Many thanks to Sean Melia of Bassett Sales for coming to San Diego to explain today’s communications backbone systems and buy us lunch. They sell 2-way radio systems and can hook you up with a highly versatile system, whether buying or leasing.
This month’s meeting was hosted by Martin Banks at Video Gear in the Miramar area. Video sells and rents cameras, lighting, and really every product necessary to get your video production recorded and edited. Another great venue!
Kevin Schrader began his full-time engineering position with KPBS this month. He was formerly Chief Engineer at Cox Media channel 4 downtown, where he took care of its studios and the Cox HD vehicle. When Fox Sports won the Padres contract, he…well, yeah. In a bit of refreshingly creative management, KPBS and Cox transitioned him between jobs for several months during which he worked part-time at each.
After 16 years, San Diego audio/video systems integration company TV Magic, Inc. locked its doors in mid-December and dismissed their few remaining employees.
TV Magic had a good run, designing and/or building audio/video facilities large and small. In just the last five years, they worked on these projects:
During the recent recession, the company had a hard time regaining traction in the Los Angeles media market and lost its largest customer. But the nail in the coffin came when they lost a class-action lawsuit last year filed by a group of independent contractors demanding overtime pay and damages for an alleged violation of California laws governing whether installation workers should be regarded as employees or contractors.
TV Magic supported Chapter 36 for years as a sponsor and meeting host.
[The author worked as Chief Technology Officer for TV Magic from June 2010 to February 2012.]
Thanks to all of you who took time out from your day to join us at this year’s SBE banquet at Cozymel’s in UTC.
Veteran Belden spokesman Steve Lampen took a few minutes to speak to us about the up-and-coming Ethernet Audio Video Bridging protocol and was very informative.
None of the 20 attendees walked away without a gift from our generous vendors. Many thanks to:
Doug Alman mentioned our new lineup of officers, mentioned elsewhere in this blog.
The election of officers concluded 12/12/12 at 12 midnight with–surprise–the slate of uncontested officers winning all 20 submitted votes. The convenience of online polling might have brought the highest participation rate ever.
These positions will be inducted at the Holiday Luncheon, December 12th:
Chairman – Doug Alman of AT&T UVerse Operations volunteered to keep the position for another year.
Vice Chairman – Steve Moreen of RF Specialties California would move into this position from Secretary/Treasurer.
Secretary/Treasurer – Matthew Schiller of KGTV stepped up to offer his help for the coming year.
Program Chair – New member Liza Lopez hopes to help the chapter organize meetings and other events in the coming year.
Another position is appointed by the Chairman. The new position of Social Media Director will incorporate Meetup, Facebook, and the chapter WordPress website management. Mike Clark of AT&T will work with Gary Stigall to fulfill the messaging needs of the chapter.