n July 1, 1991 the audio in- ter member of IATSE local 695. dustry lost one of its most In the 1950s Stancil started using 0prolific engineers. William solid state devices and modular con- V. Stancil, AES fellow, passed away struction. He was a pioneer in the de- from the complications of pneumonia velopment of multitrack recorders for at the age of 81. During his career logging and data recovery. In the 60s Bill associated with such luminaries he began concentrating primarily in as Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon, Lee de that field and was responsible for Forest, Eddie Stinson. Henry Ford, many major safety and law enforce- Ernst Alexanderson, Howard Hugh- ment data recovery systems through- es, William Wyler, Bill Hewlett, out the world. David Packard, Richard Ranger, Bill Stancil's pursuit of excellence James B. Lansing, Sherman and dedication to his work was leg- Fairchild, Robert Oppenheimer, endary. He was at work at his desk Lowell Thomas, Walter Cronkite, until he was taken, under protest, to Walt Disney, Alexander M. Poni- the hospital where he died. In a re- William V. Stancil atoff, David 0. Selznick, Douglas cent interview for a soon to be pub- Shearer, and many others. synchronization systems. He also lished biography, Bill summed up his As a motion picture soundman Bill sold the first Hewlett Packard oscilla- career in a few short words. "I was worked on pictures such as "Wings," tors ever made. just in the right place at the right the first Academy Award winner, Stancil worked on the Manhattan time," he said. Those who knew him "Stella Dallas," "Gone with the Project that produced the atomic understood that Bill knew what to do Wind," and "Bwana Devil," the first bomb and was later involved in with these opportunities. 3D picture. His company, Stancil- work on the island of Eniwetok for Sharon Custer, Bill's daughter, Hoffman Co. (Stancil Corp. since the first hydrogen bomb tests. He along with her husband Mike, who I I981), had the first professional tape had a "ham" license (W6PF) in have been involved with the compa- recorder on the market in the U.S. 1925, was an accomplished portrait ny for many years, will continue and later the first battery-operated artist, worked for Disney as an ani- Bill's work. He is also survived by

I portable tape recorder. Along with mator, and in 1935 appeared as a another daughter, Judith Coolidge, ' Olin Dupy, he was instrumental in dancer in the first Technicolor fea- and five grandchildren. developing film sound recording and ture, "Becky Sharp." He was a char- Shelley A. Herman

illiam S. "Bill" Busiek, You," and "The Nakamichi Interna- began his radio career as a radio offi- AES member, died on June tional Music Series." For his projects cer in the Merchant Marine. But it W 19 at his home in Dorch- he received awards from Armstrong, was his fascination with the live radio ester, Massachusetts, after a long battle Ohio State, and the Corporation for concert broadcasts in Boston in the with cancer. He was 68 years of age. Public Broadcasting. early 1950s that convinced him to be- An engineer for WGBH-FM since In recalling how Bill was always come a radio engineer. He upgraded 1951, Bill gained respect as a quiet gi- one who "worked to find a solution his license to a radio-telephone li- ant in public radio broadcasting. He and not to create a problem," Boston cense and went to work for WBSM, a was responsible for the first stereo, Symphony Orchestra president brand new AM/FM station in New quadraphonic and digital broadcasts of George Kidder said, "In all my years Bedford, Massachusetts, which he Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts with the BSO, I have never heard any helped get on the air. from Symphony Hall. He was also the variation in the consistency of the On October 6, 195 1, the Lowell In- engineer for national radio programs theme that working with Bill was a stitute Cooperative Broadcasting such as "The Spider's Web," "Master- joy and a pleasure." Council presented its maiden broad- piece Radio Theatre," "A Note to A true pioneer in broadcasting, Bill cast on WGBH-FM. The program s

J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 39, No. 10, 1991 October 827 was a live Saturday evening concert of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from Symphony Hall. "I remember they played Tchaiko\lsky's Sixth Sy~npho- iiy," Bill recalled. "At the end of the concert. the signal just faded away, with no sign-off. That got to me, and two weeks later I was at WGBH." Soon after, Bill became the engineer for the Boston Syn~phonyBroadcasts (then three per week). He held this po- sition for the next 40 years. In the late 1953's. before the advent of FM stereo, WGBH collaborated with other FM stations in Boston to create the first live broadcasts of the BSO in stereo. Listeners with two re- ceivers could tune them to the differ- ent stations to receive the left and right signals. This continued until FM stereo made it possible to broadcast two channels over a single station. However, the multiple station tech- nique was used again in the late 1970s for the first 4-channel stereo broadcasts. Then. in the 80s. the first experiments began using digital audio to link Symphony Hall with the WGBH transmitter. Busiek served as the primary engineer during these William S. Busiek groundbreaking developments. Other "firsts" to his credit include station suffered a major fire and "William S. Busiek Radio Booth." the first digital broadcast of the Saint burned to the ground. The next day William Busiek was more than a ra- Matthew Pcrssioiz from Sy~nphony Bill set up a turntable at Sylnphony dio pioneer; he was a very special hu- Hall and the first trans-Atlantic "digi- Hall and got the station back on the man being of great compassion and tal radio" experiments bringing regu- air. generosity. No tribute to him seems lar WGBH-FM programming to lis- In the 1960s Busiek was instrumen- complete without noting the deep sad- teners via WGBH's UHF channel, tal in the planning and development of ness felt by so many upon his loss. WGBX-TV. the National Educational Radio Net- During his memorial service. several The quality of the Boston Sympho- work. This interconnection of two rose to speak of their experiences and ny broadcasts became the centerpiece phone lines from Boston to New York, friendship with Bill. They spoke of what turned out to be a considerable Philadelphia. Washington, D.C. and waimly and often with emotion as they amount of both corporate and individ- back became the model for the original remembered Bill's sense of humol-, his ual audio activity in the Boston area. National Public Radio Network. loyalty. as well as his tenacious cledi- My own career in audio was inspired During these years the Boston cation to music. educalion, and to the by listening to these wondelful broad- Symphony broadcasts began national excellence which became synonymous casts, which were far superior to any syndication. In 1987, the Eastem Ed- with his name. We know he will not recordings available. Indeed. you will ucational Radio Network honored be replaced. We know we have bee11 find many others who will say the him with a rare Distinguished Service privileged to learn from him. And we same. It wasn't until the anival of the Award. In 1986, a group of Bill's know we have lost one of our best and digital comyact disc that sound quality friends got together with WGBH, most cherished friends. as natural as that found with the live WCRB, and the Boston Symphony to John F. Allen BSO broadcasts becanle available to celebrate his remarkable contribu- Newton. Massachusetts music lovers in recorded form. tions. This occasion was used to name with assistance from Mark Fishman On WGBH's tenth anniversary, the the Syniphony Hall radio booth the and Lynn Duval

J. Aud~oEng. Soc., Voi. 39. No. 10. 1991 October