Each year, the Society of Broadcast Engineers, the association for broadcast and multimedia technology professionals, conducts a member recruitment drive. The drive calls on current SBE members to encourage their non-member colleagues to join the association. This year, 49 individual members were recruited.
The SBE Membership Drive ran from March 1 until May 31. As a recruiting incentive to members, the SBE asks for prize donations from SBE sustaining member companies. In addition, the recruiter will earn $5 per new member (up to $25) off his or her 2026 membership dues. Eight sustaining member companies plus the SBE provided prizes this year, ranging from shirts and hats to broadcast equipment. The SBE donated logo items, a copy of CertPreview, a free Webinars by SBE registration, and books. The theme for the 2025 drive was Expand Your Professional Horizon.
All the recruiters were eligible for the Membership Drive Grand Prize: A trip the SBE National Meeting this fall. (A cash prize option is available if the winner is not able to travel to the SBE National Meeting.) That meeting will be held during the Midwest Broadcast and Multimedia Technology Conference in Columbus, OH. The Grand Prize winner this year is Steven Bottkol of Sinclair, Norman, OK.
The SBE thanks the sustaining members who provided prizes: Comrex, Dielectric, Heartland Video Systems, LBA Group, Nemal Electronics, Orban, Telos, and Time Base Consoles. The list of prizes and the winning recruiters will be published in the August 2024 issue of The Signal, the SBE’s bi-monthly newsletter, and below.
The close of the drive resulted in 49 new recruited members, who were sponsored by 43 current members. The recruiters represent 27 different SBE chapters.
| Prize Donor | Prize | Winner | Location | Chapter |
| SBE | trip to SBE National Meeting | Steven Bottkol | Norman, OK | 85 Central Western OK |
| Comrex | SBE Broadcast Engineering Handbook | Dennis Ford | Denton, NC | 45 Charlotte |
| Dielectric | L.L. Bean backpack | Mark Heller | Two Rivers, WI | 63 Dakota |
| Dielectric | L.L. Bean backpack | David Kolesar | College Park, MD | 37 District of Columbia |
| Heartland Video Systems | $100 Amazon gift card | Brad Humphries | York, SC | 45 Charlotte |
| Heartland Video Systems | Heartland Video t-shirt | Jim Beahn | McLean, VA | 37 District of Columbia |
| Heartland Video Systems | Heartland Video tote bag and travel aids | Geary Morrill | Saginaw, MI | 91 Central Michigan |
| Heartland Video Systems | Heartland Video t-shirt | Jeffrey Pillivant | Westerville, OH | 52 Central Ohio |
| Heartland Video Systems | Heartland Video stocking cap | Chuck Poulton | Cleveland, OH | 70 Northeast Ohio |
| Heartland Video Systems | office essentials pack | Sam Wallington | Columbia, TN | 103 Nashville |
| LBA Group | registration to the LBA RF Safety Course | Brian Carter | Winterport, ME | 11 Boston |
| LBA Group | registration to the LBA RF Safety Course | David Dumas | Pittsburgh, PA | 20 Pittsburgh |
| LBA Group | registration to the LBA RF Safety Course | Eric French | Columbus, OH | 52 Central Ohio |
| LBA Group | registration to the LBA RF Safety Course | David Hodges | Christiansburg, VA | 78 Blue Ridge |
| Nemal Electronics | $100 Amazon gift card | Michael Fitzpatrick | Taunton, MA | 11 Boston |
| Orban | Optimod-PCn 1600 with Nielsen license | Sam Garfield | Raleigh, NC | 93 Raleigh-Durham |
| Orban | Optimod-PCn 1600 with Nielsen license | Joseph Portelli | West Pittston, PA | 2 Central Ohio |
| Telos | Telos swag bag | Todd Davis | Cleveland, OH | 70 Northeast Ohio |
| Telos | Telos swag bag | Alfred Russo | Bangor, ME | 11 Boston |
| Time Base Consoles | EVO clamp mount monitor arm and two premium CableWraps | Steven Bottkol | Norman, OK | 85 Central Western OK |
| Time Base Consoles | EVO clamp mount monitor arm and two premium CableWraps | Dustin Getz | Huntingdon, PA | 20 Pittsburgh |
| SBE | Webinars by SBE registration | David Bachmann | De Pere, WI | 80 Fox Valley |
| SBE | $25 gift certificate to SBE Store | Joseph Conlon | Inver Grove Heights, MN | 17 Central Minnesota |
| SBE | copy of CertPreview | Michael Davison | Northfield, MN | 17 Central Minnesota |
| SBE | SBE-logoed hat | Stephen Lockwood | Seattle, WA | 16 Seattle |
| SBE | SBE mug | James Ellett | Tampa, FL | 39 Tampa Bay Area |
| SBE | SBE mug | Courtney Hardy | Akron, OH | 70 Northeast Ohio |
| SBE | Communications Receivers | Stephen Brown | Appleton, WI | 80 Fox Valley |
| SBE | Communications Receivers | Sam Wallington | Columbia, TN | 103 Nashville |
