Jeffrey,
The general-class radio-telephone license is required for radio
engineering jobs.
It took the place of the first-class license in the 70s.
I don't know how tough the General Class license is, but I suspect it
would take a good deal of study.
It's true that the FCC dumbed down the licenses required for broadcasting,
and that most broadcasters need only possess a postcard license.
In other words, no test, just fill out part of the card and send it in.
But since the General Class is the one that engineers get, I'd expect one
to need to know about towers, commercial transmitter design, antennas,
directional patterns, etc.
For some perspective, radio professionals used to go to school for the
license that this replaced.
--Rick