A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
One of our colleagues who brought you the sound of the human voice has died. Brian David Jarboe was an audio engineer at NPR for more than 27 years and was a longtime technical director of this program. His job was to make sure we sounded our best. He trained his microphones on everyone from music stars to presidents.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In 2023, Brian was a cheerful and capable colleague, husband and father who abruptly suffered a series of medical reversals, including a spinal cord injury that left him unable to walk. He died yesterday at the age of 54. Our colleague Steve Inskeep remembers him as a perfectionist.
STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: Once in a while, there would be a mistake. The wrong microphone would be turned on, or something would happen a little late. And it would be so subtle, it wouldn't even bother me, and it would devastate Brian. He would apologize. And I would say, Brian, you're so great. Like, no one out in the audience even noticed, but you noticed because you had the highest standards.
MARTÍNEZ: Rachel Martin, host of the Wild Card podcast, remembers her days hosting MORNING EDITION and the music Brian would play in the studio before the show started.
RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: He'd put on all kinds of synth-instrumental, overly romantic, earnest music that may not necessarily have been my taste, but in that moment, it was exactly what I needed. He would create a sense of peace and calm. And when we were working in the daily grind of news, man, did we need that.
M MARTIN: In 2019, Brian shared a childhood memory on this program in a piece commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Sony Walkman.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
BRIAN JARBOE: My next-door neighbor Alex, who was about two years older than me, came up and said, check this out. He pulled the Walkman from his pocket, let me put on the small, wiry headphones with a soft foam cover and hit play.
(SOUNDBITE OF VAN HALEN'S "ERUPTION")
JARBOE: It was "Eruption" by Van Halen. My heart started racing. I couldn't believe it. It was like listening to a concert on my own front yard, and it led to a lifelong love of playing guitar.
(SOUNDBITE OF VAN HALEN'S "ERUPTION")
MARTÍNEZ: We'll leave you with the sounds of Brian Jarboe's guitar. Here's how he introduced a song at a showcase of NPR staff and friends sharing their talents.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JARBOE: This next song was written by a guy that I greatly admire, who died a couple years ago. His name was Michael Hedges. This song was written for one of his very first albums that he put out. The album's called "Aerial Boundaries," and the song is called "Rickover's Dream."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTÍNEZ: MORNING EDITION's longtime technical director Brian Jarboe died yesterday at the age of 54.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm A Martínez.
M MARTIN: Brian, we miss you already.
And I'm Michel Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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