Jim Fosgate Receives Emmy Award for Development of Surround Sound for TV

New York, NY, October 27, 2003 – Audio industry pioneer Jim Fosgate received a special Emmy Award during the 2003 Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards black-tie dinner ceremony at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on October 23. Fosgate was a co-recipient of the Development of Surround Sound for Television award, presented by the National television Academy for his continuing efforts to develop and refine surround technologies for television broadcast. As the holder of more than 14 patents (plus three pending) for surround audio, Fosgate is widely acknowledged to be one of the forefathers of the concept. “Everyone at Rockford is immensely proud of Jim and honored to be associated with the company he first started in the seventies,” said Gary Suttle, President and CEO, Rockford Corporation, parent company of Fosgate Audionics. “It’s due to his hard work and dedication that millions of people enjoy surround sound from their home theater systems. He literally changed the way we experience music and movie soundtracks.”

Fosgate first started working on surround technologies in 1978, leading to the introduction of the Fosgate Research TATE 101A surround processor three years later. The TATE 101A is recognized as the cornerstone of high performance, multichannel home audio. Under Fosgate’s direction, the company went on to demonstrate the first consumer-focused high separation sound demo at the January 1982 Consumer Electronics Show. More recently, Fosgate developed the surround decoding technology that is now known as Dolby Pro Logic II. “My pursuit of surround technologies that could play stereo recordings was driven by my love of music, especially older recordings,” said Fosgate. “I always wanted to hear them in flawless, multichannel audio, and wanted to share that experience with other lovers of music. “As one would expect, splitting stereo into five channels is like trying to defy the laws of physics. But, after more than 25 years, I found a way to do it right, matching the goal of performance I first set for myself in the seventies.” Fosgate Audionics is a brand name of Rockford Corporation.

Rockford Corporation is based in Tempe, Ariz. and is a publicly traded company under the NASDAQ stock symbol ROFO. Company website can be viewed at www.rockfordcorp.com.