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Consulting and Engineering Rates
Consulting: Commercial $25.00/hr Non-Commercial $15.00/hr A/V Engineering: Commercial $50.00/hr Non-Commercial $25.00/hr Transmitter Repair: Commercial $90.00/hr Non-Commercial $45.00/hr Non-commercial covers all LPFM's, Religious Broadcasters, Churches, Private and Parochial Schools. Additional costs for transportation and lodging apply for any on-site consulting and/or engineering. |
About the Author
I've been working on electronics in some form or fashion since I was about 9. My dad noticed I liked tearing into stuff and trying to fixing it, so he bought me Radio Shack's 100 in 1 Electronic Projects kit. I finished it in a matter of a few weeks, so he enrolled me in several of Heath Kit's Electronic courses, which I finished when I was 13. Later I started repairing TVs, stereos, radios, and a whole lot of other appliances for one of the many family businesses we owned. I also wound up installing car stereos and eight-track players for all my friends.
I then joined the Air Force in 1978 and worked as a 30351 Air Traffic Control Repairman. At one of the bases I was stationed at, the Wing Commander asked if I could rebuild the old base radio station and get it fully operational and back on the air. I spent a few weeks TDY along with several months after work doing just that. I found I really liked working in radio, so after the Air Force I started working as a broadcast engineer for several radio stations, some of which were automated.
One of things I was hearing from various radio station music directors was that some DJ's wouldn't follow the music format clocks. They just played whatever they wanted, but the music directors couldn't really prove it because they didn't know what songs were in what order. That got me thinking, so I bought my first C64 in 1984 and taught myself Assembly and Machine code. I then Co-created and wrote Radio Visions software. This allowed music directors to program music each day on a print out so they could control their "on air sound" and know exactly what song was suppose to be played at what time.
CCA Electronics heard about my engineering skills with their infamous 2500R transmitter. I actually got one to run and stay running. They hired me to help design, build and do national tech work on AM and FM transmitters along with creating their new facilities in Fairburn, GA. One of my many duties there was revamping the Singer line of transmitters and co-designing the control systems for the F and G line of transmitters.
I then moved to Milwaukee to become Muzak's Assistant Chief Engineer. One of main jobs was designing hundreds of audio racks, paging systems and office intercom setups while servicing hundreds of clients. To unwind after work, I was getting into Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's) and created DataComm VIII with my C64 computer, Skyles interface, a couple SFD-1001's and a CBM 9090 hard drive. I also beta tested C-Net's BBS software and wrote several BBS games for C-Net.
All this computer work got me to be good friends with one of the lead engineers at Commodore and that led to me beta testing the Amiga 2000 and the 2500 computers. I wound up leaving Muzak and started my own video production and animation company called AVP (Animated Video Productions). Having AVP (and beta testing with Commodore) led me to working with NewTek (3D Animation), Panasonic (s-video) and 3M (s-vhs video tape) as well as writing for AVID and Computer Graphics World magazines. I also designed and built some of Milwaukee's top rated video production studios at the time.
I sold off AVP in the early 90's and started working more with PC's, developing programs and creating websites for a new thing called "The Internet". During the mid 90’s I toured the Midwest with a few other folks providing training seminars on SMT (smart marketing tactics) and how to implement lean manufacturing. We worked closely with manufacturing companies on how to perform market research, find opportunities, design web sites, create branding, design and build trade show displays, utilize the Internet, video & digital camera use as well as software like Microsoft Office to help in business growth.
Got off the road around 1999 and started work as the Marketing Director for a major international polyurethane company. My responsibilities included developing marketing plans, multiple trade shows, simultaneous advertising campaigns, direct mailings, promotions, market research, magazine ads, corporate public relations, product brochures, price books and web site. When I got there, they were about 1.2 million a year in sales. When I left eight years later, they were at 10.5 million in sales.
During all this time I was still working with radio stations doing various engineering tasks as well as shooting odd video jobs on the side. One of the things I was noticing in radio was that there was no real viable windows based music automation software. Everything was DOS based. Met up with a fellow computer geek/programmer and we brainstormed for a few months designing the first true windows based automation system called Jockey Pro. Though we stopped production of Jockey Pro several years ago, quite a few radio stations world wide (broadcast and/or internet) still use the software today.
I wound up moving to Sturgeon Bay, WI. to marry my best friend and the love of my life, where I currently work for Hatco (a food warming manufacturer), as well as the Technical Director for St. Peters Lutheran Church (WELS) and owner of Flinn Engineering / Flinn Video Marketing.
Feel free to contact me for any questions or help you may need regarding SD/HD TV, video production, radio engineering, lpfm broadcasting or studio design.
I then joined the Air Force in 1978 and worked as a 30351 Air Traffic Control Repairman. At one of the bases I was stationed at, the Wing Commander asked if I could rebuild the old base radio station and get it fully operational and back on the air. I spent a few weeks TDY along with several months after work doing just that. I found I really liked working in radio, so after the Air Force I started working as a broadcast engineer for several radio stations, some of which were automated.
One of things I was hearing from various radio station music directors was that some DJ's wouldn't follow the music format clocks. They just played whatever they wanted, but the music directors couldn't really prove it because they didn't know what songs were in what order. That got me thinking, so I bought my first C64 in 1984 and taught myself Assembly and Machine code. I then Co-created and wrote Radio Visions software. This allowed music directors to program music each day on a print out so they could control their "on air sound" and know exactly what song was suppose to be played at what time.
CCA Electronics heard about my engineering skills with their infamous 2500R transmitter. I actually got one to run and stay running. They hired me to help design, build and do national tech work on AM and FM transmitters along with creating their new facilities in Fairburn, GA. One of my many duties there was revamping the Singer line of transmitters and co-designing the control systems for the F and G line of transmitters.
I then moved to Milwaukee to become Muzak's Assistant Chief Engineer. One of main jobs was designing hundreds of audio racks, paging systems and office intercom setups while servicing hundreds of clients. To unwind after work, I was getting into Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's) and created DataComm VIII with my C64 computer, Skyles interface, a couple SFD-1001's and a CBM 9090 hard drive. I also beta tested C-Net's BBS software and wrote several BBS games for C-Net.
All this computer work got me to be good friends with one of the lead engineers at Commodore and that led to me beta testing the Amiga 2000 and the 2500 computers. I wound up leaving Muzak and started my own video production and animation company called AVP (Animated Video Productions). Having AVP (and beta testing with Commodore) led me to working with NewTek (3D Animation), Panasonic (s-video) and 3M (s-vhs video tape) as well as writing for AVID and Computer Graphics World magazines. I also designed and built some of Milwaukee's top rated video production studios at the time.
I sold off AVP in the early 90's and started working more with PC's, developing programs and creating websites for a new thing called "The Internet". During the mid 90’s I toured the Midwest with a few other folks providing training seminars on SMT (smart marketing tactics) and how to implement lean manufacturing. We worked closely with manufacturing companies on how to perform market research, find opportunities, design web sites, create branding, design and build trade show displays, utilize the Internet, video & digital camera use as well as software like Microsoft Office to help in business growth.
Got off the road around 1999 and started work as the Marketing Director for a major international polyurethane company. My responsibilities included developing marketing plans, multiple trade shows, simultaneous advertising campaigns, direct mailings, promotions, market research, magazine ads, corporate public relations, product brochures, price books and web site. When I got there, they were about 1.2 million a year in sales. When I left eight years later, they were at 10.5 million in sales.
During all this time I was still working with radio stations doing various engineering tasks as well as shooting odd video jobs on the side. One of the things I was noticing in radio was that there was no real viable windows based music automation software. Everything was DOS based. Met up with a fellow computer geek/programmer and we brainstormed for a few months designing the first true windows based automation system called Jockey Pro. Though we stopped production of Jockey Pro several years ago, quite a few radio stations world wide (broadcast and/or internet) still use the software today.
I wound up moving to Sturgeon Bay, WI. to marry my best friend and the love of my life, where I currently work for Hatco (a food warming manufacturer), as well as the Technical Director for St. Peters Lutheran Church (WELS) and owner of Flinn Engineering / Flinn Video Marketing.
Feel free to contact me for any questions or help you may need regarding SD/HD TV, video production, radio engineering, lpfm broadcasting or studio design.