RALEIGH — The North Carolina Association of Broadcasters has honored Carl W. Davis, Jr., with the 2018 NCAB Hall of Fame Award.
Davis is a certified Professional Broadcast Engineer with a background in both radio and television and also worked in sales for several broadcast equipment manufacturers.
“The best thing about our technology is that it allows us to educate, inform and entertain our citizens. While the symphony or the ballet can’t come to every town in North Carolina, UNC(TV) can bring the symphony and ballet into every home. We can connect the people of our state,” Davis said in the announcement of the award.
Davis grew up in Hickory, N.C., where got his start in radio at WIRC and WXRC. He then went on to study sociology at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., where he also worked at campus radio station WECU(AM) — against his mother’s wishes, according to NCAB.
As a senior, Davis began to work for Greenville’s WOOW(AM); he was chief engineer and program director.
Several years later, he tackled a new job as president and owner of Fisher and Davis Electronics Inc.
From 1976–1980, he worked as WCTI(TV) transmitter supervisor for Malrite Broadcasting Company.
For his next gig, Davis was tapped as director of engineering for Durham Life Broadcasting, where he directed the technical operations of four radio stations, one NBC affiliate TV station, two regional sports networks, one national farm network, and a statewide satellite news/information network, according to his résumé.
In 1985, he was named vice president of engineering for Voyager Communications Group, overseeing 11 radio stations in four states.
He went on to work in broadcast TV equipment sales beginning in 1994, first as district sales manager for Harris Corp.
He returned to the engineering world in 1998. Davis was hired by University of North Carolina Center for Public Television to modernize a network that had signed on in 1955. He worked for the network as assistant general manager for 14 years before returning to Greenville.
He is currently a regional sales manager for Electronics Research Inc., covering the eastern seaboard, southern US, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
