Dennis Doty spends his days working on the mountain above the Los Angeles Basin making sure KNBC doesn’t miss a precious minute of airtime. It’s an interesting job, and he has a few things to say about the job he’s had for over 15 years. Dennis will cover some advice:

• Sometimes we need to listen to the weather guy
• Be prepared for rare events
• Expect the unexpected
• Do the best with what you have to work with
• Don’t become a liability
• Recover and work as a community

Join SBE 47 and 36 for Dennis’s Zoom presentation on Tuesday, June 13, at 11:30 AM PDT.

About Our Speaker, Dennis Doty

Dennis is a broadcast engineer with over 38 years in TV broadcasting.  Fresh out of high school in the Imperial Valley, he started in master control at KECY El Centro back in the days before automation.  They aired from satellite, film,  ¾” UMatic, 1” and even quad 2″ tape formats.  Dennis worked his way up through directing and technical directing, offline and online editing, then to station engineering at KESQ Palm Springs, FNN, Disney Channel and a few others. 

In 2000, Dennis became Chief Engineer for XETV Fox 6 San Diego on the first Avid/Grass Valley disk-drive-based news operation, a proving ground to the automated newsroom systems we have today.  After leaving Fox 6 he came back into LA working with a group of stations that lead him up to Mt Wilson.  After a few years Dennis was contacted by NBC about joining their transmitter team on Mt. Wilson.

Dennis has been with NBC / Telemundo on Mt. Wilson and  Mt. Harvard for over 15 years.  Currently he is responsible for all NBC site operations.  They man the site daily and 24/7 during extreme weather and fires.

Elenos, Italian manufacturer of FM broadcast transmitters, acquired Broadcast Electronics in Quincy, Illinois, a highly regarded US manufacturer of AM, FM, and TV transmitters. BE has been known for years for its high quality transmitters, and Elenos has gained market share for their compact FM devices. Perry Priestley will update us on their lines and philosophies, sharing stories along the way.

Join us in an online presentation Tuesday, May 9th, at 11:30 AM organized by Chapter 47 of Los Angeles. Here’s the Zoom Link for registration.

About Perry

Perry Priestley has worked in the professional broadcast industry for over 49 years. He joined Broadcast Electronics in June 2019 in the position of Chief Operating Officer and he’s now the Chief Sales Officer. Previously he held the position of CEO at Anywave Communication Technologies Inc. He has also held positions in Sales and Business Development with Linear Industries Brazil, Ibiquity Digital Corporation (now Xperi), Thales-France (now Thomson Broadcast), EEV-Marconi, and Philips (Pye TVT) in the UK. Perry has presented at over 200 technical broadcast conferences worldwide, has been the lead commercial coordinator in notable projects around the world, and has been a significant contributor to many new product releases in the radio and television broadcast market. 

Perry earned a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from Cambridge University, England, and a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Telecommunications from Cambridge College of Technology.

A big product road show comes to San Diego again this year. An array of displays with representatives of several broadcast manufacturers will visit iHeartMedia, 9660 Granite Ridge Dr. behind Suite 100 on March 22 from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Drive to the main parking lot and walk around the east side of the building to the rear. SWIT USA sponsors lunch and Myat, Inc. sponsors a chance to win a $50 VISA Gift Card. For more information and to register (not required for attendance), see NBTTour.com or call Doak Turner at 815-721-6338.

The show is hosted by the Broadcasters General Store and Second Opinion Communications and features these sponsors:

• ENCO – broadcast automation
• Forecast – technical furniture
• Altronic Research – RF dummy loads
• Angry Audio – processors and accessories
• Challenger Communications – satellite antennas
• Core SWX – battery charging solutions
• D2D Technologies – DTV processors and multiplexers
• Dielectric – FM and TV transmission antennas and RF devices
• Digital Alert Systems – EAS processors
• Henry Engineering – audio and control accessories
• Inovonics – audio processors, RDS messaging, and signal monitors
• Jampro – antennas and associated RF transmission solutions
• Myat – RF transmission products
• Nautel – AM and FM transmitters
• NEMAL – optical and copper connectivity products
• Studio Hub – audio connectivity devices
• SWIT USA – ENG camera video transmitters, monitors, lighting, mounts, and power solutions
• Tieline – Audio-over-IP transmission solutions
• Toner Cable – RF facility distribution products seller
• Worldcast – FM transmitters, RDS encoding, sound processors, IP codecs, and broadcast remote control products
• YellowTec – studio accessories, voice recorders

We’ve noticed over the past year a lot of buzz about an entirely new product line called Chameleon.  The first audio processor that analyzes the program content to determine how to process it.  Current audio processors require a golden ear, IT competency, and a lot of time and patience to set up.  The Chameleon does all that tweaking based on the music coming in—delivering consistent program level with big sound and great presence. There are currently three models in production, with several more just around the corner.

Join us Tuesday, February 14th at 11:30 AM PST by first registering for the Zoom call here. This presentation was organized by Chapter 47, Los Angeles. 

About the Presenters

Michael Dosch is the founder and owner of Angry Audio. Known by his friends as “Catfish”, he is one of the broadcast industry’s most prolific product designers. He is probably best known for his work as founder/president of Axia (Telos) where he led the team that introduced AoIP into broadcast. Angry Audio was a side project where Catfish could create some small problem-solving products more for fun than profit. But demand was far greater than expected and he soon devoted his full-time energy to it. In 2020, Angry Audio acquired the company formerly known as Radio Systems and continues to manufacture the popular StudioHub line of products alongside the Angry Audio offerings. 

Cornelius Gould is a radio veteran, using his uniquely resonant voice on the mic for several stations in the Cleveland market, as well as many others and several streams beyond the OTA coverage area. But he’s a bit of a geek as well, and in fact, he’s a rocket enthusiast in his spare time.  That geekness led him into engineering roles at the stations, and he gravitated towards getting the most out of the signal he had to work with.  Eventually, he became part of the development team at Omnia, and was instrumental in designing the Omnia.11 and Volt products.  Taking everything he has learned over the years and programming it into a chip is his latest project.

With hundreds of transmitter site visits under his belt, Jeff Welton of Nautel has seen a few things and will attempt to share some of the challenges he encounters most often in this session. The content will cover grounding and lightning protection, safety, IT security, and whatever other tips come to mind. There should be a bit of something for everyone in this fast-paced presentation. We’ll look at the problems and situations we encounter and discuss ways to resolve or work around them.

Join us Tuesday, November 8, at 11:30 AM PT for this Zoom online meeting organized by Chapter 47, Los Angeles.