Herbert H. Schubarth joined KBTV-TV in Port Arthur TX in 1961 and through changes in ownership over the years eventually became Vice president of Engineering for Gannett Broadcasting in 1981. He was instrumental in the development of the world’s first live, auto-tracking helicopter for news coverage, developed the first Satellite News Gathering (SNG) vehicles in the Gannett markets leading to the establishment of the Gannett News Service, helped Gannett’s television stations become some of the first five stations to close caption local news programs and was responsible for final recommendations regarding Gannett’s involvement in Digital Radio.
Gerald “Jerry” Robinson spent his entire 41-year career at Hearst Broadcasting, beginning in 1954 and rising from station maintenance technician at WISN-TV in Milwaukee to Corporate Vice President and Director of Engineering. Working for Hearst station WISN-TV in Milwaukee from 1954 to 1987, he moved from Chief Engineer at WISN to the corporate vice president position in 1987. During his career he oversaw the renovation of six television stations, directing format changes, transmission changes, and system changes. A mentor to many Hearst engineers, he was an advocate for adoption of new technologies and prepared the Hearst stations for the transition to digital transmission. He retired at the end of 1995.
Leonard Charles’ career at Wisconsin radio and television broadcast stations began in 1974 as Chief Engineer with WAGO AM in Oshkosh. Several stations and 25 years later, he became Director of Engineering for Morgan Murphy Media in 1999. His long commitment to his company and industry was well appreciated by those he worked with and mentored. He was also actively involved in numerous MSTV, NAB and SBE committees and projects, as well as Wisconsin and FCC committees on improving broadcast emergency communications. At SBE, and in FCC and Wisconsin state organizations, he was particularly devoted to the improvement of the Emergency Alert (EAS) system. He wrote the first EAS/SBE Primer, used by hundreds of stations to assure compliance with EAS.
Ray Conover, consultant to Hubbard Broadcasting, joined KSTP-TV owned by Hubbard Broadcasting in 1972. When Hubbard decided to move forward with Satellite News Gathering (SNG) in 1983, Ray designed the first domestic SNG system that brought satellite news capability to local TV stations. At first a project of KSTP-TV, it grew into Hubbard’s CONUS Communications, where Ray served as Senior VP of Engineering, providing SNG communications and satellite transponder time to local TV stations in a cost effective manner. Among other innovations, he was the first to devise a way to broadcast more than one news channel on a single transponder, He was also one of the architects of the process for creating TV receive antenna requirements maps, later commercialized in electronic form as the antennaweb.org website.
Clay Freinwald began his broadcast engineering career in 1961 and held various technical positions at numerous stations and station groups, including Tacoma News Tribune, Viacom and Entercom. In 2010 he began doing more contract work for Seattle broadcasters as well as becoming Broadcast Chief Engineer with Northwest Public Radio. A Fellow in the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), he was a founding member of the Broadcast Warning Working Group, helping broadcasters and others understand and implement EAS technology. Freinwald served as chairman of the Washington State EAS Committee for over 20 years and chaired the SBE EAS Committee for a decade. A frequent contributor to broadcast related publications, his regular column called Clay’s Corner ran for over 30 years.
Brady Dreasler began his almost 50-year career with Quincy Media at WGEM-TV in 1972, holding positions of Account Executive, Camera Operator, Photographer, on-air talent, Operations Manager and Station Manager until 2001. In 1997, he was also named Corporate Director of Engineering for all Quincy Media stations, a position he held for 24 years. Working with GatesAir and LG/Zenith Electronics, he coordinated one of the earliest trials of the ATSC 3.0 transmission system in 2014. He also centralized control rooms, IT intercompany communication, phone systems and traffic, which were groundbreaking developments that have served as models for other companies in the broadcast industry. He also served on numerous industry committees, including leadership roles in the NAB TV Technology Committee.
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