Fred Gerling, Father of the Expando Chassis, Dies at 79 His commitment to next-generation design helped transform truck operations By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - 11:11 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Fred Gerling, creator of the expanding production truck and founder/president of Gerling & Associates, died Dec. 7 at the age of 79. A memorial service will be held on Jan. 25, 2025, at 2:00-4:00 p.m. at Snyder Funeral Homes, Lasater Chapel, 11337 Upper Gilchrest Rd., Mount Vernon, OH 43050.
Fred Gerling, here at the 2016 NAB Show, was a constant presence in the outdoor exhibit area for decades.
Nearly every production-truck company in the U.S. tapped into Gerling's team as his commitment to innovation and his excellent trailers and chassis transformed the business and allowed engineers and staff at the nation's leading vendors to focus on the technical equipment and infrastructure. The chassis was designed to be light and flexible, allowing truly innovative workspaces and next-generation technology to be deployed with ease by such companies as NEP, Game Creek Video, and Mobile TV Group.
We have been very blessed, Gerling told SVG in 2012. We're delivering an average two projects every week, and, when you're doing that high volume and you're working with the greatest engineers in the world, they come in with these great ideas, and they challenge you. The gift of having that quality of people affiliate with your company is priceless. They come in and say, You know, if we did this, it would be a little bit better.' It's really remarkable. We challenge each other, and that makes everyone better.
Gerling's talent for sales and entrepreneurship led him to a career in the broadcast-television-equipment industry. In the early 1970s, he worked for Jimmy Rea Electronics and, in 1988, founded Gerling & Associates in Sunbury, OH. He began with just six employees in a small, rented space, and, through his dedication and leadership, the company grew to become the leader in manufacturing television-production vehicles across North America and beyond. His wife and, eventually, three of his children grew the company into a monumental success, which included an expansive manufacturing plant where mobile facilities for television production and mobile command centers were born, assembled, and eventually hit the road.
Gerling took immense pride in building an independently owned, family-run business, a legacy that continues under the leadership of CEO Jennifer Fenton; Director, Sales, Shannon Gerling; and new Treasurer BJ Gerling. For over a decade, his daughters have been at the helm of Gerling & Associates, ensuring that Fred Gerling's vision endures.
Born in 1945, Gerling grew up as one of four children on Buckeye Lake, OH. He developed a love for water activities early on, excelling at water skiing and ice skating during his youth. Married in 1974, Gerling and his wife, BJ, spent many years farming their land and shared a passion for travel and adventure, particularly annual family skiing trips to the Rocky Mountains. He took up flying in the 1970s and, an experienced pilot, continued to fly complex aircraft until the age of 77.
He is survived by his wife, BJ; children Christopher DeVol, Shannon Gerling, Jennifer (Dusty) Fenton, Molly Krownapple, and John Paul Gerling; and nine grandchildren.
Pat Sullivan, Game Creek Video, founder and president, says Gerling was an important, and unique, figure in the sports broadcasting industry.
He perfected the expanding side production trailer which has made the larger productions that we do possible, says Sullivan. Gerling and Associates built 93 trailers for Game Creek Video and each one has been an improvement on the prior unit. Unlike many manufacturers, G&A improved their workmanship instead of cutting corners to shave costs. In large measure, that has been the result of Fred's willingness to listen and BJ, Jennifer, and Shannon's management of the company over the last few years. We are grateful for that and we are confident that it will continue. We will miss Fred but every time a new Gerling and Associates mobile unit arrives at Game Creek I will smile and remember the good times we had together.
Condolence messages can be sent to [email protected].
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...
02/06/2026
blueCORE standalone processors headline solutions designed to simplify the trans...
02/06/2026
If you've kept up with this article series, you know by now where to start w...
02/06/2026
With new DSP configurations and flexible licensing options, Calrec is removing the barriers to virtualised audio, giving broadcasters the freedom to scale produ...
02/06/2026
The TV agency was one of the earliest adopters of Nielsen's local television...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Grass Valley today announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP to transform its newsroom produc...
02/06/2026
Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, announces its new Model 385 Mic/Intercom Beltpack. The Mode...
02/06/2026
The Riedel Group today announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 2...
02/06/2026
More signals, higher quality, and outstanding ingest and streaming flexibility deliver professional results in a small, all-in-one footprint...
02/06/2026
farmerswife will be featured on the Modena Media & Entertainment stand at this year's Mediatech Africa 2026, giving visitors an opportunity to explore the l...
02/06/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17 19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Trust has become a commercial issue With global advertising spend forecast to exceed US$1 trillion this year*, the commercial consequences of weak governance co...
02/06/2026
June sees Ireland's cultural calendar in full bloom, as RT Supporting the Arts showcases a vibrant and wide-ranging programme spanning music, theatre, visu...
02/06/2026
After The Traitors Ireland launched in 2025, Irish audiences proved to have a taste for the global hit reality show. This Bank Holiday Monday fans can indulge e...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Luxembourg, June 1, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, launched fast and reliable multi-orbit satelli...
01/06/2026
Agentic AI is getting physical.
At COMPUTEX on Tuesday, NVIDIA announced NVIDIA JetPack 7.2 and NVIDIA NemoClaw support on NVIDIA Jetson.
JetPack 7.2 brings a...
01/06/2026
Financial institutions have spent years building AI: fraud models, credit models...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
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...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
Fred Gerling, Father of the Expando Chassis, Dies at 79 His commitment to next-generation design helped transform truck operations By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
