AFCCE News & Events
Dec 03

FCC’S Rodolfo Bonacci Wins E. Noel Luddy Award

Rodolfo (“Rudy”) Bonacci was presented with the E. Noel Luddy Award for years of meritorious service to the telecommunications industry. Bonacci is Assistant Division Chief, Engineering, in the Audio Division in FCC’s Media Bureau. The award was presented November 30 at the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers’ annual FCC Reception, held at the National Press Club by AFCCE President John Lyons.

In his introduction of this year’s honoree, James Bradshaw, Deputy Division Chief, Engineering, in the Audio Division of the FCC’s Media Bureau, recalled the time from when Rudy joined the FCC to the present day and Bradshaw told anecdotes on Bonacci’s career and spoke of his prestige within the FCC.

 

Addressing the crowd of AFCCE members and guests, and FCC colleagues, Bonacci thanked the AFCCE for bestowing the award and expressed admiration for his colleagues, noting several whom he thought better deserved the honor than himself.

Rudy Bonacci joins an distinguished list of previous Luddy award winners that includes notables such as John Reiser (the first E. Noel Luddy awardee, pictured here with Bonacci and Lyons), Jules Cohen, Ann Gallagher and Julius Knapp.

The E. Noel Luddy Award (since 2000) is presented annually by the AFCCE Board of Directors. Its winner is frequently, but not always, an FCC employee who has provided notable and exemplary service to the telecommunications industry. Noel Luddy was a lifelong radio enthusiast who was in charge of all communications throughout the South Pacific during World War II. He served for many years in several engineering capacities with RCA. With Dielectric’s acquisition of the RCA broadcast antenna business, he joined Dielectric as a consultant, serving as a liaison to broadcast station engineers, consulting engineers and the FCC. He is well known for his years of service on the AFCCE Board of Directors and was recognized numerous times for his contributions to the association and the broadcast industry. Dielectric continues to fund the E. Noel Luddy Scholarship in Noel’s honor.

The Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers is a membership organization comprised of engineers and other professionals engaged in telecommunications engineering. Its website notes that its main objective is to aid and promote the proper federal administration and regulation of those engineering and technical phases of communications which are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission.