brian spieker's Submission in Christina Aguilera - "Your Body" Remix Contest

brian spieker's Submission in Christina Aguilera - "Your Body" Remix Contest

Wichita... What a city!

I recently accepted a radio position once again this time in Wichita, KS Arbitron market #96. Although, my last radio employment experience was definitely with the wrong employer, I made up for that over the 6 months I spent recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury... or as I call it one really nasty concussion.

Anyway I was recruited by Steckline Communications' very own Operations Manager Joel Navarro for KGSO-AM 1410. it's an All Sports/Sports Talk station that has seen some hard times and has found their new mission to build the stations one day at a time.

Well... I will admit the first meeting I was a bit shell shocked that it wasn't exactly top notch, but not as technically inept as the last station I worked at. It was like rolling back the clock 5 years but the people I work with are true professionals in every sense of the word. 

Four days after I had arrived I had my own apartment...had health insurance, and even cable, internet and phone.
Needless to say I was pleased with the swiftness that things had come together. A week later I had my medical taken care of. 

Wichita is the air capitol of the world... Boeing, Learjet, Bombardier, Cessna and others all have aircraft manufacturing or assembly plants here. 

For a city of 350,000 things are very spread out. I only live 20 minutes from work, and even in rush hour I can still make it in 20 minutes or less... too bad the pizza guys can't do that.

I produce a show called "The Pressbox" an afternoon drive "Run & Gun" type talk show... 2 hours and 8 topics later we're done. I also have shown my production chops and some of those promos are posted on my broadcast audio page.

Right here and now I want to thank a few people who were there and kept the encouragement going when I was ready to walk away... Thank You to Joel Denver of All Access, Doug Leier - ND G&F/KFGO, Mike Clevenger Owner of O' Kelly's,  and others, you do know who you are. You all are good friends to be associated with and I can't say enough how much knowing you really means to me.

The Pressbox is on the air 4:00pm to 6:00pm central on 1410 KGSO-AM Wichita, and also online at www.kgso.com        

Spieker vacates PD position at KVMI-FM

9/27/2010
Friends & Broadcasters,

It has come to my attention that someone has been posting my name and some really derogatory things that really are not my thoughts meanwhile giving the impression that I reside and post on the broadcast gossip site
Red and Nater.com. 


It can't be any farther from the truth that those are my postings. I will not post there let alone buy into the feces that is posted there. I have been accused by many employers of posting there, when asking for proof they were at a loss and couldn't provide any evidence.

Now that I am leaving (on my own terms) a radio station that is owned by an owner who isn't hardly even present but to collect the accounts receivables and pass out paychecks. Meaning the station is attended by 4 people at the most, and is operated on air by 2 people and an awesome sales team of 2.

Needless to go on about this, I will say this team mentioned above did what I would term the "Impossible".
We turned a profit within 4 months of my hiring. Meaning we had a month that receivables collected that had exceeded expenses. It was something that took a lot of long hours donated to the company and effort beyond the call of duty to bring those results.

This owner has gone as far as mentioning to me many times without a solid piece of evidence that I was posting company secrets on the above mentioned web shithole. Not so.

Today, I was called by a broadcaster in Minneapolis who wanted to confirm my departure from KVMI-FM,
I verified it, and then was told of all the accusations and things people claimed I had said. The person has offered me the poster's IP addresses from the posts in question. I am considering accepting that option on the advice of an attorney.

I am not leaving broadcasting, and have no intention to do so. I am doing what I need to do.

My advice to those who dare continue this behavior is to stop. I do know who you are and so do you.
If you have told anyone any non-truths about my career please man up and correct them.

As God is my witness.

Brian Spieker

Psalm 139 -
You have searched me and you know me
You're familiar with all my ways
You have placed your hand upon me 
With such a knowledge I can't attain
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I make my bed in the depths
If I go up to the heavens
You are there

If I rise on the wings of the dawn 
If I settle on the far side of the sea
Even there your hand will hold me fast
Even there your hand will guide me
You are there


You are there

Radio Producer/Personality fills time “Storm Chasing” between gigs

Radio Producer/Personality fills time 

“Storm Chasing” between gigs

   If you asked Brian (Douglas) Spieker what was his one passion in life was; he would tell you “Radio”. Spieker who has 21 years in radio & television broadcasting was last employed a year ago in Fargo, ND, with Great Plains Integrated Marketing, the parent company of WZFG-AM which was the very 50kw AM station at 1100 who used FCC rule 47 CFR 73.1250 during the 2009 Flood across the Red River Valley that borders North Dakota & Minnesota. The station was heard from Alabama to Saskatchewan to Colorado to the east coast. Brian’s assignment was to keep the station on the air at all costs, or until he had to evacuate the site due to the rising flood waters inundating the transmitter. That did not happen the station survived the flooding, but the budget of the cluster didn’t. Several areas were cut back within the group, and Spieker was no exception, even though he was the station's "Utility Player". He was cut back to 6 hours a pay period from an average of 96 hours every 2 weeks.


    Facing homelessness Spieker exited WZFG and moved to Tucson, Arizona where he continued his search for another position nationally only to get a few sporadic interviews. Brian decided to take on the highly competitive world of voice over and produce streaming talk from his New Mexico studio only to find it wasn't paying all the bills. “One of my studio partners asked me if I had been out on a storm chase lately” said Spieker. That was when Brian got the idea to continue his hobby of storm chasing and photographing severe storms and tornadoes. Spieker noted, “This spring has been the wildest I have seen in my 12 years of being a certified chaser, I see the reaction of the citizens in the communities, and it makes me want to contribute more to the science of meteorology through radio.”


   Spieker had learned his meteorology from notable storm photographer, Warren Faidley, and staff members from his local weather service offices. While Brian is eagerly looking to return to a position in radio at some level he currently is studying to become a FEMA certified emergency manager, as part of his additional storm chasing knowledge, and hopes someday to use that training to contribute his experience to improving the EAS system or other public warning systems, including increasing warning times to the public in emergencies.


   Brian (Douglas) Spieker can be reached by e-mailing brian@audiotracks.info or winatradio2@gmail.com he can be reached by telephone at: (575) 571-1680.    

Plan B: For those who have grown discouraged in Radio’s Job Market

   So you have a great package, e-mailed, or sent out some one hundred thousand of these “Works of Art”, waited months and months, posted “Situation Wanted” ads on every Broadcaster’s Association career page, and even scour places like CBS Careers, Clear Careers and painstakingly have gone to hundreds of individual station & network websites uploaded your CV & demo so many times it would get you admitted to UCLA’s Psychiatric unit faster than Brittney Spears for A Terminal Depressive disorder.


   No offers yet? OK let’s break this down a little bit. Great CV, Headshot, (preferably by Kevyn Major Howard- although it don’t have to be) Great Audio Demo (usually an Mp3  less than 2 min and 3mb in size) Stellar cover letter you paid a collage English Professor beau-coup bucks to write for you. (I still write my own, thanks) Included in that package, any other materials that is asked for. 

  

You still have no offers? 

   It’s time to manufacture a secondary plan of action, a “Plan B” if you will.

This is me, and I’m not the bitter type as I have been “on the beach” for over a year now from my former position as an air-talent, talks producer, and utility player from WZFG-AM in Fargo, ND. 

  I played a role in the launch of that 50kw state of the art facility, with the technical skill set that was needed in Programming, to help everyone including myself, through the extremely steep learning curve of a brand new station that nobody really had time to do “dry runs” or really learn how the equipment operated. I was really the only one who had a chance to work with the automation, Learn the delay system, IP console, Transmitter operations, that even the PD had to be brought up to speed on. 

   Anyway, the payback for this was I was able to identify numerous issues that needed to be repaired for the engineers, and was able to pick up on malfunctions that easily could have taken the stations off of the air during the day instead of overnight when we had fewer listeners.

   In 2009 the economic situation had reached a point where some cuts needed to be made. Every group in the market cut a few. The group I was with cut 8 initially back to part time from full time later the total became 16. I decided to give it a whirl, although I knew I would need full time to prevent from becoming homeless without a “Plan B”.

  I lived for a while off of my savings and a few pick up positions until the insanity had hit a breaking point.
I made a call to a former employer and bought some equipment that I needed to get my home studio running again, this time I’m in New Mexico and the economy is even more messed up than North Dakota’s.

The Plan:

   I had a few flashes of brilliance as I sat reading the trades, while doing what I described above. I had come to the conclusion on how a bitter broadcaster (not meaning myself) or a very discouraged one (we’ve all been there) could get revenge on an employer without them really knowing it unless they were told. 

First: Do not work, find a cheap apartment or place to live with little expenses. (Subsidized housing, Housing Assistance, HUD programs & Section 8 Housing)

Second:  Apply for benefits food stamps, state benefits. If you are working with a disabling issue, and are good at hiding I from bosses.. SSD/SSI Psychiatric doctors are dying to diagnose anxiety, PTSD from firings, bad employers… etc.          

Third:  Alcoholism, not a great thing, but it sure helps.

Fourth: Send those employers that you last worked for a “Thank You” card for allowing you to live on the taxes they pay to the US Government. In a way they are giving you a free living. I’m sure that will go over well with companies like Clear Channel, Cumulus, Citadel, and CBS. Many “Mom & Pop” LLC’s may fume for a while also, but they made their bed… and the former employees now sleep in it. 

Brian Douglas Spieker

Delicate Thunder Studios

Owner/Producer/Audio Engineer/VO Talent

The Flood of 2009 - The full 50kw

On August 10th, I saw a goal of mine come to life; I was working again for a much respected employer in my eyes. The Gentleman, Scott Hennen purchased 2 stations with his group of investors, and built a shot at living his dream of owning a successful talk station, as of this writing, today I am still proud to say I was a part of the launch team of WZFG-AM 1100 in Fargo, ND.

Well... The new signal in the Fargo/Moorhead market had it's bumps and glitches just within minutes of going to day time power and launching the new 50kw powerhouse. The daytime tower was struck by lightning damaging the transmission cable and a few other items during the most defining moment, during an interview with then presidential candidate and U.S. Senator John McCain.

Our Consulting engineers Jim Offerdahl, & Mark Borchert had made repairs to keep the signal on the air at 5kw with a very poor signal due to the damage to the transmitter and transmission line which had actually burned. All the repairs to the transmitter were back at 100% within a few days, but still the studios and control rooms were at about 35-40% completion, running on the bare minimum of equipment.

By October we had the studios up to 100% and the on air chain stable with all the staff well comfortable in a new state-of-the-art radio broadcast facility. I will admit the station was well staffed by some of the best support, and sales minds that could be brought in, and a really good management staff with a full-time programming staff that was known for thinking "outside the box".

Although the building was small and located in a very historical location, if you had ever been to Fargo, in it's taverns, and/or frequented downtown Fargo, the studios at 64 Broadway were once the home of Jim Lauerman's pub, home to Fargo's best sandwiches, chili, pickled eggs, and social chatter on a middle income level.
So this location even meant something special to me.

In Fargo we had a really wet fall and record snowfall during that winter in some areas especially to the south and west. In case people are not aware of the geography of North Dakota, The Red River of the north (as there is one in Texas) flows from just south of the South Dakota/North Dakota border north to Lake Winnipeg on the east side of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

In March I had been ill and couldn't shake a virus so in February I scheduled 10 days off 5 of it was PTO, I had to do it a month in advance to insure that the part-timers, and management had time to plan on covering. I spent my winter from just before Christmas to early February ice fishing at a nearby lake every opportunity I could get. I did catch a lot of fish. I am the type who knows how important it is to be prepared for the unexpected. I outfitted my vehicles with winter survival kits and provisions in case I got stranded in the ice house on the lake 45 minutes from home if the weather turned bad. As we had almost a week of 30 below ambient temperatures, and my vehicles started every day without having to plug the engine heater in.

I worked the overnights, so I had my routine down so I had an hour or two of "slack" time when the morning show had their stuff, and all my production had been done including editing the automation for the morning show so both stations were in sync. The morning show was simulcast from the KEGK-FM control room across the hall. In early March, I saw a new flood forecast about 2 weeks before the Red River started to rise, and discussed it with our CE Jim Offerdahl, who just so happens to also be a mayor of a small Minnesota town. Jim owns Offerdahl Broadcast Engineering and is one of the most analytical but grounded engineers I have had a chance to work with. I mentioned that our AM transmitter site had a good chance of being flooded because of the predicted crest of another nearby river (The Buffalo River) and with the predicted flood stages and the elevations it not only put our site at risk, it also put 4 other stations at risk.

Our site was located about 22 nautical miles South East of our studios so it was a good STL throw away but the remote control was via cellular phone, and at times it was unpredictable and frustrating to me as a technical operator when it came time to take readings, and manually re-start the transmitter when there was an issue. It was done that way to save money because installing phone lines would have cost a fortune. The big compromise was the quality, and the ability to sometimes get accurate readings.

The week that the market went into emergency mode another station across town was already in flood mode on that Monday, I was rather frustrated to the fact why we had no plan in place in programming to do updates or anything. I started to do overnight 2 and 3 minute updates and announcements without approval due to the fact there was no paid commercial content to move.

Friday was hell day, I rolled in at 6 pm Tom Bushy was on the board. (2 hours before my usual time I come in) Scott Hennen (the owner) came in sat down in the host's position, had Dustin Moore, Jim Offerdahl, and the whole management team call in every staff member that they could find. The EAS made the flood warning announcement earlier in the evening, and we carried the live declaration from the Mayor off the city cable channel, and it was at that point Jim Offerdahl contacted WTAM-AM in Cleveland (also on 1100 am) with a discussion about the emergency status, and letting them know that we were now operating under part 73.1250 with our full non-directional daytime power. All the Commercials were pulled for the next 10 days. The Flag (WZFG) was in emergency mode broadcasting at 50kw non directional. We had simulcast with our FM sister for 2 days, and later with Lisbon, ND stations KQLX-AM & FM which are now part of the SMAHH communications group.

For the next 3 nights we got calls from Alabama, Saskatchewan, Florida, New York, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, & Kentucky amongst others in regards to picking up our flood coverage instead the listeners getting to listen to George Noory on WTAM-AM.

I was on the console in master control and on the phones screening from 12 midnight to 6 am instead of my usual 9pm-5am as they wanted a fresh rotation of air staff and technical operators. The breaks in programming consisted of taped interviews with safety info, flood based FEMA information and PSA's of who to call to help sandbag, or help fill sandbags.

The air staff was loaded with a combination of air staff, hosts & celebrities as guest hosts, and the interviews were a combination of call in’s by public officials, & live interviews utilizing Comrex IP based remote equipment.

Day 4, We had reduced the night time power to 25kw ND and with the metro completely shut down, all businesses closed except those who were preparing food or supplying provisions to those who were working the flood, I went out on the eve of the announcement and I did my part with the station knowing that it could be a month before things even get normal again, I went out and bought $300.00 in groceries, liquids, bottled water, & food for both myself and the station as the first night if it wasn't for what I brought in and what we were able to purchase from our clients & those businesses that were actually open, it would have been a long 10 days.

Day 5, a day of reprieve... The dike along the Red River was set to 41 feet with sand bags, the mayor orders a day of rest... with the National Guard filling the need of dike patches, and security. We fully knew a blizzard was coming in the next 48 hours and plans were being made to assure that the proper staff was in place to keep us on the air as out at the transmitter the water was within 3 feet in elevation of the base of the site. If the flood water got the base of the site (or towers) let's say with 100 Kilo volts of power in the underground power lines and a transmitter operating at 50kw daytime and now 25kw at night it would have been very, very bad. We reduced to essential staff so everyone could get some well needed rest.

Day 6 - Here we go again.. the Red is on the way back up with a 42.5 foot predicted crest and a transmitter site that was a foot and a half above that. I called the station at 2 pm and I thought Jim Offerdahl (our CE) was joking with me about camping out at the transmitter. He knew My vehicle and I were set up for camping out in in the cold weather in survival mode, and knows I have slept out at a few transmitter sites in my 20 years in radio. Well he wasn't, Scott (the station owner) came out of his office and down to the studio level of the building and on first sight of me said "There's my hero!" I thought to myself, what did I do now? Needless to assume anything I was asked to volunteer to camp out with a generator at the transmitter for the duration.

It was really starting to snow and we were expecting a blizzard, so I had to get what food and liquids I could take from the station and get out there, as we already had 2 inches of snow on the ground, with the county roads to the transmitter very soft and muddy I put my Explorer in all wheel drive and didn't try to go any faster than 30 with the snow drifts on the road. I was also looking in the ditches and the fields which were already flooded; it really sunk in how close this place was to going under the flood water.

I settled in after being given the once over on changing the power, I didn't have to worry so much about night pattern as we were waiting on a new phasor to complete our Construction Permit and go to 24kw during critical hours anyway, and 25kw was close to our level when the directional upgrade is completed, so it seemed acceptable.

The first night, I really was trying to get comfortable but did sleep on the floor and didn't feel like dragging in all the survival gear and camping cot, as the place really needed a cleaning and had no running water. Thank goodness for the fishing bucket. It was something I used in the ice house to go to the restroom in with a trash bag liner as the wind chill was pushing 15 below and we had 6" of snow by sunset with 25 mph winds and near zero visibility. Something in the back of my mind kept on bugging me about having the possibility of needing the 50kw diesel generator parked outside the front door to the building.

Day 7: I used the time to nap, and monitor the transmitter as the 2nd phase would tend to drift low. I wasn't feeling so hot anyway, so resting was in order.

Days 8 & 9: I powered up at the right time to 50kw, went to call the studio so they knew they were at full power, the cell connection to the Burk telemetry was dead, so I called from my personal cell, and informed the operations director that we had no cell at the site. 6 hours later it was back up, apparently a problem that wasn't mine. I unloaded my truck, cleaned the building, and set up camp properly with my cot and provisions. I wasn't feeling too well either that day and developing flu of some sort and running a fever all day.

I could guarantee one thing; I was ready for just about anything but a nuclear blast at the site. I cleaned up the bench, stocked shelves with provisions that could be left behind like toilet paper and a survival kit from items I had accumulated from building my winter kit in case someone had to sit there for a while. That night it was 2 day old pizza, Tylenol, and sports drink mixed with bottled water.

Day 10: I was so ill... I had to go into town and shower and try to get my fever to break, I went into town for some Dayquil, and called the Programmer and told him I needed to take a shower as things were somewhat stable, I went home and took a shower then stopped at a grocery store and got some soup from the deli and back out to the transmitter to bring the power back down to 25kw for night. I had laid down on my cot and actually slept for about 2 hours, woke up feeling the worst I had ever felt. I called the technical op on duty and had to go to the ER, as I was running a 102.3 degree fever. The ER gave me a anti-viral injection and a fist full of the same in pills. The doc ordered me to go home and rest so I called in and let them know. The next day the state of emergency came down and things took a couple weeks to get back to normal.

A week later I took my 10 days scheduled off and returned to a reduced state due to the fact that the 10 days of broadcasting under Part 73.1250 had compromised income for the station plus running the transmitter at full & half power for 10 days, and staff salaries plus hourly wages took a huge bite out of the station's war chest.

I finally resigned 2 weeks after returning from my time off, feeling traumatized by having to protect my home, work, and doing my duty to keep others informed during a natural disaster, and worrying about "what if" besides the worry of paying my rent after taking a not so voluntary cut in hours and pay.

Would I do it again?

If I had to, next time I would have the transmitter site set up in advance so I didn't have to bring so much stuff, and a good amount of money set aside in case the same happened again.

Would I go back to WZFG if offered another position or my old one back? Good question! I liked the people, and working there, But I would have to consider if the stress of another emergency would be worth it.

I would almost have to be in a little better position -- Most likely I would go back there if blessed with that opportunity.

BDS

The night before "The Flag"

Greetings!

This is Brian posting about a really exciting in my life right now, I am currently sitting here at work 8 hours before WZFG-AM 1100 signs on as it has been a silent AM signal for over 2 years.
my employer Mr. Scott Hennen will be signong on this station at 8:00 am central Daylight time today August 11th 2008.

I am very thankful that I have been blessed with another experience with Scott, as some 17 years ago I had the learning expierence of a lifetime, with the magic that Mr. Hennen creates this time is absolutely no different. Scott has enthusiastically welcomed me aboard one more time and the start-up should be an awesome experience.

Although my role will be limited, and behind the scenes, I have already been labeled the "utility player". All this goes without saying I feel mighty gratified and honored to be with such an experienced team of broadcasters.

Feel free to go to the station's website at: am1100.tv and take a listen.

I hope you enjoy what we have to offer maybe you will like our sister station which is a classic hits
and oldies music format at: theeagle.tv

I'll posting more as it rolls and when I can.

BDS