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Elmo Reed 1917-2014

Elmo Reed passed away this past Wednesday, December 31, 2014.

Obituary 

On December 31st 2014, the broadcast engineering community lost a pioneer, a mentor, a friend and all around great guy when Elmo W. Reed passed away.
Elmo is probably best known locally as the long-time Director of Engineering of the Post Corporation and WLUK TV 11. He will truly be missed by all in the broadcast engineering community. I could not begin to do justice to all of his experiences and contributions, but will try to mention a few. Elmo was born in 1917 near Mineral Point, WI and grew up on a farm near Eldora, IA and in Freeport, Illinois. He entered the RCA Institute in Chicago and graduated in 1936. He then took the exam for the FCC First Class Radio Telephone license – which at that time he spent 4 days completing and turned in 35 handwritten pages! (Of course he passed with flying colors!)
Soon after this he obtained a job as an engineer at WROK in Rockford, Illinois. He was working there when World War II broke out, so he joined the Army. While in the service he attended radar school and was a key player in developing and implementing what was then a cutting edge technology that helped the Allies win that conflict. After the war when he returned home, he and June were married and they moved to Green Bay. Elmo was now the Chief Engineer at WJPG AM 1440. Elmo did pioneering work in FM broadcasting at WJPG, but was ahead of his time and WJPG FM was turned off like many other early FM stations.
When the Post Corporation split from the Press Gazette and WJPG, Elmo stayed with Post Corporation and became chief engineer at WEAU TV in Eau Claire. A long career at Post Corporation followed, with Elmo taking on many different technical leadership roles and doing many significant and interesting projects. He retired from Post Corporation as the Director of Engineering in 1984.
My favorite story about Elmo took place in 1992, about 8 years after his retirement. I was working on my first major rebuild of a complicated AM directional antenna system and put the word out that I was interested in hiring a number of engineers to help me in their spare time. Elmo answered the call and I was delighted. I looked forward to learning from his superior experience on the subject. When it came time to do the “walk outs”, who was first in line but Elmo Reed! Now I need to explain to some of you – “walk outs” are a series of field measurements done by a two man crew carrying heavy test equipment and a measuring chain and walking for miles through all sorts of terrain and obstacles. This was strenuous work and something I was not looking forward to as a 35 year old broadcast engineer in reasonably good shape. So I was uncomfortable when Elmo volunteered – after all, he was in his 70s at the time! So I manipulated things so that I would be teamed with Elmo and quietly whispered to the consultant – “we won’t be out long – so don’t expect much from us”. Then off we went.
Well I was certainly taken to school that day – it was all I could do to KEEP UP with Elmo! I found myself winded and falling behind. Just when I thought I had seen it all, we came up to a 6 foot chain link fence protecting some property where the radial needed to be measured. I was starting to mark the field sheet as “not accessible” when Elmo yelled “What are you waiting for!” and clambered over the fence! I had no choice but to follow. An hour or so later, we were the first team back to the transmitter with a full field sheet. And then we went out again.
Elmo was a true inspiration to me and my career and to many others I am sure. He always made time to share and teach with those of us less experienced. I am truly grateful for having known him and receiving his mentoring and friendship.
Steve Brown, SBE Chapter 80, Fox Valley WI

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Larry Page 1937-2014

Dear fellow members and friends:

It is with sadness that I report the obituary notice of Larry Page, one of the founding members of SBE Chapter 80.  Larry provided the host site for the organizational meeting at WLFM, Lawrence University, Appleton back in 1981.

Those of you who knew Larry might wish to visit the web page listed below and view or sign the guest book.

Obituary from the Appleton Post Crescent.

  • Steve Brown

 

Chapter News

Fundraising Update

Thanks to all of you who have supported the Kwik Trip Gas Card fundraiser over the past several years.  Thanks to eight dedicated participants and the generosity of the Kwik Trip organization, we have raised about $4,000 (40% of our goal).  We originally set out to raise $10,000 in order to fund our annual obligation to the Don Borchert Fellowship Foundation at the Wisconsin Broadcaster’s Association without having to “pass the hat” on an annual basis.  I am proud that our membership has helped get us to this point.

Kwik Trip has announced changes to their fund raising program which will effectively reduce the donation from 10% of the gas card purchase to 5% plus a bonus if the card is spent on in store merchandise.  I predict that this will mean about a 6% or 7% donation instead of the 10% we have enjoyed for the past three years. While this is a bit disappointing, we are still grateful for what Kwik Trip is doing and hope that we can make up the difference by getting more participation in the program.

Here is Chapter 80’s plan to deal with these changes:

  1. First, encourage all existing participants to continue as they have been – this has been a terrific fund raising program that really is quite painless for our participants! Keep up the good work guys!
  2. Second, try and encourage more participation and more sales. The people who have done this successfully have just made it part of their routine with regular purchases – it is hassle free and cost free for participants. Just requires a few simple changes of habit.
  3. Chapter 80 will pre buy as many gas cards as it responsibly can before the end of the year to maximize the fund raising benefit.
  4. Chapter 80 will look into another fund raising program with another area gas station/convenience store group who offers a similar fund raising plan. If compatible with our group’s goals, we plan to offer another option in case that is more desirable to our membership.
  5. Encourage all members to at least ask a participant how it works for them so they can determine if this program is something they could support.
  6. Offer the heartiest of “thank yous” and congratulations to the participants who have gotten us to this point:  Tim Laes, John Pfankuch, Steve Brown, Mike Steele, Mark Friedman, Bill Hubbard, Rita Brown and Keith Kintner.  These individuals have purchased approximately $40,000 in gasoline, car washes and convenience store purchases on behalf of SBE Chapter 80 and the Don Borchert Fellowship Foundation.  Seems like a huge number but it was done a tank of gas and a sandwich at a time. Thank you all for helping the Chapter.

Please contact me if you have any questions or would like details on how you can participate. You can buy the gas and gift cards at most local Chapter 80 meetings or we can arrange to securely mail or otherwise deliver them to you.  Some members have actually set up automatic payments to the Chapter and receive a card or two monthly at intervals that are convenient to them.  Easy and convenient!  Consider trying it!

Steve Brown   sbrown@wcinet.com    sbrown1150@gmail.com

Chapter News

Chapter Engineer of the Year

Chapter Engineer of the YearThe Fox Valley Wisconsin Chapter of the Society of Broadcast Engineers is proud to
announce the selection of Tim Laes as the Chapter 80 “Engineer of the Year”.

Tim is the Director of Engineering for Midwest Communications of Green Bay, a group owner of over 60 radio stations in several states in the region. In his role, he has helped the company in all stages of acquiring, building, rebuilding and repairing studio and transmitter facilities in many markets. This often requires long hours, many travel miles and time away from home and family.
Tim has been an active SBE member since 1996, serving as a local frequency coordinator for the Chapter since then and also holding the office of Chapter Chairman from 2010 to 2012. He is currently Vice Chairman of Chapter 80 and serves on the Executive Committee. Tim is also an active supporter of Chapter 80’s fund raising activities.
Tim still manages to find time to generously extend assistance to smaller broadcasters who may not have an engineer of their own, repairing sick transmitters and audio consoles and nursing otherwise neglected stations back to health. He is generous about sharing his knowledge with others and does so with humility and a sense of humor. Tim (W9EE)
also is an Extra Class Amateur Radio Operator and enjoys his ham radio hobby when time permits, especially on 40 and 160 meters. Tim serves two local area ham clubs as a volunteer examiner too.
Tim has been married to wife Lori for 19 years and has three children at home: Reanna (16), Caden (14), and Cash (9).
Congratulations Tim!

Broadcast Engineers Serving Northeast & Central Wisconsin