Tom Siglin, who served as the the chief engineer of WHRW for nearly 40 years, died of cancer on Monday. He was 70 years old.
Siglin served as the chief engineer for the station from 1978 to August 2017. In an email announcing Siglin’s death, Jeffrey Goldberg, general manager for WHRW and a senior majoring in geography, said that many younger station members might not have known Siglin, but were still impacted by his service to the station.
“For nearly 40 years, he has been the one watching over all of us, ensuring that WHRW continued operating, even in the most difficult moments,” Goldberg wrote in an email to the station members. “Most of you probably never met Tom, but that’s because he was always behind the scenes, ready to jump in at a moment’s notice.”
The chief engineer is responsible for the large-scale technical scheme for broadcasting. Siglin expanded the role to include mentoring other station members interested in working on the technical side of radio broadcasting.
Siglin oversaw the technical transition between the station’s old and new offices, as well as many of the technical changes and updates that the station has witnessed over the past 40 years, including switching from analog to digital broadcasting.
Siglin received an associate’s degree from Broome Community College in 2012 after a career as an electronics engineer, which lasted for more than five decades. He previously served as president of the Binghamton Amateur Radio Association and as president of the Binghamton chapter of the Society of Broadcast Engineers.
He is survived by his wife, Kathy, and their four children.
Ferdinand Montalvo, ‘87, a DJ for the station, overlapped with Siglin throughout much of his career at WHRW and worked closely with him over that time. He said he considered Siglin a mentor and will remember him fondly — both as a friend and as a fellow station member.
“He was always very open and very receiving and willing to answer your questions,” Montalvo said. “Everybody that came in contact with him enjoyed his ability to be very affable, whichever is very rare with some people that you might come across.”
Montalvo also said that Siglin’s Federal Communications Commission first-class broadcasting license, the certificate of which hangs in WHRW’s main broadcast studio, was the reason that the station was permitted to broadcast. He said that Siglin was the only station member qualified to repair and maintain much of the station’s broadcast infrastructure.
Goldberg said that the station body has been hit hard by Siglin’s death.
“We’re all devastated by this,” he said. “We’ve known about his cancer for some time, but it doesn’t make it easier.”
In his email to station members, Goldberg wrote a posthumous message to Siglin.
“To Tom, thank you for the 40 years you have put in at WHRW,” he wrote in the email. “We couldn’t have come this far without you, and it will be difficult for all of us moving forward. You were indispensable throughout our history. We will miss you, from the bottom of our hearts. You were the kindest, smartest, and most importantly, the most patient engineer we could ask for.”
There will be a memorial service for Siglin in Owego, New York in February. Details have not yet been finalized.