Jules Cohen dead at 93.

 

Longtime broadcast engineer Jules Cohen, whose work on the FM dial still impacts stations today, died late Tuesday.  He was 93.  Cohen was an electrical engineer by trade, and after serving in the Navy during World War II he set out on a career in broadcast engineering that would extend six decades.

Cohen created his own Washington-based consultancy and ran the firm until 1988, although he continued to work with a handful of clients rather than retire.  Cohen’s biggest impact on the dial came when he chaired a committee that developed the rules for how noncommercial stations (88.1-91.9 FM) would be licensed to not step on analog TV channels.  He also put his engineering background to work by writing the section dealing with human exposure to RF for the eighth edition of the NAB’s Engineering Handbook.  Cohen eventually did retire for good in 2009.

Cohen was honored with the NAB Engineering Achievement Award in 1988, using his speech before the NAB to sound themes that would be familiar today: the long-term prospects of AM radio.  “FM is here to stay,” he told a crowd, some of whom complained the switch from FM mono to stereo hurt coverage areas.