Radio World - November 19, 2008 - (Page 6)

6 Radio World | radioworld.com NEWS for an answer.” He is a mentor who will be truly missed. — Greg Ogonowski VP, Product Development, Orban By the early 1970s, having extensive rebuild experience with XELO(AM) — which back then was in Juarez, Mexico — and KOMA(FM), Oklahoma City, Okla., I soon realized that most of the big recognized engineering names of the day where not up for sharing what they knew with the younger up-and-coming crop of broadcast engineers. It was obvious that at the end of the day, for the most part, you where on your own to “sink or swim.” It was during this time in my life I had the chance to meet Ed Buterbaugh and hear CKLW for the first time. From that November 19, 2008 Buterbaugh: His Colleagues Look Back Orban’s Greg Ogonowski was inspired by Ed Buterbaugh (see page 3) and collected these comments about him: Ed was one of my biggest technical inspirations for developing audio processing systems. Ed made CKLW, Windsor, Ontario one of the finest sounding radio stations in North America. After leaving Detroit fresh out of school, I soon realized how many ‘broken’ radio stations there were in the world. It was CKLW and Ed Buterbaugh who helped shape and mold the sound of the Gregg Laboratories Audio Processing Systems. Knowing his excellence in audio, Ed paid me the ultimate compliments when he chose our processor for CKLW(AM) in stereo, and then again for CKLW(FM) “The Fox.” Ed and his wife Pam always made me feel like family, never allowing me to stay at a hotel. When visiting, I always stayed with the entire family, including the dogs, at Camp Buterbaugh, overlooking majestic Lake Erie with that awesome view. And yes, there were those infamous dingy trips on Lake Erie to not only sample the radio signals, but also enjoy several adult beverages in the process. … The staff always welcomed me. It seemed like “the station that I worked at, that I never really worked at.” Ed and I certainly had one thing in common to make all this happen: “We never took no time on I have been blessed to have a personal friendship and professional relationship that has spanned over 36 years. Never once during this relationship did Ed ever tire of my relentless questions about how he had envisioned and executed his numerous engineering feats at CKLW and elsewhere. I think that having grown up as an only child, with both his parents being teachers, made him a natural for being a born mentor. All of us who took due note from Ed recall that he looked forward to spirited debate on whatever questions were presented, but you knew that you were expected to make clear to him that you had indeed full grasp of what he had just explained to you. I also was always welcomed at Camp Buterbaugh over the years and felt it a great privilege to be received as family in his inner sanctum. To this day, there very seldom is an engineering project I undertake, that I first do not ask myself as to how Ed would approach the same given task. It would not have surprised me that Ed would have eventually found time to teach engineering classes if he had not been taken from us so quickly after starting his retirement. There has never been a finer AM medium-wave signal to cut through the ether over North America than CKLW during the years Ed has his hand firmly on the throttle. History will be written that we were blessed to witness one of the handful of engineers who truly knew how to “make the box speak.” — Bruce Earle Senior Technical Advisor I first met Ed in Washington in 1970. Ed was at WEAM(AM) and I was at WRC(AM)/NBC, both of us young and ready to innovate and fix all the problems inherent in AM radio. We had many technical discussions, and many beers were consumed during these conversations. Later in 1977, I was employed at a Washington broadcast consulting firm, Carl T. Jones Corp. Ed was now at the Big 8, CKLW and was going to rebuild the antenna system. With much calculating in the firm we built the phasor and antenna tuning units and tuned it up. The wide-bandwidth antenna system coupled with Ed’s savvy audio processing brought about a new era in rock and roll radio, so fitting for the third-highest billing station in North America. A small radio transmitter even enabled CKLW to broadcast inside the DetroitWindsor tunnel. You just never lost it! In 1984 Ed went on to go across the Detroit River to Capital Cities WJR, “The Great Voice of the Great Lakes.” Our firm again was employed to build tuning units for the main and auxiliary antennas. Again the audio was like no other; as close to FM as could be had. His expertise extended to the personal mixing of the University of Michigan football broadcasts. Using seven microphones around the stadium, parabolic mics, and much attention paid to the U-M band, the football game became a wonderful experience to enjoy…. It always was great to be challenged by Ed. Good enough was never acceptable, but rather as perfect as possible. Ed’s life’s work was the epitome of that philosophy. — Harv Rees, Broadcast Technical Consultant http://www.radioworld.com http://www.logitekaudio.com http://www.logitekaudio.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Radio World - November 19, 2008

Radio World - November 19, 2008 IBOC+Satellite? Subscribers Not Impressed The New World of AM DA MoM Contents Newswatch Buterbaugh Legendary in Upper Midwest From the Editor Buterbaugh: His Colleagues Look Back Workbench: What’s Wrong With This Picture? KFI Back at Full Power With New Tower 3G or Not 3G? That Is the Question Exploring HD Radio Availability in Philadelphia HD Radio Scoreboard Digital News GEP For That Bird Without a Wire A Chat With Bay Country Radiolicious Brings Radio to iPhones People News Belar FMHD-1 Clears the Skies Reader’s Forum Radio Thrives in Digital Age A Vote for Change

Radio World - November 19, 2008

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