Washington, D.C. -- The National Association of Broadcasters announced today that radio engineer Frank Foti of the Telos Alliance and television technology innovator Jay Adrick of Harris Corporation have been named the 2013 recipients of the NAB Engineering Achievement Awards. In addition, an NAB Service to Broadcast Engineering award will be presented to Leonard J. Charles, director of engineering, Midwest, at Morgan Murphy Media. The recipients will be honored at the NAB Show Technology Luncheon, sponsored by Ustream, on Wednesday, April 10 in Las Vegas.
First established in 1959, the Engineering Achievement Awards are given to individuals who are nominated by their peers for significant contributions to advancing the state of the art in broadcast engineering.
The 2013 NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award
A largely self-taught radio engineer, Foti first made his mark on the industry as chief engineer at a number of legendary FM stations, starting in the late 1970s at WMMS/WHK, Cleveland, through KSAN/KNEW, San Francisco, and ultimately to WHTZ (“Z-100”), New York. By the late 1980s, he shifted to full-time manufacturing, founding Cutting Edge Technologies. In 1992, he joined forces with Steve Church’s Telos Systems, rebranding his audio processing line as the Omnia Audio division of Telos. Foti now serves as CEO of the Telos Alliance.
Foti developed a long list of advances to the art of broadcast audio processing. Some of these innovations have subsequently been patented and/or become well established elements within the industry. His efforts did not stop at product design, but extended toward the general improvement of broadcast audio quality. Most recently, he has pioneered the development of Single Sideband Suppressed Carrier (SSBSC) modulation for FM stereo subcarriers.
The 2013 NAB Television Engineering Achievement Award
Adrick is currently vice president, Broadcast Technology in the CTO Group of Harris Corporation, a position he has held since 2008. He has been with Harris since 1996. Previously, he had been a professor of Broadcast Communications and director of Radio and TV at Xavier University. He also served in the U.S. Navy and as an engineer and design consultant at several radio and TV stations in the Akron and Cincinnati, Ohio markets.
His career has been marked by strong design and project leadership skills, coupled with strategic vision and formidable educational abilities. Adrick made import contributions toward the conversion to digital television, dating back to the early 1990s, and to the Harris/PBS DTV Express mobile demonstration system. He continues to work on the rollout of ATSC mobile digital television.
Beyond his many product design and development achievements at Harris, Adrick has led technical teams on major broadcast system implementations around the world and has participated in countless SBE, SMPTE and NAB educational efforts.
Adrick has served as vice-chair and on the Board of Directors of ATSC, and chaired the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) Mobile DTV Forum. Most recently he has led the ATSC’s development of a mobile emergency alerting system (M-EAS) for Mobile DTV.
The 2013 NAB Service to Broadcast Engineering Award
An NAB Service to Broadcast Engineering award will be presented to Leonard J. Charles. The award is reserved for certain individuals who have provided extraordinary service to the industry that may not have been broadly recognized. Charles is credited by his peers for outstanding service to his company and the broadcast industry and for furthering the goals and objectives of the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE). His efforts and recognitions in SBE include service on its Board and as an Ennes Trustee, and his naming as a Senior Member, Fellow, and Engineer of the Year (twice).
He has also served on the FCC National Advisory Committee for EAS and its Communications Security Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC), the Wisconsin State Emergency Communications Committee and its Amber Alert Committee, the Dane County (WI) EAS Committee, the MSTV Engineering Committee and the NAB TV Technology Committee. Charles is active in the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and has chaired its Broadcasters Clinic.
Charles is widely recognized for his work in improving the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and for educating broadcasters on EAS compliance.
About NAB Show
NAB Show, held April 6-11 in Las Vegas, is the world's largest electronic media show covering filmed entertainment and the development, management and delivery of content across all mediums. With more than 90,000 attendees from 151 countries and 1,600+ exhibitors, NAB Show is the ultimate marketplace for digital media and entertainment. From creation to consumption, across multiple platforms and countless nationalities, NAB Show is home to the solutions that transcend traditional broadcasting and embrace content delivery to new screens in new ways. Complete details are available at www.nabshow.com.
About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America's broadcasters. NAB advances radio and television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.
