Kevin Trueblood will return for a second term as president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

The association announced the results of the 2026 election for its national board of directors.

Trueblood, who holds CBRE and CBNT certifications and is a member of Chapter 90 Southwest Florida, is the 34th person to hold the role of president. (See a list of all SBE presidents.)

A member since 2008, Trueblood also is a former SBE VP, secretary, treasurer and board member. He is the president of KTrue Media Services, which provides technical solutions for broadcast, digital and IT needs and is based in Fort Myers, Fla. He does that contract work in addition to his full-time job as associate general manager for WGCU Public Media.

The newly elected will be sworn in during the SBE National Meeting next month, held in conjunction with the Midwest Regional Broadcasters Clinic in Madison, Wis.

SBE has approximately 4,000 members in 117 chapters in the United States, Hong Kong and Eastern Europe; there are members in more than 25 other countries.

Geary S. Morrill, CPBE, AMD, CBNE, of Chapter 91 Central Michigan, has been reelected vice president, and Shane Toven, CPBE, DRB, CBNE of Chapter 43 Sacramento) was reelected to a third term as SBE secretary.

Those three roles were uncontested in the election.

Charles “Ched” Keiler, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNE, of Chapter 53 South Florida, was reelected treasurer, running against Greg Dahl.

Six people were elected from among eight candidates to serve two-year terms on the board of directors (asterisks are incumbents who return):

• David Antoine*, CBRE, CBNT; Chapter 15 New York City; Charleston, SC
• Dustin Hapli*, CBNE; Chapter 26 Chicago; Chicago, IL
• Joseph Geerling, CPBE, CBNT; Chapter 55 St. Louis; St. Louis, MO
• Jeff Juniet*, CBTE; Chapter 42 Central Florida; Casselberry, FL
• Tom Ray, CPBE, AMD, DRB; Chapter 15 New York City; New Windsor, NY
• Dustin Tatro, CBRE; Chapter 67 North Texas; Abilene, TX
• Those join six others who are in the middle of two-year board terms.

Read a history of the SBE.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand Radio World.

INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has named the late Joseph A. DiMaggio as the Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year, the top honor in the 2026 SBE National Awards recognizing outstanding achievements by SBE members, local chapters and SBE Sustaining Member companies.

DiMaggio, who retired as chief engineer of NBC-owned WVIT New Britain-Hartford-New Haven, Conn., where he worked for 47 years, is being recognized posthumously for his outstanding contributions to broadcast engineering and SBE Connecticut Valley Chapter 17, of which he was a founding member.

DiMaggio and the other honorees will be recognized at the SBE 2026 National Meeting and Midwest Regional Broadcasters Clinic, Sept. 15-16 in Middleton, Wis.

“The SBE Awards Program recognizes the outstanding efforts of SBE members and chapters,” said Zuhlieta Ibisheva, CBTE, CBT, the SBE awards committee chair. “Peer recognition is the highest honor, and the recipients and nominees exemplify the ideal of being an SBE member.”

Also to be honored in Wisconsin is Jerry Brown, CPBE, of Oxford, N.C., this year’s James C. Wullman SBE Educator of the Year and a member of Chapter 93 Raleigh-Durham. An SBE member since 1983, Brown played a key role in creating the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcast Technology Academy in 2025. The multiweek course also utilizes SBE’s Technical Professional Training Program, the group said.

The 2026 SBE Technology Award winner is Dielectric, recognized for its RingMaster FM antenna system, a technology that delivers full-bandwith FM performance with fewer components, reduced weight and lower costs, SBE said. To date, RingMaster has been adopted in more than 20 major installations worldwide, the organization said.

The Facility Innovation of the Year Award was won by John-Erik M. Rempillo, CBPE, of CBC, for “Testing Kit on the Go,” which enables safe, off-site diagnosis and repair of faulty power supplies in the Canadian broadcaster’s NV and VS series transmitters, eliminating the risks of live-system troubleshooting. CBC used the portable kit to restore five of eight faulty modules at its Toronto operation, SBE said, saving $7,500 in procurement costs and reducing electronic waste.

Chapter 39 in Tampa, Fla., won the Best Chapter Communication Award for electronic newsletter “Quarterly Digest,” produced by Membership Chair Isaiah Chavez.

The Best Chapter or Regional or Regional Educational Event Award went to Chapter 37 Washington, D.C., for “AntennaFest 2025: Shared Signals.” Held at the Arlington, Va., headquarters of WETA Washington, AntennaFest brought together industry leaders and companies such as Nautel, American Amplifier Technologies, Dielectric, Electronics Research and American Tower Corp. for a day of expert presentations on shared antennas and combining systems, SBE said.

The SBE also recognized local chapters for driving membership growth and professional development throughout 2025, dividing honors into Class A (under 25 members) and Class B (25 or more members) based on year-end statistical data. Top statistical honors went to Chapter 85 (Central Western, Okla.) and Chapter 15 (New York City) for highest percentage growth of new members; Chapter 115 (Southern Idaho) and Chapter 131 (Inland Empire, Calif.) for highest percentage of certified members; and Chapter 38 (El Paso, Texas) and Chapter 69 (Alamo Area) for highest percentage of meeting attendance.

Individual chapters also selected their own Chapter Engineer of the Year, to be automatically considered for the Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year award: Sharon Gould (Chapter 1); Joseph DiMaggio (Chapter 14); Edward Smith (Chapter 17); William Harrison (Chapter 37); Bruno Cruz (Chapter 38); Dylan Scott (Chapter 39); Saul Perez (Chapter 47); Bob Long (Chapter 70); and Davit Robakidze (Chapter 148).

For more on the SBE Awards Program, including lists of previous winners, visit the SBE’s website.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has released newly updated Broadcast Station Self-Inspection Guides for AM, FM and television stations that provide broadcasters with practical guidance for conducting self-inspections of their stations and complying with Federal Communications Commission rules and policies.

NAB and the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) worked together to create the up-to-date, standardized guides for FCC compliance

In addition to helping broadcasters, the guides are also intended to be used by contract inspectors who are part of the Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program, which are administered by most state broadcaster associations.

The guides fill a gap that was created when the FCC stopped publishing self-inspection checklists in 2003 even though the agency has since made significant changes to its rules and policies.

The two organizations said that the guides are a free member benefit to NAB and SBE members. They are available for download from the NAB member portal and from SBE.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) has announced that the group has elevated SBE member Fred Willard of Dunkirk, Md, to the membership rank of Fellow.

The Fellow honor is the highest membership level in the SBE. Members must have made significant contributions to the broadcast engineering field or the SBE. Candidates are nominated by their peers. Since the Society‘s founding 62 years ago, 95 members have been honored with the Fellow rank.

The SBE Board of Directors elected him at a meeting held in April 2026.

Fred Willard, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNT, senior RF engineer for Televisa Univision in Washington, DC, joined the SBE in 1985. He is serving his third term on the SBE Board of Directors, first elected in 2020.

He has served SBE Chapter 37 as secretary from 2016 to 2019, and treasurer since 2019. His work with bringing new people into broadcast and media technology includes working on the Media Forward student outreach with his local chapter, mentoring students at Montgomery Community College and Kent County High School, and working with the Maryland Board of Education to include the SBE Certification Handbook for Radio Operators and SBE Television Operator's Certification Handbook into the official state curriculum.

Willard has been a co-organizer of the SBE Ennes Workshop at the NAB Show for the past three years. He has also been the program chair for the annual Bits by the Bay two-day symposium in the Washington, DC, area. He has also helped with arranging technical presentations for the AES Convention.

Willard's career spans 50 years, starting with operating an ENG camera in college. He has worked in radio production and engineering, transitioned to Maryland Public TV (PBS) as an editor, audio specialist, ENG truck operator and trainer, and finally high-power RF specialist as transmission supervisor. He has worked as a facility integrator in many countries, and he has worked on special projects for NASA. He has B.S. in Communications from Towson University.

Willard was recognized during the SBE Membership Meeting held on April 20 during the 2026 NAB Show. He will also be recognized at the SBE National Meeting, which will be held in September in Madison, WI. A list of all those who have been named SBE Fellows is posted on the SBE website at sbe.org/fellows.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers is the professional organization of television and radio engineers and those in related fields. The SBE has nearly 4,000 members in 117 chapters across the United States and in Hong Kong and Eastern Europe. There are also members in more than 25 other countries.

For more information about the SBE, visit the SBE website, sbe.org.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced that the Ennes Educational Foundation Trust has awarded five scholarships for 2025 to students interested in pursuing careers in broadcast engineering. The recipients were chosen from applications received by July 1, 2025, from the previous 12 months.

“The SBE has an ongoing focus on education, and the Ennes Scholarships are yet another piece of our overall education efforts," SBE President Kevin Trueblood, CBRE, CBNT, said. "The SBE continues to encourage young people to pursue careers in broadcast and media technology. The SBE and I look forward to seeing the great progress of these budding engineers as they further their education goals with the assistance of the Ennes Educational Foundation Trust.”

The Harold E. Ennes Scholarship, Robert D. Greenberg Scholarship, John H. Battison Founder’s Scholarship and Gino Ricciardelli Scholarship are awarded to individuals interested in continuing or beginning their education in broadcast engineering and technology. The Youth Scholarship is specifically for a graduating high school senior interested in broadcast engineering as a career. Each scholarship awarded this year is for $3,000, the group reported.

The SBE described the five recipients as follows:

• The Harold E. Ennes Scholarship recipient is Lee Cusack from Boxford, MA. They are an audio/radio major at Hofstra University, who hopes to one day be a chief engineer at a radio station in Boston. Lee first discovered their passion for broadcast engineering when they did some troubleshooting work with a Comrex Liveshot at 96.3 WJOP-LP. At Hofstra University, Lee is the technical director of 88.7 FM, WRHU, working with the chief engineer to keep the station functional 24/7. Lee’s favorite piece of equipment is the Sony Anycast Touch AWS-750.
• Receiving the Robert D. Greenberg Scholarship is Maximillian Vokoun, CBT, CPT, CBNT, of Gilbert, AZ. He is a student at Mesa Community College studying electrical engineering. His current roles include being a broadcast engineer at KTVK/KPHO, and the head of broadcasting at Bamboo Productions LLC, a broadcast company that he and other people his age started to provide freelance work for local companies and high schools. A lot of his experience so far is thanks to his time at Mesa Community College, where he used to work as an AV technician, learning the basics of terminating, soldering, and troubleshooting systems. This scholarship has granted him the opportunity to continue his education at his old workplace and start of his career, Mesa Community College. When he is finished with college he hopes to be able to continue freelancing at every major stadium/arena in Arizona.
• The John H. Battison SBE Founder’s Scholarship has been awarded to Nayab Warach, an electronics engineering student at Texas A&M University. He will graduate in 2027. He currently serves as general manager of KANM Student Radio, Texas A&M’s fully student-run internet radio station. Previously, he led a major infrastructure modernization project and now continues to support the technical side of the operations. KANM recently received a construction permit for an LPFM station, which plans to launch by the end of 2025. He is also a licensed amateur radio operator (KI5YBE) and an active member of Texas A&M’s amateur radio club, W5AC. In his work with KANM, he has collaborated with the engineering staff at KAMU-FM, the university’s NPR affiliate, gaining experience in practical broadcast operations and regulatory compliance. These experiences have led him towards a career in broadcast consulting. He is particularly interested in providing technical and regulatory services for broadcasters.
• The Gino Ricciardelli Scholarship has been awarded to Maddox Murray, from Benton, AR, who graduated from Benton High School in May 2025 and now attends the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, studying electronics engineering. His interest in electronics began by servicing vintage hi-fi receivers, not long after meeting his current boss, Jay Brentlinger, owner of the Arkansas Rocks Radio Network. Murray has worked for the network since May 2024 as an apprentice broadcast engineer, initially servicing legacy audio processors, setting up studio equipment, and gaining hands-on experience with the systems within the studio. His experience now includes work at transmitter sites.
• Shawn Ray received the Youth Scholarship. From Cypress, TX, he is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in video and media design. Shawn has served as a media engineer for TSTV (Texas Student Television), where he managed the transition to a fully HD production workflow. He has also volunteered as an A/V technician for community events and spent a summer interning with the engineering department at a local PBS affiliate, KLRU-TV. After graduation, Shawn plans to pursue a career in broadcast systems integration, with the goal of designing and building next-generation production facilities for national sports networks.

The Harold Ennes Scholarship Fund Trust was initiated by Indianapolis Chapter 25 in 1980 in memory of Harold E. Ennes, author of many textbooks for broadcast and broadcast-related communications training and a member of the Indianapolis chapter. Ennes was a member of the SBE’s national Certification Committee and made many contributions to the early development of the Certification Program. To encourage greater growth, the Scholarship Trust was transferred by Chapter 25 to the SBE national organization to administer in 1981. The name of the Trust was changed in 1995 to the “Harold Ennes Educational Foundation Trust” to fully embrace its expanded role, the SBE reported.

Ed Miller, a longtime broadcast engineer in Ohio and a former national president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, has died.

The news was shared in an email to colleagues by Blake Thompson, chairman of SBE Chapter 70 in Cleveland. Thompson said Miller was in his early 80s.

Edward J. Miller was president of the SBE from 1997 to 1999. During his tenure, the SBE and the National Football League announced a cooperative effort to coordinate frequency use for all regular-season and postseason NFL games, with the SBE appointing a game-day event frequency coordinator for each team’s home games. The NFL would equip the coordinators with a laptop, scanner, press box space and a telephone, as well as database software and contact information for each team’s personnel and local and network media.

Also during his tenure, with IT skills becoming ever more important, the SBE Certification Committee prepared a new level of certification to test knowledge about administering local-area networks (LANs). The society also introduced a youth membership category during this time.

Miller was drawn to technology early. In the fall of 1957, as a high-school sophomore in Cleveland, he was one of only five individuals in the country to track the radio signal from the Russian Sputnik 1 satellite. He and his fellow radio club members made national news and were later told they had scooped the U.S. Navy by four hours.

In 2013, Miller wrote a biographical sketch of his career, including his work with radio and TV stations, his involvement with prototype IFB/Mix-Minus technology, his design and management of dozens of broadcast microwave systems, his involvement with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and his consulting work for the grand opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

You can download that biographic essay here.

In 2003 he retired as vice president of engineering at ProVideo Systems. Earlier he worked for 28 years with WEWS-TV, the Scripps Howard Broadcasting Co.’s flagship station and ABC affiliate in Cleveland. He later worked as a consultant/project engineer with PATLIN Electronics Inc. in Richfield, Ohio.

At the SBE, in addition to president, he was involved in other ways over the course of his career.

He served for many years as a frequency coordinator for northeast Ohio and multiple times as a chapter chair. He worked on the program committee for the Ohio Association of Broadcasters fall engineering conference and participated in a national SBE Strategic Planning Meeting in 2012.

In 2013 Miller was named the Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year. He also was a Life Member and SBE Fellow. When he received the Engineer of the Year Award, then-President Ralph Hogan said Miller “has truly been one of the principal leaders of the SBE over the past 20 years.”

SBE Communications Director Chriss Scherer got to know Ed Miller when Scherer lived in Cleveland in the 1990s. “Ed was always thoughtful and considerate,” he told Radio World on Tuesday. “In a leadership position, he would seek input from several points of view and produce a clear, reasoned decision. Working with Ed is one of the reasons I furthered my involvement with the SBE.”

[Read Miller’s thoughts about his tenure as SBE president in this Radio World issue from 1999. The article starts on page 43.]

[This article originally appeared in our sister publication Radio World.]

Kevin Trueblood, current vice president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers has been elected president of the national board for the association for broadcast and multimedia technology professionals. Trueblood, CBRE, CBNT, of Chapter 90 Southwest Florida, was elected for a one-year term, which will begin Sept. 25 at the SBE National Meeting.

Trueblood succeeds Ted D. Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3, DRB, of Chapter 45 Charlotte, who will serve as immediate past president.

On his election, Trueblood said, "I look forward to leading an association that is vital to the success of so many professionals. In the coming year I plan to focus on strategic planning, look at ways to expand our Ennes Workshops, and ensure our certification and education offerings match the demands of the modern engineering landscape."

Trueblood has been an SBE member since 2008. He served as SBE vice president from 2023 to 2025, secretary from 2022 to 2023, treasurer from 2019 to 2022, and one term on the Board of Directors from 2017 to 2019.

Geary S. Morrill, CPBE, AMD, CBNE of Chapter 91 Central Michigan, has been elected vice president. Geary has served on the SBE Board of Directors since 2019, and also served terms as treasurer and secretary.

Shane Toven, CPBE, DRB, CBNE (Chapter 43 Sacramento), has been reelected to a second term as SBE secretary. He previously served three terms as a director, first being elected in 2018.

Charles "Ched" Keiler, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNE, of Chapter 53 South Florida, has been elected treasurer. Ched served three terms as a director from 2019 to 2025. He also served three terms previously from 2011 to 2017.

Elected to serve two-year terms on the board of directors, which also begin Sept. 25 are:

• Terry Douds, CPBE; Chapter 52 Central Ohio; Lancaster, OH
• Kirk A. Harnack, CBRE, CBNE; Chapter 103 Nashville; Nashville, TN
• Brad Humphries, CBT; Chapter 45 Charlotte; Charlotte, NC
• Zhulieta Ibisheva, CBTE; Chapter 37 Washington, DC; Washington, DC
• John Mackey, CPBE, 8-VSB, DRB, CBNE; Chapter 124 North Oregon; Portland, OR
• Jeff Welton, CBRE; Chapter 100 Canada; Chester, NS

Douds, Humphries, Ibisheva and Welton were incumbents and were re-elected.

The national board of directors of the SBE is responsible for the development of policy and determines the programs and services the society provides to its more than 4,000 members. Those elected will begin their terms on Sept. 25, 2025, during the SBE Membership Meeting. They will join the other six directors who have another year remaining in their terms:

• David Antoine, CBRE, CBNT; Chapter 15 New York City; Bronx, NY
• Greg Dahl, CPBE; Chapter 96 Rockford; Rockford, IL
• Dustin Hapli, CBNE; Chapter 26 Chicago 26; Buffalo Grove, IL
• Jeff Juniet, CBTE; Chapter 42 Central Florida; Orlando, FL
• Sam Wallington, CPBE; Chapter 103 Nashville; Columbia, TN
• Fred Willard, CPBE, ATSC3, 8-VSB, CBNT; Chapter 37 District of Columbia; Dunkirk, MD

The newly elected will be sworn in during the SBE Membership Meeting on Sept. 25 during the SBE National Meeting, held in conjunction with the Midwest Broadcast and Multimedia Technology Conference in Columbus, OH. The conference is a joint production of the state broadcast associations of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers is the professional organization of television and radio engineers and those in related fields. The SBE has more than 4,000 members in 117 chapters across the United States and in Hong Kong and Eastern Europe. There are also members in more than 25 other countries.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced the recipients of the 2025 SBE National Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements by individual members, local chapters, and Sustaining Member companies. Among the organization's highest honors are the Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year and the James C. Wulliman SBE Educator of the Year awards.

Doug Irwin, CPBE, AMD, DRB, of Burbank, CA, a member of SBE Chapter 47 Los Angeles, has been named the 2025 Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year. With nearly four decades of experience on both coasts, Irwin manages one of the most complex and influential radio operations in the country.

His career has navigated the challenges of industry consolidation and evolving technologies, yet he remains deeply committed to advancing engineering standards and mentoring the next generation of professionals. As one Chapter 47 member stated, "Doug exemplifies unwavering dedication and genuine passion for broadcast engineering."

In addition to serving as the regional engineering lead for iHeartMedia Los Angeles, Irwin is also a longtime consultant and contributor to TV Tech sister brand, Radio World.

David Bialik, CBT, of New City, NY, a member of SBE Chapter 15 New York City, is the recipient of the 2025 James C. Wulliman SBE Educator of the Year award. An SBE member for 15 years, Bialik played a key role in organizing the 2024 and 2025 Ennes Workshops covering Media Over IP, held during the NAB Show. He also serves on the SBE Education Committee and is co-chair of the AES Technical Committee for Broadcast and Online Delivery.

Currently serving as the director of engineering for MediaCo NY, Bialik is a frequent contributor to Radio World. You can read some of his columns here.

Blackmagic Design has received the SBE Technology Award for its DeckLink IP 100G, a PCIe Gen 4 card capable of capturing and playing back up to eight channels of HD and Ultra HD video simultaneously within SMPTE 2110 IP systems. This marks the company's fifth win in this category. DeckLink IP cards are designed for seamless integration with IP-based broadcast infrastructures, offering high-performance, multi-channel video workflows.

Mark Lee of Compass Media, based in the Cayman Islands, has been awarded the Facility Innovation of the Year award. In a groundbreaking effort, Compass Media extended its WheatNet-IP audio network across 85 miles of underwater fiber to link its four radio stations with the two smaller Cayman Islands. This achievement significantly enhances media access and connectivity across the region, uniting communities through broadcast for the first time on this scale.

For the fourth consecutive year, SBE Chapter 15 New York, NY, has been recognized with the Best Chapter Communication Award. Rather than relying solely on a traditional newsletter, Chapter 15 effectively engages its members through a variety of platforms, including email, the chapter website (sbe15.com), Twitter, Facebook, and Zoom.

The Wisconsin SBE Chapters, in partnership with the 2024 Wisconsin Broadcasters Association (WBA) Media Technology Institute, have been honored with the award for Best Chapter or Regional Educational Event. The annual three-day institute, held in June, provides a comprehensive and immersive learning experience designed to support the professional development of broadcast engineers at all career stages.

With the announcement, SBE Awards Committee Chair Terry Douds, CPBE, said, "Recognition and encouragement of outstanding efforts of SBE members is a key part of the SBE's mission. Congratulations to all the award recipients."

The recipients will be recognized during the SBE Awards Dinner held at the SBE National Meeting, Sept. 24-25 during the Midwest Broadcast and Multimedia Technology Conference, presented by the state broadcast associations of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year.

That’s according to the Society of Broadcast Engineers’ annual compensation survey, which is used to determine salary levels and benefits among broadcast and media technology engineers. It’s the 10th year the SBE has conducted the report.

The survey indicated most engineers are between the ages of 50 and 70, many have more than 30 years of experience and, most importantly from the society’s perspective, its certification program continues to pay off.

“The SBE is proud to show that once again, as it has for many years, individuals who hold SBE certification on average earn a higher salary than those who do not,” SBE President Ted Hand said in a release.

The SBE shared a sampling of the annual survey’s findings with TV Tech’s sister publication Radio World.

It was conducted between April 1 and May 15 and there were approximately 270 qualified respondents. They ranged in age from 20 to over 70, and the most common age group was those in their 50s.

Approximately 44% of those surveyed worked in radio, while 37% were in TV.

[Related: “SBE Recruits 49 New Members”]

Respondents held a wide range of experience. Many have been in the industry for more than 30 years, with a concentration in the 11-40 year range.

Certifications and Raises
Around two-thirds of respondents reported receiving a salary increase in the last year. For those who received a raise, around 35% said they received a 3% raise.

The survey demonstrated benefit of an SBE certification, which approximately 57% of respondents held. For a radio engineer, the average salary with a certification was approximately $88,000, compared to $80,000 without. For those respondents who indicated that they performed both radio and television engineering—about 23% of those surveyed—there was a $20,000 increase with a certification versus without.

Other notable certifications held by respondents included CompTIA, with approximately 12%, and Dante/Audinate, with about 8%. Approximately 17% of respondents held no professional certifications.

All responses remained anonymous, the society said, but demographic data collected included market size, job category and title, age, years in the industry, salary and benefits received.

The complete results are available free to society members and the survey is available for purchase by others through the SBE Bookstore.

The society has around 4,000 members in 26 countries. It has approximately 117 chapters.

This article originally appeared in our sister publication Radio World.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers said its annual member drive resulted in the recruitment of 49 individual members.

“The drive calls on current SBE members to encourage their non-member colleagues to join the association,” it said in a press release.

Each recruiter earns a discount off his or her membership dues. As a recruiting incentive, the SBE also asks for prize donations from sustaining member companies.

Contributing prizes were Comrex, Dielectric, Heartland Video Systems, LBA Group, Nemal Electronics, Orban, Time Base Consoles and Telos Alliance. Prizes included shirts, hats and broadcast equipment. The society donated logo items, a copy of CertPreview, a webinar registration and books.

Recruiters were eligible to win a trip to the SBE National Meeting in Ohio or a cash equivalent; the winner was Steve Bottkol of Sinclair.

In January the society bumped up its dues for the first time in eight years. A basic membership is $105. Youth and student memberships are less.

The SBE, based in the United States, has around 4,200 members in approximately 26 countries and 117 chapters.

WASHINGTON—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission that support a proposal by the National Association of Broadcasters to allow software-based alerting technologies in a filing with the FCC.

As previously reported the NAB is requesting the Federal Communications Commission make changes to Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules that would allow but not require EAS participants to use software-based EAS encoder/decoder technology instead of a legacy physical hardware device to process EAS messages.

The NAB is urging that the FCC fast-track the request because hardware supplier Sage Alerting Systems, one of two hardware suppliers, has recently stopped production of devices and “the current legacy ecosystem is not sustainable,” the NAB argued in its March 31 filing.

In response, the SBE argued: “Permitting broadcasters to use flexible software-based EAS equipment would open up another potential area of EAS development, both for broadcasters and equipment manufacturers. This could help fill the hole created by the aforementioned manufacturer’s discontinuation of EAS hardware offerings. And, perhaps just as importantly, opening up the viability of flexible software-based EAS solutions could prevent a similar situation from arising in the future by providing more diverse EAS equipment development and deployment solutions such that the exit of a single manufacturer from the marketplace would not risk disabling the EAS infrastructure of so many of the key distribution points in the daisy chain.”

In a separate May 2 filing, Digital Alert Systems, a major supplier of EAS equipment, expressed reservations about the NAB proposal and urged the commission to delay action or reject the proposal.

“While the goal of modernizing alerting infrastructure is a valid and worthwhile objective, we are concerned that this petition fails to take into account a substantial array of unresolved regulatory, procedural, cybersecurity, operational, and intellectual property questions,” DAS argued. “These issues go well beyond implementation detail; they are foundational questions that will materially affect the safety and manageability of any software-based EAS platform.”

The SBE filing stressed, “Allowing EAS Participants to evolve to flexible software-based reception and distribution is not merely change for change’s sake—such evolution is vital to ensuring the continued viability of the EAS. In particular, near the end of 2024 one of the two primary EAS hardware manufacturers announced that they were ceasing production of their physical EAS endec … This, in turn, raises meaningful concerns for the EAS system as a whole.”

“Moreover, even if the foregoing immediate concerns were not present, permitting broadcasters to voluntarily utilize flexible software-based EAS solutions would still bring meaningful alerting and regulatory benefits,” the SBE concluded. “Among other things, SBE agrees with NAB that a flexible software-based approach could meaningfully alleviate delays and other difficulties many broadcasters currently face when dealing with EAS equipment maintenance and repair.”

The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) has released its popular CertPreview practice exams in a new, online format. SBE CertPreview allows people preparing to take an SBE certification exam to evaluate their readiness through the sample tests. The sample tests have been offered in software formats for decades. The new SBE CertPreview is a web-based system, which allows the sample tests to be used on nearly any device format.

SBE CertPreview sample tests are available for most levels of SBE certification. Each test level includes a range of sample questions that are based on the same questions used on SBE Certification exams. A user can take the sample test as many times as he or she would like. The system will grade the sample exam and provide basic feedback as to the correct answer.

Once purchased, multiple certification levels can be accessed at any time. The online app has been tested on the popular browsers on the major device platforms. When sample questions are updated or added, they will automatically be available to users without needing to reinstall anything.

On the announcement, SBE Certification Committee Chair Ralph Hogan, CPBE, ATSC3, DRB, CBNE, said, "The SBE has offered some form of SBE certification practice test for many years. This web-based version is a significant advancement over the previous installed applications. And it all started with paper sample tests."

SBE President Ted Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, AMD, DRB, adds, "The SBE Program of Certification continues to build on and enhance the offerings to not only SBE members, but to all broadcast engineers and media technology professionals. SBE Certification continues to extend beyond the traditional 'broadcast' definition to encompass all relevant technologies in audio, video, RF and IT."

To purchase the new SBE CertPreview, go to sbe.org/certpreview. Information about the SBE Certification Program is available at sbe.org/certification.

WASHINGTON—The FCC’s call for public comments and suggestions on outdated regulations that it should be eliminated has prompted a slew of fillings from broadcasters urging the agency to abolish its ownership caps and a host of other regulations.

The FCC’s deregulatory push and the creation of a docket for public comments called “In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete”, had made Docket 25-133 one of the most popular items on the agency’s website, with over 910 filings as of April 17. Those comments include lengthy filings and letters from the National Association of Broadcasters, the Society of Broadcast Engineers, State Broadcasting Associations, America’s Public Television Stations, PBS, Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray Media, Mission Broadcasting and many individual TV stations.

Our wrap-up of the filings from broadcasters begins with the NAB.

“If there was ever a proceeding tailor-made for broadcasters, this is it,” the NAB wrote in its filing. “Due to history – broadcast stations were the first regulated entities placed under the FCC’s purview – and a general lack of will, to date, the Commission has consistently failed to modernize, let alone delete, delete, delete, the myriad antiquated and ineffective rules that apply only to the nation’s free, over-the-air broadcasters…This is a major policy failure that NAB has long urged the FCC to correct."

“But now, with Delete, Delete, Delete, the Commission has an historic opportunity to correct course, bring rationality to its regulatory regime, and make television and radio broadcasting stronger and more competitive,” the NAB argued. “To be successful in this critical endeavor, however, the FCC’s first step must be eliminating the national TV ownership rule and local TV rules.”

The NAB also urged the FCC to reduce rules that impede the transition to NextGen TV, to sunset ATSC 1.0 broadcasts, update EAS rules and reduce paperwork and rules relating to children’s programming, EEO and other areas.

NEXSTAR

In its filing Nexstar, the nation's largest broadcast station group, submitted a host of letters from stations that Nexstar owns or has relationships with urging the Commission to eliminate television ownership regulations.

In one of those letters, Jerry Brehm, vice president and general manager of WTEN-TV & WXXA-TV in the Albany New York market urged “the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) to eliminate the current rules that: (l) place a cap on the percentage of the country's television households that a broadcast company may reach; and (2) limit the number of stations a broadcast company may own in any single local market. As the media landscape continues to evolve, these outdated regulations are hindering the ability of local broadcasters to compete against `Big Tech’ in what has become an increasingly digital and highly competitive marketplace dominated by a few giant platforms that have no meaningful connection to our local community.”

In the letter, Brehm noted that October of 2023 marked the 70th anniversary of WTEN-TV and in August 2022 was the 40th anniversary of WXXA-TV. These stations “provide over 65 hours of local programming to our community, free over the air, every week,” he wrote, adding that the station is heavily involved in the local market in its work with local charities and not for profits.

“Now imagine if the type of commitment softened or worse, went away,” because these local stations were unable to compete in the media landscape, he noted. “Who would cover our community. And we are simply just one market among many threatened by these outdated rules. We have made a commitment to our market, to local news and information and that simply can't go away.”

GRAY MEDIA

In its filing, Gray Media also cited the elimination of ownership caps and regulations as their top priority. In addition, Gray argued that the FCC commission should repeal or reform unconstitutional and ineffective programming mandates relating to Children’s programing, Foreign Sponsorship ID and requirements that local stations file lists of important local issues.

In the area of the Emergency Alert System, it asked the FCC to simplify and reduce regulations relating to false alerts.

Gray also argued that the Commission should repeal unauthorized and outdated reporting requirements relating to Equal Employment Opportunity Rules (47 C.F.R. § 73.2080), Biennial Ownership Reporting (47 C.F.R. § 73.3615) and Public File Requirements (47 C.F.R. § 73.3526)

“Gray welcomes this long overdue initiative to repeal excessive and counter-productive rules,” the filing said. “The Commission’s systemic over-regulation of local broadcast stations has its roots in the 1930s, when broadcast media was the technological disruptor. While these regulations have always been a millstone around the industry’s neck, they didn’t stop broadcasting from becoming the pre-eminent provider of news and information in local markets across the county. The harm these regulations caused to broadcasters’ competitiveness and efficiency was long hidden by the power of mass media and the absence of competitors that could micro-target programming and advertising to erode mass audiences. But that changed decades ago with the emergence of first cable television, then satellite television, and, finally and decisively, the Internet.”

“What didn’t change was the Commission’s appetite for more and more regulation of broadcasting,” Gray argued. “Most of these regulations target broadcasters only, while broadcasters’ chief direct competitors remain free to exploit an unlevel playing field, further eroding broadcast audiences and threatening vital local programming. About a year ago, Chairman Carr recognized this situation as creating a “break glass” moment for broadcast regulation. Gray agrees and hopes that this proceeding will be at least a first step to establishing a sensible regulatory regime for broadcasting that recognizes broadcasters are, on the one hand, only one of many voices in the local media landscape, but are also, on the other hand, the most reliable and most trusted provider of local news and information programming in the United States. If the Commission is to preserve this vital force in the American media landscape, it is going to have to – as Commissioner Carr put it – break some glass.”

SINCLAIR

In a wide-ranging filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Sinclair applauded the agency’s push towards deregulation while arguing that it must address a ““toxic combination of a rapidly changing competitive environment” and the “ossified regulatory burdens” that are harming broadcasters and consumers. “While there are a number of deregulatory steps the Commission can take to level the playing field and allow broadcasters to compete, by far the most important actions the Commission can take are the elimination of the local and national ownership caps and an expeditious proceeding setting a sunset date for ATSC 1.0,” the April 14 filing argued.

It also argued that the Commission should eliminate the simulcast and “substantially similar” requirements as well as other rules to “greatly reduce regulatory burdens and facilitate a timely transition” to ATSC 3.0.

In the filing Sinclair also called on the FCC to eliminate children’s programming reporting requirements; reduce public file and political file obligations; relax EEO program requirements and reduce other regulatory burdens. The complete filing can be found here.

MISSION BROADCASTING

In its filing, Mission Broadcasting submitted letters from executives at some of its stations urging the FCC to eliminate broadcast ownership rules.

One of those letters came from Chris McDonnell, vice president and general manager of WPIX in New York City, which has faced some serious regulatory scrutiny from the FCC over whether its relationship with Nexstar in retransmission negotiations violates current ownership rules. Last year, the FCC fined Nexstar and Mission over the violations, which Nexstar has disputed.

“On behalf of WPIX-TV NYC, I write as part of the In re: Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding to urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to eliminate the current rules that (1) place a cap on the percentage of the country’s television households that a broadcast company may reach; and (2) limit the number of stations a broadcast company may own in any single local market,” McDonnell wrote.

“As the media landscape continues to evolve, these outdated regulations are hindering the ability of local broadcasters to compete against “Big Tech” in what has become an increasingly digital and highly competitive marketplace dominated by a few giant platforms that have no meaningful connection to our local community,” he wrote. After recently celebrating our 75th anniversary, PIX11’s storied brand is known throughout the Tri-State area as “New York’s Very Own.” Our team is deeply involved in our local communities where we currently air almost 70 hours of locally-produced content every single week. We are steadfastly focused on providing critical information to keep our loyal viewers informed, and safe, in New York and New Jersey. We also regularly partner with vital community groups such as St. Jude’s Research Hospital, The Hispanic Women’s Council, East Harlem’s Union Settlement, and the NYC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, to name just a few.”

“Television viewers in communities across the United States depend on their local TV stations to provide them with important information that directly impacts their lives, including news, weather, sports, and often lifesaving emergency information. Local TV stations are often the first place people turn to for news and information and, increasingly, the only remaining source of local journalism,” he noted. “As local newspapers and radio stations go out of business or are forced to severely limit their operations or adopt a national format, the role local broadcasters play in disseminating accurate information is more important than ever. Still, local stations like this one are suffering because of archaic FCC rules and regulations that have no connection to current marketplace realities. In short, without regulatory relief, local television stations will be unable to continue making the kinds of investments necessary to produce the high-quality news and information programing upon which our viewers rely daily.”

“The reality of today’s media environment demands a reconsideration of legacy rules that no longer reflect the urgent situation hastened by the industry’s competitive dynamics,” he concluded. “We urge the FCC to take swift, decisive action in eliminating the restrictions on media ownership to ensure a level playing field that benefits both local broadcasters and the communities we serve.”

JOINT COMMENTS FROM STATE BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATIONS

A lengthy brief for associations representing broadcasters argued that a “more practical approach to broadcast enforcement is critically needed.”

It also backed the NAB's proposals for speeding the transition to ATSC 3.0 and modernizing ownership rules but said the Commission needed to go beyond those rules to address the "regulatory miasma" that "overwhelms individual broadcast licensees and any hopes they might have for growth, while slowly strangling an entire industry—a bureaucratic boa constrictor."

“The State Associations appreciate this opportunity to support the Commission’s efforts to relieve FCC regulatees of not just unnecessary regulatory burdens, but of those whose public benefits fall short of the costs they impose on broadcasters, thereby harming service to the public,” the brief stressed. “The media environment continues to evolve rapidly on a near-daily basis, and has already changed in tectonic ways unimaginable when most of these rules were adopted. In the face of these rapid changes, rather than wither away, many of the Commission’s broadcast rules have instead ossified, remaining stubbornly in place despite their utility having long ago ended. Because changes to these relics of a different time have become so overdue, dramatic deregulation rather than mere incremental adjustments are needed to meet the Communications Act’s overarching goal of preserving and promoting broadcast service to the public.”

“As they compete against an ever-growing array of unregulated audio and video services," the brief complained that broadcasters’ are required to "stand up complex and expensive compliance programs, especially where requirements are vague, liability is strict, and enforcement penalties are high, is becoming untenable. This dynamic is driving smaller operators from broadcasting while erecting a significant cost and knowledge barrier which blocks those interested in becoming a broadcaster, or pondering whether to invest in, or lend to, a broadcaster.”

To free up the industry, the Associations the brief said “the recent release of the Public Notice seeking comments on the National Association of Broadcasters’ request to cement a timeline for transitioning to ATSC 3.0 is a good start, and completing the pending Quadrennial Review aimed at harmonizing the Commission’s broadcast ownership rules with the media world in which broadcasters must exist is an equally important step. However, to stop there and go no farther would be to repeat the tragic error of the Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule—a rule that was mooted by the demise of countless newspapers long before it was removed from the books. The Commission must act here before broadcasting finds itself also teetering on the brink.”

More specifically, the Associations called for the FCC to “eliminate the many unnecessary paperwork obligations related to (a) the Public Inspection File, (b) the recruiting, hiring and promotion of broadcast employees, (c) the reporting of station contracts, (d) the reporting of each children’s television program episode preemption, and (f) biennial ownership reports; and providing greater flexibility to broadcasters in meeting their growing Political File obligations.”

The full brief, along with the list of the 48 associations backing it, can be found here.

AMERICA'S PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS & PBS

A filing by America’s Public Television Stations and PBS said, “public television welcomes this opportunity to suggest deletion or modification of several unnecessarily burdensome rules applicable to noncommercial educational (“NCE”) television stations. These recommended updates would help public television stations focus scarce resources on the operations, infrastructure, and innovation necessary to serve their essential public service mission."

The filing focused on several areas that would “reduce the regulatory burden of various outdated non content rules.” Those included “73.1226 – Station Logs and Records” and several other related rules (73.1800 – General Requirements Related to the Station Log; 73.1820 – Station Log; 73.1835 – Special Temporary Records; and 73.1840 – Retention of Logs).

Those rules “mandate station logging and recordkeeping that are no longer necessary," the brief said. Similar rules also apply to TV translators (74.781) and FM translators (74.1265) and should be eliminated.

The filing also urged the FCC to get rid of 73.1870 relating to “Chief Operators.” “in light of the fact that the FCC has not required stations to have licensed “operators” for decades, and in light of changes in technology – namely, the automation of stations and advancements in the reliability of computer-controlled transmission systems – the formal position of `chief operator’ and the associated duties have become an unnecessary and outdated regulatory burden,” the brief said.

Ownership reports was another area ripe for deregulation the filing said. It noted that “73.3615 – Ownership Reports…requires broadcast stations to file ownership reports every two years on December 1 of odd-numbered years. However, other than in connection with a license transfer or transfer of station control, there is no reason why these reports should be required every two years. Inasmuch as the Commission’s multiple ownership rules do not apply to noncommercial broadcasters, tracking attributable holdings of the officers or board members of noncommercial licensees serves little regulatory value.”

The filing also requested that the FCC “modernize or delete the requirements of the outdated station identification rule” and it complained about problems with the FCC filing systems.

“The Commission should take whatever steps are necessary to increase the resiliency and reliability of its online filing systems and other public-facing technology,” the brief noted. “Public Television’s experience has demonstrated that station licensees (and Commission staff) often face a significant burden attempting to interact with the Commission’s systems due to unscheduled downtime or other issues. For example, stations regularly encounter difficulty attempting to upload materials to the Commission’s Online Public Information File system (which is an obligation that stations face at least quarterly). This regularly forces station staff to make multiple attempts to comply with their regulatory obligations, often at night or on weekends outside of work hours, at additional cost to stations and often to the exclusion of other important local work.”

The full filing can be found here.

THE SOCIETY OF BROADCAST ENGINEERS

In its filing, the SBE, a professional organization of television and radio engineers and those in related fields, with more than 4,500 members in 116 chapters worldwide, stressed that “through this proceeding, the Commission has the opportunity to provide meaningful relief to FM radio broadcasters by simply eliminating and modifying certain interference rules that have not kept pace with the state of modern radio receiver technology.”

The full filing can be found here.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) has elevated SBE members Roswell Clark of Clearwater, Fla., Steve Keeler of Auburn, N.Y. and Thomas McNicholl of Whitesboro, N.Y. to the membership rank of Fellow. The SBE Board of Directors elected them at its meeting held April 5, 2025. of Whitesboro, NY; to the membership rank of Fellow.

The Fellow honor is the highest membership level in the SBE. Members must have made significant contributions to the broadcast engineering field or the SBE to be selected as a Fellow. Candidates are nominated by their peers. Since the Society‘s founding 61 years ago, 92 members have been honored with the Fellow rank.

All three were recognized during the SBE Membership Meeting held on April 7 during the 2025 NAB Show. They will also be recognized at the SBE National Meeting, which will be held in September in Columbus, Ohio.

The SBE provided this information about the men and their accomplishments:

Roswell (Roz) Clark, CPBE, CBNT, executive director of radio engineering for Cox Media Group, joined the SBE in 1990 and has held continuous membership since 2000. He served two terms on the SBE Board of Directors in 2018 and 2020. In 2015, he was awarded the Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year Award. In 2021 Radio World recognized him with the Excellence in Engineering Award. He has served SBE Chapter 39 as treasurer since 2013. He has been a driving force in the chapter’s annual Technical Symposium. His radio engineering career began in the 1980s, working for stations in the Tampa and Orlando areas. He joined Cox Media Group in 1993, receiving his current job title in 2023. He is also involved with the National Radio Systems Committee, the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers, and has served on the NAB’s Radio Technology Committee.

A common comment among Roz’s nominations notes that he is a natural problem-solver and always tries to provide an answer. He routinely shares his knowledge by presenting at conferences and seminars. One nomination called him “a leader who can both listen well and execute well, and that Roz is an exemplary force in bridging the technical operations and the company management needs.” At Cox Media, he implemented an incentive program for his staff to make SBE certification part of their company goals, which one nomination found commendable. Another nomination said “his passion for the radio business is shown by his involvement and paving the way so that there is a future for this medium.”

Steven Keeler is a distinguished service professor emeritus at Cayuga Community College (SUNY). He is a member of SBE Chapter 22 Central New York and joined the SBE in 1989. He began working for the school in 1987. He is the board vice-president of Auburn Regional Media Access, and executive committee member of the SUNY Distinguished Academy, a founding board member of the Auburn Public Theater, vice president of the Cayuga Community College Faculty Association, the executive producer of the SBE 22 Student Career Seminar LIVE Stream, former chair of the National Education Association/NY State Technology Committee, and a member of MENSA. He is a two-time recipient of the James C. Wulliman SBE Educator of the Year (1999 and 2001).

In the nomination letters, many people noted that Steve is dedicated to learning and the goals of the SBE. One nomination stated, “Steve’s dedication to his career, sharing his knowledge with students and involving them with the SBE has been enormous.” Another nomination said that, “Through his actions year after year, Steve continually upheld the very tenants of the organization and strengthened the very future of society.” Another nomination credited Steve with shaping the careers of multitudes of broadcast engineers. “Through his commitment to excellence in teaching, and his passion for broadcast engineering have influenced and shaped the careers of many professionals in the industry today.”

Thomas McNicholl, CBTE, began his broadcast career 50 years ago at WKTV in Utica, NY, where he is chief engineer today. Tom progressively took on increasing levels of responsibility within the engineering department, becoming WKTV chief engineer in 2003. He is also the chair of SBE Chapter 22, a position he has held since 2016. In 2003 he took over as chair of the annual SBE Technology Expo, building a team to organize the events, from establishing and contracting with the venue, managing exhibitors, attracting attendees, and seeking advanced technical papers. Tom worked with local colleges and universities to invite young technical talent to the Expo, to increase their awareness of technical careers within media, acquaint themselves with some of the latest equipment available, and attend some of the technical papers/presentations.

One nomination noted Tom’s dedication to his career by “sharing his knowledge with others,” adding that “his efforts with the Society of Broadcast Engineers have been tremendous.” This was echoed in another nomination, saying, “He has always had dedication to the industry and the future of broadcasting.” His chapter leadership was credited with keeping the active. One nomination said, “His meetings are carefully prepared and executed professionally.” Referencing Tom’s professional career, one nomination touted his technical skills, saying, “His ability to navigate the rapid technological changes in broadcasting while ensuring seamless operations has earned him the respect and admiration of his peers.”

A list of all those who have been named SBE Fellows is posted on the SBE website at sbe.org/fellows.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has tapped Mike Downs as its new executive director. The 27-year veteran of nonprofit management will start at the industry group next Monday (Jan. 6).

Downs, who served as the director of meetings and conventions at the global service organization Kiwanis International since 2012, will lead the 4,000-member professional organization for TV and radio engineers and those in related fields.

“I welcome Mike to the SBE,” SBE President Ted Hand said. “His extensive association experience will be an asset to the Society as we look ahead to the coming year and continuing future. I look forward to working with him to continue furthering the goals of the SBE and providing superior services to our members. I also want to thank the members of the search committee, led by SBE Vice President Kevin Trueblood, for their work.”

In addition to his run at Kiwanis International, Downs worked for 10 years as the chief staff executive at Key Club International, where the organization posted year-over-year growth in membership, SBE said. His experience includes an extensive background in strategic plan development and deployment, according to SBE. He is also a past president of the Indiana Society of Association Executives and a past vice president of Meetings Professional International’s Indiana chapter.

Downs holds several association-related professional certifications, having obtained his Certified Association Executive credential from the American Society of Association Executives in 2006. He has been designated as a Certified Meeting Professional by the Convention Industry Council, a Certified Event Designer from the Event Design Collective and a Digital Event Strategist from the Digital Experience Institute, SPE said.

A resident of greater Indianapolis, Downs is a licensed soccer referee, a past trustee of the Pike Township School Board and vice president of the Pike Township Education Foundation. He has been married for 32 years with three adult children and a granddaughter.

The SBE has nearly 117 chapters across the U.S., Hong Kong and in Eastern Europe, with members in more than 25 other countries. Most chapters meet monthly and provide members with educational programs and networking opportunities. The SBE’s offerings also include a U.S. technical broadcast certification program and an expansive list of educational programs for broadcast engineers, operators, technicians and broadcast IT professionals, as well as advocacy for its members with federal agencies and the U.S. Congress.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced that it has authorized a new local chapter to serve members in North and South Dakota and the bordering areas.

The SBE said the chapter has been given chapter number 63. While the Dakotas still cover a wide area, the next nearest chapters are a considerable distance from the two states. As a result, the SBE said, it's expected that some chapter members will attend meetings virtually.

"We constantly strive to serve our members and creating a chapter for the Dakotas helps fill a geographic void,” said SBE President Ted Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3, DRB. ”I applaud the SBE members who worked to put this chapter together.”

Mark Heller, who previously served on the SBE national board of directors, was instrumental in coordinating the chapter efforts.

To form a new SBE chapter, SBE bylaws require a group of at least 10 members to hold a minimum of three organizational meetings, which the group did earlier this year, submitting its final application materials in October. A group of 16 SBE members worked together, meeting the requirements to form the chapter.

Officers have elected to lead the Dakotas chapter: Chair Jake Bechtold, CBRE, DRB, CBNE; Vice Chair Eli Koppenhaver; Secretary Mark Heller, CPBE; and Treasurer Dustin Moore. Additionally, Mark Borchert will serve as membership chair and Jake Bechtold will serve as frequency coordinator.

Once the chapter application requirements are met, the national board reviews the application and authorizes the chapter.

The SBE is the professional organization for television and radio engineers and those in related fields. It has nearly 4,000 members in 116 chapters across the United States, Hong Kong and Eastern Europe. There are also members in more than 25 other countries. Most chapters meet monthly and offer educational programs and an opportunity to network with other broadcast technical professionals.

For more information about the SBE, contact Chriss Scherer, CPBE, CBNT, member communications director, at cscherer@sbe.org, or 317-846-9000, or visit the SBE website, sbe.org.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers said it has added a new credential to its program of certification, Certified Production Technologist.

As part of the launch of the CPT certification, the SBE laid out how the new program is part of its larger training effort. While the Core Four levels (CBT, CBRE/CBTE, CSRE/CSTE, CPBE) are the foundation of the SBE certification, which launched in 1975, advances in technology have spurred the need for other relevant skills to be evaluated, SPE said.

Examples of this include Certified Broadcast Networking Technologist (2001) and Certified Broadcast Networking Engineer (2012), the specialist certifications (8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3 and DRB), and the Certified Audio Engineer (CEA) and Certified Video Engineer (CEV) certifications.

The CEA and CEV were created for professionals who perform the same functions as a CBRE or CBTE but aren’t involved in RF or regulatory issues. This includes production personnel with radio and TV broadcast facilities, but also those who work in production houses and live venues, as well as employees of streaming services. Candidates for Certified Audio Engineer (CEA) or Certified Video Engineer (CEV) must have five years of suitable experience in audio/video engineering or related technology. The Audio/Video Engineer multiple choice examination consists of questions on operating practices, problems, theory, safety and basic electronics.

“While the CEA/CEV are established in the industry, being created more than 20 years ago, it was realized that an entry-level certification covering the same skills, but without the career service requirement, was needed, especially with the proliferation of streaming services and increase in media facilities not directly involved in broadcast distribution,” SBE Certification Committee chair Ralph Hogan, CPBE, ATSC3, DRB, CBNE said. “Like the CEA and CEV, there are no RF or FCC questions on the exam.”

The group also explained that Certified Broadcast Technologist (CBT) is actually two separate certifications that use the same name. The CBT exam can focus on radio or television.

The new Certified Production Technologist (CPT) program does the same. It will be identified with one name, but has two tracks: audio or video. Again, no experience is required as it is an entry-level certification.

The SBE reported that the CPT exam is to be administered like other SBE certification exams. The exam will consist of 50 multiple-choice questions. It will be open-book, with personal notes and internet access allowed. It’s important to know the technology, but just as important to know where to find a solution when it’s needed, SPE said. To pass the exam, an individual must correctly answer at least 70% (35 total) of the questions.

The exam question pool is being finalized, and in time, a CertPreview sample test will be available. Apply to take the CPT through the SBE website. Find the applications under the Certification tab.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers is the professional organization for television and radio engineers and those in related fields. The SBE has more than 4,500 members in 115 chapters across the U.S. and in Hong Kong and Eastern Europe. There are also members in more than 25 other countries.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers said James Ragsdale, its executive director, has left to pursue another career opportunity.

Ragsdale was the second full-time executive director of the society; he succeeded John Poray in January 2021. SBE did not provide details of his departure.

“The executive director responsibilities are being handled by the rest of the SBE staff and SBE President Ted Hand in the interim,” Member Communications Director Chriss Scherer told Radio World.

“The position is being posted to appropriate outlets for an association executive. The SBE has formed a search committee.”

Radio World reached out to Ragsdale for comment.

Ragsdale had been a finance executive at Anderson University in Indiana before coming SBE. He was chosen from a field of 28 candidates to succeed John Poray, who stepped down at the end of 2020 after almost three decades in the role.

Asked about highlights of Ragsdale’s tenure, Scherer said: “While Jim was with the SBE, there has been an increase in international outreach efforts. Eastern Europe Chapter 148 is one example of that. There are other efforts in the works. The SBE released the SBE Self-Inspection Guides this year. Jim worked with the committee that developed the guides.”

Scherer said the change doesn’t affect any SBE programs or projects in place or in the works. “The staff and volunteer members will continue providing the quality services our members need.”

The nonprofit professional society is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand Radio World.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced the results of the 2024 election for the national board of directors, which saw Ted D. Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3, DRB, being reelected for a second one-year term as president.

The second term will commence on Sept. 11, 2024. Ted is a member of SBE Chapter 45 Charlotte (North Carolina), and an SBE Fellow Member.

"Looking ahead to my second term as SBE president,” Hand said, “I want to continue the work we have started with adding a new entry-level SBE certification, completing and publishing the additional SBE Station Self-Inspection Guides, and enhancing the SBE's international presence, including efforts in Australia." 

Hand has been an SBE member since 1981. He served as SBE vice president from 2021 to 2023, secretary from 2007 to 2011 and in 2015, and SBE treasurer from 2019 to 2021. He has served on the SBE Board of Directors several times: 2002-2004, 2005-2007, 2013-2015, and in 2018.

In addition the SBE reported that Kevin Trueblood, CBRE, CBNT, of Chapter 90 Southwest Fla. was reelected to vice president for a second one-year term. Kevin previously served as SBE treasurer. Kevin has also served as SBE secretary and served one year on the Board of Directors.

Geary S. Morrill, CPBE, AMD, CBNE (Chapter 91 Central Michigan), has been elected treasurer. Geary has served on the SBE Board of Directors since 2019 and is completing a one-year term as secretary.

Shane Toven, CPBE, DRB, CBNE (Chapter 43 Sacramento), has been elected to his first term as SBE secretary. He is completing his third two-year term as a director, first being elected in 2018.

Elected to serve two-year terms on the board of directors, which also begin Sept. 11 are:

• David Antoine, CBRE, CBNT; Chapter 15 New York City; Bronx, NY
• Greg Dahl, CPBE; Chapter 96 Rockford; Rockford, IL
• Dustin Hapli, CBNE; Chapter 26 Chicago 26; Buffalo Grove, IL
• Jeff Juniet, CBTE; Chapter 42 Central Florida; Orlando, FL
• Sam Wallington, CPBE; Chapter 103 Nashville; Columbia, TN
• Fred Willard, CPBE, ATSC3, 8-VSB, CBNT; Chapter 37 District of Columbia; Dunkirk, MD

Antoine, Dahl and Willard were incumbents and were re-elected.

The national board of directors of the SBE is responsible for the development of policy and determines the programs and services the society provides to its nearly 4,000 members. Those elected will begin their terms on Sept. 11, 2024, during the SBE Membership Meeting. They will join the other six directors who have another year remaining in their terms:

• Terry Douds, CPBE; Chapter 52 Central Ohio; Lancaster, OH
• Brad Humphries, CBT; Chapter 45 Charlotte; Charlotte, NC
• Zhulieta Ibisheva, CBTE; Chapter 50 Hawaii; Honolulu, HI
• Charles "Ched" Keiler, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNE; Chapter 53 South Florida; Deerfield Beach, FL
• David Ratener, CPBE, CBNT; Chapter 16 Seattle; Kent, WA
• Jeff Welton, CBRE; Chester, NS

Andrea Cummis, CBT (Chapter 15 New York City), continues to serve as immediate past president.

The newly elected will be sworn in during the SBE Membership Meeting on Sept. 11 during the SBE National Meeting, held in conjunction with the Midwest Regional Broadcasters Clinic in Middleton, WI. The conference is a joint production of the state broadcast associations of Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers is the professional organization of television and radio engineers and those in related fields. The SBE has nearly 4,000 members in 115 chapters across the United States and in Hong Kong and Eastern Europe. There are also members in more than 25 other countries. Most chapters meet monthly and offer educational programs and an opportunity to network with other broadcast technical professionals. The SBE offers the preeminent technical broadcast certification program in the U.S. and an expansive list of educational programs for broadcast engineers, operators, technicians, and broadcast IT professionals.

For more information about the SBE, contact James Ragsdale, executive director, at jragsdale@sbe.org or 317-846-9000, or visit the SBE website, sbe.org.

Legendary broadcast engineer Dick Burden has died. He passed on Saturday, peacefully in his sleep, according to a post on the Facebook page of the Los Angeles chapter 47 of the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

He was 92.

“It is not often in life that you meet someone who loves his family, friends and profession like Richard Burden,” the chapter post reads. “He gave 200% to everything he did with a smile on his face and love in his heart. We are all better people having known him.”

Richard W. Burden, born in 1931, played an influential role in several facets of broadcast engineering in the mid to late 20th century, including FM stereo, TV/radio audio engineering and the creation of the Traveler’s Information Service.

Yet decades into the 21st century, he remained a visible presence at trade shows and an active supporter of organizations like the L.A. SBE chapter.

According to the website of his firm Burden Associates, Burden originated the concept of initiating a control carrier as a means of switching from FM mono to FM stereo when stereophonic programming was present and adding an indicator that became known as the stereo light.

He was called "the father of the Traveler’s Information Service" for his work on the original TIS facility at the Los Angeles International Airport and the establishment of 530 and 1610 kHz as the original TIS operating frequencies.

In television he suggested a means to improve signal-to-noise performance to the proposed Stereophonic Television standard while maintaining authorized occupied bandwidth and de facto monophonic deviation, according to the website.

Burden became SBE member No. 450 in 1966 and was an original member of SBE Chapter 1 in Binghamton, N.Y., according to a 2005 profile article in Broadcast Engineering.

He helped organize Chapter 47 in Los Angeles, serving as its second chairman and as program chairman from 1979–1981. Maria Laing, current vice chair of the chapter, told RW: “He was a kind man who was happy to share his knowledge and time with anyone who asked. He always showed up with a smile on his face and love in his heart. In honor of his memory I challenge everyone to do something nice for someone today and to make a donation to SBE in his honor.”

Early Days
His career started as a student at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., where he was appointed chief engineer of college radio station WJRH in 1950. He transferred to RCA Institutes to study Radio Broadcast Engineering and graduated in 1952, holding a 1st Class Radio-Telephone License.

In 1952, according to the profile article, he was appointed to the Signal School in Fort Monmouth, N.J., as a civilian instructor. “Dick was assigned to the Armed Forces Radio Service in New York as staff engineer and was released from active duty with citations as a staff sergeant in 1955,” the article stated.

“He was employed at General Precision Laboratory for five years doing circuit design of audio-video and pulse modules, technical writing for video systems and engineering on the Air Traffic Control System for the Federal Aviation Administration.”

In 1958, he worked on the development of a system of stereo broadcasting in conjunction with Multiplex Development Corp. and held a patent in that field.

In 1960 he formed Burden Associates in Mount Kisco, N.Y. and in 1972, opened an office in Canoga Park, Calif.

Engineering Honors
He also served on the Ad Hoc Committee for the Study of Television Sound (ACHSTS); as a member of the Broadcast Transmission Systems Committee (BTS) on the study of Stereophonic Sound of Television; and as a member of the National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC) working toward improvements in radio broadcasting in the early 1990s.

He was a former chair of the AES Los Angeles Section and former Western Region vice president of AES.

He was also a founding member and original chief engineer of the Audio Internet Reading Service of Los Angeles, which he served as president and chairman.

Burden achieved the rank of Fellow in the Society of Broadcast Engineers and the Audio Engineer Society, and was a Life Member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

He was honored by the Audio Engineering Society in 1998 on its Golden Anniversary as one of 25 internationally known audio engineers who had made significant contributions to the art and science of audio during the preceding 50 years.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers honored him in 2005 with its Lifetime Achievement Award for what was then already 55 years of service.

A 1995 oral history interview with Richard Burden is available, conducted by Frederik Nebeker, IEEE History Center. He discussed his work at Fort Monmouth and at Armed Forces Radio and his interest in hi-fi recording and FM. He describes his work with Bill Halstead in creating and demonstrating a proposed FM system as members of the National Stereo Radio Committee as well as his work in television sound and the National Radio Systems Committee, and the work he and Halstead did at the Los Angeles airport and the FCC’s consequent request that Burden remain in California to provide the Commission with data on the system.

You can read that oral history here: https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Richard_Burden

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand Radio World. 

Following the FCC’s recent decision to authorize very low power (VLP) devices in the 6 GHz spectrum band, the Society of Broadcast Engineers has issued a regulatory alert to members and stations telling them to be aware of potential 6 GHz interference.

The 6 Ghz spectrum band plays a critical role in ENG and local newsgathering and the FCC's efforts to open up parts of that spectrum to unlicensed devices has prompted considerable opposition from broadcasters and the NAB in recent years. 

On March 8 FCC rules authorizing unlicensed very low power (VLP) devices in the 6 GHz spectrum band: 5.925-7.125 GHz took effect. 

The FCC has also said it is considering proposals to allow even greater VLP and LPI (low-power indoor) use in the band. 

“The SBE, the NAB, and others have expressed concern that the FCC's proposals to increase unlicensed use of the 6 GHz Band could introduce harmful interference to broadcasters' licensed electronic newsgathering (ENG) activities in the band,” the SBE said. “Interference and reduced margin in fixed BAS links (STLs, etc.) may also be a problem as Wi-Fi-6E devices become common. Consequently, we urge you to fully document the performance of any 6 GHz fixed links that your station may have (signal levels, margin to failure, error rates, etc.). We are also interested in hearing from anyone who has experienced interference in the 6 GHz Band that could be attributable to unlicensed devices.”

The SBE noted that the issue is also important because “The FCC is also actively considering proposals to allow even greater VLP and LPI (low-power indoor) use in the Band” and urged anyone who has “experienced interference to your ENG operations in the 6 GHz band over the past several months, please notify the SBE at BASinterference@sbe.org no later than April 17.”

The SBE also reminded members that “any interference should be reported via the FCC Interference Reporting portal.”

On February 7, 2024, the FCC added to 6 GHz band unlicensed rules by permitting very low power (VLP) devices in the U–NII–5 (5.925–6.425 MHz) and U–NII–7 (6.525–6.875 MHz) portions of the 6 GHz band. 

The FCC said that the rules, which took effect on March 8, will limit VLP devices to low power levels and subject them to other technical and operational requirements that will permit these devices to operate across the United States while protecting incumbent licensed services that operate in the 6 GHz band from harmful interference.

At the same time, the FCC also took action in a Memorandum Opinion and Order on Remand that addressed a remand from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concerning issues of interference raised by television broadcasters. In that ruling, the FCC argued that “broadcasters' unsubstantiated claims of interference in the 2.4 GHz band do not warrant any changes to the 6 GHz rules,” according to the Federal Register in a summary of the decision and the new rules. 

The Federal Register also noted that “the rules the Commission is adopting are designed to support innovation to bring exciting new applications to market while protecting the important licensed services that operate in the 6 GHz band from harmful interference. At this time, the Commission is limiting VLP devices to the U–NII–5 and U–NII–7 bands because the technical record has mainly focused on the potential for interference to fixed microwave links which are the predominate uses of these portions of the 6 GHz band. The Commission plans on proposing to expand VLP device operation to the U–NII–6 and U–NII–8 portions of the band which support mobile operations.”

As the SBE noted, broadcasters, the SBE and the NAB have long disputed those arguments and have raised concerns about interference for a number of years. That makes it particularly important that broadcasters document cases of interference, the group said. 

The Society of Broadcast Engineers will be celebrating its 60th anniversary at the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 14-17. 

Kicking things off is the organizations annual SBE Ennes Workshop at the NAB Show, April 12-13. The SBE Ennes Workshop features two separate educational tracks: RF 101 Boot Camp and Media-Over IP Essentials. Attendees can register for one or the other via the NAB Show website. Both will be held in the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall.

The highlight of the SBE activities at the convention will be the annual Membership Meeting and Member Reception both held on April 15. In addition to updates about the Society's activities and programs to its members, the meeting will also highlight the SBE's 60 years since its founding. Member accomplishments are also recognized at the meeting, which is followed by a reception and prize drawings for attendees.

SBE's booth in the West Hall (W4732) will be open Sunday through Wednesday of the convention. The booth is an ideal place to meet the elected leaders and staff of the SBE, and peruse books from the SBE Bookstore and SBE merchandise from the SBE Store. The SBE will also hold a daily prize drawing, so visitors are urged to drop a business card at the booth each day for a chance to win a gift card.

The SBE will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors on April 13. Complete details on all the SBE events are posted at sbe.org/sbe-2024-nab-show/.

INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) has launched the Diamond Project, a program that enables individuals who have allowed their SBE Certifications to expire to restore them without taking an SBE Certification exam.

The project is the first of several programs and other special events SBE plans to celebrate its 60th anniversary this year.

The Diamond Project will run all year long. Those who have allowed their certification to expire prior to Jan. 1, 2023, qualify for the project. Normally, an SBE Certification exam is required every five years to stay current, SBE said. 

To take advantage of the project, applicants must complete the Diamond application and submit it with either a resume or letter to the SBE Certification Committee describing what the applicant has done in broadcast engineering since certification expiration, it said.

"The SBE Program of Certification, established in 1975, continues to grow and evolve to meet the changing needs of technical professionals and stay current with technology," said Ralph Hogan, CPBE, ATSC3, DRB, CBNE and chair of the SBE Certification Committee. "Sometimes people let their certification lapse for a variety of reasons. This allows them to become SBE-Certified again."

The reinstatement project covers all SBE Certifications. Each, with the exception of Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer (CPBE), can be reinstated for $125 for each level. For those who have allowed their CPBE certification to expire prior to Jan. 1, 2023, have two available options. They can reinstate at the senior level certification for $125 or choose CPBE certification for $200, it said.

These prices are available to current SBE members. Non-member fees apply to those who are not current members. An additional $85 will be charged for traditional membership or $175 for SBE MemberPlus, it said.

"SBE Certification is the widely regarded as the benchmark of technical proficiency in the broadcast community," said SBE president Ted Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3, DRB. "The Diamond Project is an ideal way to reobtain SBE Certification and to further one's career."

More information is available on the SBE website.

The SBE released the following announcement today, commemorating the beginning of its 60th year:

With the start of the new year 2024, the Society of Broadcast Engineers, the association for broadcast and multimedia technology professionals, celebrates its 60th anniversary. 

Officially founded on April 4, 1964, the SBE has grown from its humble beginnings when about 100 broadcast engineers gathered for a meeting at the NAB Convention in Chicago to providing a leading role in broadcast and multimedia education, certification, professional networking, frequency coordination and advocacy for technical professional working at radio and TV station, production facilities and more.

The Society's roots stretch back to 1961, when the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) and American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) passed a joint resolution calling for a "merger or consolidation into one organization." The two groups did finally join forces in 1963 forming what is known today as the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

The new organization was perceived by some as not addressing the needs of broadcast engineers. Because of the interest shown in response to an editorial in Broadcast Engineering magazine, written by eventual first SBE President John Battison, the organizational meeting held in 1964 formed an organization devoted to the needs and interests of broadcast engineers that now is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

With members around the world, local SBE chapters provide services to members through meetings, technical seminars, certification examinations and fellowship.

Throughout 2024, the SBE will mark the event in its bi-monthly newsletter, The Signal, on the SBE website, in social media posts, and with in-person events at the 2024 NAB Show. A special SBE Certification project will also be announced shortly to commemorate the Diamond anniversary. The celebration will continue at the 2024 SBE National Meeting, which will be held in the fall.

"A landmark anniversary is certainly a time to look back, but it's also an opportunity to look to the future," said SBE President Ted Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3, DRB. He added, "The SBE will continue to move forward in education, certification, government and industry advocacy, frequency coordination and other areas to serve the needs of broadcast engineers and multimedia technology professionals everywhere."

INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers will conduct a two-track SBE Ennes Workshop April 12-13 presented collaboratively with NAB during the 2024 NAB Show in the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall

Workshop tracks include Media over IP (MoIP) Essentials and RF101, which returns from 2023. Starting with Ohm’s Law and ending with RF broadcast systems, RF101 targets newer engineers and those with IT backgrounds; however, the track also offers a good refresher for experienced engineers. Presented during fast-faced sessions by industry experts, the track is headed by Jeff Welton, CBRE, SBE said.

New for 2024, the MoIP Essentials track will introduce the essentials of IP-delivered media for both audio and video implementations. Offering a grounding in the installation and maintenance of modern non-analog facilities, the track is being put together by David Bialik, CBT, and Fred Willard, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNT, it said.

A joint, 90-minute session, Management for Engineering Staff presented April 13, will teach engineers how to speak in terms of ROI, cost of acquisition and cost of ownership and operation with the goal of helping them back into the management team. Presenters have worked in both engineering and upper management, it said.

"SBE Ennes Workshops continue to provide quality, educational, broadcast and media technical information,” said SBE president Ted Hand. “The SBE Ennes Workshop at the NAB Show continues this long-standing tradition."

The two-day workshop includes breaks and lunches. The workshop registration costs $259, which includes a free Exhibits Pass for the NAB Show. 

Registration information will soon be available on the SBE website, the organization said.

As TV stations, media and entertainment companies report difficulties in replacing a generation of retiring engineers and technologists, the recent TV Tech Summit featured a session focusing on the importance of building more diverse tech teams that featured experts offering practical advice on finding the next generation of talent. 

The issue is important because the tech industry, in general, has long had a poor record in terms of diversity and because the TV industry, in particular, needs to find a new generation that can help it better compete in terms of streaming, mobile and digital media. With a large body of research showing that African Americans, Latinos, Asians and younger women being much more active on digital media than than the general population, these groups offer companies the kind of talent they need to strengthen their competitive position. 

One problem with attracting that talent is that many younger people are not aware of the opportunities in the television industry and are more likely to look for work with big tech or in corporate IT departments, the panelists noted. 

“Today, you’ve got to stretch,” your recruitment efforts, said Nikki Bethel, president and CEO of the Emma Bowen Foundation. “The days of everyone coming to you are over. Right there are too many fish in the sea to think that you can just be the big bear and watch all the salmon come in. You have to be thoughtful about partnerships” and make a real, carefully planned effort to “be in the trenches attracting talent.” 

In this environment, companies also need to work extra hard to educate people on the many opportunities in the TV industry, added Michelle Duke, chief diversity officer and president, NAB Leadership Foundation, at the National Broadcasters Association. 

“When most people think about local radio and television media in general, they think about what they can see on screen or what they can hear on whatever platform they're using,” she said. But there is all this “technology involved that goes beyond that. When we attend conferences, we run into these engineering students who are asking us `why are you even here’ because `none of us want to be on camera.’ And we’re saying, `no, you need to understand that there are so many other important things that go on behind the camera.’ So there’s an education piece that has to take place in the industry.”

Jim Ragsdale, executive director of Society of Broadcast Engineers added that long-term tech trends have automated and eliminated many of the older entry level jobs where younger people once got their start. 

“I've been with the SPE for three years and I've heard from day one from broadcasters and state broadcast associations and individual engineers that there's a desperate need for broadcast engineering talent in the industry….As I started talking to individual chapters…one person came to me and said `we don't have a farm system. We don't have a development, organization or program to develop the talent like we used to [because] now we have much smaller staffs at broadcast stations and we're not developing that entry level of broadcast engineering talent.”

To overcome these and other barriers that make it difficult to recruit talent, the panelists outlined a host of practical measures companies and stations can take. 

One key area is better outreach. “We've started talking to local chapters about holding field trips or getting involved with middle school STEM teachers,” Ragsdale said. “And we’ve found that high schools and some chapter states are doing fantastic jobs developing high school broadcast engineering talent. Indiana, for example, has an Indiana Association of School Broadcasters and they have 70 plus high school programs in radio and another 20 in let's say video production. Those are the kind of successes we need to expand.” 

Duke added that the industry also has to step up its efforts to train and develop talent. “Other industries are eating our lunch because they will invest the dollars in training as opposed to expecting them to walk through the door and being able to perform as well as the chief engineer even if they are in a lower position,” she said. 

In response, the NAB and the NAB Leadership Foundation set up a technology apprenticeship program and other programs. As part of the effort, it has been working with stations in smaller markets who may lack the money to train entry level people. 

“Another bottleneck that I hear often is `no one wants to move to my small town’” Duke said. “I think they're neglecting the opportunity to grow their talent, the talent is in their own backyard. We did research with students and [found that]....Students usually choose…their first job based on where they completed their internships. But when we asked the stations if they offered internships and they all said no.” 

That opens up an opportunity to work with schools to create a curriculum for students to come in as interns and participate over the summer, she said. 

Bethel added that in general, stations and companies must become much more “intentional” in their efforts to build a more diverse workforce by thinking outside the box and creating new programs that attract workers.

For example, Bethel said that young students of color might be reluctant to move to a small town that is less ethnically diverse. But, companies can overcome problem that by demonstrating how a station in a rural market could provide them with the training and opportunities they need to advance their career. 

“It’s a matter of being intentional about it,” she said. “It's not that the talent doesn't exist. If we were intentional around money, because it does cost to invest in them, and pay them…and show them what the return on the results for the investment can be for [them] personally and for the organization,” they can recruit the people they need. 

More practical advice and resources on recruiting the next generation of tech talent are available by registering for the free virtual Summit and viewing the session on demand, here.  

The following is a reprint from TV Tech sister brand Radio World:

“In Search of Engineers.” It sounds like a movie title. Unfortunately, this story often does not have a happy ending. 

The story began back in 1996 when the FCC allowed corporations to own multiple radio stations. On the one hand, this was good for companies that wanted to own more radio stations in a given market; on the other hand, it wasn’t so good for the people who worked for them.

Financial officers saw an opportunity to maximize profits by operating more stations with fewer staff members. As a result, many people lost their jobs, including engineers.

Engineers who had maintained one or two stations now had to be responsible for a dozen or more. The ever-increasing responsibilities of chief engineers had a big impact on morale. I personally knew a chief who left his job at a cluster of radio stations to take an IT job at a group nearby. He gets paid better and is on call only once a month.

It’s becoming more difficult to locate an engineer to fill an opening. We’ve seen an increase in the number of help-wanted ads for engineers for both the radio and TV markets. 

We are all painfully aware of the shortage of engineering help, but what is a manager or director of engineering to do?

Start with the money
The first step is to evaluate the salary you pay an engineer. 

As noted, some engineers are leaving the field to join the ranks of IT professionals for better pay and a much better working environment. That’s your competition. Also consider the high cost of living in many parts of the country and the shrinking value of the dollar. The average engineering salary is not a lot of money for a job where you are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. 

Do some research on salaries for engineers; perhaps you could start with the Society of Broadcast Engineers, which has a good idea of what is a fair wage to pay your current or future engineer. There are radio groups paying very competitive wages. If you aren’t, your opening could go unfilled indefinitely.

The next step is to evaluate how you treat your engineering help. Is he or she treated with respect or disdain? As an asset or a liability?

When you have to drop everything to get a radio station back on the air during your son’s birthday or the annual family picnic, or at all hours of the night, it has a negative impact on morale. An engineer friend of mine was working all night at a transmitter site and came into work late the next morning, only to be reprimanded by his boss. A little appreciation and understanding go a long way. 

Equip your engineer. Most radio stations and groups provide a vehicle for use by their chief; but I read a help-wanted advertisement for a chief engineer where the candidate was expected to use his or her own vehicle to travel to transmitter sites. I have my doubts that the station has filled that opening. Similarly I once worked for a group that expected me to sell off old equipment to raise the money for an engineering budget. That’s not what an engineer expects to have to do.

Begin your search for your chief by placing an ad on the SBE website. It’s free and is the first place many engineers look for work. You may also view résumés of engineers looking for work; there is a fee for this service, but if you really want to hire someone, it’s worth it.

f listing your opening with the SBE doesn’t get you good candidates, try contacting the chairman of your local SBE chapter. It’s possible the chairman will know who is looking for a job in your area. Maybe you could attend one of your local chapter’s monthly meetings and announce your opening.

Also consider making a pitch for your opening at a local amateur radio club meeting. An amateur extra class ham would be a good candidate for your chief engineer position; any extra class hams know nearly as much as experienced broadcast engineers. Google “amateur radio club near me.”

Keep at it
Other places to promote your opening for an engineer could include colleges with engineering majors or vocational-technical schools. Ask for the names of graduates or people taking broadcast engineering courses. 

If you have tried these ideas and still don’t have an engineer, consider training someone who is interested in becoming an engineer. The SBE has many educational programs, even a mentoring program for new engineers. The society might even be able to recommend someone in a mentoring program as your next chief. Visit SBE.org.

As a last resort, you could offer a job to an engineer at another station or group. If you can pay better, you might just have an interested candidate. A couple of radio groups contacted me about working for them, so I know this happens. Once in a while I learn about someone who’s looking for a better situation, so you could contact me for a referral. 

Be persistent. If all else fails, you may need to look around for a contract engineer or a company who specializes in radio broadcast engineering. You can find both through the SBE website or your local chapter chairman. 

INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has elected Ted Hand president of the association for 2023, succeeding Andrea Cummins, who served for two terms. Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3, DRB, was elected to his first one-year term as president, which will commence on Sept. 28, 2023. Ted is a member of SBE Chapter 45 Charlotte (North Carolina), and an SBE Fellow Member.

"I look forward to working with the officers, board and SBE membership to further the goals of the Society, including the SBE education and mentoring efforts, which are important to me,” Hand said. “I also want to keep the SBE on the forefront of RF spectrum protection." 

A member of SBE since 1981, Hand is currently serving his second one-year term as SBE vice president. He served as SBE secretary from 2007 to 2011 and in 2015, and SBE treasurer from 2019 to 2021. He has served on the SBE Board of Directors several times: 2002-2004, 2005-2007, 2013-2015, and in 2018.

Elected to vice president is Kevin Trueblood, CBRE, CBNT, of Chapter 90 Southwest FL. Kevin currently serves as SBE treasurer. Kevin has also served as SBE secretary and served one year on the Board of Directors.

Jason Ornellas, CBRE (Chapter 43 Sacramento), was elected treasurer, a position he also held in 2021. He served on the Board of Directors from 2017 to 2021. Geary S. Morrill, CPBE, AMD, CBNE (Chapter 91 Central Michigan), has been elected secretary. Geary has served on the SBE Board of Directors since 2019.

Serving two-year terms on the board of directors, which also begin Sept. 28 are:

• Terry Douds, CPBE; Chapter 52 Central Ohio; Lancaster, OH
• Brad Humphries, CBT; Chapter 45 Charlotte; Charlotte, NC
• Zhulieta Ibisheva, CBTE; Chapter 50 Hawaii; Honolulu, HI
• Charles "Ched" Keiler, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNE; Chapter 53 South Florida; Deerfield Beach, FL
• David Ratener, CPBE, CBNT; Chapter 16 Seattle; Kent, WA
• Jeff Welton, CBRE; Chester, NS

Ibisheva, Keiler and Ratener were incumbents and were re-elected.

The national board of directors of the SBE is responsible for the development of policy and determines the programs and services the society provides to its more than 4,500 members. Those elected will begin their terms on Sept. 28, 2023, during the SBE Membership Meeting. They will join the other six directors who have another year remaining in their terms:

• David Antoine, CBRE, CBNT; Chapter 15 New York City; Bronx, NY
• Greg Dahl, CPBE; Chapter 96 Rockford; Rockford, IL
• Mark Heller, CPBE; Chapter 80 Fox Valley; Two Rivers, WI
• Tom McGinley, CPBE, AMD, CBNT; Chapter 16 Seattle; Missoula, MT
• Shane Toven, CPBE, DRB, CBNE; Chapter 43 Sacramento; Antelope, CA
• Fred Willard, CPBE, 8-VSB, CBNT; Chapter 37 District of Columbia; Washington, DC

Andrea Cummis, CBT (Chapter 15 New York City), becomes the immediate past president.

The newly elected will be sworn in during the SBE Membership Meeting on Sept. 28 during the SBE National Meeting, held in conjunction with the Midwest Broadcast and Multimedia Technology Conference in Columbus, Ohio. The conference is a joint production of the state broadcast associations of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan.

INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has selected Joseph Conlon to be the recipient of its Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year honor and Andrew Gladding as its next James C. Wulliman SBE Educator of the Year.

The annual awards recognize achievements of members who have contributed to the SBE, the industry or SBE local chapters.

The engineering award is presented to a member who has excelled in his or her career while furthering the SBE mission. The educator award honors outstanding service and excellence in sharing knowledge through teaching other broadcast engineers.

Conlon of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., is a member of SBE Chapter 17 Central Minnesota and an SBE member for 17 years. He has held several roles in his chapter, including secretary, treasurer, assistant chair and chair.

Gladding of Brooklyn, N.Y., has been a member for eight years and is the secretary of Chapter 15 in New York City. As an adjunct professor for audio production at Hofstra University, he has recruited and engaged new SBE members by teaching them about broadcasting and broadcast engineering. He personally is responsible for recruiting 40 student members to Chapter 15.

The SBE also has named winners of several other awards, including:

• Technology Award: Nautel for the GV2: Just Add Audio, a transmitter series that simplifies the HD Radio air chain and synchronizes FM and HD audio streams and eliminates FM and HD main channel blend drift.
• Seven Chapter Engineer of the Year Awards, selected by their own chapters and automatically nominated for the national SBE Engineer of the Year Award.
• Best Educational Event: the SBE Wisconsin Chapters and the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association for their Wisconsin Broadcasters Clinic, a three-day, two-night educational event held in October 2022. 
• Best Chapter Communication: Chapter 15 New York City, which relies on multiple channels and platforms, including social media, its chapter website and Zoom, not a traditional newsletter, to keep member informed. The chapter has now won the honor for the second consecutive year.
• Best Technical Article, Book of Paper: Donald Smith for his paper “ATSC 3.0 and Public Broadcasting, a Case for Flash Cut,” presented at the 2023 NAB Sho in Las Vegas.
• Statistical Awards based on data as of Dec. 31, 2022, including Percentage Growth of New Members: Class A, Chapter 111 Huntsville, Ala., Class B, Chapter 15 New York City; Highest Percentage of Certified Members: Class A, Chapter 115 Southern Idaho, Class B Chapter 131 Inland Empire, Calif.; Highest Percentage of Member Attendance at Meetings: Class A, Chapter 60 Richmond, Va., and Class B, Chapter 39 Tampa Bay Area, Fla.

Winners will be recognized Sept. 28 during the SBE Awards Dinner during the annual SBE National Meeting. The event will be held in conjunction with the Midwest Broadcast & Multimedia Technology conference in Columbus, Ohio.

Nominations for the 2024 awards will open February 2024. Individual and chapter awards are considered for the period between June 1 of the previous year and May 31 of the current year. Statistical awards are based on SBE data as of Dec. 31 of the previous year.

More information is available on the SBE website. 

The Society of Broadcast Engineers says its latest compensation survey reinforces that engineers who hold SBE Certification on average earn a higher salary than those who don’t.

This year’s respondents whose jobs are solely in radio engineering reported an average salary of $86,646 with certification, and $74,576 without it. Salaries are higher for those working in TV (or both TV and radio) but again those with certification earned more.

The survey draws on information from 354 qualified respondents and was taken in April and May. SBE membership was not required to participate.

The SBE released several additional highlights in this PDF. Among the visible findings is the continued dominance of older engineers; the highest numbers of respondents were in their late 50s to late 60s.

Of the 230 respondents who reported getting a raise last year, the largest number got a 3% bump. However 30 engineers saw raises of 8% or more.

The survey included 25 questions about job titles, broadcast market size and compensation in dollars and offered benefits. It is available through the SBE Bookstore. Society members can log in to access the results for free, and non-members can purchase the report.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand Radio World.

LAS VEGAS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) association for broadcast and multimedia technology professionals has announced that it will once again exhibit and hold several events at the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas between April 15 and 19.

In addition, the SBE will hold its first event before the convention begins: The SBE Ennes Workshop at the NAB Show on April 14-15. Other events will continue through the entire convention.

The SBE Ennes Workshop is a stand-alone event from the NAB Show with separate registration from the convention. This year the Workshop will offer two separate educational tracks: RF 101 Boot Camp and NextGen Broadcast. Attendees can register for one or the other. Both will be held at the Westgate Resort, so it’s convenient to arrive two days early and attend the SBE Ennes Workshop before the exhibits open.

The NextGen Broadcast track also serves as an ideal preparation for the SBE ATSC3 Specialist Certification exam. A special SBE ATSC3 Certification exam opportunity will be offered following the session on April 15. To apply for an SBE Specialist Certification, an individual must already hold a prerequisite SBE certification. To take the exam at the NAB show, applications must be submitted by March 3.

During the 2023 NAB Show, the SBE will hold several meetings. The SBE Board of Directors and Education Committee will meet on April 16, and the SBE Certification Committee will meet on April 15. SBE members may attend these meetings, but portions may be closed.

The highlight of the SBE activities at the convention will be the annual Membership Meeting and Member Reception, the SBE said. 

Both will be held on April 17. The Membership Meeting brings information about the Society's activities and programs to our members. Several member accomplishments are also recognized at the meeting. The Member Reception will immediately follow. Both events will have prize drawings for attendees.

The SBE will exhibit at the convention as well. The booth will be open Sunday through Wednesday of the convention. The booth is an ideal place to meet the elected leaders and staff of the SBE, and peruse books from the SBE Bookstore and SBE merchandise from the SBE Store. The SBE will also hold a daily prize drawing, so drop a business card at the booth each day for a chance to win a gift card.

Unless noted, all SBE events will be at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Complete details on all the SBE events will be posted and updated at sbe.org/about/news/sbe-2023-nab/.  

In my last column I took a look at the future of ATSC 3.0 broadcasting. This month I’ll talk about resources to learn more about ATSC 3.0 and revisit 5G broadcast. 

Early in the development of the standard, I wrote about how ATSC 3.0 works by explaining how guard intervals protect data from multipath, describing tools for calculating the tradeoffs between robustness and data capacity, exploring layered division multiplexing, and discussing the basics of OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing). 

Rather than repeat myself, I’ll share some websites and tutorials for more detailed, up-to-date and practical knowledge about ATSC 3.0. 

On the Web
The Pearl NextGen TV “Host Station Manual”  describes how to begin broadcasting ATSC 3.0, from program delivery to transmission. This guide has been used to successfully launch many of the ATSC 3.0 stations on the air today. The Pearl TV website also includes webinars on launching ATSC 3.0 that are available on request to broadcasters. 

For more in-depth technical information, SBE offers on-demand tutorials for SBE members. Members may also want to consider certification as an ATSC3 specialist. 

The ATSC 3.0 standard is very complex. If you want to understand the intricate details on how ATSC 3.0 works, dig into the ATSC 3.0 Technical Documents on the ATSC website for standards and recommended practices. 

ATSC 3.0 Recommended Practices lists documents dealing with ATSC 3.0 Field Tests (A/326), Guidelines for the Physical Layer (A/327) and more. The Physical Layer Guidelines (A/327) provides an excellent overview of how the ATSC 3.0 signal is generated and the trade-offs between different physical layer parameters. 

Visit the ATSC Implementation Guide: Emissions Testing Process for a checklist for ensuring ATSC 3.0 transmissions are functional and steps for dealing with receiver interoperability issues. 

With Your Transmitter
After learning how ATSC 3.0 signals are generated and about the different options for modulation and coding, you may want to do some experiments to see how they work. 

Experimenting with an on-air ATSC 3.0 station broadcasting the signals from multiple stations will likely be frowned upon. The solution is to set up your own ATSC 3.0 lab. This can be done using the Dektec DTU-315 USB-3 all-standard, all-band modulator or similar devices as I described in previous columns but there is a lower cost option for experimenters, albeit with some major compromises. 

Ron Economos, aka “drmpeg” researched the ATSC 3.0 standards and documents and built an ATSC 3.0 transmitter with a software-defined radio. I know it works because I was able to generate an ATSC 3.0 signal with his GNU Radio software and my Ettus B200 SDR and receive it on my HDHomerun ATSC 3.0 tuner. If the Ettus B200 is not available or too expensive, Chinese clones are available on aliexpress.com for under $600 and claim compatibility. Other lower-cost SDRs may also work with modification of the GNU Radio Companion flow graph.

 Ron’s github site has the software and some test streams. The software includes an option to add a second PLP using LDM. I had no problem getting that to work. As configured, the SDR will transmit on 429 MHz, or cable Channel 58. It can be changed to any frequency in the B200’s range. View the signal with the HDHomerun ATSC 3.0 receiver and the “hdhomerun_config” and “hdhomerun_config_gui”  programs. Step-by-step details on how I installed it on my Fedora 36 Linux laptop are in the winter edition (2022–2023) of the IEEE Broadcast Technology magazine. 

In the version I tested in December 2022, the software does not transmit LLS, which provides the signaling necessary for a receiver to recognize the signal, and it uses ATSC 1.0-formatted transport stream packets. It won’t work on TV receivers looking for the LLS and IP packets. The HDHomerun won’t find the signal in a channel scan but can be manually tuned.

If you have access to an MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 encoder that can add the basic ATSC 1.0 PMT and PID information, you can create your own ATSC 1.0 transport stream files. There should be a way to generate a compatible transport stream multiplex in software with gstreamer or ffmpeg but I haven’t found any examples on how to add the PMT and PID tables. 

At some point, after I add a Morse code IDer or figure out how to create a program stream with my ham call sign on it, I may hook this up to my outdoor discone antenna and see what the coverage looks like with a few milliwatts of ATSC 3.0. 

I’m especially interested in seeing how well the LDM robust layer works. While the SDR transmitter is based on the A/322 standard, using it with a full-power or Class A TV station probably isn’t legal, at least in the spirit of the law, as it won’t be compatible with existing ATSC 3.0 receiver designs. LPTV stations may have more flexibility in this area. Take a close look at the FCC rules and don’t forget the signal will have to meet FCC emission mask requirements. 

If you want to learn more about ATSC 3.0 inner workings, adding LLS and IP input capability (at least STL-TP input) to the program would be a great contribution.

ATSC 3.0 and 5G
In my last column I mentioned work being done by Rohde and Schwarz and Qualcomm on broadcasting content using 5G (3GPP) standards on UHF TV stations.  

I was overly optimistic about the ability of a TV station to transmit both an ATSC 3.0 A/322-compatible signal and a 5G broadcast signal on the same channel at the same time. Rohde and Schwarz has been participating in 5G broadcast demos at events such as IBC and Mobile World Congress so I asked them about this. 

The company said none of their tests have involved such a combination and while it is possible in a test bed configuration, such a combination is not currently supported by 5G broadcast and is not likely to be in the near future. These are two distinct and different physical layers. 

Qualcomm has been working to include 5G broadcast in its latest RF modem chips. The Qualcomm vision is outlined on its website, which had this comment on the 3GPP Release 16 enhanced TV standard: “It can be deployed in existing UHF spectrum (i.e., 470 to 698 MHz) that broadcasters already own or have access to, and its design allows the reuse of existing cellular modem building blocks.” More support for standalone 5G enhanced broadcast is planned for 3GPP Release 17 and 18 standards. 

If a system isn’t available that allows use of a channel for both ATSC 3.0 and 5G standalone broadcast, then at a minimum the FCC would have to eliminate the requirement for compliance with ATSC A/322 and any simulcast requirements before it could begin in the United States. It may be possible for LPTV stations to transmit 5G broadcast signals but depending on the characteristics of the signal, that might require a waiver. 

Over the next few years, if 5G broadcast is deployed on UHF TV stations it will be interesting to see its impact on free over-the-air TV and today’s TV broadcast system.

I welcome your comments, questions, and observations on the future of broadcast TV. Email me at dlung@transmitter.com. 

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced that it is expanding its SBE Ennes Workshop from one to two days at the NAB Show in Las Vegas in April. 

In recent years, NAB has reduced the allocated time for the workshop to a half day and then to one hour within the Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference. In 2023, the event is being expanded to two days at the Westgate Resort and Casino, April 14 and 15, beginning the day before the exhibit floor opens.

Registration for the Workshop will be separate from the NAB Show convention registration, and will be available on the SBE website, sbe.org. The $199 registration fee will include access to the two days of instruction in either the RF 101 or NextGen Broadcast track, and continental breakfast and a midday refreshment on both days. Online registration will open in January.

The two program tracks are being developed based on feedback the SBE receives, with RF training being the leading request. While so much of a broadcast facility is based on IT infrastructure, RF skills are still a critical need for technicians. The RF 101 track is designed to bring a broadcast engineer with little RF experience to the point where he or she can properly and safely maintain and update the station’s transmission and auxiliary RF services. This course covers AM, FM, TV, STL, RPU and satellites, as well as transmitters, remote control, grounding for lightning, and even a section on AM directional antennas.

For the parallel session, the SBE collaborates with the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) to provide an in-depth tutorial on the transition to NextGen Broadcasting. This course will take students through the information necessary to effectively participate in the transition, and it serves as preparation for the SBE ATSC3 Specialist Certification. A special SBE Certification exam session will be offered for those holding the prerequisites to take the ATSC3 Certification exam.

As the planning for the two-day SBE Ennes Workshop at the 2023 NAB Show begins, SBE President Andrea Cummis, CBT, said, "We've chosen these two tracks for their relevance in today's broadcast environment. RF and ATSC 3.0 are important for the seasoned engineers and the new technicians. Both will benefit from attending either track."

The SBE ATSC3 Certification exam opportunity requires a separate registration and application. A link will be included on the SBE Ennes Workshop registration page. To be eligible to take an SBE Specialist exam, one must already hold an SBE Broadcast Engineer (CBRE, CBTE, CSRE, CSTE or CPBE) certification and complete the Certification exam registration.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers, which created the SBE Mentor Program in 2016 as a way to fast-track new technical talent in the broadcast technical environment, has expanded the program with a new level of mentorship: The Subject Matter Expert (SME).

"Adding Subject Matter Experts to the Mentor Program allows those who want to share their knowledge in a specific area with others learning the technology,” explained SBE Mentor Committee chair Tony Dimsdale, CBRE. “No one expects a primary Mentor to know everything, and having access to a panel of SMEs means the education process for the mentee can continue to grow."

The SBE Mentor Program partners a new engineer with a more-seasoned professional, which allows the more-experienced person to share his or her gained knowledge, both empirical and practical, with someone new to the field. The freshman mentee has a way to gain inside knowledge and understanding that could otherwise take years to accumulate.

While one-on-one mentors provide a broad base of information to the mentees, there are times when mentees' need guidance in an area that is more specific than the mentor might be able to provide. 

The new Subject Matter Expert addresses this issue and proves that "Everyone Can Be a Mentor" by allowing SBE members in any level of their career to offer specialized expertise, the group explained. 

SMEs offer knowledge in a specific area of expertise and can offer guidance to a colleague with less experience in that area. SMEs provide support to one-on-one Mentors and offer specific knowledge that may be outside the primary Mentor's experience.

Like primary Mentors, SMEs must be current SBE members and in the profession of broadcast engineering. They must have a willingness to share their knowledge and a positive attitude toward help with the professional development of others.

For more information about the SBE, contact James Ragsdale, executive director, at jragsdale@sbe.org or 317-846-9000, or visit the SBE website, sbe.org.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) have announced a joint memorandum of understanding with the Department of Defense to allow non-exclusive access to commercial spectrum at 2025-2110 MHz at 26 U.S. military sites. 

The bases were selected for their ability to provide streamlined access to spectrum used by broadcasters for electronic newsgathering and other purposes. DoD activities at these bases will include test and training missions to assure readiness and enable critical communications. 

The agreement follows nearly seven years of technical study, and laboratory and field testing. The memorandum of understanding is designed to ensure the coexistence of newsgathering and other broadcast operations with critical military training missions. 

The spectrum was identified for potential sharing in advance of a spectrum auction that the FCC conducted in 2014 that raised more than $44 billion by converting Federal spectrum to flexible commercial use. House Energy and Commerce member and vice chair of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Rep. Doris Matsui (CA-06), led the effort that identified this spectrum.

The joint agreement demonstrates the commitment of broadcasters and DoD to advance both the nation's economic prosperity and national security interests, while maintaining public access to critical news and information provided by broadcasters, the parties said. 

"This innovative agreement between the DoD and broadcasters will enable important military communications and newsgathering operations to coexist by balancing ever-increasing demand for spectrum access,” said Robert Weller, vice president for Spectrum Policy at NAB. “America's radio and television broadcasters are committed to collaborative spectrum usage that best serves the interests of our country and the millions of listeners and viewers who depend on us every day. We thank the DoD and SBE for working with us to reach an amicable arrangement that ensures a sustainable model for frequency allocation.”

"Frequency coordination is one of the foundation pillars of the Society of Broadcast Engineers,” added SBE president Andrea Cummis said. “In addition to coordination among broadcasters in a market, the SBE has worked with commercial groups and government agencies in the past to minimize if not eliminate interference in the limited RF spectrum available for broadcast operations. This agreement provides our partners at the DoD and the NAB and the SBE the tools to ensure the public is best served through the shared use of this spectrum."

At a number of locations, broadcasters were able to identify "home channels" -- spectrum where DoD will have presumptive access, while some locations will require active coordination as is done at major media events such as the Super Bowl. The SBE has set up a national frequency management office headed by RJ Russell, national frequency coordination manager, at the Society of Broadcast Engineers to handle coordination requests. That office will ensure consistent analysis and response timing. Previously, coordination was handled at the local level.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers is the professional organization of television and radio engineers and those in related fields. The SBE has nearly 5,000 members in 116 chapters across the United States and in Hong Kong and Eastern Europe. There are also members in more than 25 other countries. 

For more information about the SBE, contact James Ragsdale, executive director, at jragsdale@sbe.org or 317-846-9000, or visit the SBE website, sbe.org.

James Wulliman, a past president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers who played a key role in the beginnings of the society’s certification program, has died.

He was president of SBE in 1973–75 and is credited with creating the certification initiative in 1977 to help document and elevate the professional credentials of broadcast engineers in their careers. He was the director of the certification program and its chairman for 20 years.

He was a charter member of the society, one of the first 300, and later became an SBE Fellow and Life Member.

According to an obituary published by the Green Valley (Ariz.) News, Wulliman died on Nov. 8 at age 98.

He was born in South Dakota but grew up in Illinois, where he worked for radio station WDZ(AM) in Decatur. He attended Northwestern University and served in the army in Europe in WWII, and in 2015 he was awarded the French Legion of Honour Medal for excellent military conduct during the war.

According to the obituary, Wulliman was instrumental in launching WCNB(AM) in Connersville, Ill. He started a TV station in Decatur, and later led design and construction of two public TV stations in Milwaukee, serving as their chief engineer and assistant director of operations.

Wulliman later became director of engineering for the Journal Broadcast Group, including WTMJ(AM), WKTI(FM) and WTMJ(TV), Milwaukee, a post he held for many years. He was also the first president of Milwaukee’s SBE chapter.

He was only the second recipient of the SBE’s Lifetime Achievement Award, given in 1995, and he was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasting Museum Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2011 the SBE honored him again by naming its annual Educator of the Year award after him. The award recognizes a member who is dedicated to the education of broadcast engineers through personal writings, teachings, programs and employment and who furthers the goals and objectives of the society.

[Watch a WBA video about Jim Wulliman’s career.]

After retirement, Wulliman and his wife Virginia moved to Green Valley, Ariz.

In his obituary, his family wrote: “We are proud to know that he was liked and respected as not only technically knowledgeable, but a ‘quiet manager’ who was friendly, professional, and supportive of his engineers’ own growth in the field.”

This article originally appeared on Radio World. 

On Friday and Saturday, April 14 & 15, 2023—just prior to the NAB Show— ATSC and the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) will hold a conference on preparing for ATSC 3.0 Specialist Certification. 

In 2021, the SBE released the ATSC 3.0 Specialist Certification. This upcoming course is designed to take students through the information necessary to effectively participate in the transition to NextGen Broadcasting and prepare for the certification exam. An exam testing session will follow, so that those students who meet the test qualifications can learn and become certified in one sitting.

“We will have the best industry instructors and cover the full range of topics that surround NextGen Broadcasting. The course will cover everything from enhanced audio and video processing, content protection, propagation, modulation, datacasting, and more,” explains ATSC President Madeleine Noland.  “This is a very ambitious program on the part of the SBE Education Committee, ATSC and other industry partners. It will be a unique and seminal event.”

While details are still being assembled on the precise Las Vegas venue and registration process, those interested in the Specialist Certification should mark their calendars for the mid-April.

ONTARIO—The broadcast industry is facing a human resource crisis as experienced engineers retire and potential new hires are more attracted to IT with higher pay. At the same time, underutilized workforce segments including women, people of color, and veterans offer a wealth of talent to the industry that has yet to be fully tapped. 

These facts pose two key challenges to TV broadcasters large and small: How does the industry compete with IT to recruit new blood? And how can it attract a more diverse workforce that better reflects society? 

The ‘IT’ Factor
There appear to be two reasons that broadcasters have trouble competing with the IT industry for new talent. 

The first is money: IT pays more than TV. “Our number one, two and three problems are salary, salary, salary,” said Jim Ocon, president of Ocon Solutions (a product interface and integration company), and chairman of OConsortium (a group of independent companies focussing on cutting-edge media technology). “The challenge here is that broadcast TV engineers are not being paid at a par with what they can make in IT, at a time when our industry is becoming more IT-driven.”

According to the Society of Broadcast Engineers, which conducts an annual salary survey, the TV and Radio group has an average (all title and markets) of $89,630 with SBE Certification, and $93,242 with SBE Certification.

Those amounts are hard to compete with when IT companies can offer starting salaries as high as in the low six figures. 

“Compensation is obviously a powerful incentive when accepting a job,” said Andrea Cummis, CBT, SBE president. “It certainly is in the interest of the station owners to hire quality talent. Broadcasting is a technical industry. Qualified technical personnel ensure the facility and the operation will function at their maximum capability. Attracting and retaining qualified technical personnel is in the long-term interest of owners and operators.”

In a bid to address this problem, Gray Television recently boosted its minimum wage to $18 per hour company-wide on Oct. 1, 2022. Roughly 2,000 employees received a raise as a result of this new policy. Still, the best remedy to IT’s salary advantage is to match what they offer, or beat it.

The second reason is perception. Millennials and other prospective new hires see IT as “cool,” while broadcast TV— which they identify with their parents’ generation—is not.  Ocon advises broadcasters to seek out those who are passionate about broadcasting at the earliest possible age.

“It’s like teaching; you need to recruit people who will enter the profession for the love of the job,” he said. “To find them, broadcasters have to start early in middle and high schools, to educate students about what TV broadcasting is all about.”

Tapping Underutilized Talent
The push to increase diversity and inclusion in broadcasting is more than morally just: It is also fiscally sound.

 “As an industry we have been too reliant on new entrants coming automatically into our sector for a job, but now we need to heavily invest in reaching out and finding that diverse talent,” said Carrie Wootten, managing director of Rise, the global not-for-profit membership organization supporting gender diversity in the M&E tech sector. 

“There is a severe skills crisis, a lack of diverse talent and a lack of a pipeline of talent coming into the industry,” she added. “The world is full of talented, inspiring and brilliant people—we just have to go out and get them.”

Rise is doing what it can to make this happen, with the backing of industry partners such as Blackmagic Design, BT Sport, Clear-Com, ITV, Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery and Singular.live. The group’s “Rise Up Academy” holds hands-on practical workshops, master classes and summer schools to reach and encourage youth from lower socio-economic and ethnically diverse communities to learn about broadcasting as a career path.

“Our goal in 2022 was to reach 2,000 young people and we will achieve this,” said Wootten. “In 2023, we are looking to expand our program of work internationally, working in Sydney, Singapore and the U.S. to reach 5,000 young people.”

“We are actively involved in both the Rise Academy and Rise Mentoring scheme,” said Mike Ward, Singular.live’s head of marketing. “We run a ‘Singular For Good’ program that gives away Pro-equivalent accounts completely free to educational institutions or nonprofits. We also make a watermarked version of Singular available to anyone for free, along with all our tutorials and training content so that anyone can learn our platform as a way to start their career in our industry.”

The National Association of Broadcasters’ Leadership Foundation spearheads efforts to promote diversity and inclusion through a range of initiatives, including the Broadcast Leadership Training (BLT) program, a 10-month executive MBA-style program for senior level broadcasters—particularly women or people of color—whose career goals are to become group executives or station owners; and the six-month Media Sales Academy fellowship program that prepares senior level college students and recent graduates for internships and entry-level media sales positions at broadcast stations. The NABLF also offers the Emerson Coleman Fellowship to increase diversity within the broadcast industry, and the six-month, paid Technology Apprenticeship Program to train, inform and recruit a diverse technology workforce in broadcasting.

“Our mission is to provide overall leadership and guidance to the broadcasting industry,” said NABLF President and NAB Chief Diversity Officer Michelle Duke. “This means providing leadership management tools, skills, training and resources to all broadcasters so that they can realize the benefits of making their workforces more diverse and inclusive.”

On a corporate basis, broadcasters such as Gray and WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss., are taking action to increase diversity and inclusion. Recently the two selected the first group of students who will participate in the Gray Media Training Center internship program. Funded at more than $1 million, the program will train Mississippi students at historically Black colleges and universities for careers in the evolving media environment.

Veterans are yet another underutilized pool of talent. Veterans-TV,  a non-profit, non-partisan organization provides hands-on TV production and post-production technical training to U.S. veterans and their families using the 53-foot “Denali Gold” OB Truck donated to VETV by NEP. 

Collectively, these efforts are really working to bring new blood into TV broadcasting. “But we need to do more, and do it collectively across the whole industry,” said Wootten. “I chaired a panel at IBC and every representative said that the skills crisis is now impacting their bottom line. [So] we need to collaborate and work quickly. Otherwise the future looks very bleak indeed.”  

The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) has announced that the SBE Board of Directors have approved the creation of a new chapter serving Eastern Europe. 

"While specific systems and broadcast rules vary around the world, broadcast engineering skills in general are common regardless where one works,” said SBE president Andrea Cummis, CBT, CTO. “The SBE has had a chapter in Hong Kong for several years, and we welcome our newest members in Eastern Europe."

SBE reported that at the beginning of 2022, SBE was contacted by Davit Robakidze, a broadcast engineer in the Republic of Georgia, about working with the SBE to provide SBE member benefits to broadcast engineers in Georgia and surrounding countries. The SBE was able to meet with Robakidze at the 2022 NAB Show to discuss ideas and establish a practical plan.

Discussions continued over the summer, and a course of action was established. Ten engineers in the Republic of Georgia have become SBE members with the intent to form an SBE chapter that would serve engineers in the countries of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova.

The group has already incorporated in the Republic of Georgia as the Incorporation of Eastern Europe Broadcast Engineers (IEEBE), the group said. 

As per SBE by-laws, the group held three organizational meetings on Sept. 15, 16 and 19, 2022, and chapter officers were elected at those meetings before applying for chapter status. The new chapter officers are Chair Davit Robakidze, Vice Chair Zurab Gegenava, and Secretary/Treasurer Nino Koberidze.

The SBE Board of Directors approved the new chapter application at its meeting on Sept. 28, during the SBE National Meeting. The new chapter is 148 Eastern Europe.

The group is applying for a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development for the purpose of establishing a broadcast engineering training program with the Georgian Technical University. Robakidze also attended the recent SBE National Meeting in Liverpool, NY, at the end of September.

"We encourage as many engineers as possible to join our chapter," says Robakidze. "In addition to chapter meetings to share knowledge and experiences, we are planning a conference event on Dec. 8 and 9 2022, in Tbilisi, where engineers from Eastern Europe will gather."

As the group grows, it hopes to include engineers from other neighboring Eastern European countries.

The SBE has nearly 5,000 members in 116 chapters across the United States and in Hong Kong. There are also members in more than 25 other countries. Most chapters meet monthly and offer educational programs and an opportunity to network with other broadcast technical professionals. 

The SBE Chapter 22 Broadcast & Technology Expo will be held Thursday, Sept. 29 at the Ramada by Wyndham hotel in Liverpool, New York. From 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the free, one-day event offers a variety presentations geared towards radio and TV professionals.

Expo highlights include approximately 30 exhibitors as well as two rooms offering 45 minute presentations covering different broadcast and media topics throughout the day. Attendees do not need to sign-up ahead of time to attend a presentation.

“We have presentations on the latest topics for radio, including HD Radio, new FM modulation techniques and the latest on audio processing,” said Alan Jurison, SBE Chapter 22 and Expo Committee member. “There are also papers that appeal to both [TV and radio] disciplines, focusing on fiber-optics, IT Cybersecurity, device monitoring, transmitter site management and best practices.”

In the morning of Sept. 29, one of the two rooms will offer radio-specific sessions such as “Cloud-Based Radio Broadcasting and the Last Mile Problem” and “Reducing Analog FM operating costs with SmartFM.” See that list of sessions here.

The keynote speaker for the event is media technology consultant Skip Pizzi, author of the book “Digital Radio Basics," and recipient of the ATSC 2017 Bernard Lechner Award, the association's highest honor.

For TV, a number of sessions will cover ATSC 3.0, cybersecurity, monitoring for OTT and cloud.

While the event is just a couple of weeks away, Jurison said registration is still open for both attendees and exhibitors.

“There are still a few exhibitor booth openings and we’ve had quite a few companies registering within the last few weeks to add to the face-to-face experience,” he said.

The photo below depicts the 2022 Expo floor layout and confirmed 28 exhibitor booths.

Admission to the expo as an attendee is free and includes a continental breakfast with coffee. The SBE said a provided lunch and dinner option is also available, at $10 and $16, respectively.

Jurison said SBE Expos provide a great alternative for those who are unable to travel to Las Vegas for the annual NAB Show.

“[Expos] are challenging to put together, but they are so vital for engineers and other technical-focused people in our industry to learn about new technologies and trends, as well as getting to meet the companies they do business with, see some of the latest products and learn in a more formal educational setting.”

A one hour reception will follow the educational sessions with snacks and cocktails provided. The SBE National Awards Dinner will follow the reception. SBE National will hold its fall meetings at the Chapter 22 Expo on Wednesday, Sept. 28 and Thursday, Sept. 29.

Register for the SBE Chapter 22 Expo here. Additional details can be found on the SBE website.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand Radio World. 

INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced plans for its 2022 annual meeting, Sept. 28-29, to be held in Liverpool, a suburb of Syracuse, N.Y.

The gathering, which includes the annual Membership Meeting, Awards Dinner, a meeting of the SBE Board of Directors, and several SBE committee meetings will be held in conjunction with the SBE Chapter 22 Broadcast and Technology Expo, which takes place on Sept 29. The Expo, which includes a trade show exhibit hall and technical sessions, will be held at the Ramada by Wyndham Liverpool. The annual event attracts broadcast engineers and technicians from New York and the surrounding states.

The SBE National Meeting events will be held Sept. 28 and 29. On Sept. 28, the national SBE Certification Committee and the SBE Board of Directors will meet while on Sept. 29, SBE activities continue with the annual SBE Fellows Breakfast (invitation-only), sponsored by Kathrein USA, SBE Annual Membership Meeting (streamed live), sponsored by Blackmagic Design, Dielectric, Jampro and Markertek. That is followed by the SBE Annual Awards Reception, sponsored by Comrex, and the SBE National Awards Dinner, sponsored by latakoo.

The SBE Membership Meeting provides an update on SBE activities and programs. It will also include the induction of the newly and re-elected officers and directors of the society. The live webcast of the Annual SBE Membership Meeting will takes place from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. EDT. To view it, go to the SBE website (sbe.org) and click on the webcast link. Reminders will be emailed to members the day before and the day of the webcast.

At the SBE Awards Dinner, awards include the Robert W. Flanders SBE Broadcast Engineer of the Year, James C. Wulliman SBE Educator of the Year, SBE Technology Award to an SBE Sustaining Member company and the Best Technical Article, Book or Program by a SBE member. The keynote speaker will be media consultant Skip Pizzi. Among the many activities in which he is involved, Skip is currently the project manager for NextGen TV transition for WNET, New York.

SBE chapters will be presented with awards recognizing achievement for Best Chapter Communications, Best Regional Educational Event, Greatest Member Growth, Highest SBE Certified Chapter and Highest Meeting Attendance. Winners of the local SBE Chapter Engineers of the Year will also be recognized.

In preparation of the event, SBE President Andrea Cummis, CBT, CTO, said, "I encourage all SBE members, but especially those in the New England area and Canada, to attend the SBE National Meeting. Chapter 22 has always produced a high-caliber event, and the SBE looks forward to returning to Syracuse and working with the Chapter to host the SBE national event."

Registration for the SBE22 Expo is required and is free. Visit the Expo website (sbe22.org/2022-expo) for details and to register.

Tickets for the SBE National Awards Reception and Dinner ($16) are available through the SBE website (sbe.org) and by telephone, Monday - Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT at 317-846-9000. There is no registration or fee to attend the Annual SBE Membership Meeting.

Accommodations at the Ramada by Wyndham, Liverpool may be reserved by calling 315-457-1122. The SBE has a limited number of rooms reserved at the discounted rate of $111. Ask for the SBE22 Expo room rate to receive the discount. By booking and referencing the Expo you can receive the room discount, and the show organizers receive a credit to offset costs.

Click here for more information. 

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced the wrapup of another successful membership recruitment drive, adding 68 new members to the professional society's rolls during the initiative, which took place between March 1 and May 31. 

Each year, the SBE, the association for broadcast and multimedia technology professionals, conducts the drive, which calls on current SBE members to encourage their non-member colleagues to join the association. 

 As a recruiting incentive to members, the SBE asks for prize donations from SBE sustaining member companies. In addition, the recruiter will earn $5 per new member (up to $25) off his or her 2023 membership dues. 11 sustaining member companies plus the SBE provided prizes this year, ranging from shirts and hats to broadcast equipment. The SBE donated logo items, a copy of CertPreview, and a free Webinars by SBE registration. The theme for the 2022 drive was "Expand Your Network."

All the recruiters were eligible for the Membership Drive Grand Prize: A trip the SBE National Meeting this fall. (A cash prize option is available if the winner is not able to travel to the SBE National Meeting.) That meeting will be held during the 2022 SBE 22 Broadcast & Technology Expo in Liverpool, N.Y. The Grand Prize winner this year is Jack Conway of Cox Media Group, Owasso, OK.

The SBE thanks the sustaining members who provided prizes: Blackmagic Design, Broadcasters General Store, Davicom, Heartland Video Systems, latakoo, LBA, Orban, Shively Labs, Sutro Tower, Telos Alliance, and Tieline. The list of prizes and the winning recruiters will be published in the August 2022 issue of The Signal, the SBE's bi-monthly newsletter, and on the SBE website.

The close of the drive resulted in 68 new recruited individual members, who were sponsored by 61 current members. The recruiters represent 32 different SBE chapters.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), a non-profit, professional organization formed in 1964, is devoted to the advancement of all levels and types of broadcast engineering. Operating from our national headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, SBE is a chapter-based membership association with approximately 5,000 members and 114 local chapters nationwide.

INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers today said it will hold the 2022 SBE Leadership Development Course, a three-day intensive program focused on successful leadership and management for broadcast engineers, Aug.3-5, in Atlanta.

The course explores the nature of leadership, the difference between being a manager and being a leader, how to build a winning team, the importance of attitude in the leadership position and insights into communication.

Instructing the course will be Frank Pianki, Ph.D., a professor of management who has served at Anderson University since 1998. His balanced background blends academic ability and professional experience. 

Pianki earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Arizona, an Executive MBA from Pepperdine University and a doctorate from Indiana University.

Before his academic career, Pianki had nearly 20 years of experience working in business and industry. He has worked as chief operating officer for a healthcare organization and vice president of operations for a manufacturing company.

The cost of the program is $670 for SBE members and $725 for non-members.

Registration is available online.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—At a time when the broadcast industry is facing an aging tech workforce and struggling to replace retiring engineers, the Missouri Broadcasters Association (MBA) and Nebraska Broadcasters Association (NBA) have launched efforts to cover the cost of training tech talent by reimbursing individuals who join the SBE Technical Professional Training Program. 

Missouri launched its program in 2021, and Nebraska launched its program in January 2022.

At the beginning of 2021, the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) created the Technical Professional Training Program (TPTP) as a way to help broadcasters adequately fulfill their long term technical staffing needs. 

Since its launch, 33 people have participated in the SBE TPTP and several state broadcast associations have expressed interest in enrolling new technical talent. 

The MBA provides the subsidy as a member service. 

The NBA has limited enrollment to one enrollee per dues-paying station employment unit. Up to 12 enrollees will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis for calendar year 2022.

"The MBA recognizes that many of our member station engineers have retired, or are threatening retirement, and managers are finding it difficult to replace them,” explained Terry Beth Harper, director of member services for the MBA. “The SBE’s Technical Professional Training Program is a great solution to prepare someone already at the station who might be able to slip into that role." 

"Our industry has been fortunate to have such tremendous service from countless broadcast engineers. These talented men and women are retiring faster than we can replace them," notes Jim Timm, president and executive director of the NBA. "Recognizing that many stations have a person or two on staff with some technical aptitude, we feel the SBE's TPT is an ideal way to help them expand their capabilities and potentially, groom some future engineers for NBA member stations. Kudos to Mark Gordon and the Missouri Broadcasters Association for sharing this scholarship concept."

SBE President Andrea Cummis, CBT, CTO, added that “the SBE continues to increase its education efforts, which includes the TPT. The Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Missouri Broadcasters Association have actively embraced the program, which will hopefully serve as models for other state associations to follow.”

The goal of the Technical Professional Training Program is to train new entrants to the field of broadcast technology and includes the following elements: 

• The extensive Webinars by SBE collection developed and cataloged for on-demand use of SBE members is regularly expanded and updated to reflect the latest developments in the industry. The advent of SBE MemberPlus provides access to the library for a fixed annual fee.
• The SBE Engineering Handbook is a hard-copy reference volume for hands-on use in designing and maintaining technical facilities.
• The SBE Mentor Program provides new entrants to the technical broadcast field regular access and guidance from a seasoned professional – a personal touch not unlike days of old when the senior staff would take the new person under a wing to show him or her the ropes.
• The SBE Certification Program entry-level certification (Certified Broadcast Technologist) demonstrates a comprehension of regulatory and technical requirements of station operation. The SBE CertPreview for this certification level can be utilized by a mentor to curate the preparation experience of a mentee utilizing the Webinars by SBE library supplemented with the mentor’s knowledge and experience.

For more information about the SBE and its programs, contact James Ragsdale, executive director, at jragsdale@sbe.org or 317-846-9000, or visit the SBE website, sbe.org.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced the results of the 2021 election for the national board of directors and that Andrea Cummis, CBT, CTO, has been elected as the society's president. 

Cummis, who is the chief technical officer of PBS39/WLVT-TV, in Bethlehem, Penn., is the first woman to be elected to hold the office. She is a member of SBE Chapter 15 in New York City.

“I look forward to serving the Society and its members,” president elect Cummis said. “President Wayne Pecena has led the society through an interesting and unusual time, and as everyone looks forward to a return to normal, I'm pleased that the society is still growing and thriving. I’m eager to work with the Board of Directors and the membership so we can expand our membership and outreach to the media professionals among us.”

Others serving one-year terms as officers, which begin on Oct. 11, 2021, are:

• Vice President: Ted Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3, DRB; Chapter 45 Charlotte; Charlotte, N.C.
• Secretary: Kevin Trueblood, CBRE, CBNT; Chapter 90 Southwest FL; Ft. Myers, Fla.
• Treasurer: Jason Ornellas, CBRE, CRO; Chapter 43 Sacramento; Sacramento, Calif.

Serving two-year terms on the board of directors, which also begin Oct. 11 are: 

• Zhulieta Ibisheva, CBTE, CBT; Chapter 50 Hawaii; Honolulu, Hawaii
• Jeff Juniet, CBTE; Chapter 42 Central Florida; Casselberry, Fla.
• Charles “Ched” Keiler, CPBE, 8-VSB, CBNE; Chapter 53 South Florida; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
• Geary S. Morrill, CPBE, AMD, CBNE; Chapter 91 Central Michigan; Saginaw, Mich.
• David Ratener, CPBE, CBNT; Chapter 16 Seattle; Seattle, Wash.
• Dan Whealy, CBTE; Chapter 96 Rockford; Sumner, Iowa

The national board of directors of the SBE is responsible for the development of policy and determines the programs and services the society provides to its more than 5,000 members. Those elected will begin their terms on Oct. 11, 2021, during the SBE Membership Meeting and Awards Presentation. They will join the other six directors who have another year remaining in their terms: 

• Stephen Brown, CPBE, CBNT; Chapter 80 Fox Valley; Appleton, Wisc.
• Roswell Clark, CPBE, CBNT; Chapter 39 Tampa Bay Area; Clearwater, Fla.
• Kirk Harnack, CBRE, CBNE; Chapter 103 Nashville; Nashville, Tenn.
• Thomas McGinley, CPBE, AMD, CBNT; Chapter 16 Seattle; Missoula, Mont.
• Shane Toven, CPBE, DRB, CBNE; Chapter 43 Sacramento; Antelope, Calif. 
• Fred Willard, CPBE, 8-VSB, CBNT; Chapter 37 District of Columbia; Washington, DC

Wayne Pecena, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, AMD, DRB, CBNE, of College Station, Texas, continues serving on the board as immediate past president.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—Chris Tobin of Brooklyn, N.Y., is being honored posthumously with this year’s Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year award, the Society of Broadcast Engineers announced today.

The award honors the SBE member who has excelled in his or her career while furthering the mission of the society. Candidates are nominated by their peers. Tobin died in December 2020 of a heart attack.

Tobin, an SBE member for 22 years, has taken on several roles with SBE Chapter 15, the New York City chapter. 

Beginning at an early age, Tobin became fascinated with radio. “As a small tot, I enjoyed the magic of the box on the kitchen table in my house,” he said in a YouTube interview. At a young age, Tobin got involved in broadcasting through a school radio station. He was a self-taught engineer but also spent time behind the microphone, SBE said.

During his career, Tobin worked at ABC Radio Network, CBS Radio and Westwood One. In 2015 he became chief engineer at WBGO in Newark, N.J. He helped to develop the station’s video capacities, streamlined its operations and handled the logistical curveball thrown by the 2020 pandemic lockdown. He died while installing a new HVAC system at the station.

SBE also announced other award recipients, including:

• Telos Alliance-Technology Award for the conversion of the Axia iQ AES67 mixing console into a software version that does not require a physical surface. It is controlled by a full HTML-5 interface.
• SBE Wisconsin chapters and Wisconsin Broadcasters Association—Best Educational Event for the Wisconsin Broadcasters Clinic in October 2020.  
• SBE Chapter 17, Minneapolis—Best Chapter Communication for its sbe17.org website.

SBE also presents Statistical Awards in two classes: Class A for chapters with 26 or fewer members; Class B for those with 27 members or more.

• Percentage growth of new members: Chapter 106, Florida Panhandle, Class A; Chapter 17, Minneapolis, Class B.
• Highest percentage of certified members: Chapter 7, Jacksonville, Fla., Class A; Chapter 24, Madison, Wisc. Class B.
• Highest percentage of member attendance at meetings: Chapter 85, Central Western, Class A; Chapter 56, Tulsa, Okla., Class B.

The society will recognize winners at the SBE Membership Meeting and Awards Ceremony, Oct. 11, during the SBE National Meeting in Las Vegas. Award nominations for 2022 will open in February 2022.

More information is available on the SBE website. 

INDIANAPOLIS—Findings from a new salary survey of broadcast engineers and technologists reveals the average annual salary of TV chief and staff engineers across all U.S. markets is $77,000.

The finding is part of the Society of Broadcast Engineers’ (SBE’s) sixth annual compensation survey, which was conducted April 1-June 15. The survey further reveals the median annual salary among the same group stood at $70,000. 

"The SBE Compensation Survey garners interest from SBE members and non-members,” said SBE President Wayne Pecena. “We provide this information as a service not only to our members, but the industry. We appreciate the support of those who participated in providing data."

A total of 23 questions were included in the survey, which gathered information about job title, compensation in dollars and benefits. 

While the identity of respondents remained confidential, the survey collected demographic data, including market size, job category, title, age, years in broadcasting, salary, benefits and certifications held. Data was split into radio and TV results, SBE said.

“Once again, the survey shows that individuals who hold SBE Certification on average earn a higher salary than those who do not hold SBE Certification. In short: SBE certification pays,” he said.

All survey results are available at no charge to SBE members. The survey is available online. 

The announcement was made by Wayne Pecena, president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

To give you an idea of how deep Imlay’s roots are with the SBE: His first case was to try to appeal the FCC decision to eliminate the First Class Radiotelephone License. He said his SBE role has “allowed me to do what I do best: defending spectrum allocations of clients and participating in technical regulatory proceedings.”

[Read Chris Imlay’s Contributions to Radio World]

“Chris has worked with the SBE since 1980, and has been the SBE’s general counsel since 1991,” the society stated. Pecena called him “a valuable resource for and asset to the SBE over the past 41 years. He has also been a staunch advocate for the SBE’s goals and objectives. He is a tough act to follow.”

The society said it will split Imlay’s duties; it plans a process to find a replacement communications counsel, and also will hire an attorney for business matters based near its headquarters in Indianapolis.

Meanwhile Imlay will continue to work part-time for other long-term clients.

In the announcement, he was quoted describing himself as “a down-in-the-trenches communications lawyer” who loved working with broadcast engineers. And for 37 years until 2018, Imlay also was general counsel for ARRL, the national association for amateur radio; he is former president of the Foundation for Amateur Radio and recently was inducted into the CQ magazine Hall of Fame.

Several commentaries by Chris Imlay have appeared in Radio World in recent years, on topics such as engineer ethics and the idea of broadcasters as “first responders.” Read those here.

SBE said Imlay has worked for 22 SBE presidents and was elected a Fellow of the SBE in 1997.

According to SBE’s summary of his career, Imlay began working in law in 1975 and in communications in 1979 when he joined Booth and Freret.

When SBE sought to administratively appeal the decision to eliminate the First Phone, SBE President Bob Jones retained Bob Booth for the work, and Booth assigned the task to Imlay. The society regained him as communications counsel in 1984 and named him general counsel in 1991.

He was a partner with Booth, Freret and Imlay from 1981 to 1995; president of Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper, P.C., from 1995 to 2014; and managing member, Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC, 2014 to present.

Other clients in federal communications law have included big names like JVCKenwood USA, the National Football League, NASCAR and Goodyear, as well as many TV and radio stations, common carrier and private wireless licensees, as well as video production companies, auto racing sponsors and speedways; and equipment manufacturers.

INDIANAPOLIS—SBE has notified its members that the IPAWS Required Weekly Test sent out on April 26 was transmitted with an incorrect signature and has provided details on what steps broadcasters may be required to do to address it.

FEMA’s IPAWS test or alerts include a signature certificate. Any message that does not have a correct signature should be ignored by an EAS device.

The RWT that was sent out on April 26 had a mismatch between the digest inside the message and the digest computed by receivers. All EAS devices should have rejected the test.

On a Sage Endec EAS decoder, if configured correctly the message would not have been logged. DasDec and Trilithic devices would have logged the test but would have an error message attached. All EAS units would have reported failed validations in a temporary log.

SBE says that users should check with their device manufacturer for the exact location of that file and the correct “signature validation” settings for the unit. It adds that all stations should check and correct any issues before the next test on May 3. Stations should also insert a note in the Station Log indicating the failed test and the reason for failure.

INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced that it will conduct its 2021 SBE Leadership Development Course from June 8-10 in person in Atlanta. The SBE event may be one of the first in-person industry events to take place since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic last March.

The SBE Leadership Development Course is a three-day study of leadership and management strategies to help broadcast engineers. The course will look at the nature of leadership, the difference between a manager and being a leader, how to build a winning team, the importance of attitude in the leadership position, communication insights and more, according to SBE.

The course is designed for broadcast engineers who have or aspire to have management responsibilities.

Rodney Vandeveer, professor of Organizational Leadership and Supervision at Purdue University, will be instructing the course for the 13th time.

Nearly all industry events have gone virtual since the pandemic. However, as vaccine rollouts continue, there is hope that in-person events can resume in the coming months. NAB is expecting that its rescheduled October NAB Show will once again be in-person in Las Vegas, for instance.

When asked to comment on any contingency plans in case there are ongoing issues to the pandemic, SBE Member Communications Director Chriss Scherer provided the following statement:

"While no one can predict exactly the situation for June, we have set May 4, 2021, as a go/no-go date. If the course needs to be cancelled or postponed, the SBE will refund any registration fees received. While the SBE registration fee can be paid now with no risk, the SBE suggests making travel arrangements as late as possible to ensure the class will be held to avoid any cancellation or change fees.

"The Leadership Development Course is designed to be taught in-person. The class participants engage with each other, and small-group breakouts are common. There currently isn't a plan to conduct the class in a virtual environment.

"Naturally, the SBE will keep any registrations up to date on the event plans as the date approaches."

The 2021 SBE Leadership Development Course will be held at the Hyatt Place Atlanta South. A special rate for room reservations can be made up until May 9. The cost of the event is $670 for SBE members, $725 for non members. For more information, or to register, visit www.sbe.org.