[NJARC] More thoughts on Rochester 2003

[James C Whartenby]

Greetings
I haven't been to the AWA event in quite a few years, not since before
Ruth and I left NJ.  That adds up to about 6 or 7 years by now.  For
whatever reason (me thinks Ruth really did want to go!) I was able to
convince her to make the trip.  The rub is that the community college
where I teach started their fall semester that Wednesday.  My class
schedule did not allow me to leave until Thursday noon.  So after I
cancelled classes for Friday, we drove the 1200 miles from Arkansas in
just under 20 hours.

There was not much of a flea market left by the time we got there that
Friday morning.  Maybe 8 or 10 vendors and not even that number of
buyers.  It was lonely out there!  One of the reasons for the sparse
outside market was the auction inside.  Just about everyone was there
inside checking out what was going up for bid.  I was still able to find
some inexpensive tidbits, parts mostly.   I even found an old mint CBS
LT-15 power transistor, for free no less!   The equipment still for sale
outside was priced above my reality.  This explains why it was still
there.  Evidently everyone else felt the same way.

The annual conference has been like this for longer then I have been an
AWA member.  Some of the comments made so far about this event have
merit, but I think it will be hard to change the tradition of the
conference format.  This is a shame.  Without new members, the AWA will
stagnate.  This being said, I am not a fan of one of the suggestions, the
Le Mans style flea market start.  Perhaps this is because I am a fan of
Dr. Franklin and his sayings about the bird and the worm.  Part of the
thrill is in the hunt that starts at first light!

Considering the 2400 mile round trip for essentially a dinner, I still
had a great time.  Good food at the Friday night banquet and even better
company, at least at the table with those I had the pleasure to sit with.
 The slide show about Armstrong was a bit hokey and dated.  This maybe
why not that many AWA members have ever seen it.  Still, it was
entertaining.  Sarnoff is portrayed as the evil doer but not much mention
is made of the disintegration of the Armstrong marriage.  I still find it
hard to believe that one commits suicide over a radio patent, I don't
care how big their ego is, but they often have over the lost love of a
woman.  Go figure.

So if you think Rochester is dying, then my advice is to either get
appointed to the convention committee or start your own event and compete
with them.  Run it your way, line up some well known speakers on
appropriate topics and advertise, advertise and advertise some more. 
Hopefully, in a few years you will have a good following.  But remember
to stay flexible and adapt to the needs of the next generation!

Life goes on,
Jim

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