In December 2012, we posted a survey from the 2012 edition of The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government by The Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte. The survey indicated that the Broadcasting Board of Governers (BBG) had been ranked in the bottom five places to work in the federal government.
According to the Washington Post, the agency is now working on a plan to boost employee morale. Some of their initiatives include:
“Agency directors and senior staff hold[ing] face-time sessions in the cafeteria for informal talks with employees, a “Civility Campaign” addresses labor-management issues, and a Workplace Engagement Initiative takes a deeper dive into the agency’s low morale ratings.
Some of the morale-boosting events are meant to be fun, such as the raffle during the fitness-center open house, a chocolate bake-off in time for Valentine’s Day, and ?after-work gatherings — a bingo night, happy hour, checkers and chess.
It’s going to take all that and some sustained work to improve the agency’s failing report cards.”
Many thanks to Richard Cuff for the tip!
WHILE DRM HAS PROVEN TO BE VERY VIABLE ON VHF FOR LINE OF SIGHT TRANSMISSIONS OD ABOUT 100 KILOMETERS OR LESS PERFECT FOR EUROPE WITH ITS DENSE POPULATION IT HAS PROVEN LIKE AM BAND IBOC TO BE A DISASTER ON THE UNSTABLE MW AND SHORTWAVE BANDS
DRM is not “like IBOC” at all, so dont try to use it to discredit DRM. These are two completely different technologies which attempt to address different types of problems. DRM can be used with IBOC, but it does not require IBOC, so you cannot blame DRM for the limitations of IBOC. There is an example right here on this blog which demonstrates DRM working on shortwave over 13,000 km. Thats not even close to “line of sight.”
https://swling.com/blog/2014/06/happy-summerwinter-solstice-listening-to-new-zealand-and-australia/
I suppose you could call this a “disaster” if you did not want DRM to work, but the real disaster is the continuing decline in shortwave radio sales & listeners. DRM represents a substantial improvement in sound quality and power efficiency which can reverse that trend.
This Washington Post story makes the same mistake that many writers
on the outside of this troubled agency make, which is to give too much
credibility to the existing management structure to understand what problems
are and fix them, which would not be easy given the long, sorry track record
of the BBG/IBB.
The new Board has moved aggressively to make changes, removing (though
done in usual Washington diplomatic style) people like Dick Lobo, and taking
other steps. But the mismanagement and morale morass is so deep and
profound that most observers agree it will take years to correct the across-the-board
damage done through the first decade of the 21st century and into the second.
Indeed, the question that must be asked at this point is: is it worth it for
American taxpayers to continue to maintain, at an annual cost of $700 million,
a government-funded organization that is attempting to be all things media,
when it has not been given the funding and technical capabilities for the task.
As ironic as it may seem, at a time when the Chinese and Russians have
invested billions in modern, efficient global TV broadcast operations, it may
actually be time to consider — SHUTTING DOWN THE VOICE OF AMERICA,
and reviewing ALL of the remaining taxpayer-funded outlets.
I agree. Frankly, the disappearance of publicly funded broadcasters such as the VOA, ABC, etc is long overdue. The commercial market of shortwave will thrive when it finally adopts a modern, sustainable technology like DRM with its xHE-AAC codec. With the standardization of xHE-AAC, we’re close to seeing the beginning of such a revival so the disappearance of publicly funded broadcasters will only help to clear the bands of unwanted (by me) interference.