The Virginia Association of Broadcasters has recognized Bill Sewell, Director of Engineering at WTKR & WGNT in Norfolk, Va. as the recipient of the 2025 J.J. Freeman Engineering Achievement Award. The award honors those “who have made an outstanding contribution to broadcasting and who have shown technical knowledge, dedication, dependability and leadership in broadcast engineering affairs,” according to the VAB.
From the VAB:
Bill Sewell is the Director of Engineering at WTKR & WGNT in Norfolk, Virginia. A native of Louisville, KY, he fell in love with TV news while working in college as a part-time production assistant at WAVE-TV (NBC, Gray Media). He attended the University of Louisville, where he graduated with a degree in MIS in 2002.
At some point along the way, he realized that his interests in both broadcast production and computer science could actually merge into a career. He transitioned into the engineering & IT department at WAVE in 2001, eventually moving to Norfolk to take the Chief Engineer position at WTKR in 2010.
He is an alumnus of the 2017 VAB Best of the Best class and is the current president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, chapter 54. He and his wife of 20 years, Melanie, have three children—Sam, 16; Griffin, 12, and Maisy, 10.
