George M. Pass, 69, radio station engineer

In the Pass house, the radio was always on.

It was tuned to whatever station employed George Pass at the time. He worked for decades as an engineer for three Atlanta radio stations, most notably WPLO-AM, a popular country music station in the 1960s and 1970s. His job: Ensure that broadcasts came through crystal clear. If there was extreme static or no sound at all, something was amiss. Mr. Pass had to fix it. Even on Christmas Day.

Enlarge this image

George Pass, 69, worked as an engineer for the now-defunct WPLO and other radio stations.

“I couldn’t tell you the year, but that did happen one Christmas,” said his daughter Pat Herndon of Duluth. “We knew he had to go. I can just see him saying, ‘Hush. I need to listen. Are we on?’ “

George M. Pass, 69, of Stone Mountain died Sunday from complications of renal disease at DeKalb Medical Center. The funeral will be 1 p.m. today at A.S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home, which is in charge of arrangements.

The Chattanooga native was a ham radio operator in high school. His professional broadcasting career started at a radio station in his hometown. He came to Atlanta in 1963 and worked in the local radio market till his 1980 retirement.

While employed, Mr. Pass did whatever was required of him. He helped build parade floats and props for remote radio broadcasts. He mowed the lawn and trimmed the hedges on the grounds of the now-defunct WPLO, which was located off North Druid Hills Road.

“He did everything but go on the air,” his daughter said.

In retirement, Mr. Pass did freelance work for small-market, mostly Christian-themed radio stations unable to afford a full-time engineer. He also had a hand in the startup of smaller stations across the Southeast.

“He wasn’t a religious man at all,” his daughter said, “but he felt it was his calling to keep those small Christian stations on the air. He was working right up to the end. He had to find partners to do the physical labor, but he was still making the deals. He was an elder in his field.”

Other survivors include his wife, Ann Perry Pass of Stone Mountain; another daughter, Susan Livingston of Marianna, Fla.; a son, David Pass of Stone Mountain; and five grandchildren.