2004 CE Hall Of Fame Inductees Honored At CEA's Industry Forum

Annual Awards Dinner Hosted For Consumer Electronics Innovators

3-Nov-04

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and leaders from throughout the consumer electronics industry honored 11 new inductees in to the class of 2004 of the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame at an awards dinner held Tuesday, October 19, 2004. The dinner took place during CEA's annual Industry Forum held in San Francisco, CA. The annual Industry Forum brought together more than 600 leaders from throughout the consumer electronics industry for a series of educational and networking events combined with panel discussions, keynote presentations and industry leadership meetings. ""As today's industry leaders gathered at our Industry Forum to discuss opportunities to help ensure the continued growth of our industry, it is only fitting that we take time to honor those whose achievements made possible today's $100 billion consumer electronics industry,"" said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. ""These 11 pioneers join the 75 already inducted into the pantheon of great leaders who exemplify the hallmark of our industry - innovation.""The awards dinner, sponsored by CE Vision magazine, saluted the following individuals for their contribution toward the advancement of the electronicsindustry:-- Alan BlumleinAlan Dower Blumlein worked primarily for EMI in London where he registered128 patents, mostly in audio engineering, television and radar. His more influential patent was one for ""binaural audio output,"" better known as stereo -- Henry Brief Henry Brief worked 40-plus years as leader of the two largest trade associations in the recording and blank media industries; the International Recording Media Association and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). -- Joel Engel and Richard FrankielJoel Engel and Richard Frankiel co-developed the cellular phone system architecture. This system was dubbed AMPS-Advanced Mobile Phone Service.In 1994, Engel and Frankiel jointly received the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton.-- Robert E. GersonBob Gerson has been a long-time consumer electronics journalist and editor.He is the founding editor of TWICE and was a writer and editor at TV Digest.Gerson received CEA's first Lifetime Achievement Award and the same award from TWICE, and is an original member of the Academy of Digital TV Pioneers.-- Ken KaiKen Kai founded Pioneer America and Pioneer Video. In so doing, he built the U.S. market for Japanese consumer electronics companies with high-fidelity products along with the introduction of optical disc technology with the laserdisc. In 1984, Kai was inducted into the Video Hall of Fame under the ""Pioneer in Home Video"" category.-- Jerry Kalov Jerry Kalov has been an influential figure in the consumer electronics industry for more than 40 years. He served as President and CEO of Cobra Electronics, President and COO of Harman International Industries, and President and CEO of JBL. He also served as chairman of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) and is currently CEA's Executive Industry Advisor. He recently received CEA's Lifetime Achievement Award.-- Paul KlipschPaul Klipsch put his own name on the loudspeaker company he founded in 1946.He developed the Klipschorn loudspeaker, the longest continuously manufactured speaker. He is also the founder of Klipsch Audio.-- Dr. Woo PaikDr. Woo Paik led the development of DigiCipher, the digital compression technology that is the basis for digital television broadcasting. He was also instrumental in leading the development of VideoCipher, the defacto standard for distribution of scrambled cable channels over satellite. Dr.Paik holds 24 U.S. patents.-- Norio OhgaNorio Ohga served as president, CEO and chairman of Sony Corp. He oversaw the adoption of the compact cassette, CD, MiniDisc and PlayStation formats.He also facilitated Sony's purchase of CBS Records (now Sony records) and Columbia Pictures (now Sony Pictures).-- Steve WozniakSteve Wozniak was the engineering genius that developed the first recognizable personal computer. He helped to design the Apple IIe, the world's most popular PC for many years. Wozniak co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In 2000, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and was awarded the Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment. ""As one of the honored, I was in incredible company of people changing lives in positive ways, said Steve Wozniak. ""One of my fellow inductees, Jerry Kalov said 'we build fun devices.' My goal in life has been to build the fun, often found in other consumer electronics devices, into computers."" As master of ceremonies for the evening, Shapiro gave each inductee an award, a pin with the Hall of Fame logo and a commemorative book with handwritten notes from their peers. Now in its fifth year, the CE Hall of Fame honors the visionaries that have made the consumer electronics industry what it is today. Leadership, resourcefulness and vision are among the qualities possessed by CE Hall of Fame inductees. To choose the 2004 class, a panel of 17 consumer electronics media and industry leaders judged the nominations that were submitted by manufacturers, retailers and industry journalists. The judges used the democratic process of the majority votes to determine the eleven new honorees. With the addition of the 11 2004 inductees, the CE Hall of Fame now has 86 members. The 2005 class of inductees will be announced at the 2005 International CES being held January 6-9, 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information, visit http://www.CE.org

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