Monday, January 9, 2023

'GET OFF MY KILOCYCLES!' -- The Phenomenon of Curmudgeon DXers....and PANTERA arises anew!


KGO San Francisco flips from their long-time talk format to Sports Betting talk, and the MW DX community flips their wig over it. 
In this article I discuss this change at KGO, as well as some changes in the MW radio scene -- and at the bottom is a section on the band PANTERA, who are recently reformed.

As many of my readers probably know, I frequently write about the hobby of long distance MW radio listening, also known as 'Medium Wave DXing', and I also DX ("distance listen") the Shortwave broadcast bands, too.

It's fun hearing music, foreign languages, and other programming beaming and phasing its way over the hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of miles, sometimes coming from the other side of the Earth, and making it into my radio's headphones.

Most of my articles are about various aspects of the hobby, as well as the radios one can use to enjoy it.

I also frequent some of the online Radio and DXers forums, and am a member of a couple social media MW groups. One thing I've noticed frequently is that a large percentage of MW DXers and SWLs have nothing but complaints about what they're hearing on the bands.

I hate to actually say it, but a lot of them sound like the stereotypical old curmudgeons saying "Get off my lawn!" 

Only in this case, it could be "Get off my Kilocycles!!"

Being that we are probably entering the last stages of SW and MW use, I find this "AM radio sucks" and "SW is nothing more than religion, Cuba and China" attitude curious at best.

I mean, we have maybe 15 to 20 years left of MW, if that -- and SW may not last longer than 10 more years, especially if propagation (caused by the sun) continues to suck -- and yet so many MW and SW radio fans are bitching and complaining about the state of programming on the bands, as if the bands going to be active forever. Some of the more vocal complainers even insist that if the stations refuse to play the programming that they like, the stations should just go off the air, as if that would remedy the issue of AM band programming.

No kidding -- there are some who actually say that.

What in the world are they thinking?

My conclusion: they're not thinking it through enough.

There is indeed good music and programming on the AM band, even today.  There also is some interesting sounding stuff on the SW bands (when propagation permits). However, you probably have to tune around to find it. And then you gotta listen.

But some recent changes in some stations' formats has brought the old "AM programming sucks" complaints to the fore again.


KLYC, McMinnville, Oregon (1260 AM) is a station that plays a great mix of Classic Hits, and they are often audible here in the Seattle area at night. They went off the air for about eight months or so several years ago when they had transmitter issues. The new owner put them back on the air, and they serve their community well -- they even have local spots, which is great to hear, as it means they have some support from the local business community.
They can be heard in stereo online on TuneIn!
(TuneIn link at the bottom of their website)

KGO FLIPS, AND MW DXers FLIP THEIR WIGS
A case in point: recently, a long-time popular West Coast station on the AM band changed formats: KGO, San Francisco, 810 on the AM dial.

KGO used to be what you could call a literal radio powerhouse: They had a night time audience up and down the West Coast of the US. As late as the early 1980's they made the night time ratings in places like Portland and Seattle. My grandmother used to listen to KGO's talk host Ira Blue at night in the 1960's. Even non-radio enthusiasts knew about KGO. It's how good their talk programs were, and also due to how well their signal got out up and down the West Coast of the US. Even today, there are nights were KGO can be almost local quality 800 or more miles away from their transmitters.

KGO was so vital a part of San Francisco's media culture that Bill Wattenburg, a Sunday night host -- who had a wide-ranging audience all over the Bay Area as well as much of California, and other parts of the West Coast -- even appeared in a Clint Eastwood 'Dirty Harry' movie!

..... And Enter the PORTABLE PEOPLE METER
As late as the early 2000's, KGO had high ratings and popular talk hosts who ranged from conservative to liberal to somewhere in between. 

When the ratings system switched over from diary-keeping to the "PPM" -- the "Portable People Meter", an electronic device that somehow could tell what station you listened to, and how long you listened -- around 2006, the ratings for KGO and a lot of other stations (as well as individual radio programs, like the famous night time 'Delilah' music and talk program) dived. 

The PPM was apparently highly accurate compared to the previous diary methods of ratings gathering. Consequently, many stations and programs saw their ratings fall, because during the diary-keeping era people would fill out an entire block of listening time, in their diary, listing one station or program -- while the later, electronic PPM showed they either weren't really listening to that station or program, or they were switching through several stations during that period. 

It was a major shake-up in the radio industry (perhaps even worse than the Telecom Act of 1996), to say the least. And KGO was one of the victims. For several years after the mid 2000's various versions of the talk format were attempted on the station, to try to bring the ratings back up. Apparently none of the changes were helping the station's bottom line. Even the installment of solar power (which reportedly supplied a third of KGO's daytime transmitting power) didn't offset the expenses of running a big-city radio station. 

Fast forward to late last year, November 2022. KGO's owners gave up its news-talk format, embracing a new, up and coming trend in AM talk radio: Sports Betting.


KGO's last News-Talk format logo, 2016-2022

TURNING YOUR RADIO INTO A 'SLOT MACHINE'? Nope
Now, I don't bet or gamble. I never have found it appealing in the slightest. Even if I play poker or similar card games, it's only with chips, or played with no betting whatsoever. But a lot of people apparently love to gamble. Tribal casinos in my state make a LOT of money off of gambling, and Las Vegas didn't build those magnificent and sparkling, high rise, luxury hotels because there is no money in gambling. 

The Rise of Fantasy Football's Importance
There is a TON of money in gambling. And a lot of sports fans apparently love to gamble on games. Even a simple search on the subject will show that the fantasy football craze has a gambling aspect. Fantasy football, when it started, was a somewhat odd and geeky looking hobby for sports nuts, who worked it all out on sheets of paper, making up their 'fantasy' football teams, and they 'played' against other guys in the office or at college. Then, eventually, gambling entered the picture.

Combine that with the widespread reach of the internet, and Fantasy Football is apparently big business. During the lulls in the NFL TV ratings during the kneeling controversy in 2016-2017, there were some observers who believed that Fantasy Football enthusiasts (a.k.a. sports bettors) were part of what kept the ratings as high as they were.

Some would say that gambling and betting is part of what has made fantasy football such a big deal. Consequently, Sports Betting is a big deal.

And Sports Bet talk on Sports radio is a big new deal. I first heard about it over a year ago when an AM station Back East somewhere flipped to Sports Bet talk. In fact, it was the first time I'd heard of there being a radio format dedicated to the subject.

However, KGO's flip to Sports Bet talk in November 2022 was pretty big -- as they were probably the largest AM station with the biggest legacy to flip to Sports Betting.

Now they didn't go to 24/7 sports bet talk. They have a lot of CBS Sports Radio programming during the day, including Jim Rome's popular sports talk show. And at night they have CBS Sports Radio's Amy Lawrence. They broadcast a lot of NFL Football Games, too. I can hear that programming at night, via skywave.

But when KGO flipped to sports bet talk, you'd have thought that the end of the world happened. Guys who have never even heard KGO in their life were complaining about the flip. They were denigrating the Sports Betting format, and saying it was a 'new low' in AM station programming. When KGO's ratings dipped further after the new format took hold, some MW DXers said "I told you so!" There was the perennial call for Oldies music, or "live and local!"

Of course, before the format flip, KGO was indeed "live and local". And "live and local" simply wasn't making enough money.

So they went for a format that apparently makes the station some money: Sports Betting talk. And as for the lower ratings, Sports Betting talk, like Sports talk radio, doesn't depend on ratings. Apparently a Sports or Sports Betting station can still make money with low ratings. The advertisers aren't looking for big numbers of listeners. They are more interested in a specific type of listener instead. And sports talk radio, and sports betting radio, generally have the listeners those advertisers seek.

It's El-Dullo, but the regular Sports programs are still good
My take on Sports Bet talk is that it's boring. The other, standard style Sports talk programming on KGO is still good, though, but when the actual Sports Bet talk people are on, in my opinion they just don't sound compelling, or even entertaining. But does that matter? Apparently not. It's making the station -- and increasing numbers of stations across the US -- enough money to keep the lights on. And that is keeping KGO on the air.

And it's not just Sports Betting stations that talk about sports betting. The regular Sports Talk stations discuss betting on games, too. Last night I heard at least two advertisements on one of the main US sports talk radio networks, promoting a popular fantasy football betting program and website. I've heard prominent sports talk hosts mention the 'odds' one team had over another to win, and how much they either won or lost on the game's outcome.

Even in AP News items on football games -- the story about the upcoming Seattle Seahawks game against the Los Angeles Rams being an example -- a separate story on Fantasy Football betting odds is linked right next to the start of the AP story.

Gambling is big business, folks.

And, consequently, Sports Betting is big business.

Are you located out of the Western US and Canada, and want to hear KGO? Here is their Tune-In stream link.:


CKJH, Melfort, Saskatchewan has a "Beach Radio" theme for their Classic Hits format -- and yes, there are beaches on some of Saskatchewan's lakes, Lake Manitou being one of them.

THERE STILL ARE OLDIES AND CLASSIC HITS -- JUST LISTEN FOR IT
In the MW DXer community, however, KGO's flipping to sports betting talk didn't just center on Sports Bet talk, but the change also brought about a lot of convos about AM station programming in general. And a lot of the comments were -- naturally -- fairly negative.

They were the usual complaints about AM radio programming -- about how the stations program "junk", i.e. nothing but conservative talk, ethnic programming, religion, sports talk, etc. It seems that a lot of MW fans wish it was still 1966 and they were in L.A. hearing 93 KHJ playing the Beatles and the Monkees. A lot of MW fans still wish they could hear Top 40, 60's Oldies and Rock music on the AM band. Such formats on AM are pretty rare, indeed.

The Top 40 music and Rock music ship on AM sailed long ago, guys. The Top 40 ship sailed when Radio Disney gave AM radio the boot in 2015. The Rock format exists on maybe a couple stations nationwide (KBRE 1660 Merced being one of them). But that's about it for actual Rock on AM.


Here is my blog post on Radio Disney, which sadly left the AM band in 2015, and gave up on radio completely in 2018 and 2020:



And here is my blog post on KBRE, The Bear, 1660, Merced -- a really cool Rock station which still plays hard rock on AM all over the West, and FM in the Merced - Los Banos metro of California. They also stream.:

And here is KBRE The Bear's website, with a "Listen Live" button, if you want to hear their stream. I don't think they geo-fence. I am 900 miles N of them, and out of their market, and I hear their stream!:

As for pure Oldies, there are some oldies you can hear to some extent, on some Classic Hits stations, amazingly enough. I hear some oldies at night on CJYM 1330 out of Saskatchewan; KLYC 1260 out of McMinnville, Oregon; KAJO 1270 out of Grants Pass, Oregon plays a lot of classic hits, including a few oldies. KBAI 930, about 90 miles north of me in Bellingham, WA, includes a few 1970's and 80's oldies in their classic hits mix. KVNI 1080, Coeur D'Alene, ID, about 320 miles east of me, also plays a good mix of Classic hits. KSWB, 840 out of Seaside, OR plays a good mix, but I haven't heard them in a while (probably because of the bizarre MW propagation over the past several years).


CKJR, 1440 khz, Wetaskiwin, Canada, plays oldies.
A station I don't hear often, but when it comes in, it comes in well, is CKJR 1440 Wetaskiwin, Alberta. They play a 60's heavy selection of Oldies. So if you live in or near the northern tier of US states west of the Mississippi, 1440 may be a channel worth checking.

A semi-local station about 50 miles north of me, KRKO 1380, plays classic hits from the 70;s and 80's 24/7. I think they even toss in a couple big late 60's / early 70's R&B hits.

There is other, non-rock older music on AM that I can hear, also. Two stations north of me play Classic Country: KXA 1520, out of Snohomish plays nothing but Classic Country, and KAPS 660 out of Mount Vernon includes a few in their modern country music format. Sometimes KRLC, 1350, Lewiston, Idaho comes in and they play Classic Country.

There's a station in B.C. Canada, in Penticton on 800 that plays a lot of recent and classic pop and rock hits: CKOR, which calls itself "Bounce Radio". Further east in Canada I can often hear CKJH Melfort, SK, which plays a similar format, and they call themselves "Beach Radio". A station out of Medicine Hat, CHAB, on 800, also plays some older hits but it's usually covered up by CKOR.

So there are stations on MW in North America that play the older hits from time to time.

You just have to LISTEN for them.

Then you have the Asian and Indian Subcontinent format music stations, of which there are a handful I can hear, especially at night, when they tend to play a more traditional style of music. One station out of Sacramento, KFSG 1690, plays everything from ethnic music to Asian and American electronic dance pop. There even are a couple standards stations that sometimes come in at night.

All this I can usually hear most nights on just a decent AM radio, in a moderately populated area of the US. But I'm hearing music, on the AM band, every single night. It can't be all that different in other parts of the US and Canada.

MW enthusiasts and DXers should know this. After all, they supposedly listen when they DX, don't they?

A lot of stations play music on the AM band!


KAJO, Grants Pass, Oregon is a station that plays music on the AM/MW band largely because they have an FM translator. They play a cool mix of Classic Hits with a few 'oldies' thrown in here and there. I love that section of Southern Oregon.

FM TRANSLATORS ALLOWING AM STATIONS TO PLAY MUSIC = BAD?
You Gotta Be Kiddin' Me
It makes the complaints over the "lack of music" on AM sound lame, lame, lame. And usually those complaints mean they despair the lack of 1960's and 1970's oldies on AM. But, as anyone with ears can figure out fairly quickly, one can hear plenty of music on the AM band, especially at night -- even some 60's and 70's oldies here and there -- as I just mentioned.

Some bitch and complain about AM stations having FM translators, even when those translators allow the AM's to play music on the AM band. The stations are now playing music on AM, thanks to the translators, but that's somehow bad. At least 2 or 3 of the stations I mentioned above that play Classic hits or Classic Country have FM translators.

A lot of the MW fans say the AM stations with translators only mention the AM frequency at the top of the hour, and the rest of the time ID as an FM station. As a MW listener, I understand that frustration, but the economics of radio justifies the pushing of the FM translator, and, face it -- it keeps the AM alive.

Either way, it seems that with some of these MW DX'er curmudgeons, the AM stations simply can't win.

There just seems to be an attitude of bitching and complaining in the MW DX hobby that -- after a while -- gets tiring. It's understandable, as it's similar to the comments under any YouTube music track that is over 10 years old: "The music was better back then". "Music sucks now". "Remember when there was no autotune". Etc., etc., etc.. Missing the past is a common human element. I've seen it expressed on YouTube by Boomers, GenX'ers, and Millennials alike.

I miss the 2010-2014 era of pop music. I even had more than one blog post about it. Yet I am not a Millennial. So I get it. We all miss the past. And we all complain about how the present is worse than the past was. And for some, maybe it's truly that way. I get that, too. Believe me. Most of my family is gone. I understand that feeling.

Unfortunately, there are no Time Machines.

And until they come up with time machines, we're stuck with the radio bands we've got, oldies or no oldies, sports betting or no sports betting.

And -- last but not least -- I remember when I was younger, I would tune around and DX to hear different stations play pop and rock music from far away. I tuned in stations from places like Vancouver, B.C. (CKLG and CFUN); Yakima (KMWX); Lewiston, Idaho (KRLC); Walla Walla, WA (KUJ); Aberdeen / Hoquiam, Washington (KGHO); Centralia, WA (KITI); Mt. Vernon, WA (KBRC); and even Chico, California (KPAY) just to hear their take on pop and rock (as I live in an area with very little DX on FM, on that band it was locals-only on my radio).

On the internet forums, a lot of MW DXers talk about when they were younger and tuned around to hear music stations.

Have they completely forgotten about tuning around at night to hear music?

My old Penncrest 1993, AM-FM-SW transistor radio, pic taken when I switched it on this Christmas Eve. The radio itself was a Christmas present on Christmas Eve a long time ago. It was my first transistor radio. I used it on every camping trip, and used it at home to listen to the AM and FM bands, as well as SW. I even hung out a 60 foot wire antenna and I first heard Radio Australia with this radio. It's the radio on which I first heard AC/DC. In 2011 I cleaned it up and switched it on. It took a while for it to work. I think the capacitors had to recharge. Ever since then it's worked well. I turn it on about once a month to keep it running. And every Christmas Eve since 2011, I turn it on, and remember the days.

THE WALL-TO-WALL STATIC, 31 METER SW BAND
And the days for the AM and SW radio bands are numbered, folks. We all know it. Even FM's days are numbered. The internet is taking over everything. Streaming is the new "radio", and "radio" is just another form of "content". The future is already here. It just hasn't completely taken over yet. 

This complaining about "lack of good programming" on MW and SW is just shooting yourself in the foot. We all need to enjoy what we have, while we still have it.

If you don't agree, just tune across the 31 Meter SW Band some night. I just did that, about eight hours ago. Instead of hearing maybe 5-6 stations, I heard ZERO. Not even WWV was coming in. It was wall to wall static. The sunspot cycle obviously isn't really getting the job done. But it's not just the horrible propagation -- from increasingly dudsville Solar Cycle 25 -- that makes the band devoid of stations. There are less and less SW stations, too.

Never in my life before 2017 or so, when the last Solar Cycle (#24) died, had I heard the 31 Meter Band be nothing but static. It always was wall-to-wall signals. WWV was always audible. And during the Cold War, when SW was used for propaganda purposes by both sides, there were always plenty of loud signals to hear, even when the propagation was down. But since the sunspot dive in 2017, the old, dependable 31 Meter Band has been dead, dead, dead more than once.

I used to listen to Radio Australia nightly for years -- decades, actually -- on 5995 and 9580 khz, regardless of the Solar Cycle. They pumped a pretty hefty signal in our direction here, and it came across the Pacific, regardless of sunspots. If the Sunspots were up? 5995 and 9580 came in well. If the Sunspots were down? 5995 and 9580 came in well.

Not any more. The Australian 'liberal' government yanked Radio Australia off the air. Like a lot of international broadcasters, they didn't see the point of having internationally based Shortwave broadcasting anymore -- despite the fact that rural Australians in the Outback actually depended on R. Australia's news and information programming.

It's an example of the sad fact that there are less stations to hear on SW, and what stations there are on SW are prey to the Sunspot Cycle, which seems to be touch and go lately.

But there still is plenty to hear, when the propagation is working well. I've heard China broadcasting to Europe in German and Russian, from places like Kashgar. I've heard China broadcasting to India in English and Hindustani, from central China. I've heard Radyo Pilipinas broadcasting from the Philippines to the Filipino workers in the Middle East in Tagalog. I've heard TWR, a religious broadcaster, broadcasting in Russian and Castilian Spanish to Europe, from Madagascar. I've heard the VOA broadcasting to West Africa in English from Botswana, and the BBC broadcasting in English to West Africa from Ascension Island.

All on my Grundig G2 or other, simple SW radios.

There still is a lot to hear, and not all of it is Brother Stair. You've got to tune the band, channel by channel, and ACTUALLY LISTEN.

It's the same thing with the AM band. You've actually got to listen to appreciate whatever programming you're hearing. Sometimes it means you learn to ID languages, or learn to appreciate forms of music you didn't grow up with.

But some day, if you live long enough, you'll tune across the MW band and hear nothing but static. It may be 15 years, it may be 25 years, but it's destined to happen. Just as I heard this past night on 31 Meters -- a band that used to be SLAMMED , wall-to-wall, with radio signals nightly -- you'll tune around and hear NOTHING.

And all those complaints about "there isn't any good programming on AM" or "there's nothing but Cuba and Brother Stair on Shortwave" will mean absolutely nothing.

A pic I took of my Christmas lights -- a couple strings that are hung up permanently over the garage. I didn't put any out on the Hawthorn tree because my car (and a friend's car which was partially broken into by criminals this Summer) is in the way. No one would see them. And yes, I did include the Jack O' Lanterns for a few weeks. It's my way of thumbing my nose at society, I guess. Also, the neighbor kids across the street like seeing the pumpkins. I did remove the Jack O' Lanterns on Lille Julafton, December 23rd, which -- to me -- is the start of the actual Christmas Holiday. Gotta show at least some respect, right? :-)

IN OTHER LIFE: NEW YEAR'S WAS A BIG YAWN
In the world outside of the radio hobby the holidays came and went, including New Years, which was low key for me this year. I stayed home. I actually slept through much of it. I could hear a few fireworks being blown off on the nearby hillsides, and maybe one or two skyrockets shot off down the valley somewhere, but the old year passed and the new year arrived and I really don't care about it. It's another number to tack onto the end of the designator -- from 2022 to 2023. That's it.

The weather has been cold but not like it was two weeks ago, when it got down to 12 degrees (-8C or more). Now it just barely hits freezing at night. The daytime temperatures feel like March -- well, when March is normal. The last few years March and April haven't been normal. They've been cold. I still think the Solar Cycle has affected the weather patterns a lot more than we've been told. 

PANTERA!!!!
During the lull between Christmas and New Year's I did a lot of cruising YouTube, listening to music. I rediscovered a lot of the 90's US metal band Pantera's music. I was fan in the 2000's, as I got into them late in the game.

So I will end this blog post with a couple of Pantera vids. The first one is an interesting one, with Pantera opening the Monsters of Rock show in Moscow, 1991. The band were in top form, and knew it.:


It was an amazing performance of an (at the time) up and coming metal band. Pantera were simply on fire here. And the Monsters of Rock show in Moscow had reportedly over a million people in the audience. Incredible. Of course, this was also during the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War.

What a way to celebrate -- with Pantera, the Black Crowes, EST (a Russian metal band), Metallica and AC/DC!

Here is Pantera's official video to "I'm Broken", the song that made me a fan of theirs.:


Pantera were sort of unique in that Dimebag Darrell Abbott, their excellent guitarist, preferred solid state Randall amplifiers over tube amp models (another prominent metal player who recorded with Randalls was Dokken's George Lynch).

Solid state amps used to get a bad rap amongst guitarists, but solid state can sound good, as Pantera's music indicates. And as a fan of solid state, I can tell you that there is NO SAG with a good solid state amp! You hit the chord, it instantly slams you in the ass.

Either way, the 1990's were a terrific era for music, and Pantera are just one example of what was once popular among young people (and older metalheads). Two of the band are gone from us now (the Abbott brothers Dimebag Darrell and his drummer brother Vinnie), but the singer (Phil Anselmo) and bassist (Rex Brown) have reformed Pantera with Steve Vai (a virtuoso guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Black Label Society) and drummer Charlie Benante (of the metal band Anthrax) -- and they are presently touring. 

There are video clips of some of their shows, and they sound pretty good. Here is one I found two nights ago, of the reformed Pantera playing a show in Monterrey, Mexico. The fans seemed to be enjoying hearing the band play.:


Well, that's it for this installment. I have a SW/MW loggings listing to finish, which I'll post here soon, and also a review on a new SW/MW/FM/LW radio.

Right now, tonight, it's about 48F outside (+8C) and it feels like Spring, even though it's early January. We're having some odd weather, but I'm not complaining about it -- my cats don't like the cold, and -- frankly -- neither do I. As I finish this article, it is still Epiphany weekend -- a holiday that Salvadorans and other Latinos I know call "Dia De Los Reyes" (the Day of the Three Kings) and it is also the Slavic and Orthodox Christmas. 

It's as good a time as any to wrap up this article and post it.

Soon enough I'll switch off the Christmas lights. They lighten up the grey weather, but since Christmas is over, it's kind of pointless to keep them on. I think that my Mickey Mouse Jack O' Lantern shall stay up in the window for a while longer, well, just because.

Until next time, friends, PEACE.

C.C., January 6th, 7th and 9th, 2023.











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Wednesday, December 28, 2022

THE GREAT WORKER SHORTAGE FALLACY

Stores and other businesses say they're hiring, but are their hiring methods actually working, or not working? Are workers lazy, as some in the press insist, or are the employers incompetent in their hiring practices instead?
If there are two openings for every unemployed worker, as newscasters say, why do businesses make it so difficult to apply for jobs? 
Why are their hiring methods often so counterproductive? Is it because of AI replacing HR?
And if businesses are crying out for workers, why are so many big businesses still planning on layoffs?
If businesses are claiming they need workers, how many new workers are they really going to need after such businesses merge and combine stores and management?
These questions are valid ones, and something plainly isn't adding up.

Up until the recent war events starting in late February, nearly every day or night in America, if you listened to the news on the radio, or saw it on TV or online, there would be at least one mention of the plight of American businesses in their apparent search for workers.

Even now, periodically the subject of the 'worker shortage' is sometimes mentioned. It's sometimes referred to as the Great Resignation. The Great Resignation, or 'great worker shortage' is supposedly caused by several factors, some of them bordering on the political, but one of them being the Coronavirus Pandemic, and its after-effects on the US economy.

Now, the small office I worked for over the past decade decided to take a six to eight month hiatus early in 2021, as business was low during the pandemic. And right now, the office is only starting to get back into action. In the meantime, during the hiatus I decided to look for other employment, possibly permanent re-employment. Being that I had a certain amount of money saved up (I don't spend that much, personally), my search wasn't out of dire necessity, but I thought I'd see what I could find. I figured it couldn't hurt. 

My present employer understood my reasons for possibly seeking other work, and was fine with that.

So I decided, for the first time in just over a decade, to look for work. I got my resume up to date, and did some searching. Now remember -- this was during a time when on the news they have been pounding away at us for months that all these employers, large and small, were in dire need of workers. Recent news reports insist that there are two job openings for every unemployed person in the U.S., so that trend, of businesses needing workers, appears to have held up.

And, of course, over the past few months, they were blaming everything negative you'd encounter in business, or in the economy, on either the pandemic, or the 'worker shortage'.

No crackers? The problem must still be related to the Coronavirus Pandemic.... Even though there were plenty of crackers during the lockdowns. And now, that the pandemic has been declared mostly over (here in the US, at least) they blame the 'worker shortage' for everything instead.

EXCUSES, EXCUSES... and CUTTING HOURS & COSTS
If the shelves on your local grocery or box store were missing items, it was because their suppliers couldn't find workers. If a large retailer cancelled its online ordering service for special delivery, it was because "we don't have enough workers." If you needed to rectify your utility bill, and had trouble getting ahold of someone on the telephone, it was either because of the pandemic, or they simply didn't have enough people. One of the reasons given the American public during the early months of the large gas price increase was a shortage of gasoline tanker truck drivers. 

Even governmental departments were saying they didn't have enough workers.

Airlines cancel hundreds of flights because "they have staffing issues." That, of course, leads to the unanswered question: 'If you know that you don't have the staff available to maintain all those flights, why would you have scheduled them at all in the first place?"

Stores reducing their hours is also blamed on the "worker shortage" or after-effects of the pandemic, even though stores started reducing hours before the pandemic even hit. In my region, finding a 24 hour fast food restaurant is a challenge. Even before Corona hit, it was a challenge. The lights would be blazing outside, signs would be lit up like a Christmas tree, and you'd drive up to find the place is actually closed.

Grocery stores and drug stores which used to be 24 hours cut back their hours even a year or two before the pandemic hit. Some of them, which used to have their lights blazing during their closed hours, are dark -- indicating that they are cutting costs for some reason.

It's been the same with a lot of 24 hour gas stations, where you are now expected to use the ATM-style gas pump, and pay at the pump with a card, instead of go inside, or to a window, and pay a real person -- because even though the lights are on, the doors are locked. Companies are obviously using the pay at the pump method to save the cost of hiring a worker. But at the same time, these companies are blaming the "worker shortage". It's odd -- they had workers three weeks ago -- but locked doors now. See a pattern here?

This trend for businesses cutting hours makes it look like we're headed back to the 1950's, when there were no all-night or late-night businesses. Obviously the American business model is changing.

BUSINESS GIVES ITS REASONS, AND THE MEDIA PARROT THEM
Anyway, it seemed -- both during and after the pandemic -- that nearly every industry was experiencing a worker shortage or having staffing issues, at least according to what they said in the news.

Now, I had bought into those explanations for empty shelves, higher prices, and reduced store hours, just like probably most other Americans have. I mean, businesses and governments wouldn't lie to you, would they? The news media reporting about this Great Worker Shortage wouldn't lie to you, would they?

Now, it's possible that there are some employers out there who are indeed having trouble finding workers for their businesses. After all, the US Chamber of Commerce claimed in July, 2021 that there was a shortage of "skilled workers". The exact words used were "pervasive lack of skilled labor."

You can read about it here:

On the other side of the coin, the US Department Of Labor has a list of job positions which have the most openings, and a list of which "careers" have the most openings. It shows that the top ten "career" positions in the US are for unskilled labor, with low wages, and no higher education is required. Many of these positions only require a high school diploma, and aren't positions requiring technical training or skills.:

According to the list, 15 of the top 20 career fields pay approximately $15 or less an hour, and higher education is not required -- just more evidence of the lack of skills or education needed. In fact, if you look at the top 50 career fields on the Department of Labor's site, 33 of the top 50 "career growth" fields pay $15 an hour or less, which is minimum wage in many urban, coastal areas of the U.S. -- and they do not require more than a high school diploma for education requirements.

Yet, although many in the news media say there is a "pervasive lack of skilled labor", many others claim that the post-pandemic economy is terrific. Some political pundits even say the US economy is "booming" right now, while overlooking the lower wages for most positions that have openings.

So, once again: none of these movers and shakers would lie to us, would they?


EYES WIDE OPEN
Well, during my job search, my eyes were opened to at least one or two facets of this issue. I no longer believe that many, if not most, of these large retailers and other large companies truly need or truly want to employ more people. If they do, they certainly are shooting themselves in the foot with their arcane, slapped together and ineffective hiring methods -- even for jobs that pay relatively low wages. I don't care what they SAY about the subject -- all one has to do is look at their actions. 

What their motives would be for saying one thing, and doing another, is something beyond my knowledge. Incompetence is the first thing that comes to mind, but the CEO's and managerial types at America's largest companies are highly educated and often very experienced people. One would think or hope that they actually knew what they were doing. But, either way, it definitely seems that if these large companies truly want more workers, their way of achieving that goal is downright ineffective, almost by design.

The way they claim to be searching for workers appears to be designed to do the opposite -- to keep you from applying, to keep you from gaining, or to even keep you from wanting employment there. Some factors built into the employment system that many companies use are definitely counterproductive -- and yet nothing is ever done to change them for the better.

Although it may look conspiratorial, it seems to be good old fashioned corporate level incompetence.

CORPORATE H.R., BY COMPUTER BOT
One of the retailers where I applied for a job is national in scope. If I mentioned their name here, everyone in the U.S. and Canada would know who they are.

The application process was an education in everything wrong with modern day HR and employment practices. First off, there was no one to talk to about getting a job there. 

Instead, it was all online. The pre-employment 'test' was online. The application itself was all online -- meaning, you had to create an account with them. Which also meant that you had yet one more login name and yet one more unique, 500 character, alpha-numeric password to remember; one more bunch of login info to write down on the massive sheet of paper (stuffed in your desk somewhere) that has all your other unique, 500 character, alpha-numeric passwords.

Then, after I passed their online application and online 'test', I received an instant job offer.

Now, mind you, no human being was involved in the process aside from me. It was all done by app -- all done by the company's employment computer bot.

The computer bot then scheduled my in-person visit, along with their drug test. There was also an online approval I had to give for an extensive background check, and an option for me to request a copy of that. I requested a copy of my background check by marking 'yes'. It has been over a year now, and I still have yet to receive a copy of that background check. I guess that computer bot has a short memory. And the beauty of it: there is no one to contact about it -- whether by email or online message, and no one to call. 

They do not want to hear from you.

When I went to the place for my drug test, there were exactly three human beings I interacted with: the security guard, the dude who photographed my Social Security card and Driver's License, and the woman who gave me the drug test.

When my drug test was done, the woman who gave it to me told me "check your email for the next two weeks", so I did, every day. I never received an email.

BOT A DISAGREES WITH BOT B
About three weeks later, I got an email saying the position had been filled. OK, cool. It happens. The email said "check your phone, you may get a call." They didn't say what number would call me. OK, whatever. I never, of course, got a call. 

About a week or two after that, I received yet another email, stating that because they had not heard from me, the job offer was rescinded.

I scratched my head. They were pissed because they hadn't heard from me? Just a week or two before, they had told me the job was already filled, and they had told me to wait to hear from them.

And, as with every other communication from this company -- there was no reply allowed. It was always a one-way email, always a one-way communication, with no recourse or opportunity to reply... No email contact, no phone number to call. All of which is fairly common anymore in the modern day business world. The only communications allowed were one way only, from their voice-mail robots, or robot texts.

It's like "talk to the hand." I.e., Go Away.

They do not want to hear from you.

Think about it. If a company does not want to hear from you, what does that say to their potential employees?


This screenshot is an example of "We Don't Want To Hear From You" in action -- even if it involves reporting an obvious website error, common to two separate, well known and popular browsers. The website in question shall remain unnamed -- who it is, is not the point. The point is that -- increasingly -- tech companies do not want to hear from consumers who either have an issue with the software, or have actually found a problem with how it operates. Even people who do business with websites sometimes complain about this. I've seen it mentioned on writing and author websites. "There is no Customer Support!" is a common complaint.

Look at the text in the printscreened email (it can be viewed in a tab by right-clicking on it). They no longer have an email account that deals with issues and glitches. In other words: They Don't Want To Hear From You. "Go to the forum!" they say. I.e., they've outsourced customer support to other consumers, who don't have access to the actual product to make any necessary changes, and are probably as irritated as you are about any glitches.

Then there is the issue of why such companies don't have anyone manning a simple email account to field potential glitch reports. They employ hundreds, if not thousands, of programmers to work on useless "updates" that rarely if ever fix anything, yet they can't seemingly afford a simple team to field glitch complaints. 

Instead, this particular company shut the Complaint email account down, even though the email address still is listed on their website. The only conclusive answer is: They Don't Care. Unfortunately, in the American business world, they are not alone. One could almost find a reason to not fault them -- they're just following the lead set by many other companies.

This nonchalant, "We Don't Want To Hear From You" attitude is spreading to HR at various companies and corporations in the United States. No email contact, no phone contact, dead end emails, etc. It's giving a Big Middle Finger to the applicant.

PEOPLE? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING PEOPLE
It was at this point in the application process that I realized that during the entire encounter with this potential employer no human being made any of the decisions, and NO human being -- aside from the security guard, the guy who photographed my ID, and the drug test girl -- was even remotely involved in the process, on behalf of the company. No vital communication to me was done by a human. Not one. All information I gave the company was not processed by a human.

All was done by computer bot. And one computer bot didn't know what the other computer bot was telling me.

Welcome to the Impersonal, Inhuman, and sometimes Inhumane world of the Modern Day version of HR. HR (American slang that is short for "Human Resources") is in itself is a corporate monstrosity created in the late 1980's when 'personnel' departments were transformed from the office that dealt with employment and benefits, to a bureaucratic black hole of endless jargon and bullshit. 

But now, they've managed to make that even worse.

TALK TO A LOCAL MANAGER -- NO, SCRATCH THAT! 
DEAL WITH A BOT INSTEAD.
Let's fast forward a couple months. I applied at another place, a big chain retailer where I shopped frequently. The front of the store, like many others, had several "Help Wanted!" signs covering the windows. In fact, as of the date of this writing, it still does.

And every time I shop at the store, their PA is always breaking in with announcements about how they really need workers, and how they are looking for people. The announcement says for people to "talk to a local manager!" as well as apply online. I asked the checkout guy about what I heard on the PA about getting a job. I asked him who the 'local manager' was. He said for me to go to the customer service desk during regular business hours, they'd get me connected.

So I did that, the next day. I was immediately told to go online. So much for 'talking to a local manager'.

When I got home, went online. It was the biggest boondoggle of a mess. Their search function operated like it was programmed on a Commodore 64. Really non-user friendly. Rube Goldberg would have been proud. There were job listings for stores two or three states away. There were instructions to go to LinkedIn to apply for an open position. I went to LinkedIn, and found that the position listed as "open" on the company's website was "not taking applications".

One computer bot didn't know what the other computer bot was doing or saying. See a pattern here?

The store wanted you to create your account with their website, where you give them all your data -- name, birthdate, address, phone number, email, and other vital info -- and then you find that none of the jobs are available. The checkout person at the store said they needed delivery order fillers. The website said there were no such positions open. The store's main website said they needed Night Stockers. The store's job website said there were no such positions open.

Once again, I was dealing with a situation where a) THEY DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU, and b) everything was done by computer bot, and c) one computer bot doesn't know what the other computer bot is telling you, and -- finally -- d) the human being actually working in the store knows more about the store's needs than the online, employment computer bot does.
 
A cartoon making the rounds on social media lately... It says a lot about the tendency for businesses and government agencies to replace actual people with online AI bots -- it's just another way of saying "F*** Off! We Don't Want To Hear From You".
 
REPLACING H.R. WITH A.I. -- IT'S A REAL TREND
At least some of my suspicions -- that a lot of these hiring issues are due to AI replacing people in HR departments -- have apparently been covered before in the press. It just wasn't considered a factor in the "labor shortage" until recently.

Here are two articles published by Vice a couple years ago that cover this subject.:


I am certain that much of the negative that I experienced in my short job search described above was due to AI replacing HR. If one does a search on AI replacing HR, you'll find quite a few articles, and you'll even find websites for the companies selling this software to companies. It's a fairly big industry, and claims to help companies "cut costs".

Is it truly helping business? That is a good question. 

How can it be helping a business if no one really wants to work there anymore?


"Please enter a brand new, mind-numbing, 500 digit, unique alphanumeric password so we can start to mine your data, thank you."

WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH YOUR DATA?
This all adds to my suspicion that in reality, these big corporations really don't want workers, they just say so, because a) it's great PR to say so, b) they're incompetent, and possibly c) they just want your data. I mean, I didn't get a job, but they still have my data -- the first company still has my drug test info and background check data filed away somewhere. What are they going to do with it? The data itself didn't get me a job. And it probably never will. So where does the data go, and how is it used, and by who?

And it's actually an important question, never seemingly breached by any news media: Why is it that to do a modern-day job search, you have to create an account at every single company where you apply for work? 

And -- just as importantly -- what do they do with all your data?

Before you question my suggestion that some of these corporate HR operations could be mining your data, there are actually companies who market data-mining software to HR departments nationwide. Just do a search on "Data Mining in HR" and several such data-mining software companies will come up on any major browser. They're not just mining the data of their employees -- not when a greater number of prospective employees and applicants provide a larger pool of data to use internally -- or to sell.

And since when is the applicant expected to choose which exact position they are going to fill, ahead of time, during the application process? Isn't that a bit backwards? That's putting the applicant in the position of HR, isn't it?

As for the retail store that still says it needs workers over its PA system, I can't be the only person who has tried their miserable, human-free employment application process. I live in a city of over 100,000 people. You going to tell me I'm the only guy who applied for a position at the store there? Then why is the store always saying it needs workers? 

The only reasonable answer is that they really don't want more workers. The companies I dealt with are some of the largest in the U.S. in their field. How can they truly be in need of workers? And why is their application process so hackneyed and Rube Goldberg that it makes the I.R.S. look streamlined?

None of it makes sense to me. Either the people running some of America's biggest corporations are completely inept and incompetent when it comes to finding new employees, or they are telling us one thing, while they are actually doing another. I find it difficult to believe that such wealthy and powerful corporations simply can't find workers.

I've reached the conclusion that this "great worker shortage" is a big farce -- a fallacy. How can big business say they want people, when they don't have the balls to actually deal with people in person?

THEY 'NEED WORKERS': THAT'S WHY YOU'RE ON TERMINAL HOLD OR IN A VOICE MAIL BLACK HOLE WHENEVER YOU NEED ANYTHING
When I call one of the nation's largest banks, and have to stay on hold for 50 minutes just to check out why there is an issue with my credit card, what does that have to say about how much they supposedly need people? You're gonna tell me one of the nation's largest banks can't find workers to talk on a phone -- really?

When I go into a box store owned and run by one of the US's largest retail corporations, and instead of 5 checkers there are only 2, and the line of customers at each checkout stand is ten miles long, what does that say about the company's desire to hire people?

If they really wanted to hire people, wouldn't they allow a local manager -- you know, the man or woman who would be your boss -- to take your app, look it over, and schedule an interview, or interview you on the spot? Wouldn't that be a more logical hiring practice than the top down, data-mining, cobbled together, bot-infested version they have now?

WTF is wrong with American business anymore? 

And on top of that, I truly believe that American business has held an anti-people attitude in its business models for a long time.

EVEN PAYING YOUR BILL CAN BE A HASSLE
You ever have to endure an hour of voice mail BS when you just need an answer from a big company to a simple question? You ever have to maneuver through a dizzying array of voice mail prompts and useless number pressings to find you never can get ahold of a human being at the other end of the phone connection? You ever try to get ahold of a human whenever you had a software, computer system, or other consumer product problem?
 
Have you ever tried to do something like just pay a bill online? Some utilities actually have working websites, but a lot of other companies make it so difficult just for them to get your money. You have to wait hours on the phone for the "next customer service representative" (because they never hire enough of them -- even before the pandemic, this was the case) or their website is an endless cycle of clickbait bullshit that never gets you to a means to simply pay your bill. Even their customer surveys are often designed to make you click, click, click, click, rather than simply tell them why you're dissatisfied and leave.

THEY DON'T WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU.

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard a robot voice tell me "Your call is important to us, and the next available customer service representative will answer your call as soon as they are available" I'd probably at least be $100 richer by now.

If businesses truly wanted to hire people, they've more often than not shown that their preference is to install computer programs to replace people instead. If businesses truly wanted to hire more people, they'd make it easier to apply for a job, by actually talking to a manager, instead of insanely more difficult, through their social media, strung together by bubblegum and duct tape, flow-chart-rich and results-poor mess.  

Now, I know it probably sounds as if I think that there is some conspiracy that employers aren't really looking for workers, and that they are lying to all of us about the problem. But instead -- I repeat -- it looks like it all comes down to good ol' fashioned American Corporate Incompetence.

THEY ARE OUTSOURCING H.R. WORK TO THE POTENTIAL EMPLOYEE
And one of the supreme ironies of this trend -- where they replace HR and other work with AI bots -- is that it is Corporate America's way of outsourcing more and more HR work to YOU.

No longer does a manager hand you an application to fill. YOU go to their website and enter all your data. No longer does a manager interview you for a job. YOU engage in some stupid computer "test", on a website -- including a simulated task -- that somehow emulates the job you are applying for. No longer do store managers schedule your shift -- YOU are the one who does that yourself, on the computer, or it's determined by AI. No longer does someone train you -- you are supposed to get it all by watching an instruction video, on your computer.

And if something is wrong with your paycheck, YOU have to figure that out for yourself -- or deal with an AI bot to try to straighten it out -- because in many of these companies there is no longer anyone to contact about such issues. The payroll "work" is all done by an AI bot on a company computer network. No people necessary.

In the mid-2010's they were telling us that AI would get rid of half of the jobs in the economy by mid-Century. I can see now, more clearly, how this is happening -- and the trend, as well as the lack of openness and honesty surrounding it -- should disturb everybody.

DISAPPEARING EMPLOYEES WITH EXPERIENCE
One trend that is related to everything I've mentioned here is a disturbing one: the tendency for big corporations to have unwritten policies where they get rid of older, technically adept and highly experienced employees and then replace them with younger, cheaper workers.

I know of at least three large companies (which I won't name) that appear to have this policy -- two of them I have read about in news articles, and the third company's "get rid of the older, experienced workers with seniority" policy I heard about through a friend who knows people who work in that company.

All three companies deal at least partly with tech, and the first two have had news articles written about their policy of getting rid of experienced workers because they save on the salaries. At the same time, those experienced workers have knowledge that a newhire can't just instantly gain. The results can be potentially disastrous for the company's product line, but American tech companies seem to have this tradition. It was discussed as early as the 2000's when a prominent professor of computer science, Norm Matloff at California's UC Davis, had a white paper on the software industry's war on older tech workers.

At least some of Mr. Matloff's work can be accessed here.:

This sort of thing -- getting rid of older, experienced tech workers -- is still happening. The friend I mentioned just previously does repair work for a lot of tech workers in a major metro in the US. He knows personally of workers over age 40 who are afraid of losing their jobs at a major US tech giant, because they have seen other workers over age 40 lose their jobs overnight, and become replaced by new-hires who cost less, but don't always know the particular needs of the project they're working on.

And all this begs the obvious question: If you are running a company, how can you say you "need qualified workers" when you're getting rid of qualified workers -- the experienced, qualified people that you're canning at the same time you're complaining? 

Here are several thought-provoking articles that go into this subject with a bit more depth.:






These articles from several years ago (in a couple cases) indicate that this sort of laying off of experienced and qualified workers, ostensibly to "cut costs", has been going on for quite some time. It's still apparently happening now, even at a time when industries complain about "not being able to find workers". It appears that the American employment business model is sick.

Now think about this: the last time you bought an item, like -- perhaps -- a replacement part for your car or truck, and found it designed poorly, or defective right out of the box, or you used software that is clunky and buggy when the older version of it worked perfectly, you might have just read the answer to the reason why. Corporate America seems hell-bent on cost cutting, to the point of getting rid of people who knew the product, knew the market, and knew the company -- to the detriment of the product or service quality and consistency.

When a company eliminates its experienced workers, it destroys any viable continuity that is necessary to keep a product consistent. The next crew below them also knows what is probably in store for them, after they have seen the older, experienced workers being canned just because they have experience and seniority. I know people who work, or worked, at companies who have done this. They are well aware they could be next in line.

They know that the company will get rid of them, just like they got rid of the experienced guys and women ahead of them. 

It doesn't do wonders for a company's products or services when your workforce has zero sense of loyalty because of your non-existent loyalty towards your workforce, or your non-existent HR practices. If they no longer have a stake in the company, or even in the future of the product, what is that going to do to the actual product?

COMPANIES 'CAN'T FIND WORKERS': THATS WHY THEY'RE LAYING THEM OFF, EVEN WHEN THEY HAVE BANNER REVENUES
OR
'WE NEED WORKERS SO BAD WE'RE LAYING THEM OFF'
Another disturbing trend is American businesses complaining about not being able to find workers, while at the same time, other big companies, including some tech and manufacturing companies, are laying off people. Right now, Ford Motor Company, which is expanding its Electric Vehicle development and production, is laying off 3,000 workers. 

How does that figure? You're expanding, by laying people off instead of engaging in worker retraining, during a time when there is a "labor shortage"?

OK. Got that. 

It would almost be a funny part in a late night TV monologue, except for the fact it's a) true and b) hurting people's lives.

BMI, a large music licensing and royalty collection company, had a banner year in 2021, when they made record revenues. They laid off 10% of their workforce this year. Other prominent companies are laying off people, including some tech companies: Walmart, ReMax, Shopify, Peloton, Best Buy, and others. These are fairly large companies -- Walmart being the biggest retailer in the US aside from Amazon. Yet at the same time, US businesses are bewailing the lack of workers.

See a pattern here? Say one thing, act like another.

Here's just one news article on these layoffs.:


CONCLUSION: AMERICA'S EMPLOYMENT MODEL IS SICK
From everything touched in this article I can reach several conclusions:

First off, American business is too centralized in its hiring and HR, which is keeping them from finding enough workers -- their local managers, who know what the needs are on the ground, aren't apparently given enough leeway to hire and fire, making the entire company slow to adapt to the those needs. They're depending too much on the internet and AI to do everything for them, instead of leaving employment to middle managers and the like.

Secondly, American business increasingly is holding an attitude that "churn is healthy" -- i.e., workers coming and going, getting hired and then fired frequently -- is supposedly good for business. There are several prominent US corporations where this is reportedly the preferred employment model.

Thirdly, American business is replacing people with AI bots, many of those AI bots doing the hiring and firing. The people at the receiving end of the AI/HR decisions determine that working in that field is no longer for them.

Hey -- how is that all working out for you now?

And once word gets out, that even the practice of seeking employment is like playing an endless game of phone tag with robots, how does that make potential employees want to work for you?

Does business in general actually care about any of this? It's a good question.

Now, every business has its right to do what it wants, employment-wise, as long as it's legal. If someone has a big company and wants to lay off people to cost-cut, or install a computer program to do all their HR work -- that's their right.

But at the same time, it's bizarre that so many companies are complaining about finding people. And I think at least some of the reason comes down to those businesses' methods of finding and hiring people. They've clearly lost their way.

IT AIN'T EASY....
I'll end this by roughly quoting David Bowie (who was 'quoting' UK folk artist Ron Davies, who wrote the song): It Ain't Easy.:



And here's the same song done by Long John Baldry, if that's more your style. He did a great version, too.:



SUMMARY: ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

Bluebells.... Not of Scotland, though that is a great bagpipe tune.

All that said, work has been picking back up at the office where I have been employed since 2011, so I am no longer involved in seeking other employment.

But the next time you hear about the Great Worker Shortage or the Great Resignation, try applying for one of those open jobs. Make sure you have a full cup of coffee and a lot of patience to wade through tons of online bullshit. You'll need your smartphone handy, because they want your number so they can text you the secret code you'll need to get to that application that the computer bot will discard right after it mines your data. And, of course, they'll keep your phone number along with the rest of your personal information.

Perhaps you'll be luckier than I was. Good for you if you are so lucky. Really. I wish the best for people.

But, from my experience, for a business world that is screaming 'worker shortage!' and deriding the public about it (even implying that people are lazy), they sure make it next to impossible to just talk to a human being about the job they say they're trying to fill, and they often don't seem to value some of the workers they employ if they are so willing to get rid of them while complaining about needing workers.

Peace.

C.C. -- written February and March, 2022. Posted December, 2022.

I held off on publishing this article for well over 6 months -- on purpose. I normally don't write anything that would appear even remotely political. I also didn't want to sound like I'm bitching and complaining, but I really think this replacing of people with bots is hurting American business, despite the fact they seem hellbent on doing it.

This article is one of those few times that I have done where I have breached subjects like this, because I think it's a bizarre situation where employers claim to want workers, but make it so stupidly difficult to acquire them -- and the press ignores this particular facet of the employment issue.

The only reason I'm posting it is because I think it is actually a vital and important issue. American business appears unaware that they are shooting themselves in the foot with their idiotic ways of trying to gain workers.

Most of the time I write about radio, music, guitars, biking, and the like -- and usually I prefer to keep it that way. :-)

This is one of those RARE occasions I strayed from writing about those happier, and more fun subjects.

My apologies to anyone who was looking for another article about radios or guitars, and was disappointed. Next time, friends: I have a new SW radio, so a review is upcoming!

Stay tuned, and 

Peace. 


Addendum, January 25th, 2023 -- I clarified some bad grammar. 
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