Poole, whose life spanned careers from tuna fisherman, merchant seaman, and shipboard radio operator to radio and television station founder and winery owner, was considered a groundbreaking innovator.  KBIG-AM, which Poole located on Catalina Island in 1952, beamed an unfettered signal to Southern California radio listeners, including live broadcasts from the S.S. Catalina, the “Great White Steamer”.  Mount Palomar Winery, which Poole founded in Temecula in 1975, was the second winery in the new Southern California wine region.

            Born in Detroit in 1917, the son of Col. John Hudson Poole and Caroline Boeing, sister of Boeing Aircraft founder William Boeing, Poole began his commercial broadcasting career at the age of 16 when he ran live radio broadcasts of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.

Following certification as a radio engineer at the RCA Institute in Chicago, Poole became a radio operator, navigator, and fisherman on San Diego and San Pedro based tuna clippers, fishing of the Central American and South American coasts.  Later, he was a Merchant Marine radio operator and navigator in the Caribbean and Atlantic, while under threat from German U-boats.

During World War II, Poole was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps Signal Corps and then assigned to the Royal Air Force in Great Britain where he helped develop early military radar use.  He served as a company commander for tracking approaching German bomber flights of up to 900 planes during the Blitz, and developed counter-measures to German radar jamming methods.  He believed that countless lives were saved by their efforts.

It was in England that Poole met Olivia de Reya, whom he married in 1943 in the remains of a bombed chapel in London.  She became the first WWII European war bride to return to the U.S. with her G.I. husband.

Following the war, John Poole purchased 250-watt radio station KSMA in Santa Maria, followed by KALI in Pasadena, which he changed to a Spanish Language format.  In 1952, he moved on to found KBIG, known as “The Catalina Island Station”.  KBIG was earmarked by innovative programming and boosted by magnified signal strength, which Poole knew would be achieved by broadcasting the station’s directional signal across ocean water.  That created full-strength radio coverage from Santa Barbara to San Diego and beyond.  The station became very popular presenting an Island theme and scheduling music, news, and commercials on a different sequence from his competitors.  “We knew if you changed stations during a commercial, you would always find music on K-BIG,”  Poole claimed.

Ever the pioneer, Poole made early entry into the FM radio field and UHF television transmission.  By 1969, when Poole ended his broadcasting career, he had a major role in founding 9 radio stations and 4 television stations.

Following the sale of his broadcast media interests, Poole began one of the early vineyards in Temecula.  He formed an association with Eli Callaway in 1969 to farm their separate vineyards as one.  Poole founded Mount Palomar Winery in 1975, one year after the Callaway winery operation began.  He believed that Temecula’s favorable climate and its proximity to the large Southern California market would lead one day to success.  The winery continues to be operated by Poole’s eldest son, Peter, 56.

John Poole is survived by his wife of sixty years, Olivia Poole of Corona del Mar, children Peter Poole of Temecula, Dr. John Poole of Redwood City, Caroline Poole and Claudia Futa of Denver, Angela Baldwin of Owings Mills, Maryland, and Mark Poole of Rockville, Maryland, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

From Marvin Collins:

            I met John Poole in 1954 I believe, when I was working for Paul Schafer of Schafer automation fame.  At the time Paul's business was known as Schafer Custom Engineering in Burbank and we manufactured remote transmitter control systems  Automation systems were still several years in the future.

I was saddened to hear about the passing of John Poole.  He was a broadcast legend, and one of the few who pioneered the winery boom in Temecula.  I loved listening to his stories about his early radio days when he started up KBIG-FM, before many people even had FM radios. He was a kind hearted, wonderful, supportive person.