Gary Kline of Cumulus Media will receive the 2009 Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award from the editors of Radio World, the news source for radio managers and engineers. The announcement was made by U.S. Editor in Chief Paul J. McLane.
Recipients of the award represent the highest ideals of the U.S. radio broadcast engineering profession and reflect those ideals through contributions to the industry.
Kline is vice president of engineering & information technology for Cumulus Media, the second largest radio broadcaster in the United States by station count, with some 350 radio stations.
“Anyone who has spent time with or around Gary knows of his passion and endless energy not only for broadcast engineering, but for engineers as people,” McLane said. “He has been a vocal advocate for radio engineers through our industry’s up and down times. He manages creatively, never ceasing to explore new ways to solve problems for his company. He has contributed his time and expertise to numerous participatory organizations on the topics of digital radio, emergency alerting and new technology. Gary also embodies the skill set that is required of top broadcast engineering executives today, with his melding of IT and radio expertise.”
Recent facility projects for which Kline and his staff are responsible include a major studio/office relocation project in Cincinnati; a studio/office relocation in Melbourne, Fla.; a new transmitter build with HD Radio in Flint, Mich.; and a major rebuild of two 2,000-foot tower sites in Houston after last year’s hurricane.
Kline also is broadcast engineer for the Purdue Football Radio Network. A veteran of 27 years in broadcasting, he has held engineering positions at ABC Radio and NBC Radio, Artistic Media Partners and other organizations, and has consulted and provided engineering support and services in other countries including Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Canada and China.
He is a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, Audio Engineering Society and Association of Federal Communications Engineers. He serves or has served on the National Association of Broadcasters Digital Radio Committee, NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference Committee and NAB Technology Advocacy Program Radio Discovery Group, as well as the National Radio Systems Committee; the Media Security Reliability Council Communications Infrastructure Working Group (Restoration Task Force); the IPAWS Practitioner’s Working Group; and the Peer Review Group of the Advanced IBOC Coverage & Compatibility Study.
Last year’s recipient of the Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award was Jeff Littlejohn of Clear Channel. Previous recipients include Clay Freinwald of Entercom, John Lyons of The Durst Organization, Michael Starling of National Public Radio and Richard “Andy” Andresen of Cumulus Media. Kline will be featured in an upcoming issue of Radio World newspaper and will receive a plaque commemorating the award.