Interview Series

If there is something we’ve learned from the pandemic, it’s the power and potential of on-line connections. The RCA Interview Series taps into that, offering the chance to listen in on conversations with a wide range of industry professionals, who also happen to be some of the most interesting people in wireless.  Held quarterly, these Zoom call interviews give you the chance to get to know intriguing people, ask questions via the session moderator, and learn what inspires and motivates some of the biggest names in wireless and do it all in a relaxed and casual setting.  Interviews are conducted by RCA President John Facella, and attendance is free and open to the public, although registration is required. 

David Layer is vice president, advanced engineering in NAB's Technology department and in his 30th year at NAB.  Educated as an Electrical Engineer at the University of Maryland and Purdue University in Indiana, David worked as a hardware designer for COMSAT Laboratories in the earlier part of his career, focusing on digital communications technologies for geosynchronous satellite systems.

When radio broadcasting started going digital in the latter part of the 1990s, David was hired by NAB to apply his digital communications expertise to the testing and standardization of broadcast radio technologies including digital audio broadcasting and data transmission over digital FM subcarriers.  As an administrator of the National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC, co-sponsored by NAB and the Consumer Technology Association), David participated in the evaluation of the HD Radio system which would be adopted by the FCC in 2002 as the digital radio standard for the US.

These days, David’s principal responsibilities include serving as a project manager for technology projects being conducted by PILOT (NAB’s innovation initiative), and as principal administrator of the NAB Radio Technology Committee, a group of technical executives from NAB member companies that advises NAB on technology development and technical regulatory matters.  David also provides technical support to NAB’s efforts at the FCC and on Capitol Hill.

David was the recipient of the Association of Public Radio Engineer’s Engineering Achievement Award in 2023.  He received Radio World’s 2015 Excellence in Engineering Award and was recognized by Radio Ink Magazine in November 2010 as among the top ten best engineers in radio. In 2014 David received the Consumer Electronics Association Technology Leadership Award. The IEEE BTS awarded David the Matti Siukola Memorial Award for the Best Paper of both the 2014 and 2018 IEEE Broadcast Symposia.