Voting for candidates to serve on the 2012-13 SBE Board of Directors is ongoing. Members of SBE are able to vote online for the first time in society history.

Voting members should have an email from Intelliscan, the company conducting the election, sent the morning of July 26. The email contains a unique link to the member’s ballot. To vote, open that email and click on the link.

Two reminder emails will be sent to members in August who have not yet voted. Each of those messages will also contain the unique link to the member’s ballot.

Members who opted out of electronic voting are receiving ballots in the mail. All electronic ballots must be cast by the deadline of 4:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, August 28. Paper ballots must be received at the SBE National Office by that same date and time.

The SBE Board of Directors consists of volunteers that govern the society. All four officer positions and six of the 12 director seats are being contested this year.

Barry Mishkind tells some stories of tragic lack of tower maintenance in this BDR article.

Just in case you were expecting a reprieve, the FCC left no doubt in its mandate that the June 30th deadline remains for the new CAP/EAS receiver/encoder requirements. The FCC says: “This means any necessary equipment must be installed and operational by that date.”

Sage Alerting Systems EAS encoders can finally be updated for the new EAS CAP-compliant rules that begin June 30, 2012. The company posted the firmware upgrade here.

Candidates for the board of directors of the Society of Broadcast Engineers have been slated by the SBE Nominations Committee. The election will be held beginning July 26 and run through August 28. Candidates include:

President

Ralph Hogan, CPBE, DRB, CBNT, Director of Engineering, KJZZ-FM/KBAQ-FM, Tempe, AZ, Chapter 117

Vice President

Joseph Snelson, CPBE, 8-VSB, Vice President of Engineering, Meredith Corporation, Las Vegas, Nev., Chapter 128

Secretary

James Leifer, CPBE, Director of Engineering and IT, Clear Channel Communications, Boynton Beach, Fla., Chapter 53

Treasurer

Jerry Massey, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, DRB, CBNT, Corporate Regional Engineer and DoE, Entercom Communications, Greenville, S.C., Chapter 86

Director Candidates

Tim Anderson, CPBE, DRB, CBNT, Mgr. Radio Market & Product Development, Harris Corp., Covington, Ky., Chapter 33
Andrea Cummis, CBT, CTO, Technology & Operations Consultant, Roseland, N.J., Chapter 15
Steve Fluker, CBT, Senior Engineer, Cox Media Group Orlando, Orlando, Fla., Chapter 42
Kirk Harnack, CBRE, Vice President- Telos Products, Telos Systems, Nashville, Tenn., Chapter 103
John Heimerl, CPBE, Vice President, WHRO TV/Radio, Norfolk, Va., Chapter 54
Gary Kline, CBT, CBNT, Senior Vice President Corporate Engineering & IT, Cumulus Media, Atlanta, GA, Chapter 5
Scott Mason, CPBE, CBNT, Regional Director of Engineering, CBS Radio, Los Angeles, Calif., Chapter 47
Wayne Pecena, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, DRB, CBNT, Asst. Dir. of Educational Broadcast Services, Office of Information Technology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, Chapter 99

Qualified members, nominated by a voting member and endorsed by at least nine additional voting members, may be added to the ballot. Candidates must be voting members, current in their SBE dues and hold certification by the SBE at an engineering level (CBT or higher). If elected, these same requirements apply during the term of office. Voting members include Regular, Senior, Fellow and Life members and the voting representatives of SBE Sustaining Members. Candidate nominations are to be emailed, faxed or mailed to the SBE national office in Indianapolis, attention: National Secretary, James Leifer, CPBE, and be received by no later than 4 p.m., EDT, July 13, 2012.

The election will commence via the Internet on July 26. Voting members who chose to opt out of electronic balloting during this year’s dues renewal period will receive their ballots in the mail.
All ballots are to be completed on-line, or if mailed, arrive at the SBE national office, by 4:30 p.m. EDT on August 28. Votes will be tabulated that evening by an authorized board of tellers.