In the Beginning
Started in Analog TV
Background:
Joe Snelson’s broadcasting career began prior to graduating with honors from Los Angeles City College with an Associate in Arts degree in Broadcasting Technology. For a year prior to graduation he was an electronics technician for the broadcasting department where he maintained the radio and television broadcast equipment.
Snelson then joined the staff of KHOF-TV-FM, a part of the Faith Broadcasting Network, in the Los Angeles area where he advanced to the position of Assistant Chief Engineer. Six years later he moved to Kansas City as the first Chief Engineer for KYFC-TV where he was responsible for the construction of the studio and transmitter facilities and signed the station on the air. Three years later he joined KCTV, formerly KCMO-TV, owned by Meredith Corporation. Meredith owned a number of television stations in various top 100 markets across the country and sold its stations to Gray Television in 2021. For over fifteen years Snelson was the Director of Engineering at KCTV with split corporate engineering responsibilities for Meredith's group of stations.
He retired as Vice President of Engineering for the Meredith Local Media Group. He was also a member of the National Association of Broadcasters Engineering Committee and actively participated on the technical committee for the model digital television station (WHD-DT) in Washington, DC during the birth of digital broadcast television in the United States.
Snelson served as President of the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) from October 2013 to October 2015 with the celebration of SBE’s 50th Anniversary in 2014. He is now a Past President of the society having served on the board and as an officer for 8 consecutive years. He served on the SBE National Certification Committee for 20 years.
Since retiring he is now an independent Television Broadcast Engineering consultant.
Education and Accomplishments:
- Graduate of California High School, Whittier, CA
- Graduated Cum Laude from Los Angeles City College
- Outstanding Broadcast Technician Award from Los Angeles City College
- FCC General Class Radiotelephone Operator License (FCC First Class Radiotelephone Operator License)
- Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer (CPBE)
- 8-VSB Specialist Certification
- ATSC3 Specialist Certification
- Robert W. Flanders SBE Broadcast Engineer of the year award for 2001
- Served on the initial SMPTE committee that developed the Broadcast Exchange Format (BXF)
- Inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2012
- Conferred as a Fellow Member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers in 2016
Professional Membership:
- Lifetime Member of the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers
- Fellow member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers
- Former participant in the National Spectrum Management Association (NSMA) WG3 BAS Committee
- Participated in the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)
Web Sites of Interest:
Into the Future
Transitioned to Digital TV
Now Enjoying Retirement
Epilogue:
I was blessed to have known my career path early in life. As a boy I loved playing with mockup radio transmitters and television cameras that I made out of cardboard boxes. Even before graduating high school I knew I wanted to be in broadcasting. While Broadcast Engineering has been a fun ride, many other exciting things happened to me along the way that were not career related. Chief among those was the day I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. To Him I give all honor and glory for what I have been blessed with including a loving Dad and Mom, a sweet and supportive wife, a beautiful daughter, son-in-law, grandkids, relatives, pastors, friends and a career that I loved. I’m thankful that I now get to spend more time with family and friends after transitioning to retirement from a rewarding career. Retirement has not been a stopping point for me and I continue to move forward living the dream each day.
© Joe Snelson