FM Innovator Ed Bench Dies

Radio Hall of Fame inductee and SBE Fellow Ed Bench passed away Dec. 7.
Spending most of his life in the St. Louis area, Bench was a designer of early FM exciters and was credited with designing and manufacturing early subcarrier receivers.
John Masters, chief engineer at KXEN(AM) in St. Louis, knew Bench for many years.
“The priest at his mass recalled that at one time Bench didn’t like the way his church sound system was performing, so he insisted on fixing it at no charge,” said Masters.
Bench also donated many hours to various charities and was a World War II U.S. Army Air Corps veteran. He was 83.