This release comes directly from the Society of Broadcast Engineers

INDIANAPOLIS—The broadcast engineering community was both shocked and saddened as we learned of the passing of John Lyons on Nov. 28, 2019. John was a bigger-than-life icon of the broadcast engineering community in New York City where he most recently led the design and build of state-of-the-art TV broadcast facilities at One World Trade Center as the director of broadcast communications for the Durst Corporation. His career accomplishments extended well beyond OWTC as his handprints were on all major New York City broadcast and communications facilities from Empire State to 4 Times Square.

John was a true friend of the SBE, having served on the board of directors from 1974 to 1978 and was elected a Fellow in 1977. My first interaction with John was in 2014 soon after it was announced that I was named the 11th recipient of the Radio World Excellence in Engineering award. When I received that award, his email to me simply stated, "Congratulations to #11 from #3." John was the third recipient of that award in 2006. His simple, no-nonsense and to-the-point email was reflective of his character.

In 2016, John hosted the SBE Education Summit at One World Trade Center. I have always felt his personal tour of the unbelievable broadcast facilities, then under construction, was a special occasion. Today, that time is to be cherished.

We offer his family the most sincere condolences.

NEW YORK—John Lyons has died. He suffered cardiac arrest at home Friday, according to his family. He was 71.

Lyons was assistant vice president and director of Broadcast Communications at The Durst Organization.

He was responsible for the communications infrastructure of Durst’s multimillion-square-foot commercial portfolio and played a major role in helping broadcasters return to the air in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack on the World Trade Center. Among his many accomplishments was leading the design and implementation of the redesigned master antenna at 4 Times Square and the new broadcast transmission facility at One World Trade Center.

In 2006 Lyons received the Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award; in 2017 he was honored with the NAB Television Engineering Achievement Award.

Earlier in his career he held engineering positions with several New York-based broadcast organizations and served two stints as chairman of the Master FM Broadcasters Committee at the Empire State Building. “He was a walking history of New York broadcasting,” said fellow New York engineer David Bialik. “In addition he changed the RF landscape of New York.”

Lyons is survived by his wife Natasha Lyons and sons Matthew, 26, and Constantine, 7.

He was former president and most recently treasurer of the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers; he was elected Fellow of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, and was active in the National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers, the NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference Committee and the Veterans’ Hospital Radio and Television Guild.

He was a devoted family man, and he made learning a lifelong pursuit. Among other things he was a licensed New York State Real Estate Broker and a member of the Real Estate Board of New York and the Building Owners and Management Association, and held a Certificate in Property Management from New York University.

Radio World described him in 2006 as “funny, brash, no-nonsense, unpretentious, sentimental … all characteristics we love in native New Yorkers.” He also enjoyed golf and competitive dancing; Lyons had met his wife in Siberia, while photographing a ballroom dance competition.

According to a biographical summary published earlier by Radio World, Lyons attended Brooklyn Technical High School and was a transmitter operator and studio engineer for radio station WRFM (later WWPR). He spent nine years as chief studio technical operator at WWRL and while there also worked as director of engineering at ZDK Radio in St. John’s, Antigua, a station he built and put on the air. He worked for WOR Radio as assistant chief engineer, then was moved by the company to WXLO (later WRKS) to be chief engineer, where he served for a decade.

During most of that time he was chairman of the Master FM Broadcasters Committee at the Empire State Building, coordinating the operations of 13 city FM stations with the broadcasters at Empire and the World Trade Center.

In 1990, he left WRKS to join DSI Communications (later DSI RF Systems), where he was senior project manager, responsible for communications facility build-outs, including TV and radio station transmitter facilities, two-way communications, point-to-point microwave and satellite communications systems. In 1994 he took a consulting position at the new Sony Worldwide Radio Networks, where he worked to establish and set standards for a nationwide satellite-programming network, built the studios and developed its operations system. With that established, Lyons moved on to WLTW with Viacom Radio (later Clear Channel Communications) as assistant chief engineer, and was promoted to become chief of the recently acquired WAXQ. He resumed his position as chairman of the Master FM Broadcasters Committee at Empire for four more years and was design engineer for many of the Clear Channel New York operations including the pioneer backup FM transmitting site at 4 Times Square for the five Clear Channel NYC stations.

After the catastrophic losses of Sept. 11, 2001, Lyons worked with the Empire State Building, 4 Times Square, broadcasters and contractors to restore broadcasting operations for all of the orphaned WTC stations. He designed transmission line runs, laid out transmitter plants and assisted the stations to return to the air as soon as possible.

In 2002 he was named manager of communications and broadcast operations at 4 Times Square for The Durst Organization and was responsible for removal of a 132-foot master FM antenna tower and its replacement with a 385-foot master TV and FM antenna tower, capable of accommodating all the TV and FM stations licensed to the New York metropolitan area. This facility also was capable of point-to-point microwave, spread spectrum, broadband, two-way, STL/TSL, RPU and ENG services.

In 2005 he became responsible for the communications needs of the entire Durst portfolio.

He also helped establish a state-of-the-art communications system for first responders in Durst skyscrapers in the wake of 9/11.

“His thumbprint is all over New York radio,” Radio World wrote in 2006, even before the new One World Trade Center and its showcase transmission facility were built.

“The Television industry has lost a great truly man,” Josh Gordon, president of the Josh Gordon Group, told TV Technology. “John Lyons defined and redefined the RF skyline of Manhattan. He oversaw the initial RF system builds on the Empire State Building and then One World Trade Center, and Four Times Square. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, John oversaw the rebuild of One World Trade Center. He was quick witted, incredibly funny, and one of the best organized people I have ever known. I never understood how he could manage so many people, tasks, and details and still have time to respond personally to small requests for details and decisions in near real time. He was a giant in our industry, yet very humble. He led by example with high energy, enthusiasm, and integrity. The first requirement of working with John was just keeping up with him. I have never met anyone like him. He will be missed by many.”

Funeral arrangements were not finalized as of Saturday evening.

ATLANTA—The Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers is under new leadership, as John George was recently elected as president of the organization during the AFCCE Annual Meeting. The vote was conducted by the newly constituted Board of Directors, which also rounded out the rest of AFCCE’s leadership team.

George replaces John Lyons as president following his two terms in the position, though Lyons will remain as part of the leadership team having been elected as treasurer; Lyons replaces Bob Weller, who is leaving the board. Jon Edwards was voted vice president and Stephen Pumple is the new secretary. All of their terms will begin as of July 1.

In addition, new and returning board members were determined. Lyons was re-elected for a new four-year term and will be joined by B. Ben Evans on his own four-year term as a member and Jim Leifer on a three-year term as an associate member. Mark Fehlig is leaving the board following the end of his term.

For more information, visit afcce.org.

NEW YORK—The new slate of officers for the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers Board of Directors has been announced, and John Lyons has been tapped to take over as president. Lyons, the assistant vice president and director of broadcast communications for The Durst Organization, most recently served as vice president and will replace Robert Weller, NAB vice president of spectrum policy, as the organization’s president.

John Lyons

Weller, who in addition to this position with the NAB will serve as the chairman of the IEEE BTS Symposium in 2018, told TV Technology that he wanted to focus his limited volunteer time on that and made his decision to step down as president back at the June AFCCE Annual Meeting. He said the board agreed that Lyons should become the next president, but Lyons only became a full member of AFCCE in September and organizational by-laws required the president to be a full member. As a result, Weller agreed to be reelected as president over the summer until Lyons’ membership was elevated. Weller will continue to serve on the AFCCE board in his new position as secretary.

Additional moves include Chris Horne becoming vice president after serving as secretary; Weller will now serve as secretary; and Ron Chase will remain as AFCCE’s treasurer. The other Board of Directors officers includes Marshall Cross, Steve Crowley, Anne Goodwin Crump, Jon Edwards and Mark Fehlig. Officers will assume their new positions as of Oct. 1.

The vote took place on Friday, Sept. 15, during an AFCCE board meeting. According to Lyons, the date happened to coincide with his 51st anniversary in broadcasting.

When it comes to managing and promoting the health of over-the-air broadcasting in the nation’s largest media market, it would be hard to find a bigger advocate than John Lyons, the recipient of this year’s NAB Television Engineering Achievement Award.

John Lyons with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai at the 2017 NAB Show

As the assistant vice president and director of broadcast communications for The Durst Organization, a New York City-based office tower and residential building management company, John is responsible for the communications needs of the entire 13 million-square-foot Durst commercial portfolio. John has held various positions within the communications industry for over 50 years and has received numerous awards for his work with broadcasters and first responders.

John played an important role in getting broadcasters back on the air in New York after the fall of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. He also spearheaded the design and implementation of the redesigned master antenna at 4 Times Square and more recently the new broadcast transmission facility at One World Trade Center.

I had a chance to talk with John recently about his career, what drove him to enter broadcasting and his reflections on the aftermath of 9/11 on the broadcast industry and plans to bring television and radio broadcasting back to a new World Trade Center.

Technology has always played an important role in John’s life, ever since he chose the electronics and broadcast class regimen at Brooklyn Technical High School. After graduating with a first class radio telephone operator’s license, he began looking for a job while attending college in the city.

“I was taking the subway back and forth and I would pass this antenna tower not too far from where I lived, so one day I stopped by to see if they had any openings,” John said. “I asked ‘do you have any openings where you have to have a license?’, they said ‘yes, do you have any experience?’; I said ‘no,’ and they replied ‘when can you start?’ I started working midnight that night.”

So on Sept. 15, 1966, John went to work for WRFM-FM (now WWPR). Over his 50-year career, he gravitated from radio to television, before landing with The Durst Org. in 2002. But as the go-to guy for managing the broadcast transmission facilities atop One World Trade Center, John works with both radio and television.

It’s a question he often gets, but I couldn’t help ask him about that fateful day when the towers collapsed, killing thousands, (several of which were dedicated broadcast personnel), and crippling over-the-air broadcast in New York for several months.

John was asleep when the planes hit, having spent most of the previous evening testing at Times Square. He was awoken by a phone message from a colleague on the west coast, asking “Hey John, it’s Ron, what’s going on at the World Trade Center? We’ll keep you in our prayers.’

“I knew it had to be something more than just a little incident,” John said. “It’s one [message] I’ll never forget.”

At the time, John was consulting for Durst but soon thereafter, found himself in the middle of coordinating a massive transition to install backup broadcast antennas at the Empire State Building. It was shortly after that that he took the full-time position at Durst.

“[After 9/11], I spent the next couple of weeks living at the Empire State Building, literally day and night, trying to get the stations back on the air, doing whatever I could get the FMs and some of the TVs on,” he said. Two-and-a-half years after the opening of One World Trade Center, over-the-air television broadcasting is set to commence with WCBS, NBCUniversal-owned WNBC and WNJU and WNET all committing to 1 WTC.

Although some lessons were learned in the aftermath of 9/11 about protection against future attacks, John is realistic. “It’s still in the back of my head as something that could happen again,” he said. “Anybody who was in the city at that time, that thought is never going to vanish.”

John will receive his award at the NAB Show Technology Luncheon, Wednesday, April 26.

WASHINGTON—John Lyons, John Kean and Catherine Badalamente need to clear off some shelf space as the trio will receive honors from the NAB during the upcoming 2017 NAB Show. Lyons and Kean have been tapped as the recipients for the NAB Engineering Achievement Awards, for television and radio respectively, while Badalamente has earned the Digital Leadership Award.

John Lyons

The NAB Engineering Awards were first established in 1959 and are awarded to individuals nominated by their peers for contributions to advancing broadcast engineering.

Lyons, the assistant vice president and director of broadcast communications for the Durst Organization, is the 2017 recipient of the Television Engineering Award. He handles the communication needs for the entire Durst commercial portfolio and was a key part of bringing broadcasters back on air in New York after 9/11. He helped design and implement the new master antenna at 4 Times Square and the broadcast transmission facility at One World Trade Center.

Kean, former senior technologist at National Public Radio, helped to establish NPR Labs, an initiative that develops and evaluates new technologies, standards and procedures for public radio. He previously served as chairman of the IEEE Broadcast Symposium and the Washington, D.C., section of the Audio Engineering Society, and holds a patent for an algorithm that determines digital broadcast radio coverage. He currently works as a consultant at Cavell Mertz and Associates.

The Digital Leadership Award was created in 2015 to honor an individual at a broadcast station, group or network who helped transform a traditional broadcast business to succeed on digital media platforms. As the Vice President of Digital Media for Graham Media Group, Badalamente oversees the digital sales, content and technology. She helped Graham become a leading digital development company, with top rated digital platforms.

The trio will be recognized at the NAB Show Technology Luncheon on Wednesday, April 26, during the NAB Show in Las Vegas.