INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has named Steve Brown as the 2017 Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year. Also, Tony Peterle has been chosen as the James C. Wulliman SBE Educator of the Year. Both are considered to be the society’s highest individual awards and were announced in a press release alongside other national and chapter awards.
All will recognized during the SBE National Awards Dinner on Oct. 26 at the SBE National Meeting in Denver, held in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Audio/Video Expo.
Brown is recognized for excellence in his 40-year career while furthering the mission of the SBE. Contributions include serving as SBE Chapter 17 chairman and a former member of the SBE National Board of Directors. His career began in 1977 as an engineer at WWTC in the Twin Cities, and Brown was one of the first engineers to utilize a helicopter to make relative field measurements of pattern of a FM radio station. He lives in Robbinsdale, Minn., and recently retired — this time for good; he “retired” in 2004 to serve as a contract engineer, during which time he was involved in building more than 20 HD Radio stations.
Peterle, CPBE, is is recognized for outstanding service and excellence in sharing knowledge through teaching other broadcast engineers. In his day job, he is the technical support manager at WorldCast Systems. He is credited with training engineers about SNMP through SBE University, Ennes workshops and SBE webinars. Peterle began in radio in 1975, reporting traffic in Honolulu and Seattle, and migrated to the broadcast engineering side when he was in Wichita and Kansas City, Kan. He now lives in Miami and is a member of Chapter 53.
Additionally, John Payne and Vislink have been awarded the 2017 SBE Technology Award for spearheading the launch of Newsnet, a wireless ecosystem that establishes a bi-directional IP network for ENG use. Newsnet establishes a high-speed and reliable bi-directional IP network utilizing 2 GHz BAS licensed spectrum, thereby increasing the number of live ENG transmissions and workflows that can now be performed from the field.
James Dalke, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, CBNT, has been recognized with the award for the Best Technical Article, Book or Program by an SBE Member. His 2017 NAB Broadcast Engineering & Information Technology Conference presentation on “Using Satellite VSATs for Broadcast STL” earned him the honor.
The 2016 Ohio Broadcast Engineering Conference has won for Best Chapter Regional Educational Event.
CHAPTER AWARDS
Several awards annually recognize chapters for growth in membership, percentage of certified members and highest average attendance at meetings, based on statistics submitted by chapters to the national office. Each category is broken into two based on chapter size. Class A represents chapters whose membership is less than the national median, while Class B includes chapters with membership greater than the national median.
GREATEST GROWTH IN NEW MEMBERS
- A — Chapter 111, Huntsville, Ala.: Chapter Chairman Kevin Kidd, CSRE, AMD
- B — Chapter 68, Birmingham, Ala.: Chapter Chairman Tim Costley
MOST CERTIFIED CHAPTER
- A — Chapter 72, New Orleans: Chapter Chairman Ernest Kain; Certification Chairman Ernie Harvey, CPBE, 8-VSB, CBNT
- B — Chapter 118, Montgomery, Ala.: Chapter Chairman Wiely Boswell, CBRE, CBNE; Certification Chairman Charlie Grider, CBRE, CBNT
HIGHEST AVERAGE MEMBER ATTENDANCE
- A — Chapter 112, Western, Wis.: Chapter Chairman Todd Zschernitz, CBTE
- B — Chapter 79, Austin, Texas: Chapter Chairman Ed Rupp, CBTE, CBNT
Nominations for the 2018 awards will open in February.
