The Western Association of Broadcast Engineers 67th annual convention took place in Edmonton, Nov. 5-7 at the Delta Edmonton South Hotel.
WABE was honoured to present six awards this year: the Ambassador Award to Paul Stechly of Applied Electronics Ltd; Excellence in Engineering awards to Rob Brown of Corus Entertainment and James Belton of Jim Pattison Broadcast Group; the RW Lamb award to Owen Martin, and retirement awards to Larry Modney and Bill Lockett. formerly of Global Lethbridge.
The exhibit floor had 43 booths occupied by 36 companies showing off their latest products and services to over 180 visitors. There was a total of 28 sponsors for this year’s convention. Gold sponsors included Applied Electronics Limited, Dejero, GS Broadcast Technical Services, RVA Lighting & Masts Inc, Sony of Canada and Tieline. Sixteen great technical sessions for delegates featured a wide variety of relevant topics for Radio, TV and IT with speakers providing insight on both dealing with new workflows and how technology can assist in improving efficiencies, not only for the local engineer but for station operations. Invaluable tips and knowledge were shared during the sessions, not just by the speakers, but other technical staff, generating ideas for new topics for next year’s convention sessions.
This year’s dedicated local conference committee consisted of Darcie Harris, Rogers Radio, Richard Furgason, CTV Edmonton, Zac Schlinker, Global Edmonton, Mike Modney, Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, and Marco Auriti, Shine FM. Leadership was provided by WABE President Bill Stovold, Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, Past President Mark Crichton, Golden West Radio; Treasurer/Secretary Clint Hollinger, Rogers and the glue that keeps us together, Kathy Watson, WABE Office Manager.
Special thanks to the Delta Edmonton South for providing a fantastic facility and staff that made the 2017 convention a great success. WABE looks forward to partnering with this property again when we return to Edmonton in 2020. See you all in Vancouver next year.
