Telos Founder Steve Church Dies at 57

9-28-2012

Colleagues and friends are mourning the passing of Steve Church, engineer, entrepreneur, talk show host, and founder of Telos Systems and the Telos Alliance, a coalition of broadcast technology companies. Over the past thirty years Church created many of the products that ushered broadcasting into the digital age. Radio Ink Magazine Publisher Eric Rhoads said, "Steve was one of the brightest, most innovative people I've ever known. His ideas were revolutionary and changed the radio industry. His passing is a big loss for our industry."

Steve was born in San Diego, California, and began his broadcast engineering career in 1975 at WFMK in Lansing, Mich. He later worked at W4 (WWWW) in Detroit before moving to Indianapolis, Indiana to become chief engineer at WFBQ/WNDE. Church?s first innovation transformed the sound of radio talk shows. Having hosted such shows in addition to his engineering duties, he was frustrated by the poor sound delivered by the analog telephone adapters then in use, which were plagued by sidetone distortion. The problem was thought to be unsolvable even by Bell Labs engineers, but by applying DSP adaptive filtering, Church solved the problem and was able to eliminate sidetone distortion. This became the basis for his first product, the Telos 10 telephone hybrid, and Telos Systems was launched in 1985 as a part-time project.

Church later moved to Cleveland to become chief engineer of WMMS/WHK, still building the company in his spare time. Sales of the Telos 10 telephone hybrid increased, to the point that Church decided to quit his day job and commit to his company full-time. The rest, as they say, is history.
Church?s second breakthrough changed the way radio stations do remote broadcasts. What was once an expensive, complex and time-consuming undertaking with long distance telephone lines or satellite links was simplified when Church combined then-new MP3 audio coding with ISDN technology. The result was the Telos Zephyr, which enabled stations to set up and transmit broadcast quality point-to-point digital audio in a matter of seconds. Zephyr has since become the most successful digital broadcast audio product of all time.

Next, Church applied packet switching and Ethernet technology to the routing of audio signals around the broadcast plant. The result was Livewire IP-Audio, which employs a linear audio-over-IP method. This technology has fundamentally altered broadcast studio infrastructure and spurred a new wave of signal routing within broadcast plants.

At the heart of Steve?s work was a deep, abiding love for the medium of radio itself, a love manifested since childhood. He wrote, in 2008:
?Radio is a bit like a kiss, no? When passion takes a grip, a kiss connects two humans in an exchange of secrets and emotions. We kiss furtively, lasciviously, gently, shyly, hungrily and exuberantly. We kiss in broad daylight and in the dead of night. We give ceremonial kisses, affectionate kisses, Hollywood air kisses, kisses of death and (in fairytales) pecks that revive princesses. At its best, and in our imagination, radio has such a variety, and a similar power."

?It is well-known that one?s lifelong musical taste is pretty much imprinted during the teen years. Our connection to radio might be, as well. How many of us, during those sensitive years, listening to a great DJ or talk host, decided we wanted to be a part of that? ? Think about the vast numbers of people for whom work is just work, and consider how fortunate we are to have found a vocation bound in such a way to our
inner spirit.?

Church fought a three-year battle with brain cancer. He passed away quietly at his home near Cleveland, on September 28, 2012. He is survived by his loving wife Lana, stepson Dimitri, mother Jacqueline Burgess, and brothers Brent Church, Dann Church and Todd Church. He was 57 years old. Steve Church ? 1955 - 2012

(9/29/2012 9:54:11 PM)
Steve was 56-years-old.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Eric Church Wants to 'Kick Everybody Else's Ass in the Industry' With Third Album

It's a sunny Tuesday afternoon on the west side of Nashville as Eric Church sips a beer and relaxes on the deck of a brick house. But he's not chilling at home. He's taking a break from the basement studio of producer Jay Joyce, where they're recording "Chief," his third album.

"It's the most fun I've had in the studio since we've been doing this," he says of working with Joyce, primarily known for producing such non-country acts as Audio Adrenaline, Macy Gray, John Hiatt and Patty Griffin.

Arthur Buenahora, who signed Church to a publishing deal at Sony Tree, suggested he meet Joyce. They worked together on Church's 2006 Capitol Records Nashville debut, "Sinners Like Me," and 2009's "Carolina." "Jay had never even really heard country music, much less produced it," Church says. "We were both a little wary of each other. We made a couple of tracks together and I just fell in love with them. He's a genius in the studio."

Church and Joyce's collaborations have proved successful. Fans recently voted him the Academy of Country Music's top new solo vocalist. His last single, "Smoke a Little Smoke," peaked at No. 16 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and "Homeboy," the lead single from the new album, is No. 22.

"We've had enough success now that I can push the envelope," Church says. "I held back a little bit sometimes because I was afraid people would think I'd lost my mind. Then 'Smoke a Little Smoke' was a hit... I saw it work when everybody told me it wouldn't. I decided that whatever little bit of rope they gave me on that song, I just tied it to the back of the truck and took off down the road."

Church began recording "Chief" last November and the afternoon he spoke to Billboard was the last day of tracking. "I have a couple more songs that are wild cards," he says. "We're really pushing the envelope today and seeing if I can find lightning in a bottle."

Heading down to the basement to join Joyce, Church seems relaxed as they begin working on "She Got a Rock So I'm Getting Stoned." Church delivers the song with the right combination of anger, angst and resignation. Drummer Craig Wright is in the next room, but bassist Lee Hendrix and guitarists J.T. Cornfloss and Brian Sutton are in the room with Joyce and Church.

"It's very vibe-y," Church says. "Everybody is on top of each other. It's not a big nice studio. There's no catering. We're not here to baby everybody. We're here to make music. I know how I want it to sound, how I
want it to feel... it allows me to be beside the guitar player and slap him on the arm if something is right."

Church uses his road band on some tracks (Hendrix and Wright are his players) and also enlists studio musicians. "There's a couple songs on this record that I'm playing all the guitars on and that's the first time that's happened," the North Carolina native says. "I'm playing acoustic on 'Home Boy'... and I'm singing a lot of the harmonies on it too. It just feels like I'm more involved in every aspect."

The album is slated for release on July 26. Church wrote or co-wrote all but one song (Casey Beathard penned "Like Jesus Does") and he knows he'll have to cull the 15 tracks he's recorded down to 10 or 11.

"It's the hardest part, other than capturing them," says Church, who also gets his wife, Joyce and Buenahora to weigh in on the best tracks to keep. "I have to get in my truck and ride around with all 15 and see which ones feel like they're from either a different record, or [if it] feels like we've not got there yet."

Church acknowledges he's considered a bit of a renegade. "I'm seen as the bad boy, a lone wolf. I do my own thing and that's OK," he says. "I'm not doing it to make friends. I just want to make great music and honestly kick everybody else's ass in the industry. That's my goal."

View the original article here