WEBVTT

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Diesel prices. Yeah, we know how that's been

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in the news lately, and usually it gets talked

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about like it's mostly a trucking problem. And

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I'm not gonna lie, it mostly is a trucking problem.

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It absolutely hits trucking the hardest, but

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of course it hits everything downstream. We'll

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get into some of that. But diesel, if you don't

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think about this a lot, diesel keeps a lot of

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communication infrastructure alive when the power

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goes out. And, you know, at today's prices, keeping

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that stuff running is getting really expensive,

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really fast. I saw diesel this morning in southwestern

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Wisconsin at $6 .51 a gallon, and my first thought

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wasn't a truck, it was a generator, specifically

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all those generators sitting behind the transmitter

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buildings and at the cell sites and communication

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buildings and all the other infrastructure you

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probably never think about until the lights go

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out. And then suddenly that ugly box out back

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is looking pretty damn important. This is the

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Tyler Woodward project. I'm Tyler. I'm a broadcast

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engineer in the radio industry. And today I want

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to talk about diesel prices. We don't talk about

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that a lot because that's kind of not the glamorous

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part of the job, but there's a reason we need

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to talk about it because diesel prices are getting

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pretty expensive right now. And where I'm coming

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at from all this isn't the trucking side of it

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i want to talk about what happens when the thing

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you're filling up is what's keeping your radio

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station on the air or the cellular network alive

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usual disclaimer these are my opinions as of

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monday september 21st triple a had the national

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average for diesel at about 651 a gallon and

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i'm sure that's going to change by the time this

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episode comes out now a year ago for comparison

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It was $369 a gallon. That's a pretty stupid

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jump in one year. And obviously, trucking gets

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hit first and it usually gets hit the hardest.

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Minnesota Public Radio talked to trucking companies

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across Minnesota who are putting in 200 to 240

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gallons into a truck at a single time. And some

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of those Phillips are costing them more than

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$1 ,200. I mean, eventually that money's got

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to go somewhere. It's got to come from somewhere.

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The truck still has to haul the groceries. The

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farm equipment still has to run. Construction

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equipment still needs its fuel. Trains moving

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freight. You know, they still have to they still

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got to do their job. And also fuel trucks still

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have to go deliver more fuel. None of that stops,

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obviously, because diesel get more expensive,

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but It gets a whole lot harder and a whole lot

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more expensive. The Energy Information Administration

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points out that diesel is tied into trucking,

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trains, agriculture, construction, and backup

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generators. That last one is the part that I

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keep thinking about, especially from my position

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as a broadcast engineer in the broadcasting community.

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There's also a rumor floating around that there

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might be a nationwide trucker strike on October

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1st, but I couldn't really Verify that other

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than a few rumors. There's no evidence of some

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coordinated national strike, but if they did

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it I Wouldn't exactly be opposed to it. It would

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definitely get someone's attention Hopefully

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maybe The diesel prices are a problem. That's

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real enough all on its own we don't need to make

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it any harder now besides all of that think about

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the phone in your hand or the phone in your pocket

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think about it if the power goes out a cellular

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network cell site doesn't magically keep running

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on its own forever the fcc talking about you

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know what happened after hurricane helene Said

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most wireless companies have batteries that sell

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sites that can usually carry them from around

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four to eight hours Some sites especially the

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larger ones have fixed generators and depending

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on the setup those can usually keep the site

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running from Anywhere the 12 to 48 hours before

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they need more fuel And then somebody's got to

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get the fuel there That's the part that's easy

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to forget You know, a generator, it's not unlimited

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backup power. It's backup power as long as the

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engine keeps running and the roads are open and

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the fuel is easily available and somebody can

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actually get the truck out there to refill the

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tank. Verizon has talked about staging fuel tankers

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before major storms because that's part of keeping

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the network alive. Again, you know, it's not

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really glamorous. Not something you're going

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to see in commercials, but it still has to happen.

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It's part of the backbone keeping everything

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else running. Now, I hate doing this because

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I hate math, but give me a couple of minutes

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of numbers here because this is where it's really

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going to get ridiculous. Let's think about a

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Caterpillar 30 kilowatt diesel generator running

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at 75 % load. That's going to burn anywhere from

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one point 85 to 2 gallons an hour Now at today's

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national average, that's a little over 12 bucks

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an hour just in fuel alone Run it for 24 hours

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and you're a you know, you're at about 290 bucks

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a hundred kilowatt Caterpillar again at 75 %

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load burns about 4 .8 to 5 gallons an hour Yeah,

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that's about 750 dollars every 24 hours No, let's

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get let's get weirder. Let's get bigger a bigger

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a hundred and eighty two kilowatt Unit at the

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same load is about ten point eight to eleven

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gallons an hour You want to know what that cost

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is damn near seventy hundred dollars a day and

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Before you know anybody emails me comments on

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Facebook or whatever these are just examples

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i'm not saying every radio site has one of these

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big boy generators i'm i'm not saying even even

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in every cell site has one either now also you

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got to think about generator sizes are all over

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the place loads are going to be all over the

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place and some sites use diesel some use propane

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some use natural gas some ride on batteries for

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a little while Some transport and portable generators

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I'm just trying to put a dollar amount on the

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fuel because I think 651 a gallon sounds a little

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different once you start pouring it into a generator

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instead of a vehicle a 57 gallon tank if you

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filled it from empty at today's average is about

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$371 a 132 gallon tank is about Eight hundred

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and sixty dollars. Now, I can't get into which

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generators take what where I work because, you

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know, I. My position, I work in a state government

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and all that, so there's certain things I can't

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talk about, but I can tell you at some of our

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bigger sites, we've got a hundred gallon diesel

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tanks. And at today's average diesel prices,

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if you had to fill one of those bad boys up from

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empty, you're looking about just shy of 700 bucks

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for one tank. And if the power goes out long

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enough, you have to fill it again. Well, there

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goes another $700. That's where all this starts

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adding up really fast. One site. It's not really

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scary. It's not a scary number, but but multiply

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it. If a storm knocks out commercial power at

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100 sites. And let's say just for easy math here.

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Every one of them was running that little 30

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kilowatt example at 75 % load. Well, you're looking

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at roughly $29 ,000 a day in diesel. 29 ,000.

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Again, real networks don't work that neatly.

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100 sites aren't all going to have the same size

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generator at the same load. Some will still be

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on batteries. Some will get utility power back

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sooner than others some will need portable generators

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Some won't need a generator at all, but the fuel

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bill is still a real thing Radio You know has

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the same exact problem Just usually with fewer

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sites unless you're like a big -eye heart or

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somebody now after Hurricane Helene WMIT in North

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Carolina had utility lines to their Mount Mitchell

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transmitter site destroyed by a landslide. Commercial

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power didn't come back for months and the station

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used diesel generators to keep that transmitter

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site going. That's the version of radio during

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an emergency everybody keeps talking about. We

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are there when everything else goes down. And

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yeah, we should be. But there's a lot of buts.

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Somebody has to pay to keep the generator running.

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If your station loses utility power for three

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days and you're running that 100 kilowatt generator

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example around 75 % load, You're already north

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of twenty two hundred dollars in diesel And that's

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just the fuel that doesn't include getting the

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fuel delivered It doesn't include somebody driving

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it out there. It doesn't include overtime. It

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doesn't include generator maintenance It doesn't

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include whatever headache comes with trying to

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get a fuel truck to a site after a storm has

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taken trees and power lines down everywhere It's

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just the cost of diesel And a year ago, that

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same amount of diesel would have cost a heck

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of a lot less. Radio stations already have plenty

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of expensive stuff nobody notices until it breaks.

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You've got the transmitter, you've got the STL,

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you've got towers, you've got generators, you've

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got streaming, you've got insurance, and of course,

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engineering time. Take one of those boring everyday

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expenses. Nobody thinks about and almost double

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that For the fuel price in a year. I mean, that's

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that's not nothing Somebody's gonna be looking

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at that spreadsheet and the cell companies aren't

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magically immune to it because They're larger.

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It might be easier for them because they might

00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:55.159
have some deeper pockets You know your your your

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phone bill isn't going to have a little line

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that says diesel for the tower down the road

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was 412. That's not obviously how any of this

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works, but the cost, you know, it still goes

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somewhere. Side note, the CEO isn't going to

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give up his pay bonuses for that, so it's going

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to get passed down to us. The money's going to

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get paid to fuel vendors. It goes into operating

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expenses. It pays for contractors. It pays for

00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:34.019
the crews. It pays for, you know, the stage portable

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generators that, you know, in fuel trucks before

00:12:37.580 --> 00:12:40.379
a storm, it pays to send somebody back out there

00:12:40.379 --> 00:12:42.500
again when the first tank is getting low and

00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:46.720
the utility power still hasn't come back. Somebody

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pays for that. And eventually every cost in business,

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it's got to go somewhere. Same thing with groceries

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same thing with freight same thing with basically

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everything that diesel touches Again, I'm not

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saying your phone bill goes up ten bucks next

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month because diesel hit 651 Obviously, I can't

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make that connection and anybody pretending they

00:13:14.980 --> 00:13:19.799
can I guarantee you is guesstimating I'm saying

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The network, you know keeping the network alive

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cost more when the fuel keeping the network alive

00:13:28.580 --> 00:13:33.320
cost more. Pretty simple when you think about

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it like that. And, you know, this is the part

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I think gets lost when we talk about backup power.

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We tend to treat the generator like the end of

00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:46.700
the conversation. Does the station have a generator?

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Cool. Check. Does the cell site have backup power?

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Good. Check. Okay. But how long can it run? How

00:13:58.769 --> 00:14:01.269
much fuel is sitting there right now at this

00:14:01.269 --> 00:14:04.090
very moment? Who's bringing the next load of

00:14:04.090 --> 00:14:10.110
fuel? Can they get to the site? And what happens

00:14:10.110 --> 00:14:12.570
when the hospital, the cell company, the radio

00:14:12.570 --> 00:14:14.490
station, the county, the data center, and everybody

00:14:14.490 --> 00:14:18.750
else in the same area are all calling the same

00:14:18.750 --> 00:14:22.860
fuel company at the same time? That's the part

00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:27.539
nobody puts in that little brochure, whatever.

00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.600
I don't know. Nobody talks about it. Backup power

00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:33.879
isn't just owning a generator. It's fuel, it's

00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:35.399
trucks, it's people, it's roads, it's maintenance,

00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:38.279
it's money. The generator is just the loudest

00:14:38.279 --> 00:14:42.759
part. And we all know why fuel prices are high

00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:44.860
right now. I don't need to cover that here. You

00:14:44.860 --> 00:14:48.179
can go any number of news organizations to find

00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:51.539
out why the fuel prices are high. What I'm saying

00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:56.700
and what I'm most concerned about is what it's

00:14:56.700 --> 00:15:02.620
going to do to us in the broadcast industry or

00:15:02.620 --> 00:15:05.159
the cell companies, any communication infrastructure,

00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:08.500
whether that's telecom, whether that's broadcasting,

00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:14.919
hospitals, anywhere else. These higher diesel

00:15:14.919 --> 00:15:18.480
prices are really going to hit hard. And I'd

00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:20.820
really like to hear from some other broadcast

00:15:20.820 --> 00:15:25.419
engineers that are out there on what you're seeing

00:15:25.419 --> 00:15:30.179
for fuel cost. Operation managers at radio stations

00:15:30.179 --> 00:15:32.100
that are having to look at this and pay these

00:15:32.100 --> 00:15:35.480
costs. I mean, how, how hard is it starting to

00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:37.519
hurt right now? It may not be hurting you yet,

00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:40.679
but just think it's September. It's the end of

00:15:40.679 --> 00:15:42.059
September. It's almost the end of September.

00:15:42.299 --> 00:15:44.100
We got October around the corner. We got November

00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:47.039
on the way. And before you know it, That ice

00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:52.159
and snow is going to start falling. I just wonder

00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:55.500
where it goes. So that's what this episode was

00:15:55.500 --> 00:15:57.779
about. That's the episode. If you want to keep

00:15:57.779 --> 00:15:59.399
up with it, subscribe wherever you're listening.

00:15:59.720 --> 00:16:01.460
Oh, and I guess I should give you the phone number.

00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:07.500
608 -668 -4702. If you are one of those broadcast

00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:09.419
engineers or somebody that works in the cellular

00:16:09.419 --> 00:16:12.740
industry, if you want to leave me a voicemail,

00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:16.779
tell me what you're seeing. 608 -668. 4702 let

00:16:16.779 --> 00:16:20.139
me know or email studio at tyler woodward dot

00:16:20.139 --> 00:16:22.419
me i'd be happy to read it out on the next episode

00:16:22.419 --> 00:16:26.120
throw it up on the socials something let's get

00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:28.840
a conversation started i want to know i know

00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:32.700
a few buddies that drive diesel trucks and they're

00:16:32.700 --> 00:16:35.759
hurting a little bit right now i mean my my little

00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:39.659
subaru with four what was what did i fill it

00:16:39.659 --> 00:16:44.720
up with the other 434 a gallon for 87 unleaded

00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:49.059
Whew, that hurts enough. I can't imagine what

00:16:49.059 --> 00:16:52.960
you, what you guys out there driving the diesel

00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:56.360
ones are feeling right now. So that's all I got

00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:58.960
for you. Subscribe, rate the show wherever you're

00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:00.500
listening. And if you want to buy me a cup of

00:17:00.500 --> 00:17:02.019
coffee to say, Hey, thanks for talking about

00:17:02.019 --> 00:17:04.900
this. Thanks for getting the word out or just

00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:07.859
show your appreciation. You can do that at tylerwoodward

00:17:07.859 --> 00:17:11.539
.me as well. All right, I'll catch you next time.