At the Society of Broadcast Engineers spring meeting at the NAB convention, the board elected two members to the rank of Fellow--James "Andy" Butler, CPBE (Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer) of PBS in Alexandria, Va. and Clay Freinwald, CPBE of Entercom in Seattle. Butler is a past president of SBE and served on the SBE board prior to that. He was instrumental in organizing SBE's first national conventions held in the mid-1980's. Freinwald is currently a member of the SBE Board of Directors, chairs the national SBE EAS Committee and serves on the FCC Liaison and Frequency Coordination committees and the Executive Committee. They will formally receive recognition as Fellows at the SBE National Meeting in Grapevine, Texas in October.
Also, Richard W. (Dick) Burden, CPBE of Canoga Park, Calif. was presented SBE's Life-Time Achievement Award. This was only the seventh time the award has been presented in SBE's 41-year history. I was amused to see that Dick started his broadcast career as chief engineer of college radio station WJRH at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. in 1950. I held a similar spot at WJRH 20 years later and I think the FM transmitter I replaced at the station may have been the same one Dick maintained in 1950! After college Dick was a civilian instructor at the Signal School in Fort Monmouth, N.J., where he was instrumental in revising the Radio and Radio Course material and teaching technique. In 1958 he worked on the development of a stereo broadcasting system in conjunction with Multiplex Development and holds a patent in that field. He also served on the National Stereophonic Radio Committee, Audio Engineering Society Standards Committee and as an AES representative to the Joint Committee of Intersociety Coordination (JCIC). In addition to working on radio standards as a member of the National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC), he also was also a member of the Broadcast Transmission Systems Committee (BTSC) studying stereophonic sound for television.
Burden remains active in SBE and continues to provide technical services to networks and stations through his firm Burden Associates in Canoga Park, Calif. More information on Burden's career and achievements will appear in the June issue of SBE Signal.
