SMPTE Fellows Robert Ross and Richard Friedel Earn Lifetime Achievement Awards From NATAS
April 8 Awards Presentation in Las Vegas Will Recognize Ross and Friedel for Their Industry-Changing Innovation and Vision
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - April 4, 2018 - SMPTE , the organization whose standards work has supported a century of advances in entertainment technology and whose membership spans the globe, today announced that SMPTE Fellows Robert Ross, senior vice president for East Coast operations at CBS Engineering, and Richard Friedel, executive vice president at FOX Engineering, will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) at the 69th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards on April 8 in Las Vegas.
Robert Ross of CBS and Richard Friedel of FOX have had a hand in many of the innovations enabling todays advanced media formats and the availability of television anytime, anywhere, said Chuck Dages, chairman of NATAS. For their vision and their many significant achievements, the National Academy is pleased to honor them both with our Lifetime Achievement Award in Technology.
The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards honor technology companies and individuals whose innovation and vision have materially affected the way the audience views television and have set the standard for technological excellence in the industry.
Bob and Richard have made exceptional contributions to SMPTEs standards development work and have led the way in bringing key technological advances into the realm of reality, said SMPTE President Matthew Goldman, senior vice president of technology, TV and media at Ericsson. Were proud to be closely associated with two esteemed leaders in the motion imaging field. We congratulate them both on this latest honor and look forward to celebrating with them at the 2018 NAB Show.
About Robert Ross
Ross has served as senior vice president for East Coast operations at CBS Broadcasting since October 1998, and he has led the engineering and technical teams and overseen a series of significant technological advances for the network. Ross was responsible for the conversion of the CBS broadcast center to HD; the rebuild and upgrade of the CBS Network Media Distribution Center; the rebuild of the networks satellite distribution system; the creation of the Path Fire and Pitch Blue systems for domestic and international distribution; the conversion from videotape to digital distribution for both domestic and international syndication; the restoration of the Ed Sullivan Theater for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert; and the design and build of key production areas for CBS Sports, the CBS Evening News, and CBS This Morning.
For 19 years, Ross worked at Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting Company) stations WBZ-TV, WJZ-TV, and KYW-TV, and he was vice president of engineering for Group W prior to the CBS/Westinghouse merger.
Ross holds an Advanced Amateur Radio License and has been a contributing author to a national magazine on consumer electronics. He has contributed to the standards process for the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) and various SMPTE Engineering Committees. Ross is the past chair of the Toolkit working group of the Media Security and Reliability Council (MSRC), a Federal Communications Commission Advisory Committee, and the past president of the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA). He is a SMPTE Fellow, a member in the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), and Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame inductee.
About Richard Friedel
Friedel oversees FOX Networks Engineering & Operations, the 21st Century Fox unit responsible for engineering, operations, and technology supporting FOXs national and regional television businesses. He is responsible for long-term technology strategy and day-to-day operations for the Fox Network Center in Los Angeles and the Fox Houston Technical Operations Center, home of Fox Sports regional networks, and he provides technical support for 14 regional production centers. He was also a member of the team that launched FOX News Channel. Before joining FOX, Friedel served in various positions at Capital Cities/ABC, NBC News, and local television stations.
A graduate of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Friedel is a SMPTE Fellow. He also holds memberships in the Audio Engineering Society (AES), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), SBE, and Society of Cable Television Engineers (SCTE). Friedel serves as ATSC Board Chairman, president of the Video Services Forum (VSF), and president of NABA. He was honored in 2015 by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) with the NAB Engineering Achievement Award.
Further information about SMPTE is available at smpte.org.
# # #
About SMPTE
For more than a century, the people of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, or SMPTE (pronounced simp-tee), have sorted out the details of many significant advances in media and entertainment technology, from the introduction of talkies and color television to HD and UHD (4K, 8K) TV. Since its founding in 1916, SMPTE has received an Oscar and multiple Emmy Awards for its work in advancing moving-imagery engineering across the industry. SMPTE has developed thousands of standards, recommended practices, and engineering guidelines, more than 800 of which are currently in force today. SMPTE Time Code and the ubiquitous SMPTE Color Bars are just two examples of SMPTEs notable work. Now in its second century, SMPTE is shaping the next generation of standards and providing education for the industry to ensure interoperability as the industry evolves further into IT- and IP-based workflows.
SMPTE is a global professional association of technologists and creatives who drive the quality and evolution of motion imaging. Its membership today includes more than
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
SMPTE Fellows Robert Ross and Richard Friedel Earn Lifetime Achievement Awards From NATAS 
