2021 Stories

SBE 17 Meetings and Stories in 2021

SBE Chapter 17 Zoom meeting recordings appear at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzmFge7phAyiY2FCsIiFfPg

December 16, 2021: Frame.io Account Executive Bruce Skull spoke to us on a Zoom meeting. Frame.io is a collaborative tool for sharing audio and video content by seamlessly stitching together projects in the cloud. He said, teams can get the job done faster and easier when using this. The company was recently acquired by Adobe and is used by many well-known media outlets.

Jeremy Ruck

December 12, 2021: Jeremy Ruck died of COVID. The photo shows Jeremy atop a building in downtown Chicago. In the background is the Willis Tower, the tallest building in Chicago, where he was manager of communications facilities. Jeremy was a well known and highly respected broadcast engineering consultant. Jeremy was only 50 years old and in otherwise perfect health. His wife Frankie and 10-year-old son Alex are doing OK.

Details at:
https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/coronavirus/2021/12/18/unvaccinated-peoria-native-dies-from-covid-19-in-illinois/8913159002/

November 18, 2021: Recent events have brought the realities of news-breaking from the field into harsh relief. With another high-profile trial https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/11/12/state-court-panel-weighs-allowing-more-video-trial-coverage. The SBE Chapter 17 monthly meeting was via zoom with Dan Feidt of Unicorn Riot https://unicornriot.ninja/. Feidt started out in the Twin Cities and is now based in Philadelphia. His company does news coverage of civil unrest and court trials. Note: Much like our conversation with Representative O'Neill from October 2017, this is not intended as an endorsement of any one particular political view.

Saturday, October 30, 2021: The annual SBE Chapter 17 Picnic was held outdoors at the Salem Media Group studio/transmitter site on Cliff Road in Eagan, Minnesota. Some took the facility tour. Thanks to Dave Kerstin of Broadcasters General Store and Nautel for sponsoring the event. Brandon Moore, chief engineer of Channel 3 TV in Rochester, MN, won two outfield tickets to a Saint Paul Saints baseball game in April or May of 2022, compliments of Jeff Welton from Nautel.

October 21, 2021: Blockchain and cryptocurrencies make the headlines, which present some interesting questions. What technologies have had the greatest impact on how we pay for things and what are said impacts? We heard from Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Vice President Guy Berg. He gave an overview of the U.S. banking system and stated the opinions given were his own, not that of the Federal Reserve. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/people/guy-berg

September 8-10, 2021: The Annual Wisconsin Broadcasters Clinic was held in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Marriott West. Attracting about 200 engineers from 27 states, it is said to be the most successful regional conference in the country.

There were sessions on text to natural sounding speech and speech to text, as seen on monitors in the hall. Other talks included metadata, fiber optics, virtual studios, computer modeling of FM antenna patterns, containerized software, what to do when an inspector arrives, LED tower lights, controlling studio audio from a smartphone and much more.

July 22, 2021 SBE Chapter 17 Zoom meeting: You might remember a meeting before the pandemic in which we discussed solar-powered transmitters. This time we examined how that style of technology has played out at a user level. We heard from stations throughout the country, each of them approaching this concept in their own way. YouTube video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-U4w98htg0

James Thibodeau

June 23, 2021, from the Minneapolis Star Tribune Newspaper: James M. Thibodeau, age 72, of St. Paul, died June 20, 2021. Jim was a radio broadcast engineer and worked for KTRF Thief River Falls; KBUN Bemidji; A Prairie Home Companion; Minnesota Public Radio; Minnesota News Network; Radio AAHS; and BOB FM. A graduate of St. Thomas Academy, he attended St. John's University and Bemidji State University. He was a 26 year U.S. Coast Guard veteran and was stationed in Saipan, where he operated the LORAN navigation system for military ships during the Vietnam War. He was later stationed at Cape Disappointment, WA, considered the most treacherous Coast Guard duty in the continental U.S. Jim later served in the Coast Guard Reserve with Team Wyaconda at Fort Snelling. He was a serious amateur ballet dancer who trained and performed with Andahazy School of Ballet and St. Paul Ballet. Preceded in death by his parents Fred & Lynn Thibodeau. Survived by his wife Roxanne Condon; son Brendan; daughter Molly; sister Jeni LeClair (Craig Granse); and brother Joe (Lisa Austin Thibodeau). Burial was June 25th at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Memorials preferred to the Coast Guard Relief Fund or The Nature Conservancy.

June 23, 2021 SBE 17 Zoom meeting: Those who regularly listen to WCCO-AM may be aware of the work of Blois Olson from Fluence Media https://www.facebook.com/groups/116697651741203/. He gave us his take on "the changing dynamics of broadband politics," and some other interesting nuggets about wireless, in general. Blois explained that everyone wants broadband internet, but not everyone wants to pay to get expensive infrastructure built everywhere.

Paul Hedberg

June 3, 2021: Pavek Museum Founder and long-time broadcaster Paul Hedberg died at age 81.

06-03-21-hedberg_memorial.pdf
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May 25, 2021: SBE Chapter 17 Zoom meeting. You may have seen the article:
https://www.startribune.com/as-tech-evolves-for-severe-weather-warnings-hennepin-county-leads-the-way/600049871/ in the Star Tribune about disaster preparedness, and the technology used by Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, as well as the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. Our panel included Director Eric Waage of Hennepin County, and Manager Kristin Rollwagen from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.

May 20, 2021: SBE Chapter 17 met online for eleven to hear from Doug Ferber VP of Sales at Tieline and Jacob Daniluck. They gave us an overview of the company and products they offer for remote broadcast and remote studios, especially during COVID times. More info at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15vdu177rO9avUBtOujTgmOlf-ELhFAtH/view?usp=drive_web

February 25, 2021: Chapter member Mark Persons SBE, CPBE, AMD, CBNT gave a talk on how to write a website with this website as an example. There were 18 guests.

The text of his talk is available here:

sbe_17_web_writing_talk_02-25-2020.pdf
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Terrry Baun

January 1, 2021: Terry Baun, an award-winning engineer from Wisconsin, has died at age 74. He worked in commercial and public broadcast stations starting in 1967. Baun served as President of the Society of Broadcast Engineers twice.

SBE story: http://sbe.org/terry-baun-dies/

Radio World has more details: https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/terry-baun-dies-at-age-74-engineer-mentor-former-sbe-presidentJanuary 1, 2021: