LAS VEGAS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers has elevated three members to Fellow: Frank Giardina, CPBE; Robert Hoffman, CPBE; and Ted Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, DRB. The SBE board of directors elected them at its meeting April 23 during the NAB Show.
Frank Giardina
“Our newest Fellow members exhibit the outstanding qualities of outstanding broadcast engineers worthy of the Society’s highest member grade,” said Jerry Massey, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, DRB, CBNT, president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers. “Each has taken his own unique path to success in broadcast engineering, and I congratulate them on this recognition.”
To earn this distinction, members must have made significant contributions to the broadcast engineering field or the SBE. Candidates are nominated by their peers. Since the society’s founding, 75 members have been honored with the Fellow rank.
Giardina, shown at right, is the director of engineering/IT for the Cumulus Media Birmingham, Ala., market. His interest in electronics and radio began when he started a radio “repair shop” in the family garage, leading to a summer job in a local repair shop. He obtained his amateur novice test at age 12, then his Technician License, and then his First Class Radiotelephone Operator License at 16. He currently holds an Extra Class license. His career includes work as a component test technician at Rockwell-Collins in Dallas before returning to Birmingham to work at stations including WAQY, WBRC(AM)/FM, WSGN, WAPI(AM)/FM, WZRR and WJOX. He is a past chair of SBE Chapter 68 Birmingham, and is currently frequency coordinator and certification chair. He is an instructor in the Alabama Broadcasters Association’s Engineering Academy, teaching AM and FM transmission and reception.
Hoffman is the chief engineer of Hubbard Radio St. Louis and stations WIL(FM), WARH(FM) and WXOS(FM). In 1971, he got his first radio job in radio as the on-air producer for “The Teen Show” at WINI in Murphysboro, Ill., where he also became a morning and afternoon host and operations and music director. His career has taken him to stations in Mt. Vernon, Ill., and Cape Girardeau, Mo., and St. Louis. He has worked for the same stations for more than 19 years. He has been the meeting coordination and program chair for Chapter 55 St. Louis since 1995.
Ted Hand
Hand, left, is director of engineering/operations at Cox Media Group’s WSOC(TV) in Charlotte, N.C. His TV career began at WTVZ and then WAVY in Norfolk, Va. He has also worked for Capitol Broadcasting in Raleigh and WTKR and then WGNT in Hampton Roads, Va. Hand has been active in SBE Chapter 54 Hampton Roads, Va., for many years, serving as webmaster. He is also active in SBE Chapter 45 Charlotte. In 2016, both chapters honored him with their chapter’s Engineer of the Year awards. He served 11 of 14 years on the SBE board of directors, and he was secretary for five of those years. He has also chaired the SBE Frequency Coordination Committee.
The new Fellows will also be recognized during the SBE National Awards Dinner on Oct. 26 in Denver at the annual SBE National Meeting, which will be held in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain AV Expo.
