NAB Announces 2023 Engineering Achievement Award Honorees

The National Association of Broadcasters announced today that NBCUniversal Local’s H. Douglas Lung and Beasley Media Group’s Michael Cooney are the recipients of the 2023 NAB Engineering Achievement Awards. They will be honored at the We Are Broadcasters Awards, held on the Main Stage of the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas on April 18 at 10 a.m.

Established in 1959, the Radio and Television Engineering Achievement Awards are given to individuals who are nominated by their peers for significant contributions to advancing broadcast engineering.

The 2023 Television Engineering Achievement Award

H. Douglas Lung

As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings.

Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.

A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Lung is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He received a Tech Leadership Award from digital media publisher Future in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

The 2023 Radio Engineering Achievement Award

Michael Cooney

Michael Cooney is the chief technology officer at Beasley Media Group, which he joined in 2007. A member of the company’s executive committee, he is responsible for the supervision and oversight of all engineering and technology matters related to Beasley’s 61 radio stations, as well as assisting in the management of the company’s capital and operating budgets.

Cooney is well-known in broadcast radio as a stakeholder and leader on numerous industry working groups. He is a former chairman of NAB’s Radio Technology Committee, a member of the NAB Automotive Initiative Committee, a member of the Technical Committee for the Broadcast Traffic Consortium and a former radio representative for the NAB FASTROAD Committee.

Cooney received the 2016 Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award and was named by Radio & Television Business Report as a Top Technology Leader in 2022 and 2023. A certified engineer by the Society of Broadcast Engineers, he has presented at several NAB conferences over the years.