Thomas R. Ray, III dot Com

Welcome to Thomas R. Ray, III dot Com

ABOUT THOMAS R. RAY, III - Thomas R. Ray, III started his career with Buckley Broadcasting radio stations WDRC and WDRC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut, while a Senior in High School in 1977. He has been Chief Engineer of several radio stations in the Hartford area, such as WTIC AM and FM, has worked as producer/engineer for the Hartford Whalers Hockey organization, and has built numerous radio stations in the Northeast and the Caribbean. He came home to Buckley and WOR in 1997, working his way up to Vice President in 2005. He is presently Vice President/Corporate Director of Engineering for Buckley Radio, and is directly responsible for the technical operation of east coast facilities WOR and the WOR Radio Networks, New York City : WDRC and WDRC-FM, Hartford, CT : WSNG, Torrington, CT : WMMW, Meriden, CT : WWCO, Waterbury, CT : WSEN and WSEN-FM in Baldwinsville (Syracuse), NY : and WFBL, Syracuse, NY.

He is one of the leading proponents of the HD Radio system in the United States, and has considerable experience with transmission, studio construction, and data, which culminated in the rebuilding of the WOR studio facility in 2005, which is primarily a data based facility. He put a new transmitter facility on the air for WOR in September of 2006, which was built from the ground up with digital transmission in mind. He holds a degree in Communications Electronics from the Ward College of Technology at the University of Hartford, holds a commercial FCC General Class License, is an Extra Class Ham Radio operator (call sign W2TRR), and is Certified as a Professional Broadcast Engineer by the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

Tom is past two time Chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcast Engineering Conference Committee and is on the Digital Radio Committee at the National Association of Broadcasters. He recently vacated a seat on the Board of Directors of the Society of Broadcast Engineers (he hit his term limit) and also served on the Executive Committee. He is Chairman of The Society of Broadcast Engineers Chapter 15 in New York City. He was recently on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Broadcasters Association. He is on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Radio Museum. He is President of the Orange County (NY) Amateur Radio Club (club call W2HO). He is a frequent writer for Radio World Magazine and Talkers Magazine, and is a frequent speaker at Industry functions. He has also been selected as one of the top Radio Engineers in the United States by Radio Ink Magazine, and was featured on the cover of the April 23, 2007 edition of Radio Ink. He won the Best Technical Article award from the Society of Broadcast Engineers for his article on nighttime HD Radio testing published in Radio Magazine. He also teaches photography with his son Tom IV for the Orange County 4-H Association, and is author of the book "HD Radio Implementation : The Field Guide for Facility Conversion", published March 14, 2008 by Focal Press.

Tom lives with his wife Susan (an elementary school computer teacher), his college student son Tom IV (a video production major - and now working at the Office of Radio and Television of the Archdiocese of Hartford), and daughter Sarah (the math curve buster - scored a perfect 100 on her recent midterm!) and the Guinea Pigs she raises, plus Scrappy the Toy Poodle in New Windsor, NY. In his spare (hah!) time, he likes model railroading, electronic things, video production, Ham radio, computers, puttering around the house (doing his best Tim Allen impersonation), automotive repair (not emulating the WOR Car Doctor!), photography (both traditional and digital), and assisting with various 4-H projects, most involving photography and cleaning up after guinea pigs. He desperately needs sleep, but isn’t complaining.