UTICA-ROME -- Merv Ainsworth, a longtime WKTV engineer who helped to bring FM radio to Utica in the 1960s, died over the weekend. He was 83 years old.
WKTV reported on Ainsworth's passing late Sunday night. The station says Ainsworth started his engineering career at WKAL radio, moving in 1950 to WKTV. (History buffs may recall the Kallet family owned both stations then; hence the "K" in the call letters.)
Ainsworth remained a WKTV employee for the next four decades, becoming Chief Engineer in 1980, and retiring in 1992. But Ainsworth temporarily added some extra work to his schedule in 1962, in helping to build WUFM 107.3, the market's very first FM station.
WKTV says Ainsworth was a lifetime member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Caroline, and two daughters who live in the area.