.
We're talking the Sinclairs,the Grays, the Nexstars scooping
stations up like they'rePokemon cards.
Suddenly, your local newscast.
It's coming from a studionowhere near your zip code and

(02:19):
your master control, probablysitting somewhere in a bunker
running 40 feeds with two peopleand one really overworked
Noctec the engineers that meantthe job changed fast.
You weren't fixing decksanymore, you were managing
playout servers, vpn connectionsand hoping your team viewer

(02:43):
session doesn't cut out during athunderstorm.
The role went from fix it witha screwdriver to submit a ticket
and hope to God IT gets back toyou, and with that a lot of the
soul of local TV was faded out.
Real talk for a minute.

(03:03):
You ever try explaining tosomeone in a different time zone
why their weather crawl didn'ttrigger because some shared
automation timeline gotoverwritten by another market.
Not a thing we worried aboutback when we were still running
U-matics.
Engineering used to be personal.
You were the engineer for yourstation.

(03:26):
You knew every inch of it, andnow you're part of a region or
worse, just the name and aticket queue that no one looks
at until your station bug isupside down during prime time.
With central casting cameredundancy, but not the kind

(03:46):
that you hoped for Redundantpeople, not redundant paths.
Engineers who once ran anentire facility solo are now
managing five stations theycan't even physically get to
without a plane ticket.
Live shot goes down.
Good luck.
It's probably a bandwidth issue.

(04:08):
No one logged because therouter in the bureau hasn't had
a firmware update since 2009.
But in fairness, it's not alldoom and gloom.
Consolidation did bring newchallenges.
We've got IP system comms.
We've got VM playout, remoteworkflows.
This is next generation stuff.

(04:30):
But here's the question Are weempowering engineers to actually
run it or just babysit it All?
Right?
Now it's your turn.
What's the weirdest remotecontrol setup you've had to rig
just to access something youused to be able to walk over and
fix?
Shoot me a text.
The link is in the episodedescription.

(04:52):
And, yeah, if it involves aniPad taped to a light stand in a
mirror, I need to hear aboutthat one.
Let's put some numbers behindthis.
Since 1995, the number ofcompanies owning local TV
stations in the United Statesdown more than 40%.

(05:13):
Meanwhile, the number ofstations those big companies own
up way up.
Nexstar owns over 300 stations,sinclair close to 200.
At this point, local is just abrand, not a place.
Now, viewership is still there.

(05:35):
Local news still beats cablenews in many markets, but the
production model hollowed out.
Pew Research says, nearly onein five TV markets lost locally
produced news entirely over thepast decade.
That's a loss not just forjournalism but for engineering

(05:58):
too, because fewer bodies in thebuilding means fewer techs,
fewer backups and way fewerchances to do the job right.
Backups and way fewer chancesto do the job right.
2023 NAB reports showedtechnical staff were cut by 30%
in consolidated stations overthe last 10 years.

(06:18):
Meanwhile, the average engineeris now juggling twice the
number of transmitters andoverall systems Twice the load,
half the help.
So if you're out there keepingplay out, transmission, newsroom
automation and comms alivewhile also being on call for

(06:40):
three other markets, you, myfriend, are the Swiss army knife
of broadcast engineering and,frankly, you deserve a raise and
a good, deserved nap.
Let's bring in some voices wholived this shift.
Fred Baumgartner, legendaryengineering consultant, once

(07:02):
said quote we used to beengineers, now we're IT
administrators with a broadcastbadge.
Unquote, cynical, maybeAccurate, absolutely.
These days, engineering meansjuggling bandwidth, cloud-based
automation, ip distribution.
You're more likely to carry alaptop bag than a multimeter.

(07:28):
Then there's Deborah Talley,former chief engineer for a
regional affiliate group.
She said quote I used to knoweveryone in the building.
Now I'm lucky if I ever meetthe person who calls me when the
automation crashes?
Unquote.
That's not just nostalgia,that's a breakdown in team

(07:49):
culture and mentorship andownership.
And then this gem from ananonymous poster on Reddit's
subreddit broadcast engineering,quote the only thing local
about our station is the ads.
Everything else is streamed in,piped out and troubleshot over

(08:11):
VPN.
Unquote.
If that's not the reality oflocal TV in 2025, it's at least
the present.
So let's end on this.
Are we still engineers or havewe become broadcast babysitters
for systems we didn't choose anddon't really control?

(08:33):
I want to hear your take.
Text me Again.
The link is in the episodedescription.
And if your answer involves amultimeter and a margarita,
honestly, honestly, I'm here forthat too.
That's a wrap on this episodeof fully modulated.
We're still here, still on theair, still keeping the signal

(08:56):
clean, even if we're doing itfrom a remote desktop three
times zones away.
If this episode hit close tohome, or maybe at the uh it with
your crew, your tech op or thatproducer who still thinks you
control the weather graphics,make sure to subscribe and don't
forget to text in your stories.

(09:17):
The link is down in the episodedescription.
Until next time, stay locked,stay and, yeah, stay fully
modulated.