Dielectric’s longtime sales leader Christine Zuba ended an impressive 49-year career Monday as she officially retired.
Since 1994, Zuba has been Dielectric’s national sales manager, where she used her advanced technical knowledge of complex RF systems to stand out from her counterparts.
“We have had the luxury of calling many industry leaders and influencers longtime employees at Dielectric and we are grateful that a true broadcast lifer such as Christine elected to spend nearly her entire broadcast career with us,” said Keith Pelletier, president of Dielectric, in a statement released by the company.
Zuba’s career in broadcast engineering started as an intern at WVIA(TV) in Scranton, Pa.
After graduating with an electrical engineering degree from Penn State University, Zuba landed a role with RCA in its antenna division. She briefly left the company to do work in cellular and broadcast consulting before returning. Dielectric then acquired RCA in 1986. Zuba’s responsibility in engineering and product management increased before accepting a director of sales and marketing role in 1989.
Dielectric lauded Zuba’s ability to climb the technical ladder between expertise and exceptional relationship building skills. The company, based in Raymond, Maine, has most of the U.S. high-power TV market share, according to the statement.
“I never really wanted to be in sales,” said Zuba in the statement, “yet it is one of the best decisions I have made. I always enjoyed the challenge of listening to customers, learning the unique parameters of their projects, and with our engineers, developing concepts that solve problems and address their needs.”
Zuba pointed to the triple-stack antenna atop the Sears Tower in Chicago, following the U.S. DTV conversion, as a product installation she was most pleased with.
Looking ahead, Zuba said she is optimistic about the future of the Dielectric. “Broadcast Antenna and RF inaccurately carries a reputation as a dinosaur full of aging people set in their ways,” she said. “Dielectric has many long-time employees with years of experience who continue to innovate, and they are finding new inspiration in the many young, talented engineers who have joined Dielectric over the last 10 years.”
Michael Sharpstene, who joined Dielectric in January, assumed Zuba’s role on July 1.
Zuba said she plans to use her well-earned retirement spending more time with her family, including her partner and grandson, and hobbies that range from golf to spending time by the pool. “She may be signing off the air, but her station isn’t going dark,” Pelletier explained. “It’s just being repacked to a new channel assignment in the retirement spectrum.”