David Stewart: Texas broadcaster, engineer and dear friend.

[davideduardo]

Today, David Stewart, owner of KPET in Lamesa,TX, died of a stroke.

David was one of my dearest friends. I will miss him and our frequent chats... which could last several hours... about all things radio.

David's broadcast history goes back to AM stations in El Paso and grew to being the corporate Chief Engineer for Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. He was responsible for a number of complicated and challenging reallocations that allowed HBC to upgrade or move stations into larger markets. He rebuilt heritage stations like WADO in New York, yet loved doing local radio at his station in Lamesa, a small market between Lubbock and Midland.

David Stewart


Here is an article written in 2019 when David received the TAB award for excellence in engineering:

Convention & Trade Show -

Austin-based trade association representing the interests of Texas' 1,200+ free, over-the-air radio and television stations

www.tab.org

 

[fybush]

I am so sorry to hear this. I remember visiting him at HBC in Dallas 20-odd years ago and talking about how you could scan all the Broadcasting Yearbooks and start a website.

And we know what THAT project became...

 

[davideduardo]

Adding to the thread, David Stewart has some further details on Dave's career.

 

[davideduardo]

I am so sorry to hear this. I remember visiting him at HBC in Dallas 20-odd years ago and talking about how you could scan all the Broadcasting Yearbooks and start a website.

And we know what THAT project became...

He was instrumental in my starting www.worldradiohistory.com. We were discussing how much inaccurate information on radio was being disseminated back then on the relatively new Internet and how we both had been in meetings where decisions were being made based on totally wrong background data.

Dave and I would chat at length about everything from the Blaw-Knox tower he had to bring down at WADO to keeping a small market radio station profitable today. He'd call me as he drove between markets, pausing only to stop at one of the ubiquitous Dairy Queens along the way for a snack.

 

[AceBiscuits]

My condolences for your loss, David.

 

[exdjted]

My condolences on the loss of your friend.

 

[gr8oldies]

Today, David Stewart, owner of KPET in Lamesa,TX, died of a stroke.

David was one of my dearest friends. I will miss him and our frequent chats... which could last several hours... about all things radio.

David's broadcast history goes back to AM stations in El Paso and grew to being the corporate Chief Engineer for Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. He was responsible for a number of complicated and challenging reallocations that allowed HBC to upgrade or move stations into larger markets. He rebuilt heritage stations like WADO in New York, yet loved doing local radio at his station in Lamesa, a small market between Lubbock and Midland.

David Stewart
View attachment 5233

Here is an article written in 2019 when David received the TAB award for excellence in engineering:

Convention & Trade Show -

Austin-based trade association representing the interests of Texas' 1,200+ free, over-the-air radio and television stations

www.tab.org

Very sorry to hear about your loss. Grace and peace.

 

[ContinuousWave]

Damn sad to hear this. David was a good guy. I knew him in Dallas when I was Chief at Clear Channel and later interviewed with him for a position at Univision in Houston.. RIP sir

 

[awsherrill]

David, I mourn the loss of your friend.

I didn't personally know Dave, although it almost seems that I did. Dave was a frequent participant on Barry Mishkind's "engineering luncheon" Zoom sessions which take place every week.

Usually these sessions are built around a vendor showing a product or some other pertinent topic, but it was not unusual for the after-discussion to feature several war stories from Dave. On at least one occasion, Dave shared several dozen pictures of radio facilities where he had done some work, with a story for every picture.

He's another talented member of our profession who has left us too soon. I'm glad he was recognized by his peers at TAB while he was still with us.

 

[davideduardo]

David, I mourn the loss of your friend.

And more than my dear friend, he was a friend of radio. So many people benefited from his expertise, ranging from owners and managers of stations to the talent and air staff of stations that benefited from his knowledge of how to make studios and operations as productive and user friendly as possibility.

He was the "engineer's engineer" who would enthusiastically troubleshoot an intermittent problem that nobody else could find or help put together the plans for a transmitter at the top of the Empire State Building or the Hancock Tower.

I didn't personally know Dave, although it almost seems that I did. Dave was a frequent participant on Barry Mishkind's "engineering luncheon" Zoom sessions which take place every week.

Yes, he added some fun to Barry's sessions, while also contributing from his wealth of field experience.

Usually these sessions are built around a vendor showing a product or some other pertinent topic, but it was not unusual for the after-discussion to feature several war stories from Dave. On at least one occasion, Dave shared several dozen pictures of radio facilities where he had done some work, with a story for every picture.

So much fun, in fact. And always with his stacks and stacks of manuals, files, catalogs and magazines all around him.

He's another talented member of our profession who has left us too soon. I'm glad he was recognized by his peers at TAB while he was still with us.

I agree, with sadness. There are so few talented RF engineers among us, and Dave was one of the best. I've fortunately had friendships with Rackley, duTriel and other great tech talents and Dave Stewart was one of the stars in that same constellation.

The Heavenly Broadcasting Network is in good hands now!

 

[Greg Goodfellow]

So sorry for the loss of your dear friend, and to all others whose lives he impacted.

 

[RonCole]

I met David in 1981 when we were staff engineers at KCBD TV in Lubbock.

David was born and raised in Boyd, Tx. He moved to Lubbock to attend TexasTech in 1979 as a Mass Communications Major

David worked as a staff Engineer at KCBD-TV, which is where I met David, and On-Air talent at then KLBK1340 AM. He later left KCBD-TV to take on the Chief Engineering duties at KFMX 94.5 & 1340 AM at the new studios in the 5600 block of Villa Drive, Lubbock, TX

David and I would get to get together for Dinner a couple of times a month and sit and drink Iced Tea by the gallon while talking about things to make Radio and Television better we were particularly interested in using computers to automate some of the manual parts of the business.

Later David was instrumental in the construction of a shared FM broadcaster tower that the 4 of the ClassC Stations all shared, no use renting space from a TV Station when you can own the tower and pay rent to yourself.

In 1985 David went to work forTichenor Media in El Paso, Tx. He was chief engineer for the AM &FM Station there for 12 years until the DOE for Tichenor retired and David was selected to become the DOE for the company where he then relocated to Dallas, Tx.

While David was in Dallas and I was at Nokia he and I would have dinner together a couple of times a month.

David would call and we would talk for hours about whatever while he drove from place to place in West Texas. He and I talked for about 2 ½ hours on Saturday (6/24) and then about a week later I get a call and was told that he had died.

 

[Ryan Williams]

I had not seen this until tonight. Very sorry and sad to hear the news of his passing.

I went to look for the official obituary, which doesn’t seem to have been published yet, and came across this partially-paywalled article about KPET signing off “, at least for now. So sad all around.

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