GatesAir celebrates a century of operations this year and will formally celebrate at the 2022 NAB Show, April 24-27 in Las Vegas.
The story of GatesAir is the stuff of legend. Parker Gates was 14-years-old, and a maker of crystal radio sets, when his father Henry took him to visit fledgling AM radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh in 1921. The experience left an impression on father and son, planting the seeds for a family-operated radio equipment company they would launch from their Quincy, Illinois, home the following year.
One hundred years later, the vision of young Parker Gates, with the support of Henry and his mother, Cora B. Gates, lives on as the company now known as GatesAir celebrates its 100th year in business. As part of its celebrations at the NAB Show, GatesAir will present a series of raffles and prizes, including crystal radio sets, commemorating the engineering passion behind its formation. It will also demonstrate its latest innovations for over-the-air broadcasters.
Focus on over-the-air
GatesAir’s impressive longevity points largely to its dedication to the over-the-air broadcaster. Following the sale of its first AM radio transmitter in 1936, transmission gradually became the company’s core focus over the ensuing decades. GatesAir, then a part of Harris Corporation, added TV transmitters to its product lineup in 1972. The company expanded its brand of wireless content delivery with the acquisition of Intraplex in 1999, then a specialist in legacy STL systems and today a significant player in audio over IP networking.
These three businesses serving over-the-air broadcasters — radio transmission, TV transmission and Intraplex networking — remain GatesAir’s focus today. The new products and features planned for the 2022 NAB Show include the Maxiva IMTX-70 Intra-Mast, a modular, multi-tenant transmitter solution that can house up to eight low-power TV transmitters in one compact chassis; and Intraplex Ascent, a cloud transport solution that can move broadcast and media content at scale.
“The story of GatesAir over 100 years is terrific,” said CEO Bruce D. Swail. “The spirit of innovation from the company’s beginnings remains here today. We see it alive and well in our manufacturing operation, in the new products we will bring to NAB, and across our global team of employees that deliver day in and day out. There is a century of knowledge and expertise at GatesAir, and that is an important part of the value proposition for our global customer base. We will continue to bring new technologies to market that solve problems, create new opportunities for broadcasters, and provide exceptional customer support and innovation for the next 100 years.”