Certification exam dates for 2017

SBE Headquarters has announced local chapter certification exam dates and application deadlines through 2017. They are:

  • February 3-13, 2017 – Deadline December 31, 2016
  • June 2-12, 2017 – Deadline April 21, 2017
  • August 4-14, 2017 – Deadline June 5, 2017
  • November 3-13, 2017 – Deadline September 25, 2017

In addition, exams will be given at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas on April 25, 2017 (application deadline March 17). Exams will also be given at the Audio Engineering Society Convention in New York on Saturday, October 21, 2017. Examinees must be registered at the AES convention and submit your exam application to SBE by September 25.

For more information on certification, visit the SBE Certification webpage.

January closing for Detroit FCC field office

Following an agreement reached with the National Treasury Employees Union, the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau field office in Farmington Hills, Michigan will close on January 7, 2017.

The closing is part of a broader reorganization of the bureau initiated in 2015 to scale back on the number of field offices. Initially, the plan was to reduce the number from 24 to nine, with two spared the chopping block in later planning. The Detroit office closing is one of eleven closing, though the bureau will maintain a presence in Alaska and Puerto Rico.

Employees will be offered positions in other offices as they become available; otherwise, the staff reductions would be accomplished by retirements and layoffs.

The initial plan called for a beefed-up enforcement hub at Kansas City, with so-called “tiger teams” available for deployment as required. Agents from nearby field offices that remain open will be responsible for enforcement in Michigan; the closest to remain open is Chicago.

Old-timers will remember when the bureau’s Detroit presence was in room 1029 of the then “New” Federal Building in downtown Detroit. The bureau, which later moved to room 1054, administered commercial and amateur license exams and handled other regional business. Many of us nervously took these exams under the watchful eye of field directors Dick Cotton, Ed Atems and Irby Tallant. The field office was later relocated to Hathaway Drive in Farmington Hills as the Commission’s responsibility for conducting operator exams was passed to private parties.

There’s more information on the closure in this article from Radio Business Report. See also this item from Inside Radio.

Contract engineering management webinar

Managing Your Contract Engineering Business, a live webinar presented by the SBE, will be held Thursday, July 21 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET.

Dennis Baldridge and Mike Seaver will cover contract engineering services from two different perspectives. Dennis will discuss from the perspective of the contract engineer, including establishing yourself as a contract engineer, organizing your business, promoting your services and protecting your business. Mike will cover topics from a station’s point of view, including the “why” we have a contract, the various types of contracts available, the necessity of keeping good, valid records of contracted service, security, and review of services received.

Completion of this webinar from Webinars by SBE qualifies for one credit, identified under Category I of the Recertification Schedule for SBE Certifications. The webinar registration is $55 for SBE members and $85 for non-members.