The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) revealed the recipients of the Digital Leadership Award, NAB Engineering Achievement Awards for Radio and Television and the Service to Broadcast Engineering Award. The winners were honored during “The Future of Media and NAB Technology Awards,” a special event hosted exclusively on NAB Amplify.
Established in 2015, the Digital Leadership Award honors an individual at a broadcast station, group or network who has played a role in significantly transforming a traditional broadcast business to succeed in the digital sphere. The 2021 Digital Leadership Award was presented to Adam Wiener, executive vice president and general manager, CBS Local Digital Media.
Wiener leads all aspects of digital for owned-and-operated CBS Television Stations, including the roll-out of CBSN Local OTT. He began his career at CBS News and previously served as senior producer of Up To The Minute, the first news broadcast of any network with a dedicated website, and was tapped to help launch CBSNews.com. He held senior digital business and operational management roles at web start-ups and traditional media companies before returning to CBS in 2010 to launch CBS Local Digital Media. He is a member of NAB’s Digital Officers Committee and is an Affiliate Board Member of Digital Content Next.
NAB Engineering Achievement Awards
Established in 1959, the NAB Engineering Achievement Awards are given to individuals who are nominated by their peers for significant contributions to advancing broadcast engineering. Awards are given separately for radio and television.
David L. Hershberger is the recipient of the 2021 Engineering Achievement Award for Radio. Having retired as Continental Electronics’ senior scientist, Hershberger worked for Harris Broadcast, Grass Valley Group and Axcera, focusing primarily on exciters and modulators for transmitters, and low-level signal processing. Hershberger co-developed the world’s first digital FM exciter as an experimental prototype and holds 21 U.S. patents.
David A. Folsom is the recipient of the 2021 Engineering Achievement Award for Television. He is the technology lead for Pearl TV specializing in the advancement of Next Gen TV through operational and technical education. Formerly, he was the chief technology officer of Raycom Media Inc, now part of Gray Television. Folsom has worked in broadcast and engineering management for more than forty years and holds two television equipment design patents.
Service to Broadcast Engineering Award
The Service to Broadcast Engineering Award is presented periodically to individuals who have provided extraordinary service to the industry. This year’s recipient is Brady Dreasler, corporate director of engineering and technology at Quincy Media, Inc.
A native of Quincy, Illinois, Dreasler began his career almost 50 years ago with Quincy Media, Inc. at WGEM-TV. He held various positions, including operations manager, local television sales manager and account representative. Throughout his career, he has gained experience in virtually every department of a television and radio station. Dreasler also serves as vice chairman of the NAB TV Technology Committee.
