Club Station Commemorates Amateur Radio Newsline Cofounder Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF (SK) The Amateur Radio Newsline Amateur Radio Club, WA6ITF, has adopted the call sign of Newsline cofounder Bill Pasternak, who died in 2015. Pasternak was a familiar voice in Amateur Radio news media, and a frequent presence at hamfests and conventions. He and Jim Hendershot, WA6VQP, established the Amateur Radio Newsline™(initially The Westlink Report) ham radio newscast. Pasternak served as Newsline’s managing editor and occasional newscaster for the program. In an announcement, the club said it wanted to honor Pasternak by putting his call sign back on the air.
Those who had contact with Bill while he was alive knew him to be caring and helpful. This honor is well deserved.
Bill was a good friend and we enjoyed meeting up with each other at various events around the country through the years whether it was the Dayton Hamvention or the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. It was my privilege to have worked with Bill in the production and reporting of Westlink Report and Newsline as well as in the production of some of the film documentaries for the ARRL. Upon his retirement from KTTV in Los Angeles he sent me a note telling me how excited he was to finally retire and looked forward to devoting more time with his family and amateur radio. He was certainly a major advocate for our hobby.
Bill and I used to hang around together in the 70's when he still had his KH call and used to pick me up at Burbank airport and we would go to Johnny Carson's studio up in the booth, where he was a sound man during the shows. Good memories attending the screen actors guild theater shows and parties. We will miss you. 99 Rich
One of Bill's television newsgathering associates was Roy Neal, K6DUE, who for years volunteered his time to help Bill produce videos about Amateur Radio. It hit Bill especially hard when Roy passed away, since, as Bill saw it, there really was no one of the magnitude of the onetime NBC correspondent who could carry the torch for our hobby. In some way, Bill today would be pleased and gratified that volunteers have continued his "bulletin" broadcast with news and features about the hobby. And now, with his call letters WA6ITF back on the air, we have yet another way to appreciate and acknowledge what Bill has done for the hobby for more than 40 years. As an aside, when I would call Bill's answering machine (tape, remember them?) to leave a report about FCC doings here in Washington, I loved his outgoing message that I still think of when a robocall hits my cellphone. "If you're a telemarketer, hang up, we won't talk to you!" in that authentic New York accent.
You will want to update the wording of the website that now says: Q: When do you transmit Amateur Radio Newsline on the air? A: Amateur Radio Newsline™ does not directly sponsor any on-air operation. We have no transmitting facilities of our own on any band: HF or VHF / UHF. We are producers/ distributors only. Source: https://www.arnewsline.org/f-a-q
I understand but we do not have any facilities or a central location for any on air activities. As always in the past everyone, including yourself, is legally allowed to play the audio on any amateur voice frequency and we encourage it. We do have a sign up page to list the stations that do play the audio on the air at https://www.arnewsline.org/repeater-list , as you may have noticed we give shout outs to those stations and are announced at the 10 min breaks... The most common is VHF and UHF, as always HF or Commercial radio is welcome as well. We are still working to establish special events that will consist of the ARN staff. Like other popular events i would "assume" that the call i would use is WA6ITF /7 due to the fact that the staff is not in one specific area. Example: Caryn would be /2, Don /5 Neil /9 Kevin /4 and myself /7 and so forth or no extension at all if the event is running from a location like Dayton or Huntsville by itself.. Understand none of this is set in stone in any way due to the fact we are still building the bridges... Keep a watch out for events that will be announced on ARNewsline. 73
