K
kenglish
Guest
Just stumbled on to the info that Joe Henry Spears, the first Chief Engineer at WCWB-TV in Macon, passed away on January 28.
He was the first engineer at WTVY in Dothan, Alabama, and moved to Macon to build Charles Woods' WCWB, which started in 1968.
After retiring, he moved back to Dothan.
WCWB later became WMGT.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dothaneagle/obituary.aspx?n=joe-henry-spears&pid=155671143
He used to let me "hang out" there when I was a kid, and I worked for him as Maintenance Engineer for a couple of years in 1977 and 78.
The last time I saw Joe was about 20 years ago. I was at home for a visit, and heard that Channel 41 was having transmitter problems. I stopped in and was standing there in their transmitter room, talking to their CE, and heard a familiar voice...it was Joe, who had driven up from Dothan. He walked over to the bad Klystron, pulled a quarter out of his pocket, tapped the side of the tube, and announced, "Looks like you boys have a broken water jacket". (He'd seen that many times before).
He was a good guy.
He was the first engineer at WTVY in Dothan, Alabama, and moved to Macon to build Charles Woods' WCWB, which started in 1968.
After retiring, he moved back to Dothan.
WCWB later became WMGT.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dothaneagle/obituary.aspx?n=joe-henry-spears&pid=155671143
He used to let me "hang out" there when I was a kid, and I worked for him as Maintenance Engineer for a couple of years in 1977 and 78.
The last time I saw Joe was about 20 years ago. I was at home for a visit, and heard that Channel 41 was having transmitter problems. I stopped in and was standing there in their transmitter room, talking to their CE, and heard a familiar voice...it was Joe, who had driven up from Dothan. He walked over to the bad Klystron, pulled a quarter out of his pocket, tapped the side of the tube, and announced, "Looks like you boys have a broken water jacket". (He'd seen that many times before).
He was a good guy.