Howard A. Chinn

Howard Allen Chinn was an American broadcasting engineer who pioneered techniques of analog audio recording as well as radio and television broadcasting practices. Chinn served as chief audio engineer at Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) beginning in the 1940s, and authored many magazine articles and books on the technical aspects of audio engineering and broadcasting.

Early life Chinn was born in New York, New York January 5, 1906, to David L. Chinn from China and Ethel Whinton of New York.

Education Chinn attended Polytechnic Institute of New York University, later moving to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1927, and a master's degree in 1929. From 1927 to 1932 he served as a research associate at MIT. From 1939 to 1941, Chinn appeared as a special lecturer at New York University for graduate studies in electrical engineering. From 1944, Chinn served as technical aide then consultant to OSRD. Others did not agree, and when AES did form, Chinn immediately joined. Chinn served on the AES board of governors in 1951. The office was to be held for two years, but Chinn resigned after one "because of the press of work."

Published works (1935) Howard Allen Chinn and Charles W. Horn, Broadcast Transmission Developments and Progress During 1934, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 23, Number 5. (1940) H.A. Chinn, D.K. Gannett, R.M. Morris. A New Standard Volume Indicator and Reference Level, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 28. (1943) Enemy Radar Characteristics. Harvard University. (1945) H.A. Chinn, P. Eisenberg, Tonal-Range and Sound-Intensity Preferences of Broadcast Listeners, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 33, Issue 9. (1946) Radio Alphabet: A Glossary of Radio Terms, Hastings House, New York. Copyright CBS. Editors: Paul Kesten, Paul Hollister, Robert Strunsky, Douglas Coulter, William Lodge, William Gittinger, William Ackerman, John Churchill, Elmo Wilson, Gilbert Seldes, Howard Chinn, Earle McGill, Davidson Taylor, Lyman Bryson (1947) H.A. Chinn, Philip Eisenberg, New CBS Program Transmission Standards, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 35. (1948) Audio System Design Fundamentals, Audio Engineering, Volume 32, Number 11, pp. 11–12. (1948) AES E-Library: How It All Began, Reprinted from Audio, 1948 by Sherry, Jr., Frank E.; LeBel, C. J.; Pickering, Norman C.; Salmon, Vincent; Hartley, Jack; Chinn, Howard A.; West, William P. (1951) Measurement of Audio Volume, Audio Engineering, Two-part series, September and October, 1951. (1952) The measurement of audio volume. AES paper. (1953) Television broadcasting, McGraw-Hill. (1953) Rudy Bretz and Howard A. Chinn, Techniques of Television Production, McGraw-Hill. (1954) Chinn, H.A., O'Brien, R.S., Monroe, R.B., Fish, P.E. CBS Television City Technical Facilities, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 42, Issue 7.

Awards (1950) John H. Potts Award (now the Gold Medal), the highest accolade from the AES, "for outstanding achievement in the field of audio engineering". (1968) NAB Engineering Achievement Award, awarded by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to Howard A. Chinn, director, general engineering; CBS Television Network; New York, New York.