NEW YORK—As part of a larger effort to recruit young engineering and IT talent to the rapidly changing local TV industry, Hearst Television has launched a new fellowship program in honor of a longtime top engineering executive at the station group.
The Marty Faubell Broadcast Technology Fellowship is named for Martin “Marty” Faubell, who retired from Hearst Television in 2020 after serving the company for more than three decades, most recently as vice president of engineering.
The fellowship, to begin fall 2022, is designed to expose students and recruits to and actively engage them in all aspects of television production, with emphasis on engineering, IT, and the role of these disciplines within a live broadcast facility, the company explained.
The program will culminate in a 10-week period of active, hands-on experience within broadcast operations, engineering and IT maintenance and support, electronic newsgathering (ENG), production, and broadcast transmission, among other skills and activities.
“Marty spent a great deal of his career focused on the development and growth of future talent in the technology arena of our business,” said Jordan Wertlieb, Hearst Television president. “We are pleased and proud to honor him with the creation of this program, which was developed to help ensure a bright future for emerging generations of technology leaders in our company and the industry by applying the type of mentorship Marty provided so many for nearly four decades.”
“Marty has been my mentor, colleague and friend for many years,” said Stefan Hadl, Faubell’s successor as Hearst Television’s vice president of engineering. “I cannot think of a better way to honor all his accomplishments and contributions to our industry.
The new fellowship is part of a larger effort by Hearst Television to recruit and nurture entrants into local television from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, the company said.
The company launched a veteran recruiting effort in 2015 which has since grown substantially.
In 2016, to develop young news producers, Hearst Television established the Fred Young Hearst Television Producing Fellowship, in recognition of its longtime senior-most news executive and one of television journalism’s most honored leaders.
In 2021 Hearst Television and its parent company, Hearst, in league with the Emma Bowen Foundation, established an endowment in honor of Hearst vice president of finance Jeana Stanley -- who passed away in June 2020 -- to provide minority students need-based scholarships and internship opportunities within the media industry.
The new Marty Faubell Broadcast Technology Fellowship comes at a time when the local TV industry is undergoing an unprecedented period of technological change, with stations embracing IP infrastructures, cloud-based technologies, streaming media, the new NextGen TV broadcast standard and a host of other cutting edge technologies.
“It might surprise students and others not completely familiar with the industry that broadcast television stands on the cutting-edge of media and communications technology,” Hadl added. “Television engineers and IT professionals touch every aspect of the field and are blazing trails in the use of CTV, OTT, VOIP and other developments, and hold in their hands a world of possibilities thanks to the latest technology enabling us to deliver what is known as NextGen TV. There couldn’t be a better time for young people to enter the field, and for us to usher them into the industry via a program named for Marty.”
Faubell was Hearst Television’s vice president of engineering from 1997 to 2020, overseeing the company’s engineering operations and staff.
Among other achievements, he supervised the stations’ shift from analog to digital broadcasting – a highly successful transition throughout the industry – and he innovated dedicated satellite access for enhanced newsgathering and content-sharing between the company’s stations, speeding their ability to bring important national and international news to local audiences.
Previously, he was director of engineering for Hearst’s WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, PA, where he supervised the introduction of advancements including robotic cameras, satellite newsgathering resources and digital editing.
Before WTAE, he was assistant chief engineer at New York City’s WPIX-TV and, before that, he was engineering maintenance supervisor at highly regarded Raleigh, NC, station WRAL-TV. A Cherry Hill, N.J. native, Faubell holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast engineering and a master’s degree in broadcast management, both from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC. A member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers and the Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers, he performs volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity.
More information the fellowship is available here.
