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| George Capalbo |
George J. Capalbo, a pioneer in radio broadcasting and a
lifelong resident of Worcester, died Friday at The Ichabod Washburn House
hospice.
He was 86, according to The Boston Herald.
Capalbo was one of the nation’s most respected broadcast
engineering executives and was a member of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall
of Fame, inducted in 2012.
He was a veteran of the Navy, serving during World War II as
a radio telegraph operator.
He had a major influence on Boston radio broadcasting in the
1960s, ’70s and ’80s. He built FM radio station WAAF in Worcester in 1961, and
was chief engineer for WRKO in Boston at the time of its launch as a Top 40
station as the ‘Big 68’ in 1967.
Mr. Capalbo is credited by then-General Manager Mel Phillips
with putting together a state-of-the-art broadcast facility for television and
radio “from scratch” at 7 Bulfinch Place in Boston, and with developing WRKO’s
radio automation system.
In 1973, Mr. Capalbo was promoted from chief engineer of the
Boston radio station to vice president engineering for the RKO Radio Division
nationwide, supervising seven AM stations and seven FM stations in major
markets including New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, and later built the
RKO Satellite Network, the first radio satellite delivery network.
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