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I talked to some guy at a TV station about the mysterious death of one of the freelance maintenance engineers recently-- (He works on the microwave mountaintop sites...these are the microwave dishes that receive and send the video from trucks in the field. In the course of the conversation I asked about why there was no Golden Gate Bridge camera for a few weeks; he told me Russell Brown, an engineer known in this market for his expertise on remote cameras, transmitter (Sutro Tower), and microwave equipment that made him a go-to guy when the stations needed help in completing projects, had passed away November 26th.
The broadcast vet told me Brown fell off of a 26-foot ladder trying to fix the GG camera. Not clear from who I spoke with if he died that day, or from injuries sustained from the fall. But the maintenance tech I spoke to said that KRON wanted to have control of this project, (they have so little else now they're hanging onto anything to seem relevant), and so the project to upgrade the traffic cameras on certain sites have lagged way behind schedule.
That is why Brown was called in. The maintenance tech said that KRON was updating software on the camera, and not informing anyone involved in the project, so when fixes could have been done via IP address, there was a person on a tall ladder who may have lost his life because someone did not share information.
On Brown's obituary there is no mention of his death on the bridge while working. Some are speculating there might be a lawsuit pending, and of course the GG Bridge Authority is a shadow organization and semi-bureaucrats to boot.
My conversation also included the point that while all during these upgrade projects between the local stations, that all the heads of engineering would fire tons of emails between each other, generating memos and "looking" busy. When Brown died, all emails stopped. Curious.
I did not know Russell Brown but he had a wife and child, and a grandchild. He was 57.
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Mysterious death HUH? What's the mystery, why his obituary didn't mention he fell off a ladder?
ReplyDeleteThe obituary says he died suddenly, that's specific enough. Rich must be easily mystified. Obituaries frequently omit specific details.
Rich also thinks there's this mysterious cover-up in the KTVU Asiana affair, even though KTVU owned up to the mistake, explained how it happened, issued multiple on-air and print apologies and terminated people involved (whether rightly or wrongly is another matter, but that's arguable in any corporate screw-up). I'm still waiting for this big cover-up. Even Deep Throat left the parking garage, took off his trench coat and went home. Rich sees boogeymen everywhere. Kinda like those conservative nutjob radio hosts he listens to.
DeleteWhat is Lieberman intimating? The "shadowy" GG Bridge Authority conspired to omit details of this accident from the obituary to avoid a lawsuit?
DeleteHe looks like the unholy spawn of Damon Bruce and Dwight Shrute
ReplyDeleteMy comments get censored routinely, but Rich views this as appropriate.
DeleteThe gentleman is dead, show so fucking manners 3:24 and rich.
Nice. A little respect for the dead, please. God, what a tool.
DeleteI'm all for jokes and levity but that's a pretty shitty comment directed at someone who just died tragically. Some people's children....
DeleteSorry (!) this comment is unrelated to story, but why nothing about technical problems that prevented KTVU from presenting Weekend Early Morning News, I think it was Sunday.
ReplyDeleteAutomation system down. They do not staff week end maintenance anymore on a full time basis....
DeleteAs the shyster in a suit told a room full of soon to be laid off broadcast professionals "cox is aware of the impending drop in broadcast quality, and is willing to accept the lower quality in exchange for payroll saved".
Cal Osha was there the following Monday.
ReplyDeleteMaybe CAL OSHA is in on Rich's imaginary mysterious coverup too. Undoubtedly KTVU and Cumulus are also involved.
Delete3:17's right on. Read ten obits and maybe one will have a cause of death. If any is given it's vague like died after long illness, died suddenly, died peacefully etc.
ReplyDeleteSo what you're trying to do here is blame someone at KRON for possibly not sharing IP Address info, and then saying that person should feel responsible for this man falling off a ladder, and dying? Sounds classy.
ReplyDeleteAbout as classy as KRON's little napoleons not sharing the info (as per the collective agreed upon protocol) and then disappearing when the guano hits the fan
DeleteYou are WAY out of line here
ReplyDeleteNothing but irresponsible innuendo...
ReplyDeleteIs Lieberman accusing some unnamed party of causing this person's death?
Classy @ 3:24! Make fun of a dead guy who has a grieving wife, kids, and grand kids. Sleep well tonight.
ReplyDeletektvu has other problems, no bigger than the loss of a life, but no one really knew him personally... rip, while in the newsroom, the most successful news operation is being gutted by the new boss, he's hiring new managers and passing up established employees, mutiny is on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 11:30....read it again...no one at ktvu died. You should perhaps take a class in night school to help with reading comprehension, if you can fit it in between your double shifts at jiffy lube.
Deleteadd this to the fact that morale in the newsroom is at an all time low, look for possible mutiny's, long time employees being overlooked for out of town hires, new managers haven't got a clue, ed chapuis is starting to look real good!
ReplyDeleteLieberman should retract this unfounded speculation. He's a gossip columnist pretending to be an investigative reporter.
ReplyDelete