BRC BROADCAST SERVICES
P.O. BOX 158

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MI 48127-0158

This of course, is  Bob’s BRC BROADCAST update!
My world consists of everything broadcasting and audio, past and present.

PRESENT DAY RADIO…

I remain an Engineer at Specs Howard School in Southfield (now part time).   A lot of details of my life have changed as a result of this status.  For example, I’ve become more active with Southfield Public Schools’ WSHJ-FM, where I am the designated Chief Engineer, and there’s a small resurgence of my “old-time” radio interests.

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THIS BLOG SITE WILL CONTINUE IN A LIMITED CAPACITY.

My former co-worker, and former Marketing Manager at Specs Howard, Shelly Maki was mostly to blame for setting this up and giving me the first nudge for creating some content.   Shelly was a bright spot at Specs and a creative dynamo!  So thanks Shelly for that “nudge” and for being who you are. You are missed.

If I’m half-way-decent at what I do, I always attribute my best work to the people who I’ve been lucky enough to work with.  They don’t necessarily have to TEACH me anything – sometimes just a 
 

hint of encouragement is all it takes.  Or if they have an idea or particular style I like, I will sometimes borrow it and try to make it even better.   This list of people for me has gotten too long to list.  Sometimes they come back from the past to re-visit.  That continues to happen.  When it happens, I realize how important they were and perhaps still are. 

TOPICS TOPICS TOPICS!
You gotta have topics for a radio show or a blog site.  I’ve been in radio in some form for all my adult life, but I have a lot of opinions and thoughts on other more mainstream stuff as well.  I’m not sure what my next hot topic we’ll be.  Perhaps readers can suggest one.

SUPPLEMENT #3 (old-time radio) FOR 2012 IS READY.  Copies are available from my Facebook site:  Facebook.com/bobdoesradio   It includes Kraft Music Hall with Al Jolson, Suspense, Sherlock Holmes, Jack Benny and others. All shows are recently re-mastered to digital formats.  

HISTORY: BRC was begun as a mail order business by Bob Burnham in about 1976. We originally offered reel to reel and cassette tapes of old-time radio shows to the general public.  The logo, in use for over 20 years, resembles a fully restored 1936 Atwater-Kent model 356 “tombstone” style radio which is in our office.  I’m is also a broadcast engineer “at large” based in Detroit.

NAME CHANGE: BRC PRODUCTIONS is now BRC BROADCAST SERVICES!  This applies to ordering all old-time radio or nostalgia products and services.  This became effective June 2012.

OLD WEBSITES TAKEN DOWN:  All past websites are No Longer Active. This includes both brcradio and brcproductions.

CURRENT DOMAIN:  Still active is brcbroadcast however, there is NOT yet a website behind the e-mail.

E-MAIL CONTACT:  You may contact us at [email protected].

NO FAX OR VOICE:  We have also discontinued past fax and business office numbers.

MAILING LIST:  We snail mail printed old-time radio supplements about four times per year.  We can also e-mail via .pdf format.  There is no cost, however, we appreciate an occasional order.

FREE SHOWS:  BRC Broadcast maintains a free public dropbox from which free shows or other special audio can be obtained.  Although complete shows may be included, these are intended as samples to our CD or mp3 products.

DROPBOX:         Links will be provided as they are added. There is no cost or obligation to playing or downloading any of these shows.  Click on any link to access.

Some of the free audio currently available is:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19032620/Suspense%20excerpt.mp3

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19032620/AU_REVOIR_SHOW_CLOSE_Ben_Bernie.mp3

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19032620/SUSPENSE_301_08-05-1948_An_Honest_Man_Charles_Laughton.mp3

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19032620/SUSPENSE_741_03-09-1958_The_Chain.mp3

CONVENTIONS:  Periodically, we make product available at a reduced price at selected conventions.  Those conventions are determined on an individual basis and may change from year to year.  This will be announced in our supplements.   

SPECIAL REQUESTS:            Although we maintain an archive of over 15,000 of the most popular (and not so popular) shows, we do not generally do custom recording.  This is due to the multi-step digital restoration process that all shows are given before they are made available. 
 
 
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I always say I’ve been doing what I do “for a long time.”

So WHAT’S a “long time” ??  And WHAT in the world is “what I do” !??
The thing is I’ve compressed a lot of experience into my relatively “short” life.  I say "short" because I still feel like a kid in a candy store surrounded by equipment and computers that didn’t exist when I first got interested.

I don’t know everything there is to know about the fields I work in, but I do know quite a bit…but it’s no big deal!

Yet in a sense, it IS a big deal.
  A professional bio of every staff member is published by my employer.  Although my “fancy certificates” or diplomas are few and far between, describing my “industry experience” does take up a lot of space; much more than some of my colleagues who may have higher management positions.

I would almost say I’m actually embarrassed by how much space that bio takes!  Except every line of it is totally true and it has actually been condensed and updated many times.

I also always say that during that “long time” I have worked with the absolute best people in THEIR specialty.  That goes for the present, too.

I have been lucky to have been a “sponge” around people who are smarter than me, and took a little of their knowledge and experience and stuck it in the back of my brain.

I also have a very wide range of experience and interests, and my job is my hobby.

People with common professions or interests are my friends, and I learn something new on a daily basis thanks to them.

Life as a Broadcast Engineer who dabbles in the local music scene isn’t ALL fun and games though.  Sometimes there’s actual work involved and it’s not a perfect world either. 

But if you happen to come across that “LONG BIO” of mine in your travels across the internet, it’s not bragging!  Not really, because I’ve lived through every single minute of those “adventures.”  (You’ve probably had a few yourself I’d like to hear about.)

Meantime, I’m actually grateful to friends and co-workers who tap into MY brain on a daily basis.

It’s a cool thing being a resource to the best people in the industry for something I’ve done myself “for a long time.”  

--Bob Burnham
    08/02/2011