Don Jones, the longtime owner of RF Specialties of Texas, has died at the age of 90.
Jones lived in Amarillo, where he was born and raised.
Jones and John Schneider founded RF Specialties in 1982 as an alliance of independent broadcast suppliers. The company served as the Nautel transmitter dealer for New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. It also represented Orban, Moseley, ERI, Shively and Wheatstone/Audioarts.
Remembered as more than just a supplier, Jones was known for showing up at transmitter sites and studios to assist with installations.
“I saw him at his happiest when he would be working on a build-out project for one of his many faithful customers,” Schneider told Radio World. “He will be missed.”
Jones sold RF Specialties of Texas in 2010.
He earned the respect of his peers, and in 2006, Jones was named the Texas Association of Broadcasters’ Associate of the Year.
“Don was the one who dragged me kicking and screaming into the Nautel world of solid-state transmitters in 1989, and thank God that he did,” wrote Cris Alexander, director of engineering for Crawford Broadcasting, in an email remembering Jones.
Alexander noted that he had fielded a call several months ago from Jones, still active on projects, to pick Alexander’s brain.
He grew up in Amarillo but moved to Orlando to pursue a dream of a career in photography, according to his TAB convention profile. He eventually moved back to the Lone Star State and took a job at KCUL(AM) in Dallas-Fort Worth, managing everything from on-air DJing to climbing towers.
Jones attended Texas Christian University and stayed in the DFW Metroplex for two years before returning to Amarillo to work at Hertner’s Camera Store. In 1958, he began a two-year stint in the Army, stationed in Yuma, Ariz.
His time in the military helped form his electronics background. He joined Muzak in 1961 and worked there for four years before the company was sold. McMartin Industries, a manufacturer of Muzak equipment, hired Jones, and he worked in sales and marketing there for nearly 20 years.
Jones started Broadcast Marketing Service in 1980, and met with Schneider, also a McMartin Industries alum, a year later, according to a 2011 Radio Guide feature. The meeting resulted in their cooperative arrangement, the RF Specialties Group. The group expanded to include other independent sales engineers, designated by the name of the state where the company was based.
Jones was credited with many successful TAB initiatives, including the convention itself. In 2005, the National Association of Broadcasters honored Jones for attending the past 40 NAB Conventions.
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