Stations running Broadcast Tools switchers, remote controls and silence monitors will see their gear keep its name under a new owner. Founder Don Winget is retiring after selling Broadcast Tools Inc. (BTI) to Inovonics.
Inovonics plans to continue the BT brand and product line. Manufacturing will move from Sedro Woolley, Wash., to Inovonics' home in Felton, Calif. BTI's catalog includes audio routers, remote controls, satellite channel controllers, analog mixers and distribution amplifiers, silence monitors and program schedulers. Much of this equipment sits quietly in racks at small and mid-size stations, often tied into automation systems.
Winget started BTI in 1989 while he was chief engineer at KXRX in Seattle. His broadcast career began as a gofer for a station chief engineer in Eau Claire, Wis. After Army service during the Vietnam war, he ran an engineering contracting business. With engineer Lee Hurley he also built Sentry Systems, one of the early PC-based automation systems.
Winget named the ACS8.2 Plus Stereo Audio Switcher as the product he is proudest of. It was one of the first he designed, and some version of it has been in production for most of the company's 37 years. He called it "the bedrock of our product line."
Besides Winget and his wife, Connie Miller, BTI has three longtime employees, Christina Molina, Chriselda Gutierrez and Ben Nason. Winget said they had known for a while that a transition was possible and are preparing for their next jobs. After November, he and his wife plan to travel the country by RV.
Asked whether an engineer with an idea should still start a company in a shrinking equipment market, Winget said yes, but advised starting small and learning the business side as well as the engineering. "And remember the most important thing: listen to your customers and work to meet their needs," he said.