Gregarious… intelligent… passionate… selfless. These words only begin to describe Adrian Scott, an industry friend and colleague who passed away last week. I had the pleasure of getting to know Adrian when I started out covering the broadcast industry almost 20 years ago. As a neophyte, I was often intimidated by tech experts in our industry but Adrian always put me at ease and was very eager to help out whenever I had a question. People were naturally drawn to him by his warmth and wicked sense of humor.

Adrian attended the University of North Carolina on a scholarship as an undergrad, so although his homeland was the U.K., he shared many unique American experiences. This included his love for UNC sports, especially basketball, staying up late at night to watch his beloved Tar Heels all during the NCAA season and especially during March Madness. It was also at UNC that be was bitten with the “broadcast bug.”

Adrian’s impact on the broadcast industry was well-known. He developed the early newsroom computer systems and at Avid was instrumental in developing nonlinear editing systems for news and for creating the first media asset management systems in our industry. He was also a founder and European chair of the Global Society for Asset Management (G-SAM). He also helped guide several well-known U.K.-based broadcast vendors through transitional years and for the past 15 years, had been a well-regarded and respected advisor to the IBC.

I always looked forward to catching up with Adrian at industry events. When he suffered a stroke in 2009, he had to cut back on his travels, but I was fortunate to run into him at IBC several years ago and it was evident that that infectious laugh and self-effacing demeanor were still intact. 

Several years ago, Adrian was bestowed with a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award from our sister publication TVB Europe. Although he was honored for his achievements in broadcast technology, I can’t help think that it was also in recognition of his character and dedication to sharing his passion for our industry. Adrian was an industry icon and pioneer, but to so many of us he was first and foremost, a friend.

LONDON—The U.K. broadcast industry is saddened by the passing of Adrian Scott.

John Adrian Douglas Scott died last Tuesday, July 18, at the intensive care unit at Yeovil Hospital, following a stroke.

Winner of the TVB Europe Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, Scott was involved in almost every element of the broadcast technology industry and has a worldwide presence. Scott was especially notable for opening the broadcaster’s eyes to newsroom systems and the opportunities in non-linear editing.

Scott’s broadcasting career had its roots at the University of North Carolina, having received a scholarship.

“I did a degree in journalism,” he told TVBEurope in a 2015 interview, “which involved working in both radio and television…my start in the industry.”

When he returned to the U.K., Scott began to work in local radio. “I managed to get myself a job in the newsroom at Radio Clyde in Glasgow, not easy when your hometown is Edinburgh. After a couple of years, I moved to London to work as a presenter and producer at Independent Radio News and LBC, from where I went to TV-am as one of the launch team.”

TV-am was one of the U.K.’s first all-ENG news operations and one of the first to adopt the new BASYS Newsroom Computer System.

“For reasons I still cannot explain,” Scott told TVBEurop, “in addition to being news editor and head of forward planning, I became the in-house newsroom system super-user, and was largely responsible for figuring out how to do three hours of live television starting at six in the morning every day on a system which nobody knew how to use and which had no manual anyway. Fun!”

Realizing that these new computer systems were the future of newscasting, he went on the road with the BASYS system, which had been bought by ITN: “I started travelling the continent with about a quarter of a ton of rather unwieldy demo equipment, trying to persuade a generation of journalists that learning how to type and then using an unwieldy green screen terminal would make their lives a lot easier.”

Scott was also responsible for promoting the earliest commercially available UNIX-based systems to broadcasters–which may have had far-reaching consequences on the entire computing world.

“Perhaps one of my most far-reaching career achievements was to go to Helsinki with my demo kit, to show it to YLE and MTV, whose editor-in-chief, Jan Torvalds, asked if I minded if his teenaged son came to have a look at the demo. This was, of course, the young Linus Torvalds, so I suppose you can call me the Godfather of LINUX!”

Coaxing Avid into buying BASYS, Scott then become essential in the budding non-linear editing company’s move to asset management and newsroom systems.

“A small group of us at Avid…ended up drafting our thoughts into a paper for internal discussion. This ended up being the basis for a successful Avid U.S. patent application describing a ‘Digital Multimedia Editing and Data Management System,’ which allowed users to create, browse and catalog multimedia assets. This was awarded in 1998 and was, I’m almost certain, one of the first mentions of the words digital, assets and management in the same sentence.”

In later years, Scott became an essential part of the IBC conference committee and represented Avid on both the IABM management committee and IBC exhibitors committee and continued consulting for a variety of firms.

Scott suffered a serious stroke in 2009, which he said “knocked me off my feet for a while, and has left me with some lingering mobility issues. Thankfully, I have no mental or cognitive problems, and can still think and talk–to the great regret of those of my friends who think I talk too much.”

Following a private family cremation, the family will hold a funeral in Somerset in late summer and a memorial service in London later on.

The TV Technology team extend our condolences to all his family and friends.

LONDON—TVBEurope is delighted to announce that Adrian Scott, the broadcasting industry veteran and owner of Bakewell House consultancy, is to be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the TVBAwards on 22 October.

Adrian Scott

Adrian’s influence on the industry has been significant, earning him the deserved reputation as one of the brightest and most astute experts in our field, who has played no small part in the development and promotion of game-changing innovations and technology.

He helped to open the industry’s eyes to the world of newsroom computer systems; played evangelist to the concept of non-linear editing, automated playout, video servers and asset management throughout the world; and was a founder and European chair of the Global Society for Asset Management (G-SAM).

Through this latter role, and via his championing work as a journalist and conference producer and chair, helped to highlight the importance of metadata and asset management to the future of our industry.

Adrian will be honoured at the second annual TVBAwards on Thursday 22 October at London’s Bloomsbury Ballroom. To book your tickets, click here.