Tom Busch, development director and part-time engineer at KNOM(AM-FM) in Nome, Alaska, died Nov. 1; he was 63.
KNOM is a non-commercial Catholic-formatted station operating at 25 kilowatts on 780 kHz and at 1,000 watts on 96.1 MHz. The Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska is the station owner and licensee.
Station GM Ric Schmidt told Radio World Busch had a heart attack in his sleep. Schmidt was flying to Anchorage Tuesday to discuss arrangements with Tom’s wife Florence.
Busch started at KNOM as volunteer and chief engineer in 1970 and eventually became its general manager before changing roles in 2005.
In an e-mail message to colleagues, consulting engineer Jack Mullaney stated: “Tom will be greatly missed but there is no doubt that he is already talking to God about boosting the power of the transmitters in heaven.”
