LA Chapter 47 to Host an SBE Ennes Workshop in February 2026

[Updated Feb 10 to add guest speakers] Don’t miss the SBE Ennes Workshop by SBE Chapter 47 Los Angeles on Saturday, February 21. Breakfast and registration open at 8:00 am and the workshop starts promptly at 9:00 am at KPCC, 474 South Raymond Ave., Pasadena, CA 91105.

The cost is $25 for SBE MEMBERS and $35 for NON-MEMBERS. REGISTER HERE.

Students are FREE – Register HERE

The event includes a light breakfast and lunch, and ends at 3:00 pm. A studio tour follows, ending at 4:00 pm.

Here’s the Line-up

Jon E. Kirchner, Chief Executive Officer of Xperi, Inc. will kick off the workshop. Jon has been a leader in the technology space for over 17 years. A dynamic technology executive, Kirchner has extensive experience in building licensing and international growth businesses.

Calculating Reliability for Broadcast Engineers

By Fred Baumgartner, “Retired” Broadcast Engineer

No one wants downtime. But highly reliable systems come at a cost, and that cost is driven by design and environment. We can calculate a system’s reliability using simple mathematics.

When you propose a project or expense that is meant to reduce downtime, it often is useful to present this as competing costs – the cost of doing nothing versus the cost of investing in reliability, and the cost of downtime. What does it mean to have 5-nines (99.999%) of availability versus 2-nines (99%)? A big part of broadcast engineering is keeping things running. This is how to calculate the return on investment for various design approaches. Your gut feeling might be far from reality for subtle, not very obvious reasons. Never again will you have to pull a number out of the air or guess—you will be able to support your decisions with real numbers.

This is a skill and a mindset that every broadcast engineer can benefit from. And the rules are few and the math fairly basic.

Leadership Side of the Industry from a Business Perspective

By Mike Pappas, Field Engineer and VP of Business Development, Orban

It’s time to hear from the vendors! The leadership side of the industry, from a vendor’s perspective, is a really interesting topic once you look at it from both inside and outside the top four or five markets. For example, a DOE in major radio markets like LA can pretty much do as they please. Those same groups in Gainesville have a completely different role. Hear how vendors deal with each of these markets in quite a different way.

Running an Engineering Department in Lean Times

By Lynn Duke, retired Audacity Director of Engineering

Lynn Duke, long-time chief engineer at KNX, KRTH, and other stations, will discuss what it takes to run a cohesive engineering department, especially in these days of reduced staff and increased station load. How is success measured in doing so?

Organizational Leadership

Assistant Chief of the LA County Fire Department Pat Sprengel will talk about organization leadership inside the fire service.

Southern California radio Icon Jhani Kaye will also be presenting. Jhani was most recently Program Director of K-Earth 101 and 94.7 The Wave in Los Angeles. He is the longest running radio Program Director of a music station in the country’s largest radio market, having programmed KOST 103.5 for over 17 years, and then consulting the facility for a total association of 23 years. He has been an air talent, a Program Director, Station Manager, Consultant, and General Manager. His list of industry awards and celebrity clients is impressive. You don’t want to miss this presentation.

Ennes Workshop attendees receive One Credit Category G by attending the entire workshop (4 sessions).

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