The Radio World family is grieving for John Bisset, the author of Radio World’s popular Workbench column for more than 36 years.
John passed away at the age of 73 Tuesday evening after coping with serious medical issues over the past months and longer. You can read about his life in Nick Langan’s appreciation here.
Working with readers who send in tips, John created a column that consistently ranks as RW’s most popular content. As I wrote in 2020 when we celebrated his 30th year in the role, sometimes the smartest thing that the editor can do is support a good thing and get out of the way.
But it’s the person, the man whom I want to remember today.
John was a friend, educator, salesman and generous human. Our colleague Dan Slentz said, “John was not just an excellent engineer, but most importantly a wonderful and kind person.”
He also became a devout Christian. He texted me a week ago and wrote, “In two weeks or less I will be at the feet of Jesus.” On the phone the next day I could hear that his faith was bringing him a very real sense of peace and comfort. I am so grateful that he found that.
Below are memories and comments from some of his peers:
Marianne Seidler, director of business development for Thimeo, writes:
I am sure there are many people who will tell you how much John meant to them. I am one of those lucky ones.
John and I worked together at Tieline, Elenos and then at Telos. He was a friend, a mentor and a great colleague.
One time, when I was working at Telos, I was literally on the other side of the planet at 2 a.m. installing a processor. Although everything was working fine with the processor the radio station signal didn’t sound right. I did all the troubleshooting I could, I was out of ideas. I called factory support, who also couldn’t figure out the issue other than it wasn’t the processor, which I already knew.
I was not going to leave the customer until I solved the issue — that was another thing I Iearned from John.
I called the one person who I thought if anyone could help me. I explained the issue and everything I had done. It took John about 1 second to say “I am pretty sure their antenna is misaligned.” Bingo!
He taught me so much about RF, as he did for many people. He was a great teacher. He also was a great friend and colleague who could always try to see the light in a bleak situation. He had the greatest laugh and a excellent sense of humor. He was one of the warmest, kindest persons I have ever known. John was just always there for everyone.
Jim Armstrong, audio production senior director of sales, U.S. and Canada, for Telos Alliance:
I have known John Bisset for the last 30 years in different roles in broadcast engineering. From engineer to vendor sales person to writer, long as I have known him, he was always being a teacher.
Whether coaching a young and promising engineering candidate to take an SBE certification or writing his Workbench column in RW, he was teaching.
Over the last 12 years John was my sales partner and my friend. We worked hand in hand covering the U.S., he handling the west coast and me the east.
That meant a lot of time together spent at Telos HQ and at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, We laughed a lot, ate a lot of Hampton Inn eggs and learned a lot about tech.
We all have our unique styles. John was “The Gentleman,” always with a handwritten thank you note or card to a customer or contact.
“Old school,” some may say … old school like a school teacher might be. Rest well my brother.
Brian Edwards, regional director of engineering for Monticello Media:
I met John Bisset in 1997, when I accepted the operations manager position with the now-defunct Capital Kids Radio Group in Washington, D.C. I had come from a small market, and my first meeting with John was through his consulting business, Multiphase. He greeted me as if he’d known me for years. Although I hadn’t been hired as an engineer, John quickly recognized my engineering skills and encouraged me to use them.
It didn’t take long for John to become an advocate for me. When the business was about to be sold, he called one of his clients on my behalf. I soon received a call from another company. John was so unselfish that he told the manager, “I’m about to lose a client, but you need to hire Brian on the spot.”
Unselfish and caring are the qualities I’ll always remember about John. Through him, I formed other relationships in the business that I still cherish today. John was certainly a fabulous engineer and salesman, but I’ll remember him most as one of the kindest, most caring people I’ve ever met. It was an honor to know him as a friend and mentor.
Marty Sacks, EVP of sales, marketing and strategy for Telos Alliance (via Facebook):
