The SBE Board of Directors, at its meeting on Oct. 25, 2017, approved the appointment of Tony Peterle, CPBE, to fill an open trustee position on the Ennes Educational Foundation Trust. The trustee position opened when Leonard Charles, CPBE, resigned from the Trust to devote more time to his retirement. Charles had served as a trustee since 2011. Trustees have no term limit.
Tony manages sales and support for the Western Hemisphere for broadcast equipment and systems manufacturer Worldcast Systems, which is based in Bordeaux, France. He joined Worldcast in 2005 as the manager for technical support in the US, and moved into the management position a few years ago.
Tony has actively been involved in broadcasting since the mid-1970s. He was the chief engineer of a 250W FM station during college, and started working professionally in Ohio, originally with WMRN in Marion and WCOL/WXGT in Columbus in on-air positions. Tony’s career then took him to Wichita, KS, where he obtained his pilot’s license with multiengine and instrument ratings, and got back into engineering with a 100kW FM and a 10kW directional AM. Engineering became Tony’s ticket to Hawaii, where he spent three years as chief engineer for KQMQ, KPOI and KINE before the open skies of Kansas City beckoned. For several years he combined his piloting and on-air skills as a traffic reporter and pilot, before becoming chief engineer for KPRS AM/FM. In 1996, Tony and his then-wife Kelly moved back to Hawaii and started their own traffic reporting service, at their peak delivering reports and information to more than 20 radio and TV stations across the islands. The post-9/11 economic downturn hit the Hawaii economy hard, and Tony sold the traffic reporting service and moved to Seattle, serving as traffic anchor for Entercom’s KIRO for several years until he was hired by Worldcast Systems.
Tony earned SBE CPBE certification in 2015 and has presented many times at SBE meetings, NAB, AES and other industry shows. Most notably, he spent several years teaching about the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and its application to broadcast operations. Those efforts garnered him the James Wulliman Educator of the Year honors from the SBE in 2017.
“I’m honored to be appointed to the Ennes Foundation Trust board. For me, one of the most enjoyable and beneficial parts of being part of the SBE is the enormous reservoir of knowledge and experience represented. I look forward to continuing the efforts of the Ennes Trust to help share that knowledge with all our members.”
Three trustees are appointed by the Society of Broadcast Engineers Board of Directors and are responsible for the operation of the Ennes Educational Foundation Trust. Also serving as trustees are Frederick M. Baumgartner, CPBE, CBNT, of Denver, CO, and Douglas W. Garlinger, CPBE, CBNT, of Fishers, IN.
On the appointment, SBE President Jim Leifer, CPBE, said, “Tony has been active with the SBE for many years, and he has provided many educational presentations to chapters and regional and national conferences. His knowledge of SNMP in particular is outstanding. Because of his educational efforts, he was a natural choice to serve as an Ennes trustee.”
The Harold Ennes Scholarship Fund Trust was initiated by Indianapolis Chapter 25 in 1980 in memory of Harold E. Ennes, author of many textbooks for broadcast and broadcast-related communications training and a member of the Indianapolis chapter. Ennes (pronounced “ENN-ess”) was a member of the SBE’s national Certification Committee and made many contributions to the early development of the Certification Program. To encourage greater growth, the Scholarship Trust was transferred by Chapter 25 to the SBE national organization to administer in 1981.
Over the years, the purposes of the Trust were expanded. In addition to granting scholarships, the Trust now is involved with the funding and presentation of broadcast engineering-related educational programs, seminars and workshops. It also helps to underwrite costs associated with educational projects, including publishing technical books and manuals.
The name of the Trust was changed in 1995 to the “Harold Ennes Educational Foundation Trust” to fully embrace its expanded role. Some of the goals of the Trust are to encourage the entry of minorities and women into broadcast technical fields, to evaluate technical training courses and to act as a liaison with similar international organizations to develop and enhance common technical training courses.
Each year, the Ennes Educational Foundation Trust offers scholarships to deserving candidates who aspire to a career in the technical aspects of broadcasting. Donations to the scholarship fund can be sent to the SBE National Office.
