2018 Stories

2018 Stories from SBE Chapter 17

October 3, 2018: Congratulations to Mark Persons, CPBE, AMD, CBNT. Mark was nominated, by this chapter, and was then selected as the 2018 Engineer of the Year by the SBE. Mark and his wife Paula accepted the award in a ceremony at Boston, MA.

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Paula and Mark Persons

Mark was working with his hands from the time he was crawling as a baby. He is forever building and working with electronics. We are not talking about plug-and-Play. Mark designed nine pieces of electronic equipment that were manufactured by Zercom, now Nortech in Merrifield, MN. He also designed literally hundreds of one-of-a-kind electronic circuits used in radio broadcast stations across the country. Some found their way abroad. He designed and built it all with great determination for the broadcast industry.
Mark loves going to radio stations to fix what is broken or install new circuits to make broadcasting the best that it can be. One sign on the back of his service truck reads "Radio Doctor." Another reads "So Many Transmitters, So Little Time." He really is dedicated to the industry that he grew up in. How many people do you know who have done the same thing their entire life?
Mark didn’t happen into broadcasting. He was born into it. His father Charles B. Persons started in radio engineering in the 1920's. Mark knew in high school that he wanted to work in electronics and specifically in radio broadcasting as an engineer. While a teenager, he helped build a station. The only time he did not spend in broadcasting was during his stint in the U. S. Army. He taught electronics at Ft. Monmouth, NJ, and spent a year in Vietnam (1968 to 1969) as Sergeant in Charge of an avionics repair shop keeping the hi-tech OV-1 Mohawk surveillance aircraft in the air.
Back in the states, Mark worked in his family-owned radio station until 1979 when he went on to be a contract engineer for many stations. This was a new field at the time. In total, he has built 12 new commercial radio stations, mostly in the Midwest. That included building phasors at four AM directional stations. Countless others were rebuilt or upgraded along the way. Mark installed AM Stereo at 40 radio stations back in the 1980's.
Mark has written 150 engineering articles for national publications, mostly in Radio World. He has given twelve speeches before regional radio conventions, three at NAB conventions, and one at a national SBE convention.
Mark is a Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer with the SBE (Society of Broadcast Engineers.) AM Directional and Computer Networking were added to his certifications. He served as Minnesota Frequency Coordinator for the SBE for about six years. Mark was a mentor to three radio broadcast engineers even before the SBE started a program to do that. He added one at that time.
Mark is a constant inspiration to others and spends time almost every day helping other radio broadcast engineers solve transmitter problems. Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) was something he took up in 1963. His amateur call sign is W0MH. Mark is no stranger to long hours and hard work. He is dedicated to getting things done for his clients. His website is: http://www.mwpersons.com
Mark Persons is a life member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, the American Radio Relay League, The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans. He lives in Brainerd, MN, with his wife Paula.

Mark Persons in his shop before his retirement.