Re: [IRCA] Censoring ourselves (was KXEL, etc. etc., etc.)

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Patrick Martin wrote:

> We have a tendacy to speak our
> minds in e mail often to the point where we upset the apple cart and do
> more damage. Does complaining about a certain station change things
> regarding that station? No, of course not. If anything the word gets
> back to that station and they get angry with the DX community. They may
> not want to have anything to do with us any longer. Is venting really
> worth it? I don't think it is.

I think there's some validity in both Charlie's point and in Patrick's, 
and that there's a reasonable middle ground in which we as DXers can 
express opinions without flinging unsupported accusations.

That said, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that Patrick's 
points are just as valid with regard to the ongoing discussions about 
IBOC. To the extent that stations and broadcasters pay attention to what 
we discuss on the DX lists (and I don't think they do, to the extent we 
think they do; as I said earlier in the thread, I think that when the 
topic comes up, it's usually just one among many excuses from stations 
that never had any intention of DX testing/QSLing anyway), I'm not sure 
some of the repetitive posting about IBOC helps our cause as DXers.

I don't mean to suggest that we shouldn't share and discuss actual news 
about it - stations adding it, stations turning it off, new receivers 
becoming available, what have you. But there's a certain drumbeat of 
posts that just echo the same points over and over again - "it won't 
work, it's too expensive, I'll never buy one." Those posters may turn 
out to be right in the long term...but in the short term, is it adding 
anything at all to the conversation?

(This is especially true, I think, of posts that aren't even factual - 
the current price point for HD tuners is under $200, not "about $300," 
and falling, and it's entirely unsupportable to claim that HDTV hasn't 
been a success. One should be careful not to confuse one's own personal 
preferences with national market trends.)

On balance, I am still yet to be fully convinced that there's that much 
reason to be worried about what effect our discussions on our little 
list here will have on broadcasters. My experience in talking with other 
broadcasters is that whatever negativity they have toward DXers is 
either inbred (and won't be changed by anything we do), or is spurred by 
things that happen off-list (nasty letters, complaints to the FCC, what 
have you.)

But if we do believe that a little self-policing on the lists is a good 
thing, then we should consider that any broadcasters reading our lists 
can read all the threads, not just some of them.

Hey, how about something GOOD about radio?

If you haven't seen them yet, my pictures of the transmitter sites on 
the Oregon coast from last year's IRCA convention are up on the web at 
www.fybush.com/featuredsite.html - and now my audio of IDs from the 
Seaside-Astoria-Tillamook area is up, too, at tophour.com. Enjoy!

s
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