SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX030
ARLX030 Bill Leonard, W2SKE, SK
 
ZCZC AX62
QST de W1AW  
Special Bulletin 30  ARLX030
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  October 24, 1994
To all radio amateurs 
 
SB SPCL ARL ARLX030
ARLX030 Bill Leonard, W2SKE, SK
 
Bill Leonard, W2SKE, SK
 
Bill Leonard, W2SKE, a former president of CBS News, died October 23
in Laurel, Maryland. He was 78.
 
Leonard, an avid Dxer and contest operator in the 1960s and 1970s,
was an advocate for Amateur Radio, writing, for example, an article
for Sports Illustrated in 1958 entitled ''The Battle of the Hams.'' It
described the ''sport of DXing'' and Leonard's role in it from the
contest super station of Buzz Reeves, K2GL, on Long Island.
 
Leonard said in 1981 that he was interested in radio as a child in
the 1920s, and received his first amateur license, W1JHV, while a
student at Dartmouth College in 1934.
 
After graduating in 1937, Leonard went to work as a reporter for the
Bridgeport, Connecticut, Post-Telegram.  After serving in the US
Navy from 1941 to 1945, where was involved with electronic
countermeasures against German radio-controlled bombs, he joined CBS
News in 1945.
 
As CBS president, Leonard was credited with the selection of Dan
Rather as Evening News anchor, as a member of the team that
developed the ''60 Minutes'' newsmagazine, and of helping develop
techniques to predict election outcomes.
 
Asked in 1981 about the future of Amateur Radio, W2SKE said ''I have
a hunch that Amateur Radio is going to get more and more tangled up
with amateur computer technology.''  He also said ''My bet is that ham
radio, in one form or another, will be around 100 years from now.''
 
A profile of W2SKE appeared in March, 1981, QST.  Bill Leonard
leaves his wife, the former Norma Kaphan Wallace, and six sons.
NNNN
/EX