WASHINGTON: The National Association of Broadcasters announced today that television technology innovator Thomas B. Keller, and radio engineering expert L. Robert du Treil, have been named the 2011 recipients of the NAB Engineering Achievement Award. They will be honored with the award at the NAB Show Technology Luncheon on Wednesday, April 13 in the Las Vegas Hilton.
Keller, who will receive the Television Engineering Award, has spent over 50 years working in the U.S. television broadcast industry, contributing significant achievements to broadcast engineering development and emerging as a leading technical innovator. As president of technology consulting firm T. Keller Corp., he has led development and extensive laboratory and field studies of new technologies for broadcasting. Among his accomplishments, Keller created an early computerized captioning system for the hearing-impaired and engineered one of the first Electronic Field Production programs ever produced for network release.
Keller served as head of NAB’s Science and Technology department in the 1980s, helping establish the Advanced Television Systems Committee and overseeing the Advanced Television Terrestrial Broadcast Project, which provided transmission/reception of early HDTV technologies used for demonstrations to the FCC and congress. Keller is a Lifetime Fellow of SMPTE and a senior member of the Broadcast Technology Society of the IEEE.
Du Treil, this year's Radio Engineering Achievement Award winner, has over 50 years of experience in all aspects of radio and TV engineering. He is currently a consultant of du Treil, Lundin & Rackley, Inc., where he previously served as owner and president. du Treil is best known for his contributions to international discussions on mediumwave (AM) directional antenna technology in the early 1980s.
In addition to his consulting work, he has published a number of papers and articles and made presentations to national, state and local broadcast engineering groups over the years that have led to numerous innovations in the field. He is also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and the Society of Broadcast Engineers, and the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers, having previously served as president.
The NAB Technology Luncheon will also feature an address by three-time national bestselling author, celebrated lecturer and technologist Steven Berlin Johnson as well as the presentation of the Technology Innovation Award honoring organizations that bring advanced technology exhibits and demonstrations of significant merit to the NAB Show. The NAB Best Paper Award, established in 2010, will also be presented to the author(s) of a paper of exceptional merit published in the NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference Proceedings.
Past TV Recipients from 1991 (Award combined from 1959-90.)
2010 Mark Richer, ATSC, Washington, D.C.
2009 Sterling Davis, Cox Broadcasting, Atlanta, Ga.
2008 Antoon Uyttendaele, ABC Inc., New York
2007 Victor Tawil, Association for Maximum Service Television, Washington, D.C.
2006 S. Merrill Weiss, Merrill Weiss Group LLC, Metuchen, N.J.
2005 Oded Bendov, TV Transmission Antenna Group, Inc., Cherry Hill, N.J.
2004 Glynn Walden, Infinity Broadcasting, New York
2003 Robert P. Eckert, FCC, Washington, D.C.
2002 Bernard Lechner, Consultant, Princeton, N.J.
2001 Larry Thorpe, Sony Electronics, Inc., Park Ridge, N.J.
2000 Max Berry, Capital Cities/ABC (retired) Elkins Park, Pa.
1999 John Turner, Turner Engineering, Mountain Lakes, N.J.
1998 Robert Hopkins, Sony Pictures High Definition Center, Culver City, Calif.
1997 Michael Sherlock, NBC, New York
1996 Charles Rhodes, Advanced Television Test Center, Alexandria, Va.
1995 Carl G. Eilers, Manager of Electronic Systems R&D, Zenith Electronics, Glenview, Ill.
1994 Thomas J. Vaughan, PESA Micro Communications, Inc., Manchester, N.H.
1993 Stanley N. Baron, Technical Development, NBC, New York
1992 James C. McKinney, Chairman, ATSC, Washington, D.C.
1991 Kerns Powers, David Sarnoff and NBC Consultant, Princeton, N.J.
1990 Hilmer Swanson, Harris Corporation, Broadcast Division, Quincy, Ill.
1989 William Connolly, Sony Advanced Systems, Montvale, N.J.
1988 Jules Cohen, Jules Cohen and Associates, Washington, D.C.
1987 Renville H. McMann, CBS Technology Center, Stamford, Conn.
1986 Dr. George Brown, RCA Laboratories, Princeton, N.J.
1985 Carl E. Smith, Smith Electronics, Cleveland, Ohio
1984 Otis S. Freeman, WPIX, Inc., Tribune Broadcasting, New York
1983 Joseph Flaherty, Technology, CBS Inc., New York
1982 Julius Barnathan, Broadcast Operations and Engineering, ABC, New York
1981 Wallace E. Johnson, Association for Broadcast Engineering Standards, Washington, D.C.
1980 James D. Parker, CBS Television Network, New York
1979 Robert W. Flanders, McGraw–Hill Broadcasting Co., Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.
1978 John A. Moseley, President, Moseley Associates, Inc., Goleta, Calif.
1977 Daniel H. Smith, Capital Cities Communications, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa.
1976 Dr. Frank G. Kear, Consulting Engineer, Washington, D.C.
1975 John D. Silva, Golden West Broadcasters, Los Angeles, Calif.
1974 Joseph B. Epperson, Scripps–Howard Broadcasting Co., Cleveland, Ohio
1973 A. James Ebel, KOLN–TV, Lincoln, Neb.
1972 John M. Sherman, WCCO, Minneapolis, Minn.
1971 Benjamin Wolfe, Post–Newsweek Stations, Washington, D.C.
1970 Philip Whitney, General Manager, WINC, Winchester, Va.
1969 Jarrett L. Hathaway, NBC Television Network, New York
1968 Howard A. Chinn, CBS Television Network, New York
1967 Robert M. Morris, ABC, New York
1966 Carl J. Meyers, WGN Continental Broadcasting Co., Chicago, Ill.
1965 Edward W. Allen, Jr., FCC, Washington, D.C.
1964 John H. DeWitt, Jr., WSM, Inc., Nashville, Tenn.
1963 Dr. George R. Town, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
1962 Ralph N. Harmon, Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., New York
1961 Raymond F. Guy, Consultant
1960 Commissioner T. A. M. Craven, FCC, Washington, D.C.
1959 John T. Wilner, Hearst Corporation, Baltimore, Md.
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