Telos Alliance CEO Frank Foti spoke of passion Wednesday in accepting the NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award here in Las Vegas at the Technology Luncheon.
Foti thanked several people including his father, grandfather and his longtime rival Bob Orban. He especially singled out his former partner, the late Steve Church. Foti said they developed their first product idea together on a bar napkin.
The largely self-taught radio engineer told attendees of the packed LVH ballroom event he took two radio stations “from worst to first” in terms of audio and ratings. Better audio processing helped take New York City’s WHTZ(FM) to the top within the time-frame of one ratings book, he said, noting a similar improvement with WMMS(FM), Cleveland.
His advice: “Have a passion for what you do. Play to win as opposed as playing not to lose,” noting that a dose of honesty, modesty and humility helps.
Jay Adrick, who recently retired from Harris Corp. and is now a consultant to Harris Broadcast, received the award for television. He advised attendees to “set aside some time in life to give back the industry,” whether that be through mentoring or participating in an industry group like the SBE, SMPTE or ATSC.
Leonard Charles of Morgan Murphy Media was recognized with the NAB Service to Broadcast Engineering Award. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who went into space four times as an astronaut, addressed the luncheon via satellite.
