Bob Tomalski was a journalist, broadcaster, and gadget guru who founded Home Cinema Choice magazine and contributed to various magazines on TV, video, satellite TV, mobile phones, and camcorders.
He was a regular contributor to Sky News’ Technofile program and Media Network, a communications magazine on the English service of Radio Netherlands.
Tomalski began his broadcasting career in the 1970s on the south west London pirate scene and later became a licensed amateur radio operator.
His home in Mitcham, Surrey was equipped with a broadcast-quality mixing desk, Nakamichi cassette decks, turntables, and a collection of thousands of albums, including soul and funk.
He co-founded Wandle Valley Radio (WVR) in 1984, broadcasting a soul/funk/hi-energy program under the pseudonym “Roger Tate”. Tomalski pioneered microwave links from the studio to the FM Band II transmitter and computer data transmission via Band II FM radio. His home studio was raided in the late 80s for alleged transmission offences, and the Home Office confiscated his electric kettle and studio gear. Tomalski was a regular contributor to You and Yours and The Big Byte on BBC Radio, broadcast for Radio Mercury and Radio Invicta, and was the resident ‘Inspector Gadget’ on the LBC Weekend Wireless Show.
I met Tom and his boyfriend in 1997, where Tom connected my BBS via a laptop with a SCSI interface card. Was lovely to see, I saw the future.
