REC has received word that Bill Baran, amateur call sign N2FNH had passed away on Sunday, October 30, 2011. Baran had a regular segment on the on-air amateur radio bulletin service "This Week in Amateur Radio" and the broadcast version "This Week in Amateur Radio International" called "The Random Access Thought". These short segments included subject matter that was loosely related to amateur radio and featured sound effects and sound bites that added a lighter touch to what are normally very serious amateur radio bulletins. TWIAR and TWIAR International were featured on former REC audio services W0KIE West and Hardcore XTRA. In a Facebook post, REC's Michi Eyre, W3REC had this to say about Bill Baran:
He was truly someone who knew how to make bulletins for amateur radio fun to listen to. His "Random Access Thoughts" were very insightful and I really appreciated his production quality and editing. Outside of TWIAR, he was a very interesting personality who would leave funny or thought provoking comments on my Facebook posts, even when I was being very serious. This is what I am going to miss. I think we did speak live once awhile back and we had chatted a few times. He was surely an asset to the amateur radio hobby by not just making the hobby more fun for those of us who were already licensed but presented a side of ham radio that was less serious than ARRL but more behaved than 147.435 in LA. 73 OM N2FNH DE W3REC
Bill Baran died after bypass surgery as a result of two heart attacks in October. He is definitely one of ham radio's personalities who will be missed by hams and non-hams alike. He definitely made subject matter entertaining on a medium where entertainment is normally not allowed.
