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A. Prose Walker 1910-2002
My very dear friend and mentor, Prose Walker, passed away August 8,
2002. I will be eternally grateful that we had our chance to say our
good byes during my visit in June.
Until then I did not know that it was Prose who instituted the Annual
Engineering Achievement Award many years ago when he was with the
NAB. The first award was presented in 1959.
Prose was/is a legend in the broadcast industry. Prose accomplished
so much for the broadcast industry during his life time. His years
saw him with the NAB, the FCC and Collins Radio. He was a good friend
of Art Collins. I cherish the memories visiting with Prose and Art
as well as visiting with Prose and his lovely wife, Ellanie in Washington,
DC, Cedar Rapids, Iowa and after his retirement in Tallahassee, Florida.
Prose helped me in many ways. The chapter on transmitter remote control
in the NAB Engineering Handbook that carries my name many years ago
would not have been quite so well done had it not been for the help
and editing of Prose.
Prose championed the US standard for FM stereo. I was delighted to
accompany Prose and other good friends, Harold Kassens, and friends
from Collins Radio to the JPL satellite tracking station in the Mojave
desert in California where we fed a stereo signal to an orbiting satellite
for the first time ever and got it back and recorded it. Prose played
the recording for an international engineering meeting in Europe.
In the early days of remote control, transmitters of power more than
10kw or operating with directional antenna systems were not permitted
to operate by remote control. Prose organized a group of stations,
50kw and directionals and we installed Schafer remote control systems.
The test results were presented to the FCC and remote control authorizations
were extended to directional and high power stations.
Prose had the ability to look forward. He helped the industry and
he certainly helped me. I'll miss him.
Prose knew the history of radio and had an eye for the future.
Here is a foto of Prose talking to Dr. Lee de Forest,
an early pioneer, with his invention, the triode vacuum tube.
Here Prose and I were together during a recent visit
to his home in Rochester, NY. Prose had the same, wonderful smile
that I remember all the 50 years I knew him.
Until the end, Prose was an active ham (W4BW). He loved CW. The
only time I worked him on CW I had to use a computer to transmit
and receive. I never reached the high code speed that so easy and
natural for Prose.
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