Ebel, A. James

Engineer and broadcasting executive A. James Ebel was born in Waterloo, Iowa on May 30, 1913 and attended Iowa State Teacher's College and the State University of Iowa where he graduated with a B.A. in Math and Physics in 1937. His long career in public broadcasting started in 1937 when he moved with his wife and the first of their four children to Indiana to work part time for radio station WBAA and to start a masters degree at Purdue. One day, after working at the station only a month, he returned home to find the broadcaster Joe Wright sitting on his front porch and speaking highly of his recent article in Electronics Magazine. Wright offered Ebel a job as chief engineer with the University of Illinois' WILL in Champaign, where Ebel worked until 1946. At WILL, Ebel designed the station's first FM transmitter relying only on plans and articles he had read in trade magazines. WILL received an educational FM license in 1941. In addition to working at WILL, Ebel also finished his master's degree in Electrical Engineering, announced Big Ten basketball and football games, and became executive secretary for the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) . In addition Ebel tested acetate discs for NAEB.

In 1946, Ebel began work in commercial broadcasting by taking a position as director of engineering with WMBD of Peoria and its sister station WDZ of Decatur. In 1952, he became president of KXIC in Iowa City, and in 1954 he moved to Lincoln as vice president and general manager of KOLN-TV, a station owned by Fetzer Broadcasting. When Mr. Fetzer decided to sell this station, Ebel, showing concern for educational television, persuaded him to give the equipment to the University of Nebraska. Ebel managed a number of Fetzer's stations including KGIN-TV in Grand Island, Nebaska and KMEG-TV in Sioux City, Iowa. He also became director of Fetzer Broadcasting and Fetzer Communications. Ebel continued to work for Fetzer until its Nebraska interests were sold to George Gillett. He then became a consultant and industry representative for Gillett. Ebel was also an enthusiastic friend and benefactor of Nebraska ETV and was instrumental in the Channel 12 assignment to KUON-TV in Lincoln in the early 1950s. In 1988 he retired and has continued consulting.

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