Anchor Desk, Reporter

The DX Audio Service's Publisher and Editor is Fred Vobbe, W8HDU. Fred is a 25+ veteran in broadcasting, and has won numerous awards in the broadcasting and electronics field. He is the executive producer and editor for the DX Audio Service, and produces the DX Audio Service in the studios of Vobbe Communications. Vobbe Communications provides programming services to radio and television stations around the world. The company specializes in automated programming featuring adult contemporary and oldies programming. Fred's company also provides services such as voice mail, on telephone on hold programming, and corporate presentations. The original old studio in 1977 consisted of cart machines, reel to reel tape in 2-track and 4-track format, cassette formats. The new studio facilities are all digital, using computerized audio workstation editors, multitrack sound systems, digital networking, and studio interconnection devices. Fred is a Vice President and Chief Engineer for WLIO Television, an NBC television affiliate in Lima, Ohio. WLIO is the Number One most watched station in the United States. Be sure to visit their web page at WWW.WLIO.COM and check out Fred's Engineering Office. Fred is also an Assistant Director of the Allen County E.M.A. office, specializing in communications. In his radio career, he has enjoyed working with large multi-directional AM antenna arrays, like WLQV-1500 in Detroit, MI, which was nine towers with 50kW day, and twelve towers with 5kW night. Early in his career, he worked at WTUU in Toledo, which had a six tower array north of Toledo for daytime broadcasts, and six tower array south of Toledo for nighttime broadcasts. Fred also worked at WHND-560 / WMJC-94.7 in Detroit as an engineer. Before engineering, Fred worked in radio as an announcer at several medium market and large market stations in Eau Claire WI, Lapeer MI, Detroit MI, Toledo OH, San Diego CA, San Francisco CA., and with the William B. Tanner Company, which produced jingles, commercials, and production music for broadcast stations. Fred and Phil Wayne also collect Airchecks of radio stations, jingles, and popular Adult Contemporary and Oldies music. One of Fred's other hobbies is collecting music of Top Pop from the years 1954 to present. Fred is an active amateur radio operator, W8HDU, and trustee of the 443.625+, 145.370-, and 53.630- repeaters in Lima (pl-100), and operates on the HF bands in the CW mode. "I enjoy working on high power RF", said Fred, showing off an RCA BTA-1R3 which he rebuilt to new condition as a summer project. You can send E-Mail to Fred, regular mail to 706 Mackenzie Drive, Lima OH 45805-1835 USA

Anchor Desk

Los Angeles-based Robert Sudock, WB6FDF, has been sharing the anchor desk at the Amateur Radio Newsline since June, 1983. But the relationship with Newsline's founder, executive editor and producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF existed for nearly ten years before that. Pasternak, then WA2HVK, had recently moved west and was one of newly-licensed Sudock's first QSOs. The friendship of three decades endures.

From 1974 to 1976 Sudock edited and reported the MWRA News. This QST aired weekly as a service of the Mt. Wilson Repeater Association's VHF repeater. Mt. Wilson, at 5,700 feet, is the home of most of Los Angeles' television stations and the principal location for many of L.A.'s FM transmitters. The site provided wonderfully broad coverage to most of Southern California. MWRA News was heard from Santa Barbara on the north to San Diego and the Mexican border to the south.

"In those days, we relied on the Amateur Radio printed press for much of the hard news we included in our newscasts. Joe Schraeder's (W9JUV) "HR Report", Wayne Green's (W2NSD) "73 Hot Line" and, of course bulletins from the ARRL, were our major sources of information," Sudock said. "Unlike Newsline, MWRA News was a regional service, so we always included submissions of regional club activities."

"Newsline has taken the QST format to a professional level. In comparison, MWRA was downright primitive. Newsline strives to provide its listeners with the quality they expect from a broadcast network in both editorial and production terms. Newsline's reporters throughout the world regularly enterprise and submit completely produced packages. As you'll see on these pages, many of our reporters and anchors are broadcast professionals who are also Hams. Newsline also forged news exchange alliances with Amateur news services around the globe. I'm very excited about this as we now receive international material customized for Newsline," Sudock said.

As a result of this alliance Sudock was asked to co-substitute anchor the March 12, 2000 edition of "Q-News" from The Wireless Institute of Australia - Queensland Division while producer-anchor Graham Kemp, VK4BB, took a short vacation. "I guess I could best sum up my Ham activities not so much as 'in QSO with' but more as 'in QST,' Sudock concluded.

Sudock has been involved in the Los Angeles area broadcast and production industry since 1965. He has been heard both on-air on local FM stations and in voice overs for a number of industrial productions.   He was a member of the broadcast frequency coordination group formed by ABC, host broadcaster for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Since 1988 continues to serve as a board member of the Southern California Frequency Coordinating Committee, Inc., the recognized Part 74 coordinator in metropolitan Los Angeles.  In 1983 Sudock joined KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles as an engineering manager. He retired from the company in 2009 as Assistant Director of Engineering.

Bob Heil (K9EID) began a Ham Radio-oriented webcast on TWiT.tv. It originates live each Tuesday evening at 8:00 p.m. Amateur Radio Newsline was asked to contribute.  Sudock writes, produces and hosts the five minute segment

Contact: wb6fdf@arnewsline.org