Welcome to the annual Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame awards! Tonight we gather here in New York City to celebrate a very special event — the 33rd B+C Hall of Fame class. We are proud to recognize this extraordinary group of leaders, innovators, and creative pioneers who have achieved legendary status by helping to shape the media landscape through their unparalleled vision.

Looking back to 1991, Broadcasting magazine created the first Hall of Fame to honor 60 significant contributors to television and electronic media. The original class included industry legends from William S. Paley to Bob Hope, cable pioneers from Bill Daniels to Dr. John Malone and C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, to name but a few. In the ensuing years, we’ve inducted Hall of Famers as much for their impact on the community that consumes content as we have for their influence on the medium. This year is no exception, as exemplified by this unprecedented slate of inductees.

Honorees at the 33rd annual gala include award-winning actress, director, producer, and talk show talent Drew Barrymore, host and executive producer of The Drew Barrymore Show and co-founder of the production company Flower Films. Jimmy Pitaro, chairman, ESPN, is set to receive the Hall of Fame’s Chairman’s Award. Mr. Pitaro is responsible for ESPN’s portfolio of sports content, products and experiences across all of Disney’s platforms worldwide. Sheryl Lee Ralph, actress, producer, advocate and Emmy Award winner for her role in Warner Bros. Television’s Abbott Elementary, will be honored with the Hall of Fame’s Humanitarian Award in recognition of her career and her philanthropic work via the DIVA Foundation. We’ll also pay witness to a special honor awarded to the daytime drama Days of our Lives, celebrating its 60th anniversary on-air in November. Now streaming exclusively on Peacock, the series is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world. Days of our Lives will be honored with the Hall of Fame’s Iconic Show Award.

Rounding out this year’s incomparable class are the following entertainment industry leaders, pioneers and legends: George Cheeks, chair, television media at Paramount, a Skydance Co.; Kristin Dolan, CEO, AMC Networks; Richard A. “Dick” Foreman, president, RAFAMEDIA; Michael Gelman, executive producer, Live With Kelly and Mark, Disney/ABC; Melani Griffith, chief growth officer, GFiber, receiving the inaugural Technology Leadership Award; David Kline, president, Spectrum Reach, and executive VP, Charter Communications; Mark Marshall, chairman, Global Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal; Arthur Smith, chairman and CEO, A. Smith & Co. Productions and chairman, Tinopolis USA; Jon Steinlauf, former chief U.S. advertising sales officer, Warner Bros. Discovery; Sandra Stern, vice chairman, Lionsgate Television Group; and Rob Weisbord, chief operating officer and president of Local Media, Sinclair Inc.

As always, this year’s gala will support both the Broadcasters Foundation of America — which provides support to those in the TV and radio industry who find themselves in acute financial need — as well as the Paley Center for Media.

To read the 2025 Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame event program, click on the image above or here.

The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York’s Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below for a gallery of photos from on stage and behind the scenes, featuring honorees such as Dick Vitale, George Stephanopoulos, Debra OConnell, Bill McGorry and more.

Growing up in Angelina National Forest in rural Texas, where her parents owned a lakeside marina and campground, Valari Dobson Staab never thought about working in television. She barely even thought of watching television. 

“We only got reception occasionally, usually because some weird storm was surfacing,” she said. “TV was not a big part of my life, and it was not something I planned on doing at all.”

Dobson Staab is fully immersed in the medium today. She oversees 12 NBC-owned stations and 31 more on the Telemundo side, along with multicast networks, regional sports networks and a couple of production outfits. 

Having both English- and Spanish-language stations sets the NBCUniversal Local group apart, she noted. “We have these newsrooms that collect and produce news and information in English and Spanish, and it’s only one newsroom, which gives us more journalists in our markets than our competitors,” she said. “And it sets us up uniquely success-wise because we’re going after two different markets in terms of ratings and revenue.”

Broadcast TV is challenged to stand out amid the streaming networks, but Dobson Staab said the stations she oversees are in a strong place. The Paris Summer Olympics was “crazy good,” she shared. “Ratings were incredible, much better than expected, and revenue was through the roof.”

The Games are over, but she sees positive stories in a number of markets. She mentioned key newscasts picking up momentum at KVEA Los Angeles, WNBC New York and WBTS Boston. “Overall, it’s a really good group,” she said, “and they constantly make me proud of their breaking news coverage, especially weather.”

Kevin Keeshan, NBCUniversal Local executive VP of news editorial, said Dobson Staab has made investigative reporting a vital element of the group, with Responde units hustling on consumers’ behalf at the Telemundo outlets. “The Spanish speaker had been underresourced, and the Telemundo stations have performed an incredibly important public service when they have consumer issues,” he said, noting how Responde has recovered over $80 million since it launched a decade ago. 

The streamers may offer a vast quantity of high-gloss entertainment, but TV stations supply something more unique. “The one thing we do that the internet has not been able to do is the gathering of local news,” Dobson Staab said. “It’s just an expensive proposition that takes boots on the ground.”

She raves about the group’s FAST channels — how they’ve been adding news, getting substantial viewership and turning that into real revenue. 

It helps that NBCU Local staffers always get a clear message from the group chief. “Valari speaks clearly and directly, knows how to articulate a vision, knows how to get everybody on board, and then lets us go do our jobs,” said Therese Gamba, NBCUniversal Local chief marketing officer and executive VP, acquired programming. “That kind of leadership allows people to take ownership of their jobs, feeling, ‘I am part of this organization, and what I do matters.’ ”

‘Very Basic Starter Job’

It was at KLTV in Tyler, Texas where Dobson Staab started. She was paying her way through college and took a “very basic starter job” in the commercial traffic department, which fit with her classes and paid a bit better than other options. The general manager, Frank Melton, ended up a mentor. He was a rarity — a Black GM who was just 28 years old. 

He encouraged his staffers to be creative, and Dobson Staab took him to heart. “He showed me how you could create this really fun, great environment that does a lot of good in the community,” she said. “And you are inspired because you like your job, and because you’re doing good for the community.”

Dobson Staab is an avid mentor as well, willing to meet with most any aspiring staffer. Her executive assistants do that job for two years, then enter the trainee program that best suits them. 

Dobson Staab unwinds on weekends at the shore with her husband, R.C., her dog Skye and her kayak. “Since I grew up on a marina, I’m still very water-oriented,” she  said. 

Unwinding is necessary for an executive running a dynamic station group amidst a transforming TV universe. “You always have to be looking ahead,” she said, “and you also have to be ready to pivot.” 

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro stepped to the microphone at May’s Dick Vitale Gala in Sarasota with the task of introducing the broadcaster, coach, teacher and humanitarian. Pitaro could have run off a litany of accolades for Vitale, including a decorated four-decade career as the unmistakable voice of ESPN’s college basketball coverage. Instead, he set the stage for Vitale’s entrance, which raised more than $24 million for pediatric cancer research, by summing up what Vitale’s presence and voice — even in its silence from announcing games in 2024 due to a series of throat procedures as he battles cancer — has meant to millions of fans.

“As wonderful as he is on air, Dick Vitale the humanitarian is even more impressive,” Pitaro said. “Despite his frustrations with not being able to work on TV, he never stopped working on behalf of humanity. That’s the essence of Dick Vitale.” 

Vitale is best known for his enthu­siastic approach to broadcasting in general and college basketball in particular. He started as a teacher and basketball coach at a New Jersey school following his graduation from Seton Hall University in 1962. He would then take the reins of the men’s basketball team at his alma mater, East Rutherford (N.J.) High School, in 1964 where, over a seven-year period, Vitale earned four state sectional and two state championships.

After a stint as an assistant coach at Rutgers, he was named head coach at the University of Detroit in 1973. He would lead the Titans to a better than .700 winning percentage over five years, including an NCAA tournament appearance in 1976-77. 

As a student at Michigan during that time, sports analyst Lee Berke was first smitten with Vitale’s passion for college basketball when the coach boisterously called for a match between the Titans and the Wolverines on a local radio station. “He was screaming at the top of his lungs about how the University of Detroit is a top contender and should be playing the University of Michigan,” Berke recalled. “He had all the passion and fire that Dick Vitale is known for. He’s been very consistent and energetic ever since then and remains a terrific communicator.” 

That passion led him to the NBA, as coach of the Detroit Pistons in 1978-79. He would find greater success with his next gig at then-fledgling ESPN. 

Vitale joined ESPN as an announcer months after the network’s launch, calling the network’s first-ever major NCAA basketball game. That Wisconsin-DePaul contest was one of more than 1,000 games Vitale would announce across six decades. 

“In 1979, when Magic [Johnson] and Larry Bird really started what we know today as March Madness, that was the first year Dick Vitale called a game,” Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes said during the gala. “Since that time, he has been the voice of college basketball. He’s taken our game to a level to where it’s as good as any game that we have.” 

Vitale’s catchy phrases have become known as Vitale-isms, including “Awesome Baby,” “Diaper Dandy,” referring to a freshman phenom, and “All-Windex Performer,” describing an aggressive rebounder.  

His approach to broadcasting has earned induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

Renowned Beyond Sports

Non-sports fans may know Vitale from his television and movie appearances over the decades, including The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad!, He Got Game, Love and Basketball and The Cosby Show. 

Vitale is becoming as well-known for philanthropy as for basketball. Along with the Dick Vitale Gala fundraiser, he sits on the board of The V Foundation, founded by Vitale’s late friend, former North Carolina State basketball coach and ESPN broadcaster Jim Valvano, to raise money for cancer research.

Vitale reflected on his more than four-decade broadcasting career by saying that he continues to enjoy calling college basketball while always looking for opportunities to give back to those less fortunate.  

“My career has absolutely exceeded all of my dreams,” he said. “To make a living doing something you love is special. I feel very blessed and I would simply say it is ‘Awesome Baby’ with a capital A!” 

Throughout his decades-long career, Philip R. Beuth was an influential figure in television news. 

It all started for him after graduate school, becoming the first employee of Capital Cities Communications. He would be perfectly positioned 30 years later when the company acquired ABC. 

But as early as age 4, Beuth lived with his grandfather, who ran a junkyard on Staten Island. 

“That’s how I learned to sell, and how to deal with people,” Beuth said. 

Without much savings, Beuth was planning to attend a community college on Staten Island. However, his friend connected him with Union College in Schenectady, New York, and he ultimately received a full scholarship. 

“That was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said.

Beuth’s relationship with the school didn’t end with the degree. He spent 10 years on the board, and the Beuth House residency on the Union campus bears his name. He continues to support his alma mater with scholarships. 

While at Union, he got his first full-time broadcasting gig — WRGB Albany, originally an NBC affiliate. He worked himself up the ladder from page to occasional cameraman. 

Upon his graduation, the WRGB general manager asked Beuth about his future desires. “Well, I’d like to work here,” Beuth recalled saying. 

To have any chance for career advancement, Beuth needed a graduate degree. His boss saw enough work ethic and versatility to enroll him at Syracuse University for a Television Management master’s program paid for by owner General Electric. It was the first executive trainee class offered by WRGB. 

“That was another lucky break,” Beuth, who is 92, said. 

It was not his last one. Upon learning that the bosses were looking to sell WRGB, veteran newscaster Lowell Thomas put together a group to buy WRBG’s UHF competitor. Veteran advertising executive Thomas Murphy was hired, despite not having broadcasting experience. His staffing for the new venture was a clean slate and limitless possibilities. Beuth was loaned to Murphy. “They hired me over the phone,” Beuth recalled. 

He started as a $60-a-week film editor. Ultimately, Murphy and Beuth would meet and became partners for the next 42 years. The company would become Capital Cities, based in Albany. 

“Cap Cities was more of a brotherhood than a company,” Beuth said. “It was the best in the business by a lot of measures.”

While Cap Cities was buying up stations, it made the biggest purchase in 1985, acquiring the ABC Television Network for $3.5 billion. Beuth relocated his family from Los Angeles to New York. He ran Good Morning America for 12 years, bringing riches to himself and ABC as the morning show eclipsed NBC’s venerable Today. 

Beuth also was the executive in charge of specials and late night, where he attempted to get David Letterman over to ABC. “I never was successful,” he said.

But Beuth did bring Bill Ritter into the fold at ABC as anchor for the newly created Good Morning America Sunday.

“Phil was a mentor, in addition to being my boss,” Ritter, a longtime WABC New York anchor, said. “I was smitten with him from day one. I still am.” 

Beuth moved up at Cap Cities with 17 different positions, ultimately as president of the entertainment division, retiring in 1997.

Overcoming Hurdles

He attained professional triumphs, while faced with personal setbacks, including being born with cerebral palsy. 

“I haven’t let it get in my way,” he said. 

It was tough in the schoolyard, because running, and even walking, was an obstacle. Without insurance, “my mother would have to teach me how to walk,” he shared. 

By the time he was 11, Beuth was moving freely without the aid of a cane. However, his condition worsened with age. He has been in a wheelchair, unable to take a step for 20 years. Nonetheless, he said, “I feel like I’m 50.”

Family (second wife and four children) and philanthropy are the main priorities for Beuth, who spends summers in Buffalo and winters in the Caribbean, with his main residence in Florida. 

Mindful of the breaks he got toward forging his career path, Beuth and his wife are paying it forward with students who need their own break.

“We are very abundantly rewarded,” Beuth said. “It feels very good to sponsor a child … [giving] them a good start to get into college.” 

Early in Scott Herman’s freshman year at Brooklyn College in 1976, the newcomer was having a rough time adapting. “I wanted to drop out,” Herman remembered. “My father suggested I join a club.”

Scott’s first inclination was to join the school newspaper to write about sports, but “I didn’t like the kids,” he said, “so I didn’t join.”

He saw a sign for WBCR, the college radio station, which ended up giving him a weekly 45-second sportscast. It turned out to be a bit of work. 

“I’d sit in that student union building for four hours to write that 45 seconds to make it perfect,” said Herman, who as a kid would call New York Mets games into his tape recorder while watching on television with the sound off.

If it weren’t for that pivot, broadcasting might have lost out on a beloved executive, who retired in 2017 as chief operating officer of CBS Radio, where he spent 39 years. 

Herman became GM of WBCR in his junior year. His professor hosted a religion program for the all-news AM station WINS New York, at the time owned by Group W. “I was [Sister Camille’s] favorite student,” said Herman, who asked her for a recommendation letter. “The [WINS] news director asked me, ‘Do you know how to cut tape? Do you know news?’ ” 

Instead of an internship, Herman received a job working Saturday mornings as a news production assistant at $3.85 an hour in 1978. “I basically never left the company,” said Herman, who ended up overseeing all operations for CBS Radio’s 117 radio stations in 26 markets. 

He went on to work in television as well. In 1987, he became news director of KYW Philadelphia. Earlier in his career, he held the title at its sister radio station. “I probably would have never left television if it wasn’t for [former CBS Radio CEO] Dan Mason offering me in 1993 to be general manager of WINS, where I started my career,” Herman said, seizing the opportunity to return to New York.

Mason recognized Herman as “an up and coming rock-star who others gravitate to by spreading confidence all over the room,” Mason said. 

Herman’s lead-by-example style made an impression early in the career of Jennifer Donohue, now a senior VP at The Walt Disney Co. “Scott was always the first to arrive at the office or early for a client meeting,” she said, recalling meeting him in the early 2000s at CBS in New York. “Scott provided me validation that I could be myself in the industry, an Asian-American female leader.” 

Audacy market president Chris Oliviero noted Herman mentoring “coast to coast” radio professionals. “Most importantly, [Herman] achieved that success while maintaining compassion, decency and a genuine caring for all that crossed his path,” said Oliviero, who worked with Herman at CBS Radio for almost 20 years.

At the time of his retirement seven years ago, he was leaving “an incredibly profitable” company, he said, that did $300 million in cash flow and almost $2 billion in billings. 

“I’m very lucky that I made a great living,” Herman said. 

A Life’s Work of Helping

Herman had been offered a high-level executive position with Entercom (now Audacy), which bought CBS Radio from CBS Corp. (now part of Paramount Global) in 2017. “The more I thought about it the more I didn’t want to do it,” he said, without regrets opting for retirement and the foundation instead.

These days, Herman’s “life’s work,” he said, is chairing the Broadcasters Foundation of America (BFA), a voluntary position he began four years ago. The foundation gives annual grants totaling $2 million a year to several hundred industry professionals dealing with debilitating illnesses or in financial need as a result of natural disasters. 

He has another two years to go in the chairman role.  Herman remains a dedicated radio listener in retirement. In the car, he goes back and forth between a dozen Sirius XM and over-the-air radio stations, including WINS and WFAN. 

Many years after his sportscast debuted on WBCR, Herman remains a fan of the medium. He said, “I’m still a huge consumer of sports radio.” 

Well before Active International grew into a 600-person organization driving the media barter space, it was founder Arthur Wagner, struggling to make a buck. He had an office in Manhattan, standout sales skills and not much more.  

“I didn’t draw a salary for two years,” he said. “I didn’t have expense money. If you weren’t in New York, I couldn’t see you.”

The media barter world was filled with shady operators when Active launched 40 years ago, Wagner shared, and clients liked that the new player played it straight. 

“They became more than happy clients,” he said. “They became advocates, and they started to go and tell their friends, ‘Hey, if you need something like this done, this is the only place to do it.’ ”

Brooklyn Born

Wagner grew up in Brooklyn, went to Tilden High School, and did not attend college, outside of a half semester at Brooklyn College. He picked up odd jobs where he could, including selling household appliances and hearing aids. 

“I went out and I worked,” he said, “and it took me quite a while to be able to make a living.”

Wagner eventually found career-oriented work at a television rep firm, Kaiser Broadcasting, and learned the nuances of selling TV ad time. But he yearned to run his own business. After a decade at Kaiser, he founded Active. 

He had experience in ad sales. He had contacts in television. He had a gift for numbers, as noted by most everyone who has worked with Wagner. 

He even had a rent-free office. Wagner’s wife’s family was a “big deal in the music business,” he said, and they gave him an some space. 

Wagner built his client base one by one, and Active International, which invests in media assets today to secure media properties below market value in the future, began to take off. 

Jack Myers got to know Wagner when he took a job as a U.S. sales representative for a group of Canadian TV stations and Active International helped sell the stations’ media. He described Wagner as a mentor and an “incredible ally.”

“Arthur consistently demonstrates a visionary approach,” Myers said. “He has always stayed ahead of industry trends and built innovative strategies that in many ways redefined what barter was. He has navigated really complex business challenges with creative solutions that work for the benefit of everyone.”

One strategy that redefined media barter is the trade credit that many said Wagner established for the industry. “Arthur created the currency for that,” Active International president and CEO Bill Georges said. 

Wagner always brings stellar sales skills to a negotiation, his colleagues shared. “Arthur really is a salesman, an absolute sales guy at heart,” said Dean Wilson, global chief operating officer, Active International. “He lives and breathes sales and his passion and aptitude for sales is exceptional.”

Forty years after it launched, Active International has offices in Pearl River, New York; London; Paris; Dusseldorf; Madrid; Milan; Sydney; and other locales around the world. In Wagner’s Pearl River office, a Standard Directory of Advertisers dated to 1984 sits on a desk and reminds the founder of the company’s launch. 

The company’s hundreds of employees are like family to Wagner. “Arthur is incredibly loyal, and very family oriented,” said Georges. “Not only immediate family, but Active family — it’s clear how much he cares about both.”

Immediate family includes his wife Ellen, and children Irv and Dara, with both kids still at Active after long stints. 

All In

Wagner splits his time between homes in New City, New York, north of New York City, and Boca Raton. At age 84, his golf days are sadly over, but he remains an active poker player, where his knack for numbers serves him well — as do Wagner’s people skills. 

“Odds never take an off day, but people do,” he said. “People have good days, people have bad days. You can study them, you can play the people rather than your cards.” 

People may indeed take a day off, but Wagner is still turning up at work, leading Active International. He cannot imagine not being in the game. 

“Arthur loves sitting at the poker tables in Las Vegas, and sitting in his office in Pearl River is the same principle,” Myers said. “He just loves sitting at the table.” 

In 1971 a young analyst at Loeb, Rhoades & Co. named Mario J.Gabelli wrote that he was recommending broadcasters Capital Cities Communications, Cox Broadcasting, Metromedia and Taft Broadcasting to investors, despite worries about President Richard Nixon’s imposition of price controls that included television advertising.

While the loss of cigarette advertising would hurt, Gabelli added, the Big Three broadcast networks would benefit from new federal rules limiting how much programming they were allowed to put on stations.

Half a century later, Gabelli is renowned as a top investor and the chairman of GAMCO (Gabelli Asset Management Co.) Investors. “He’s a legendary long-term investor,” Jessica Reif Ehrlich, managing director, media & entertainment U.S. equity research at BofA Securities, said.

Once upon a time, broadcasters were seen as a growth stock, but Gabelli was interested in them as a noted value inventory. 

“He’s a very patient investor,” Reif Ehrlich said. “He hired really smart people and he’s a great guy and has great relationships with companies. He’s very respectful, even when he’s smarter than the people he’s dealing with.”

Gabelli grew up in the Bronx. As a teen, he would take a bus or hitchhike to Sunningdale Country Club in Westchester County, where Jon Voight was a caddy and Voight’s father was the pro.

When the other caddies were sent home, Gabelli would carry bags for guys who worked the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, who would play nine holes after the trading day ended. “I liked what they were doing, so I started buying stocks,” he said. “It’s not complicated.”

He got a scholarship to Fordham University and earned MBAs from Fordham and Columbia University. Then he went to Wall Street.

He was at Loeb, Rhoades when its broadcast analyst left. Gabelli convinced his boss to let him take that on. He joked that he pulled a bit of a fast one because, in addition to covering broadcasters, he got to evaluate the content companies and go to Hollywood.

From Analyst to Investor

He founded his own firm in 1977 and backed Sumner Redstone as he built Viacom and acquired Paramount Pictures and CBS, winding up the second-biggest holder of Paramount Global voting shares after the Redstone family. When Shari Redstone agreed to sell Paramount this year, Gabelli took legal action to ensure he and his clients were getting a fair price.

Gabelli remains a longtime investor in broadcasting. He was the second-largest shareholder in Media General when Soo Kim’s Standard General looked to merge Media General with Young Broadcasting in 2013. “He was fair and he was very supportive of the way the deal came together,” Kim recalled.

More recently, Gabelli was an investor in Tegna when Standard General’s offer to buy it was killed by delays created by an unusually long, inconclusive FCC review. Gabelli also holds stakes in Sinclair and Gray Television. Sinclair president and CEO Chris Ripley described him as a “stalwart investor.” 

“Mario understands broadcast’s importance to local communities, and as such has been an advocate for deregulation and the ability for broadcasters to compete against Big Tech and Big Media,” Ripley added.

Gray Media chairman and CEO Hilton Howell said Gabelli has been “a valued investor” in the company for over two decades. “We appreciate his support and his team’s constructive engagement with us every quarter,” he noted. 

Gabelli has seen TV change from a simple three-network industry to one where you can get data and content on billions of mobile devices. But he still sees value in the broadcast business. He thinks regulatory changes, like eliminating ownership caps, would “change the dynamics on the plus side.” 

That would start another round of consolidation, with broadcast groups being bought at premium prices. “Guys like [Nexstar Media Group CEO] Perry Sook will demonstrate how they make money and how they find synergies,” he said.

Gabelli also thinks the spectrum broadcasters control is a lucrative hidden asset. “I put a value of about $700 million on the spectrum that CBS has,” he said. “Nobody talks about that.”

What will separate the winners from the losers, he believes, is “which management can use the cash flow that’s inherent in the business, even though it may secularly decline, to find new opportunities to enhance the residual part of the business, or to grow into new businesses.” 

Long before becoming executive producer of Good Morning America, Simone Swink was an intern at ABC’s This Week. On Sundays, she would deliver newspapers to George Stephanopoulos, who had recently left the White House and was a contributor to the show.

“He was always very polite, very courteous and he knew every single person’s name in our office, from the interns to the researchers,” Swink recalled. 

He gave everyone Barnes & Noble gift cards, too. “He was a big reader and he gave others the gift of reading,” she added. 

Twelve years later, Swink rejoined ABC News as a writer on GMA and was introduced to Stephanopoulos on the set.

“He said, didn’t we used to work together?” she recalled. “And I didn’t say anything. You could have knocked me over, I was so surprised.”

Stephanopoulos had expected to follow his father and grandfather into the priesthood. He was a sportscaster at the Columbia University radio station and, while a Rhodes Scholar, did some reporting for the Christian Science Monitor and CBS.

After he came back from Oxford University, he applied for a job at ABC’s Nightline but didn’t get it. He’d caught the political bug, went to work in Washington and wound up as a senior adviser in President Bill Clinton’s White House.

Former ABC News president David Westin read Stephanopoulos’ book All Too Human: A Political Education. Westin was impressed and asked him to lunch at ABC.

“If you decided you wanted to go into news full-time, I think you can have a really great career here,” Westin recalled telling Stephanopoulos. “And he, to my surprise, actually said, ‘David, that’s exactly what I was thinking about doing.’ ”

Westin warned Stephanopoulos that he’d have to go back to square one and learn the craft of broadcast journalism. “And he said, ‘No, I’m up for that.’And that’s just exactly what he did,” Westin said. “He has a discipline to him that is truly remarkable.”

There were many who thought that a political operative didn’t belong at ABC News. “Peter Jennings called me and said: ‘This was a mistake. You shouldn’t do this. This man is not a journalist,’ ” Westin said.

Stephanopoulos wound up working with Jennings on stories for World News Tonight. “And to Peter’s great credit he called me back a few months later and said: ‘David you were right. I was wrong,’ ” Westin said. “ ‘He’s one of the best reporters we’ve got. He’ll go out and get sources and report back in the evening and he’s better than a lot of our career reporters here.’ ”

Stephanopoulos said he knew he had to prove himself at ABC News. “I had conversations with Ted Koppel and Charlie Gibson and Peter Jennings,” he said. “But I also knew that conversations alone wouldn’t assuage all the concerns. I had to show it in my work and prove I could be a fair and objective journalist. That’s what I’ve tried to do.”

Stephanopoulos was hosting This Week when Westin asked him to host GMA. He turned it down three times.

“I had a young family in D.C., and I’d been steeped in politics and political news and doing the Sunday show,” Stephanopoulos recalled. “I didn’t think it was necessarily a natural fit. But David had confidence in me and he was right and I was wrong. I just love the fact that every morning you’ve got an entire audience who are waiting to start their day with you. It’s a great privilege.”

In the Center of It All

Over the years he’s covered giant stories, from 9/11 to the Capitol attack on January 6. “The interview I did with President [Joe] Biden [July 5, following his debate with former President Donald Trump] was probably the highest-stakes interview of my career,” he said. After that interview, Biden decided not to seek reelection.

Stephanopoulos has had less than serious moments, too. He trained for a race up the Empire State Building against Olympian Apolo Ohno. “I was proud that I did as well against Apolo as I did — he gave me a good head start,” he said. But he resists — sometimes successfully, sometimes not — the annual push to wear a costume for the Halloween show.

Stephanopoulos may be more likely to show off his sense of humor at home, with his wife, comedian Ali Wentworth, and their two daughters. Elliott Anastasia Stephanopoulos has been a production assistant at GMA, but Dad isn’t pushing the girls into a job on TV. 

“I just want them to follow their dreams,” Stephanopoulos said. 

Politics brought Karen Dougherty Buchholz to Philadelphia. Persistence, vision and mentorship allowed her to succeed in a city that adopted her as one of their own.

“I have a very nonlinear path,” she said. “I gravitate to opportunities that have a legacy impact.”

As executive VP of administration for Comcast, Dougherty Buchholz navigates an array of responsibilities, including real estate, facilities, aviation, corporate services, travel and security.  

She got her start after college in Pennsyl­vania politics, as special assistant to Republican U.S. Sen. John Heinz from 1988-1990. She was then special assistant to state Treasurer Barbara Hafer during Hafer’s 1990 gubernatorial bid.

Becoming a Builder

Post-politics, Dougherty Buchholz launched the Pyramid Club at the Mellon Bank Center in Philadelphia for ClubCorp. She said this project helped her realize she loved the building process. Others around her recognized this passion, which led to her next role as sales executive for Comcast Spectacor to develop the Wells Fargo Center.

In 1997, then-Philadelphia Mayor Edward G. Rendell appointed Dougherty Buchholz as president of Philadelphia 2000, the organization that brought the 2000 Republican National Convention to Philadelphia.

She transferred these various skills to Comcast, moving in a completely different direction but one where she’s able to build.

“I’ve never gone from one job to another that made sense,” Dougherty Buchholz joked. “We all have tools in our toolbox. You take what you learned and apply it.”

Dougherty Buchholz was brought on to establish Comcast’s first corporate communications infrastructure. She has led many facets of the organization and was the executive in charge of the development of the Comcast Technology Center, a $1.5 billion, 60-story tower adjacent to Comcast’s corporate headquarters, the Comcast Center. She also oversaw the development of the Comcast Center, a $750 million, 56-story tower.

“Karen is a wonderful advocate for Comcast and Philadelphia and has made a lasting impact on both,” Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said. “Since joining us more than 20 years ago, she has handled many critical roles, always bringing the same optimism and get-it-done attitude to each situation.” 

The best aspect of Dougherty Buchholz’s role, she noted, is that each day is different. She loves working with people “who strive to continually improve the lives of those we serve,” she said.

Dougherty Buchholz was quick to point out that in addition to vision and persistence, mentorship is key. “I’ve had the great privilege of being mentored by leaders I long admired, and who opened doors for me in the civic and corporate worlds,” she said. She cited Rendell as “a charismatic and visionary leader who can convince everyone in a room to get on board and achieve something no one else thinks is possible.”

In addition, “There is no greater mentor than David L. Cohen, former Comcast senior EVP and chief diversity officer, and current U.S. ambassador to Canada,” Dougherty Buchholz said. “David is a titan in the business and political worlds, whose work offers a master class in diplomacy, negotiation, transformative leadership and coalition-building.”

Dougherty Buchholz embraces the responsibility of lifting the next generation of talent. As a result, she is chair of the board of directors for the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau and is on the boards of Drexel University and The WICT Network, among other posts.

Mentorship Minded

“Karen intentionally provides meaningful development and opportunities to early to midcareer colleagues, especially women,” Comcast VP, local media development Ebonne L. Leaphart said. “Karen balances her high standards with a unique approachability and kindness that endears and empowers her mentees to remain at our company and to thrive.”

Dougherty Buchholz expressed that her goals are to make a positive impact and leave a legacy. Her work has left a mark on Philadelphia through building projects, hospitality, tourism and more.

But perhaps her most important legacy is that she’s the mother of two grown children. “Alexander and Julia have become two extraordinary young adults,” she said. “Their professional work ethic, service to others, and commitment to contributing to something greater than themselves make me so proud of them.”

Tonight we gather to celebrate a very special event — the 32nd class of the B+C Hall of Fame, recognized for unique contributions to our industry. 

In 1991, at the 60th anniversary of Broadcasting magazine, the Hall of Fame was created to honor 60 significant contributors to TV and electronic media. The original class included industry legends ranging from Guglielmo Marconi to William S. Paley, Lucille Ball, cable pioneers Bill Daniels and Dr. John Malone and C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, to name but a few.  

In the ensuing years, we’ve inducted Hall of Famers as much for their impact in the community that watches TV as we have for their influence on the medium. This year is no exception, as exemplified by both Service to the Community Award winner Phil Beuth and Humanitarian Award winner Dick Vitale. Phil was the very first person hired by Capital Cities Communications founder Tom Murphy in 1955 and, alongside Dan Burke, he helped direct the growth of ABC from when CapCities acquired it in a landmark 1985 merger until his 1997 retirement. The broadcaster affectionately known as “Dickie V” needs no introduction to sports fans — he’s been ESPN’s lead college basketball analyst since 1979. Just as noteworthy as his Hall of Fame broadcasting career is his effort to fight pediatric cancer as his annual Dick Vitale Gala in Sarasota, Florida, raised some $24 million for research this past May. His efforts are all the more poignant as he battles cancer himself. 

Arthur Wagner, Active International executive chairman of the board and founder, receives the Lifetime Achievement Award for helping establish the barter market in television advertising. Gabelli Funds chief investment officer Mario J. Gabelli, the Chairman’s Award winner, has been an influential investor for more than 50 years. 

Rounding out the notables in this year’s class are Janice Arouh, president, network distribution at Allen Media Group; Bob Bakish, president and CEO at Paramount Global until earlier this year; Valari Dobson Staab, chairman, NBCUniversal Local; Karen Dougherty Buchholz, executive VP of administration at Comcast; Marianne Gambelli, who recently retired as president of advertising sales, marketing & brand partnerships at Fox; Scott Herman, a retired CBS Radio executive who now chairs the Broadcasters Foundation of America; Douglas V. Holloway, who helped build the cable business at USA Networks and NBCUniversal and is now president of Homewood Media; Steve Lanzano, president and CEO of the TVB; B+C Hall of Fame chairman Bill McGorry, a 40-year industry publishing veteran; Debra OConnell, president, news group and networks, Disney Entertainmment Television; and George Stephanopolous, co-anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America and anchor of This Week With George Stephanopolous. 

As always, this year’s gala will support the Broadcasters Foundation, which provides support to men and women in the TV and radio industry who find themselves in acute financial need due to a critical illness, severe accident or other serious misfortune, along with the Paley Center for Media. 

We thank tonight’s co-hosts, Brian Custer of ESPN’s SportsCenter; actor, producer, TV/radio host and New York Times best-selling author Mario Lopez; and ABC News correspondent, 20/20 co-anchor (and B+C Hall of Famer) Deborah Roberts. Thanks also to our in-house editorial and sales staffs at B+C; the marketing and production teams; and Future B2B events leader Cassandra Grant. And, of course, our event producers at Live Star Entertainment, Eric Drath and Danielle Naassana; as well as Alan Winnikoff and Carina Sayles, our PR team; and especially our sales team, led by Dena Malouf, Jessica Wolin and Jo Stanley. Finally, thanks to you, our inductees and company sponsors, alumni and attendees, for your support and generosity. Thank you all! 

The 32nd B+C Hall of Fame Class

• Janice Arouh
• Bob Bakish
• Philip R. Beuth (Service to the Community Award)
• Karen Dougherty Buchholz
• Mario J. Gabelli (Chairman’s Award)
• Marianne Gambelli
• Scott Herman
• Douglas V. Holloway
• Steve Lanzano
• William McGorry
• Debra OConnell
• Valari Dobson Staab
• George Stephanopoulos
• Dick Vitale (Humanitarian Award)
• Arthur Wagner (Lifetime Achievement Award)

Honor Roll of the Fifth Estate

For more information on the B+C Hall of Fame gala, including attendance and sponsorship opportunities, please click here. 

Most young girls who grew up watching Bewitched wanted to be like Samantha, a cheeky witch navigating life as a 1960s housewife. 

Not Janice Arouh. Her attention was fixed on Samantha’s husband, an account executive at an ad agency. “All I wanted to do was be like Darrin,” she said. “I wanted to be an advertising executive and work at an agency.” 

After moving to L.A. to pursue agency life and working on accounts including McDonald’s and PepsiCo, a friend piqued her interest in the burgeoning cable business. It was a realm she knew little about, but Arouh perhaps more than anything loves a challenge. When she interviewed at Showtime Networks, she was initially told she wasn’t the right fit because she had no cable or sales experience.  

“This is my fuel,” Arouh said. “When someone says no, I say yes. My [career] inflection points have all had a lot to do with pivoting and change. This wasn’t the path I imagined, but it was a wonderful surprise. I never looked back and, 30-plus years later, here I am.” 

Pivot to Cable

She ended up getting the Showtime position. “She was in the advertising world, but she came with excellent brand and promotional experience and terrific in-cable recommendations,” Dotty Ewing, Showtime’s regional director of affiliate sales and marketing at the time, said. “It was our kismet, then, that I had the opportunity to hire such a bright young woman.”

Arouh’s next move was driving local ad sales at then-fledgling Fox Cable Networks, where she was part of the launch of FX in 1994. Her subsequent stop was Hallmark Channel, where as distribution chief she helped grow the franchise with the launch of a dedicated movie network.

In 2010, she got a call from a mutual friend about Byron Allen and his new company, then called Entertainment Studios. The entertainer-turned-entrepreneur had just launched six networks on Verizon Fios TV and was looking for an executive to helm the distribution strategy. Arouh jumped.

“At the time we had nearly zero subscribers and today we have 270 million,” she said. “I can’t begin to express how many times we faced what I thought at the time were insurmountable challenges. But strategically we worked through them.” 

Arouh forged new distribution avenues across the telco, satellite and cable arenas, and has been a principal player in Allen Media’s acquisitions, including The Weather Channel, theGrio and HBCU GO. “It’s wild that we have grown as quickly as we have,” she said. “Even though my primary responsibility is the distribution strategy on linear and digital platforms, having the opportunity to be with Byron, side by side, raising funds to acquire new assets, participating in the process, has been eye-awakening.”

“Excellent,” “gracious” and “fair” are the words Allen uses to describe Arouh. “Janice is extremely focused on increasing top-line revenue and keeping costs down,” he said. “Her leadership through the years has proven to be thoughtful and strategic.”

Arouh also credits her strong foundation at home with propelling her professional growth. “My husband has been my constant and raised our children together with me while I was traveling all over like a maniac,” she said. 

Relationship Builder

Arouh is a consummate relationship-builder with both co-workers and clients. “Even though we have tough negotiations, we have a camaraderie,” she said. “I’ve established long-term trusting relationships, and by having trusting relationships you’re able to navigate very difficult negotiations.”

Tom Montemagno, executive VP of programming acquisition at Charter Communications, concurred. “I’ve been across the table from Janice many times over the last 25-plus years, and as hard as each situation might have been, I always could count on Janice to be the ultimate professional who has a customer-first approach and looks to find solutions workable for both sides while avoiding unnecessary drama,” he said. 

What’s top of mind for Arouh right now? “Accelerating our growth … not only on the traditional side but to extend our brands and create new brands for the evolving digital marketplace,” she said. 

She is excited about what may be next for Allen Media Group, and for her. “I don’t necessarily know what the future will bring, but I do believe there are endless possibilities and opportunities,” Arouh said. “We’re never bored!” 

Bob Bakish was on the verge of becoming a partner at prestigious consulting firm Booz Allen when his career took a surprising swerve, one that landed him in his new professional home for the next quarter-century and now in the B+C Hall of Fame. 

“It wasn’t a thought-out thing,” the former CEO of Paramount Global said. 

After studying engineering in college and later getting an MBA, Bakish started at Booz Allen working on packaged goods before taking on media projects, including consulting for Viacom. 

One day, deputy chairman Tom Dooley took Bakish to breakfast to discuss Viacom’s future. Bakish thought Dooley wanted a consultant but, he recalled, “He said, ‘If you ever wanted to play the game on the field, instead of calling it from the sidelines, we should talk.’  ”  

Bakish made the leap soon after and spent the next two-plus decades proving time and again that he really did belong on the playing field. 

A consultant’s job is to give opinions, Bakish said. “It might be controversial and might piss people off, but that doesn’t matter. But when you’re inside the company you have to get things done. You have to figure out how the best idea can be implemented and then get people to buy in and do it. And first, you have to build up credibility.”

Bakish put his training to good use, so much so that one day an MTV business development executive said, “The thing I hate about your presentations is that by the time you get to the end I can’t help but agree with you,” Bakish recalled. “I said, ‘That’s the point.’ You have to craft the argument in a way to build support. And then you have to build the management skills to bring people along.”

Bakish earned enough credibility to quickly climb the corporate ladder, gaining diverse experiences and gleaning valuable insights along the way. 

He started at Viacom in 1997 as VP of planning and development and within two years was executive VP of planning and business development for MTV Networks. He quickly rose to executive VP of operations for Viacom as well as executive VP of Viacom Enterprises. 

Bakish consistently challenged the status quo, persuading his bosses during his ad-sales days to break the silos between Viacom’s networks and sell package deals for all of MTV Networks. 

He said his most “satisfying and fun role” began in 2007 when he became president of MTV Networks International. MTVNI was an unprofitable dead zone, with the complications that come from trying to appeal to many different cultures. But what Bakish reveled in was the full plate of responsibilities with no one above interfering. 

Bakish proved himself at MTNI with the savvy restructuring and merging of units and, again, breaking down what he saw as “a confederation of independent nations” to be run as one company. He doubled revenue, making MTVNI hugely profitable. Later, he became president and CEO of Viacom International Media Networks, making it the company’s most successful division.

Smooth Operator

In 2016, Bakish ascended to president and CEO of Viacom, where he began a major restructuring to focus on core brands, introduce an emphasis on new technology like apps and streaming services and replace executives in nearly every unit.  

“Bob has made an indelible mark on our industry,” NCTA–The Internet & Television Association president and CEO Michael Powell said. “He wields his talent with good humor, kindness and equanimity.”

Ray Hopkins, a fellow B+C Hall of Famer who Bakish picked as president, U.S. networks distribution at Paramount, praised his former boss as “authentic, direct and candid.”

Bakish’s personal touch proved crucial to rebuilding outside relationships and improving morale, Hopkins said. “I remember heading down from the 52nd floor with him and he’d greet everyone who got on and then he held court in the lobby,” he said. “He’s genuine and a good guy and made everyone feel part of the team.”

Within two years, Bakish had turned the company around. He ran it until earlier this year, when he departed among shifting tides and internal politics. 

Bakish isn’t sure what’s next, but he’s also in no rush to find out. 

“I don’t want the phone ringing at 10 at night,” he said. “I want time and flexibility for my family. And then it will be time for the next chapter.” 

When Marianne Gambelli got her start in advertising, women were never part of teams that sold sports, beer or cars. But in her first sales job at Grey Advertising, she worked on the Miller Beer account. That was only the first of the ceilings that she burst right through.

Gambelli was later on the NBC Sports team, ending up as president of sales
and marketing for NBCUniversal. She led upfronts worth several billion dollars, often setting the market in NBC’s “Must-See TV” era. 

Gambelli went on to spend 10 years as Horizon Media’s chief investment officer, where she got an education in advanced advertising as ads moved away from Nielsen ratings and demographics and toward data-based metrics and impressions. She then brought that education to Fox, where she was president of advertising sales, marketing and brand partnerships.

“I wasn’t one of those who had to be promoted,” Gambelli said. “I just did the work. I felt like that work got recognized and then things happened, doors opened that weren’t open before. I honestly don’t feel like they had to have a female so they picked me. I felt that I earned it.”

Gambelli’s performance in all of her roles has certainly opened doors for other women to come through. “We grew up with heads of ad sales all being men; now they are all women,” Keith Turner, who worked with Gambelli as NBC’s president of ad sales, said. “She never panicked and was always able to operate effectively and lead.”

That sense of confidence gave other leaders confidence in her, allowing her to both to lead as she saw fit and also influence overall corporate decisions. “Whenever we were in the room — and I was often with her in rooms that included the likes of Bob Wright, Jeff Zucker and Steve Burke — she was always a commanding presence,” Ed Swindler, an independent media consultant to Fox who formerly held several executive roles at NBC, said. “She always had a point of view that they wanted to know and she was trusted. Trust is the basis for most of her success.” 

One of the things Gambelli learned is that “you’re interviewing for the job when you don’t even know you are interviewing for it.” For example, she developed a tight relationship with Jeff Zucker when he was NBC’s head of West Coast entertainment in 2000. When he was promoted to CEO of NBCUniversal Television group in 2005, he knew right away who would lead his ad-sales team. 

“Watch the relationships you have as you are growing. They are what comes back to you,” Gambelli said. 

Relationship Builder

Cultivating strong relationships is what brought Gambelli to Fox in 2017. About a year and half prior, a mutual friend introduced her to Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Aber­nethy. They met for breakfast. “When we got there, I think we were both like, ‘why are we here,’ but we hit it off,” she said. “It was probably one of the best meetings I’ve ever had. A year and a half later, when the head ad sales job opened, he called me.” 

Gambelli spent the last seven years of her career at Fox, years that she said were her favorite because “they let you run your business, but there was also lots of support.” In 2020, Gambelli launched the Fox Ad Sales Diversity and Inclusion Council with the mission to build and enhance the culture of inclusivity.

“I feel the more voices you have that are different, the better off you are as a whole,” she said. “You need different ways of thinking. That lets the whole team rise up.” 

Kristi Curcio-Nolan, VP, ad sales, strategic and business initiatives, engagement and events, office of the president, said diversity and inclusion were always a focus for Gambelli.
“She has always wanted to bring everybody up,” she said. “She was always doing these things but she never needed to be in the spotlight.” 

Gambelli retired from Fox in January after a satisfying four-decade career. “I did things that I never thought I would do,” she said. “I went to the Beijing Olympics, Wimbledon, the French Open. I had so many experiences that one person should never have in one lifetime. If I don’t do anything else for the rest of my life, I will have lived well.” 

Coming up in the cable industry’s heyday, B+C Hall of Fame chairman William McGorry built his career in publishing the old-fashioned way: strong handshakes, stories of family, drinks after dinner and being there for his colleagues. 

An Irishman and a New Yorker through and through, McGorry grew up in Queens. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he won a marksmanship award, and married his wife, Phyllis, at 21. The McGorrys had six children — one son, Tim, and five daughters, Pam, Jenny, Amy, Sarah and Regan. (“No one ever explained it to me,” McGorry joked. “I was Irish and I was Catholic.”) Phyllis wrote for the New York Daily News for some years and all of the kids worked in media at different points in their careers, a point of pride for McGorry. 

McGorry’s first publishing job was with Mart Magazine, a consumer electronics trade that took advantage of McGorry’s earlier work at General Motors. He was hired as an account executive in 1981 but was quickly made publisher.

His first job in media came when Mart was being sold to Gordon Publications and McGorry jumped to Broadcast Management Engineering (BME) magazine in 1984. He stayed there for three years before that magazine was sold — to Norman Lear-owned Act 3 — and McGorry jumped again, this time to oversee two cable trade magazines that were published out of Denver: bimonthly Cablevision and monthly Communication Engineering Design (CED) magazine. In 1987, McGorry was personally welcomed to the group by cable legend Bill Daniels, who was a major cable broker and owner of cable systems and sports teams in his day. “Our industry needs these magazines,” McGorry said Daniels, who passed away in 2000 at age 79, told him. “It’s important to have two or three voices, we can’t have a single voice. I want you to do what it takes. This is a mission.”

McGorry took Daniels seriously, and the group took off.  “That was a great growth period that went on for about four years,” he said. 

McGorry made two key hires at that time: Joel Berger, who had been publisher of Channels Magazine, and Marianne Paskowski, hired as editorial director. About three years into the group’s run, Berger told McGorry that he had contracted AIDS and didn’t have long to live. 

Working with industry group Cable Positive, which ran from 1992 to 2009, McGorry and others created the Joel Berger Award. The honor was handed out every year, and eventually to McGorry. “That was a major moment in my career, one that was important to me both personally and professionally,” he said.

In 1991, Cablevision and CED were sold to Fairchild Publications, part of Capital Cities/ABC. That deal brought with it weekly Multichannel News, creating a small cable trade publishing group for McGorry to oversee. The group later launched two more publications, Wireless Week and Multichannel News International.

Disney acquired Cap Cities/ABC In 1996 and one year later, sold the cable magazines to Cahners, which brought Broadcasting magazine to the group. Broadcasting, which began in 1931, was considered to be the voice of the broadcasting industry. Cahners launched the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1991 and renamed the magazine Broadcasting & Cable in 1993. Unbeknownst to McGorry, the Hall of Fame would become one of his lasting legacies. 

McGorry’s leadership was such that he won over even those who were skeptical.

“After corporate shuffled me and Broadcasting & Cable into McGorry’s group, I was wary,” Harry Jessell, former editor of B+C and founder and editor at large at TVNewsCheck, said. “I figured that as the newcomer we would not get the same care and feeding his other magazines did. But Bill quickly allayed my concerns. He embraced the magazine, respected its long traditions and gave me his support, even though I know I stretched his patience at times. As a boss, he was like a good baseball manager — affable, stoic and savvy. He kept the clubhouse loose, gave a good pep talk and, when the game was on the line, made the right calls.”

Helming the Hall of Fame

McGorry retired from overseeing the publishing group in 2007, but remained chairman of the Hall of Fame. He held that position until this year, which will be his last as chair. One of the things he’s most proud of over his nearly two decades of overseeing the Hall of Fame is its increased focus on inducting women and people of color. 

“That was a natural evolution of the business, but we were always mindful that they needed and deserved a presence in the Hall of Fame,” McGorry said.  

Throughout the years, the B+C Hall of Fame has inducted many of the media industry’s finest talent and executives, including Lucille Ball, Emily Barr, Michael J. Fox, Gayle King, Hoda Kotb, Kelly Ripa, Judge Judy Sheindlin, Alex Trebek, Oprah Winfrey and so many more.

This year, McGorry himself will be inducted into the organization he so carefully tended for almost two decades.

Said Dennis Wharton, former executive VP of communications at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), who helped McGorry wrangle many a broadcaster over the years, “He’s like a fine Irish whiskey, he ages very well.” 

Douglas V. Holloway has had the magic touch throughout his decades-long career, finding success on the marketing, sales and programming sides of the broadcast, cable and digital businesses while serving as an industry ambassador to help others achieve success, too. 

“Douglas is a true legend in the media business and a humble leader whose vision, creativity and tenacity created and built key brands into powerhouses,” Ann Carlsen, founder and CEO of executive recruiting firm Carlsen Resources, said. 

Holloway’s first taste of the television business came as a toddler in his hometown of Pittsburgh, as a guest on Romper Room in 1957. “My mom was all about making a pathway for me to have as much opportunity as possible,” Holloway said. “She must have heard me say I wanted to be on Romper Room. I believe I was the first Black kid on the show.”

Holloway would graduate from Emerson College in 1975 with a degree in mass communications and television production. He enhanced his TV aspirations with an MBA from Columbia University three years later. 

“At that point, I wanted to be president of a television company in 20 years, even though I didn’t know much about broadcast television and didn’t know anything about cable,” Holloway said. “But I had a plan and I was determined to see it through.”

After a marketing stint at General Foods, Holloway joined CBS in 1980 as a strategic planner. “The executives there wanted me to focus on new technologies, so I worked on a business plan for the network’s entry into the [cable] business,” he said.  

Holloway would then take his talents to Time Inc. as national accounts manager for startup magazine TV-Cable Week before an opportunity arose in 1983 to create the affiliate relations department at upstart USA Network. By 1988 he would head it up. “[USA Network founder] Kay Koplovitz was looking to set up an affiliate relations group, so I took the opportunity and the rest is history,” Holloway said. 

After the 2004 NBCUniversal merger, Holloway would take on the roles of NBCU president, Network Distribution Partnerships and Affiliate Marketing and president of NBCUniversal’s Cable Investments, where he oversaw the launches of cable networks such as Syfy.

Holloway’s welcoming approach to his business dealings endeared him to his clients. “Doug is all about partnership, so he was never pushing an agenda that was not in collaboration with the agenda of his clients,” Mediacom Communications group VP of programming Glenn Goldsmith said. “He always looked out for you and always reached out to help pull up the next person.” 

Indeed, Holloway’s influence has also been felt outside the C-suites as a tireless supporter of the television industry’s multicultural efforts. He played a key role developing the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), and served as a mentor to executives of color looking to climb the corporate ladder. 

Clearing a Path for Others

“Doug is a real pioneer in the business, and he worked very hard to make sure people of color were taken care of in the industry,” HBCU Go president Curtis Symonds said. 

During his distinguished television career, Holloway racked up numerous awards and recognitions, including the NCTA’s Vanguard Award for Marketing, inductions into both the Cable Hall of Fame and the Cable Pioneers and a NAMIC Lifetime Achievement Award.  

In 2011, Holloway shifted gears and moved to Ion Media Networks as its president of multichannel distribution. He would later realize his entrepreneurial dreams, launching Homewood Media in 2015. The company in 2020 launched multicultural streaming services URBN-TV and UKW Media. 

As for the future, Holloway has his sights set on grander aspirations. “I want to put together the largest Black-owned media and entertainment company,” he said.

Those that know him believe he’s capable of doing anything he sets his mind to. “Doug never stopped learning, growing and reinventing himself and his companies … a truly rare thing these days,” Carlsen said. “He’s developed new streaming networks and now owns his own successful media company. He’s done all of this while always remembering where he came from and appreciating
all those who paved the way ahead for him.” 

Dick Vitale, basketball analyst and philanthropist, will be inducted into the B+C Hall of Fame in September and will receive the Humanitarian Award for his tireless efforts to combat cancer, among other causes he fights for. 

“I am thrilled and honored to be selected as a member of this prestigious hall of fame,” Vitale said. “To be included with those that were the foundation of cable TV is a fantastic honor.”

Born June 9, 1939, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Vitale graduated from Seton Hall University and earned a master's degree in education from William Paterson College. 

He became a coach — junior high school football and basketball in his home state, then high school basketball. He moved on to college basketball in 1970 at Rutgers, then was head coach at the University of Detroit (1973-1977). 

In 1978, Vitale was named head coach of the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. 

A year later, he joined ESPN just after the network launched. He called ESPN’s first major NCAA basketball game, Wisconsin vs. DePaul, in December 1979. 

Vitale’s accomplishments in philanthropy may even surpass what he’s done on television. Vitale is on the board of directors of The V Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1993 by the late Jim Valvano, who also called basketball games for ESPN. The V Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for cancer and Vitale hosts the annual Dick Vitale Gala in Florida, benefiting the foundation. The 2024 gala raised nearly $25 million, and overall funds raised by the event in its 19 years are close to $93 million. 

The 2025 gala happens May 2 in Sarasota. 

Indicating the impression he has made on popular culture, Vitale has played himself in several movies, including The Naked Gun, Hoop Dreams, Blue Chips and He Got Game. 

Vitale’s many books include Dick Vitale’s Fabulous 50 Players and Moments in College Basketball, Living a Dream (Reflections on 25 Years Sitting in the Best Seat in the House), autobiography Vitale and Holding Court: Reflections on the Game I Love. 

This isn’t Vitale’s first Hall of Fame induction. He’s also been selected for the National Italian Sports Hall of Fame, the Sarasota Boys and Girls Club Hall of Fame, The Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, among others. 

Vitale and his wife, Lorraine, have two daughters, Terri and Sherri, who both attended Notre Dame on tennis scholarships and graduated with MBAs. 

The B+C Hall of Fame event happens September 26 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York. 

Donald V. West, 94, former top editor of Broadcasting+Cable (formerly Broadcasting magazine), died February 4 at The Jefferson retirement community in Arlington, Virgina.

West took over as top editor of then-Broadcasting magazine in 1982 upon the death of magazine co-founder Sol Taishoff and led the magazine through design and name changes, as well as various enterprises including newsletters, international editions, and convention dailies. He was also editor of the Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook and principal editorial writer.

Born in Texas and raised in New Mexico, West’s first brush with electronic communications was running a recording studio as a teenager. He became, successively, a radio transmitter engineer, managing editor of a small-town daily newspaper — the Roswell (New Mexico) Record — and as wire editor of the El Paso (Texas) Times, before serving as an artillery sergeant in the Korean War.

Also Read: ‘B+C’ Marks a Milestone

A graduate of New Mexico A&M College, West came to Washington with an eye on law school but a heart still in journalism.

He joined Broadcasting’s then-Washington headquarters in 1953, transferring to the  New York bureau in 1958 as manager.

When Broadcasting bought the monthly Television magazine in 1960, West was named managing editor and VP.

In 1966, he joined CBS as assistant to network president Frank Stanton, rejoining Broadcasting in 1971 as managing editor, again based in Washington.

The banner on the editorial page once read ”Committed to the First Amendment and the Fifth Estate,“ and the same could be said of West. 

In his editorials, as well as speeches, writing and appearances at industry events, he carried on the fight for a broadcast medium as free as print, which meant free from micromanaging by political interests. 

While broadcasters, particularly in tough economic times, have been tempted to forego that fight and accept a compromised First Amendment as a quid pro quo for the protection of their business and avoidance of further regulation, West never counseled such expedience and the expense of the speech protection they, and the public, deserved.

West was also instrumental in the creation of the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame. 

He exited the magazine in 2001. He joined the board of the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation in 2003 and became president, creating the Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts awards. In 2015, West was honored as one of those giants.

His bio for the award notes that as a young Roswell newspaperman, West “was distinguished by missing the biggest story of the century when, as the first reporter at the site of the fabled Roswell alien invasion, he found nothing to report.”’ 

That could not be said for a 40-plus year career covering electronic communications that earned him plaudits from some other giants of the business.

“Don was a force in the industry in his own right and a tireless advocate for full First Amendment Rights for broadcasters,” Preston Padden, a former top News Corp. and The Walt Disney Co. executive and one-time head of the Association of Independent Television Stations (INTV) in Washington, said.

“It’s hard for folks today to comprehend how influential Broadcasting was under Don back in the day,” C-SPAN CEO Susan Swain said.

“I first met Don West during my FCC days and, thereafter, we had many wonderful lunches and discussions about broadcasting-related issues,“ former Federal Communications Commission chair Dick Wiley said. “Don was a terrific journalist who knew the broadcast industry — and everyone in it — from top to bottom. He was also a great advocate for applying First Amendment rights to the electronic media, a cause he supported during his entire career. He was one of the very best. RIP.”

In 1992, top executives in the communications business weighed in on West's impact on the industry.

“Few men or women in the broadcast and editorial world have had such a profound and lasting impact on the world of communications,” Jack Valenti, then-president of the Motion Picture Association of America, said. “He has oftentimes shaped the agenda for public leaders, and more than often clarified opaque, complicated issues for those who want to understand what the future may hold.”

“Don is the consummate professional and one of the best editors in the business,” said Robert Daly, then-chairman of Warner Bros.

“As editor of Broadcasting Magazine, [West] has shown insight and vision in his objective coverage of the emergence and development of the cable television industry,” wrote CNN and Turner Broadcasting System founder Ted Turner. “He has proved himself to be a true leader among journalists.”

“In my 50 years of working with editors of industry publications, none has come close to Don West for sheer knowledge of the business, for integrity, for leadership, and for style,” Stanton, the former CBS president, wrote in 1992. “Except for a brief interval during which he was my assistant at CBS, West’s life belonged to Broadcasting, the magazine, and broadcasting, the communications phenomenon of the century.”

A Celebration of Life is planned at a date to be determined. 

Wonya Lucas, the CEO of Hallmark Media, is a longtime programming marketer and chief executive, who has the coincidental distinction of being named to two halls of fame -- the Cable Hall of Fame and the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame -- on consecutive weeks at the same venue, the Ziegfeld Ballroom. We like to think the latter speech, given on May 3 at the B+C event, was the greatest -- like her uncle, Henry Aaron, was in baseball. Here is a lightly edited transcript of her induction speech:

Good evening! Good evening. Yeah. Call and response, y'all. I'm so excited to be here with you today and I am deeply humbled to join the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, which includes so many people that I have admired throughout my career. So I thank you. As the leader of Hallmark Media, I know firsthand the impact positive stories of love and hope can have on many lives. It reminds me why I love this medium so very much. 

You know, as a young girl living in the small footprint of the South, I quickly understood that I could transcend my physical boundaries and discover experiences that extended beyond my tiny space in the world. I was mesmerized by great storytelling, and I am the beneficiary of its powerfully unwavering ability to expand the mind and warm the heart. Now, later in life, I knew my destiny somehow, some way, was in television.

Now, my trajectory to this evening has not been a linear one. Like many of you, I stand on the shoulders of greatness. People like Decker Anstrom, Julia Sprunt, Scot Safon, Pat Mitchell, Mike Perry and so many others who have poured their wisdom and sometimes tough love into me. So tonight I want to focus on a few lifelong lessons about grace, generosity, and grit.

There is no me without three people who instilled these three qualities within me. So let me tell you a story, not about a man named Jed, but about Hank, Ted and Ruby.

Now, as a child, I had a front row seat to overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges through the sheer power of grace. You see, I watched my uncle, the late great Hank Aaron, pursue his home run record while receiving constant death threats. I watched my uncle sharpen his focus, chase his dream, show grace to those who wished him harm. So as leaders, when we see someone struggling with difficult challenges, show them grace. You never know. Show grace.

You never know if they will be the one to metaphorically hit it out of the park one day.

Also: Jim Nantz Invokes Jim McKay at B+C Hall of Fame Induction

Generosity and kindness also changed the trajectory of my life. Weeks before my high school graduation, my father [Bill Lucas] died suddenly when he was the GM for the Atlanta Braves. I vividly remember Ted Turner saying to my mother, "I will always take care of you." And so he did, when life was so uncertain for us. He helped put me through college that fall, and throughout the duration of my tenure there, he took my mother from being a classroom teacher to the corporate boardroom at Turner Broadcasting. My point is, as you move through your career, you never know when a moment of generosity can have an amplifying effect on a life. So take time, and care, to live with a generous heart. 

Last but not least, my mom, Rubye, who's here tonight. [Applause.] My mom is the epitome of grit. And although she stands barely five feet tall, probably like 4-6, I don't know, she is simply fearless. While in the TBS boardroom with the likes of John Malone, Gerry Levin and Brian Roberts, she asked if there was an opportunity for kids’ content. And one board member, not the aforementioned, just putting it out there, not Gerry, Brian or John, scoffed at the idea. But Ted listened. He moved forward and it became Cartoon Network. [Applause.]

This story taught me that the perceived tiniest voice in the room could have the biggest idea. So look for that tiny voice, that potential change agent who has the courage and the grit and deserves to be seen and heard.

So I want to close with three things. Gotta say, the best title I have ever had is that of Mom. Thank you to my three daughters, one of whom, Alexis Kirton, is here with me tonight. They inspire me every day. And I am so incredibly grateful for the Hallmark Media team that is here today. I call 'em my A Team, y'all. They're my A Team. They are brilliant, scrappy and, most importantly, they are kind. 

And lastly, my humble soul admires each of the phenomenal awardees who are being honored here tonight. Now, your body of work speaks for itself, and your influence on the industry is obviously clear. Yet it is how you walk through life, and your character while doing so, that is most impressive. You each in your own unique way are the living embodiment of grit, generosity, and grace.

I thank you.

Click this link to watch Wonya Lucas's time at the podium (and Craig Melvin's introduction plus video) at the 2023 B+C Hall of Fame.

The 31st Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame class was inducted on May 3 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom at a black-tie dinner. The final speech of the evening fell to Jim Nantz, the CBS Sports announcer and recipient of the hall's Lifetime Achievement Award, a distinction the legendary sports voice referred to jokingly once or twice in his 18-minute speech, spoken behind a blank teleprompter. The evening emcees were NBC News's Craig Melvin and CBS Sports's Tracy Wolfson. Here is Nantz's speech (video is here). 

OK. Hello friends, and good evening. I'm just gonna check my phone for a minute here. It's 8:57. Bill [McGorry, the B+C Hall chairman], I want to thank you, because you told me a couple days ago, "You’re gonna be the last man up, but you have to be done at 9:30.” [Laughter.] So we're gonna get a little extended play here tonight. Thirty-three minutes of my career coming up. Bill, I promised you, I promised you, I've gotta live up to my words. So, um, here's the long-form version of my story.

Actually, how great have both Craig and Tracy been tonight? I mean, I'm so proud of Tracy. Craig's awesome. I did the back half of this night, well, it was, it was 12 years ago. Regis [Philbin] did the front half. I did the back half. I said goodnight. It was 11:18. [Laughter.] Yeah, I'm not kidding. And when everyone walked out that night, somebody walked out with an idea for a new show: The Walking Dead. Yeah, great creative ideas come out of this evening. Sean McManus, an amazing friend and leader, boss. He was the one who originally called me and told me that I was receiving this award. He said, "Jim, you're getting the BC lifetime achievement award." I said, "Sean, I didn't go to Boston College. I went to Houston." And I couldn't believe it, because I had been here before and I sat out there to cheer on Sean, getting his induction. I think it was 2011. Never in a million years did I think that I would be on this stage in this capacity. Never. It still makes no sense to me. It truly doesn't make any sense to me.

Also: Hallmark Media's Wonya Lucas's Three Pillars of Strength

I would congratulate my fellow inductees, except I'm not an inductee. I'm the old guy. [Laughter.] 

I get the Lifetime Achievement Award. [Laughter.] Never been made to feel so old and ancient in my life. So thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. How come I didn't get the Hall of Fame? And Al [Roker] didn't get the Lifetime Achievement Award. Ray Cole said he was 68 years old, that is way older than I am. He got the Hall of Fame. I got the Lifetime Achievement Award. [Laughter.] Makes no sense. [Laughter.]. None of this does. My career. I don't know where they got that 18 generations down the road video of me talking into a camera. 

But the true story. I was 11 years old. I had this obsession with wanting to work for CBS. Totally obsessed. I know that's not a good thing, but I was obsessed. I admit to it. Fast forward 15 years later, I'm 26 years old, I get a call out of the blue to come to New York to audition for the host of the College Football Scoreboard show. This was 1985. It happened literally overnight. I got the call and the next morning I was on a plane to New York to go audition at the Broadcast Center on 57th Street. I was so excited to get that call that when I got to New York and got dressed to go down to the broadcast center, I suddenly realized I had forgotten to pack a tie.

Staying at this hotel on this block. And I walked to the Broadcast Center and I ducked into a clothing store that no longer exists. There's a Greek restaurant or something right up here on Seventh Avenue between 54th and 57th, somewhere in there. And I grabbed a very thin yellow tie, thinner than the one I'm wearing tonight. And I thought, OK, that might look stylish. Not. But I went in and I did a couple of scoring segments without any advanced warning of how this was gonna work, ad-libbing through the whole thing, which is comfortable for me. I hate scripts and I hate teleprompters because I feel like I've got a deer in the headlights look into a teleprompter. So my goal, my whole career has been to ad lib through it all. [Applause.] I would rather be uneven, choppy, stumbling through it, but talking from right here, than being letter perfect and clean and scripted. So I went into the Broadcast Center, I was the fifth of five to audition. Went through a couple of scoring segments, and then they said for the third segment, they're gonna bring out a college football expert and you need to interview him.

And around the corner comes this guy and he sticks a hand out and says, I'm Mike Francesa. [Laughter.] Says, you ask me anything you want. We did like a four-minute segment. I won the audition. I was 26 years old. This has been my dream. The first three or four years of my life, Mike Francesa was behind the scenes, behind the cameras, coaching me.

Again, nothing was scripted, but he would be almost like a conductor or an orchestra leader. And he'd be hanging on my every word, encouraging me. I could get through it. Because I was nervous, I was mortified. I had massive anxiety. Mike's here tonight. I wouldn't have made it in this business if it wasn't for Mike lifting me on his shoulders back when I was just a kid. And, um, he dedicated those four years through football, basketball, the Final Fours and hosting, all of that. And of course he went on to become a huge massive star here in New York. But Mike, thank you man, you're a wonderful friend. 

Then I was talking about Sean. So this, this dream is, uh, building and building and building. And I hear all these voices of my youth. A lot of you know who they are. The Pat Summeralls and Jack Whitakers and Kurt Gowdys and Keith Jacksons. It's a dangerous game to go down this road. Chris Schenkel, and the ultimate one, Jim McKay. I wrote them letters. Rachael [Ray], you get letters. Soledad [O'Brien], you get letters. Al you get letters. Tracy, I know you get a lot of mail. What do you do with them, Craig? What do you do with them? I feel an obligation to write every single one of 'em back because Jim McKay wrote me back. 

Of course, what do you do when he writes you back? You hurriedly write him back again. [Laughter.] You wanna, you wanna create a relationship. But no, I was in awe of him. So much so that when I graduated from college, he said, “Hey, I'm really proud of you. Why don't you come up to Connecticut? We'll play a round of golf.” And I did. I hopped on a plane and I slept on a locker room floor at a place called the Connecticut Golf Club in Easton, Connecticut. And the next morning I played 18 holes with my hero. It was bigger than life, but it made it all feel like it was possible. I was around greatness and he was encouraging and uplifting and I wanted to be him. And I hung on his every word. Three years later, I was hired by CBS, through a roundabout way of obsessing and dreaming, working passionately.

My friendship with Jim McKay became larger and larger as time would go on. So much to the point that, when he did his last show, it was at The Open Championship at St. Andrews in 2000, I had to be there, for his last show. I called and asked, fearing he might think this is getting past the line of friendship and into the realm of stalking. [Laughter.] I said, “Would you mind if I came over and was with you on the morning of your last show?” He said, “If you would really come all the way over to St. Andrews, Scotland, absolutely.” So I did. And I went over there to see him.

What was really nice, uh, it also happened to coincide with Tiger completing his career Grand Slam. And I wanted to be there to see that too, as it would turn out he would win that one and become the youngest ever to do that. But the morning of the final round, I went to the Rusacks Hotel in Scotland and I called his room from the lobby. And I went up to his room, knocked on the door, expecting to see Jim McKay in the biggest three-bedroom suite with the baby grand piano you ever saw in your life. Instead, it was a room, 10 by 14 maybe. I mean, it was so small. A tiny desk, one little twin bed. He wasn't even overlooking the 18th hole, he was overlooking the street. There was a bottle of red wine on the windowsill that had been uncorked, about halfway consumed, with a little wine glass there.

He had his notes on the desk. I sat there for an hour and just talked to him about his career, that magical journey that I wanted to live for myself. Now at this point, I'm 15 or 16 years into my career at CBS, but I was looking at the back end of it. He was 79, he was ready to go home. He missed Margaret. He'd had a difficult time connecting through Heathrow to get to St. Andrews. And he dreaded at this point going back through that to get back to Maryland. Here's a man who traveled the world and brought the world to us when Wide World of Sports really introduced us to the world. He was our tour guide. And he was not a road warrior anymore. All he wanted to do was be home with his family. I'm 63. I don't quite have that same feeling that he had that day. But I can see that, I can see how that comes. We're road warriors, those of us in live sports television. It's the golden hamster wheel. 

We're storytellers. You know, I'm uplifted by stories. I heard — Wonya [Lucas], I don't know you, but that was beautiful what you said. And Mr. Bond, that death-defying experience that you went through. Uplifting. To hear the positivity in this room in a day when you're a storyteller or you're a member of the media and people think that's a bad thing. Tonight is affirmation that there's a lot of really good people in our industry, in front of and in back of. 

I hate that term by the way, I'm sorry I even said it. We're all in front of, this is all in front of us. This is our lives. This is what we do. We inform people, we present them content, we tell them stories. But the positivity is what I've spent my whole career trying to do. Trying to be like Jim McKay, who took me around the world. Sean, you've been an amazing friend. I can't even begin to thank you for what you've done for my career. To work side by side with you, storybook. That's the way it's been. So thank you for that, Sean McManus. 

We have, in sports television, there is no script. I was gonna joke that with the writers' strike that I have nothing to say tonight. OK? I wish everybody well on figuring that one out. But we are, we are extemporaneous speakers and storytellers. We see something and instantaneously we have to tell you what we see. And so do the people behind it. There I go again, but I'm talking directors here. I'm talking about the people that put the story on the line visually. After all, we are a visual medium, and I have to be respectful of that and just be a little bit of an undercurrent. 

And I see out here tonight, friends like Suzanne Smith, who I started with. Mark Grant, who I had the blessing of working the Final Four with this year. He directed that. And Bob Fishman is here tonight, who just got the Lifetime Achievement Award by the DGA in Los Angeles, the first sports director in history to ever get that recognition. They are storytellers and I'm in awe of them. 

So we only have 20 minutes to go. [Laughter.] I want to to say this. I've got my CBS family, I can't see, but they're table 15. I love you all. Thank you Jen Sabatelle. Thank you Harold Bryant, you're awesome. Steve Karasik, thank you. You guys live it every single day. I know David Burson's not here tonight, but I want to recognize him. And then I have my family and friends' table over here. Melissa [Miller], who for 25 years I've been honored to have her represent me in virtually everything, in my work and personal life, as my chief of staff. Sounds important. And she is important. She's vitally important in my life. Sandy Montag, who's just an extraordinary friend, the first stats guy I ever had. Now he is a big time agent, doing great things. But my Caroline. Caroline Beasley, you were here tonight and I was hearing all those stories about your dad. My Caroline is here tonight. She's my first of three. She doesn't know this. I've never worn these until tonight. She's a little girl who had to put up with her dad being gone all the time. 

I don’t know if you can see these on the IMAG. Can you see that? Cufflink of a little girl with a smile on her face? 

To my Caroline, my Finley, my Jameson. I can't thank you enough for putting up with daddy wandering around the world, wondering around the world, wandering around the world, whatever it is. Somebody put in a prompter for me, please. [Laughter.] Um, tolerating this nomadic life as I continue to chase an 11 year old's dream. These are great nights when you walk away feeling inspired. I hope one day I do get in one hall of fame. It's a tough one. There're only three voters. It has to be unanimous. And that's for one day for my kids to say on my last day that I was a hall of game dad throughout, throughout it all. 

So I'm getting outta here, Bill. We're gonna leave early. This is not gonna be the night of The Walking Dead. But on that night, a month ago, it was a month ago tonight. It was April 3rd. I didn't even think of that, Tracy. It was April 3rd. I didn't want to have anything about this being my last of 37 Final Fours. And at one point, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery tried to bring it up and I said, no, this is not my night. This night belongs to Dan Hurley and the National Champion UConn Huskies. But they circled back after the confetti had fallen and Tracy had done an interview with, uh, with the coach. They came back and they said something. And now I knew with a countdown of 30 seconds to go and the music underneath, that perfect little NCAA music bed undercurrent. You heard it in the tape. But I'll say it again, for the last time. 

We've been given a responsibility to do a lot of things. Those of us and every one of us in this room. Everybody has a dream. Everybody. Everybody has a story. Try to find that story in others. Try to find it. Your relationship will be better. And be kind. Wonya, you said that a couple of times tonight. And be kind. 

And yes, I make eye contact with that camera every time I come on, as a message to my late father saying, “Hello, friends.” I'm talking to him. It makes me fall into the broadcast feeling I'm speaking to one person. But that night I said it, and I'll say it tonight, to everyone in this room, especially my family and friends at tables 14 and 15, those who have come here to support me tonight from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being my friend. 

Thank you all very much.

The 31st class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York’s Ziegfeld Ballroom on May 3 for a gala induction event. Click below for a gallery of photos from on stage and behind the scenes of such honorees as Al Roker, Jim Nantz, Soledad O’Brien, Iconic Show The Walking Dead and more.

On May 3, the TV industry will gather at New York’s Ziegfeld Ballroom to celebrate a very special event — the induction of the 31st class of the B+C Hall of Fame in recognition of their special contributions. 

In 1991, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Broadcasting magazine, the Hall of Fame was created to honor 60 individuals who had through the course of their careers made significant contributions to TV and electronic media. The original class included industry legends ranging from Guglielmo Marconi to William S. Paley, Bob Hope, cable pioneers Bill Daniels and Dr. John Malone and C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, to name but a few. Lucille Ball was one of three women honorees, alongside Irna Phillips, creator of the daytime soap operas Guiding Light and As the World Turns, and Joan Ganz Cooney, one of the founders of Sesame Workshop.

This year’s Hall of Fame class is a family affair: Included are Deborah Roberts, ABC News national senior affairs correspondent and contributing anchor of 20/20, and her husband Al Roker, weather and feature anchor and co-host of the third hour of NBC’s Today; as well as two of the driving forces behind family-owned Beasley Media Group: the radio group’s CEO, Caroline Beasley, and her dad, the company’s late founder, George Beasley. Joining them are Matt Bond, chairman, content distribution, NBCUniversal; Ray Cole, president and chief operating officer, Citadel Communications; Frank Comerford, CRO and president, local sales, NBCUniveral Advertising & Partnerships; Ray Hopkins, president, U.S. Networks Distribution, Paramount Global; Wonya Lucas, CEO, Hallmark Media; Soledad O’Brien, CEO of SO’B Productions and host/producer of Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien; and Rachael Ray, TV food personality and host of the syndicated Rachael Ray.

Jim Nantz of CBS Sports, who just called the last of his 18 consecutive men’s college basketball Final Fours, is this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Though he has wrapped up his career on the hardwood, he remains a vital voice, leading the network’s NFL and professional golf coverage. Our Iconic Series for 2023 is AMC’s The Walking Dead, the super-popular zombie horror series that has set basic-cable ratings records and grown into a powerful franchise.  

Our Chairman’s Award recipient this year is is our late friend and long-term colleague Jim Thompson, past president of the Broadcasters Foundation of America, the group that provides support to men and women in the TV and radio industry who find themselves in acute financial need due to a critical illness, severe accident or other serious misfortune. The foundation is also a beneficiary of the Hall of Fame gala, along with the Paley Center for Media. 

We are grateful to our co-hosts for the evening, Craig Melvin of NBC News and Tracy Wolfson of CBS Sports, for their contributions to the festivities. Thanks also to our in-house editorial and sales staffs at B+C; the marketing and production teams; and Future plc events leader Kelly Boon. And, of course, our event producers at Live Star Entertainment, Eric Drath and Danielle Naassana; as well as Alan Winnikoff and Carina Sayles, our PR team; and especially our sales team, led by Jessica Wolin and Jo Stanley. Finally, thanks to you, our inductees and company sponsors, alumni and attendees for your 31 years of support and generosity.  

Thank you all!  

The 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Class

• Caroline Beasley
• George Beasley
• Matt Bond
• Ray Cole
• Frank Comerford
• Ray Hopkins
• Wonya Lucas
• Soledad O’Brien
• Rachael Ray
• Deborah Roberts
• Al Roker

Lifetime Achievement Award

• Jim Nantz

Chairman’s Award

• Jim Thompson

Iconic Show Award

• The Walking Dead, AMC/AMC Plus

Honor Roll: A complete listing of all-time B+C Hall of Fame nominees

For more information on the gala event, or for tickets and sponsorship opportunities, click here. 

The past few years have seen veteran correspondent Deborah Roberts at her best. As the nation was riven following the killings of Black citizens by police, Roberts covered the news not just as a typically dispassionate reporter, but as a fully sentient human being. In 2021, she was awarded a Peabody Award for the 20/20 special Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor, which featured Roberts’s extensive reporting on the tragic killing. 

“That was satisfying, for once as a journalist, to report on issues that are not only of our time, but also that affected me deeply as a person, as a person of color, as a woman, as a mother,” she said. “I drew from a lot of personal emotions as I was reporting on those stories.”

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

Janice Johnston, 20/20 executive producer, said Roberts always puts a unique stamp on her reportage. “The combination of her hard news, her journalistic drive and that she’s such a compassionate interviewer are what sets her apart,” Johnston said. “Particularly for our show, it’s a wonderful mix.”

Watching Walter

Growing up in Perry, Georgia, Roberts’s family sat down to watch the news with Walter Cronkite every evening. “I used to sit and stare at the screen in a way my brothers and sisters didn’t,” said Roberts, one of nine children. “I was really taking it in.”

While studying at the University of Georgia, she got an internship with Georgia Public Television, covering the state legislature. One summer, she worked at WMAZ Macon. By the time Roberts graduated, she had a bit of on-air experience. 

She landed at WTVM Columbus, Georgia, as a general assignment reporter and began to ease into the role. “I had a lot of fire and determination,” she said, “and I think my news director saw that.”

Roberts moved on to WBIR Knoxville, then WFTV Orlando, before landing at NBC News as a reporter in 1990. Filling in for Deborah Norville on the Today news desk, she met her future husband. It happened to be Roberts’s birthday, and Al Roker, also a 2023 Hall of Fame inductee, suggested they go out to lunch. “He was friendly and lovely,” she said. 

Roberts switched to ABC News in 1995. She counts Diane Sawyer and the late Barbara Walters as “key mentors” in her career. “Both reached out and both always had their doors open if I wanted to stop in,” she said. 

Johnston mentioned how Roberts is a cornerstone that connects the earlier days of 20/20 and the present program. “That legacy of reporting and gravitas — she’s a bridge of that,” Johnston said. 

Offering Information and Hope 

Roberts has a keen perspective on what keeps both World News Tonight and Good Morning America on top in their ultra-competitive ratings races. Of the evening newscast, she said, “People want to be informed, but they also want to have a little hope.” 

Whenever she discusses a story with anchor David Muir, Roberts works to find “a little glimmer of light” in it, she said. 

Same goes for GMA. The show “not only informs you, but leaves you feeling a sense of wonder, a sense of contentment,” she said. 

Roker noted the intense prep work Roberts does before an interview, including binders exploding with research material. “I’ve learned so much from her,” he said. “She’s a serious journalist. Me, not so much.”

Outside of work, Roberts enjoys spending time with her family. She and Al are “theater buffs,” she said, and she loves exercising, often composing her scripts when she’s running around Central Park. Her book Lessons Learned and Cherished: The Teacher Who Changed My Life was recently released. It sees Robin Roberts, Oprah Winfrey and other A-listers share their stories of memorable teachers. 

Every day means a new story for Roberts to cover. “I feel incredibly blessed to have stumbled upon this career and still be doing it at this stage in my life,” she said. 

Al Roker didn’t realize just how much his job meant to him until he wasn’t able to show up for work. In November, he was waylaid by blood clots and internal bleeding that he described as life-threatening. Recuperating, he got a knock on his front door. It was the Today group — on-air talent, writers, producers, about 55 people total — there to wish their anchor pal well. With Christmas around the corner, they sang Roker a few Christmas carols. 

“Throughout the whole ordeal, I didn’t get emotional, I didn’t cry,” he said. “But that just brought me to tears.”

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

When Roker finally got back to NBC’s Today in early January, after two months off, his colleagues got emotional, too. “When he walked onto the set, I just wanted to cry,” co-anchor Hoda Kotb said. “Al is the puzzle piece that was missing.”

A Face for Radio?

Roker never envisioned himself being on television. Working in television, perhaps — writing, producing, maybe directing. Growing up in Queens, New York, the oldest of six children, 10-year-old Roker ran wires from the back of his TV to a reel-to-reel player so he could record television, well before the VCR gave consumers that skill. He told his mother how he’d spliced together the theme songs from Batman and Superman. 

“I didn’t realize what the look was, but looking back on it, it was, ‘He’s going to live in our basement forever. He’s never going to get married. He’s just going to be this subterranean dweller,’ ” Roker said.

Roker got out of the basement to study at SUNY Oswego starting in 1972, where his department chair told him he had “the perfect face for radio,” Roker said. That same man, Lewis O’Donnell, worked on a kids’ show at WTVH Syracuse, and the station needed a weekend weather person. “[The news director] asked Lew, got any kids? I can’t afford anybody real,” Roker said. 

He got the job, making $15 a newscast. 

After he graduated, Roker worked at WTTG Washington and WKYC Cleveland, then landed at his hometown station, WNBC New York, as a weekend weathercaster in late 1983. “The thing that was special was not that it was the No. 1 market, but that my parents could turn on the TV and see me,” he said. 

Roker moved on to Today, also based in 30 Rock, in 1996. 

The morning TV war is a brutal one, but Roker said Today stands out thanks to what he witnessed when the gang came to visit him late last year. “We really are a team,” he said. “It’s a group that cares about each other, and I think the viewer feels that it’s not fake bonhomie.”

Co-anchor Savannah Guthrie shared how Roker was her first friend when she came to Today in 2011. “He’s the joy, he’s the spice, he’s the salt that makes the food tasty,” she said. “Al brings energy, humor and warmth. He’s our sunshine.”

Kotb said Today “doesn’t exist without Al.” Knowing he’s next to them on the set puts the anchors at ease, she added. 

Roker is grateful that the job allows him to do the fun bits, such as the Living Legends series and travel segments, while also covering what he called “the quintessential issue of our time” in climate change. 

Pitching In in the Kitchen

Roker unwinds by hanging out with his family, including wife Deborah Roberts, ABC News senior national affairs correspondent and 2023 Hall of Fame inductee, and their kids. He’s working on a cookbook with his oldest daughter Courtney, which will join the various murder mysteries he’s authored, including The Morning Show Murders, on the Roker bookshelf. He enjoys cooking, writing, reading and simply relaxing. 

During the week, he’s up at 4:30 a.m., but Roker is not complaining. “My dad drove a bus eight to 10 hours a day,” he said. “This is one of the greatest jobs going.”

For Caroline Beasley, radio was a birthright, following in her father George’s footsteps to lead Beasley Media Group. But this wasn’t just a nepotistic move. Caroline found her way out of the shadows by forging a unique path within the company. 

“I made it difficult on myself,” she told B+C. “I never wanted anyone to think that I was where I am because of my dad.”

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

Michael Fiorile, a member of the Beasley board of directors, said Caroline Beasley worked hard to earn that spot in the boardroom. “The family is very particular with who works in the business and who gets elevated,“ Fiorile said. “Obviously, being part of the family helped, but it would not have guaranteed her the position she’s in today.” 

A Bottom-Up Career Path 

Caroline fueled her passion and drive to ultimately become CEO in 2017. “I had to work twice as hard and really prove myself,” she said. 

It was also a glass-ceiling moment for Caroline, joining the testosterone world of broadcasting executives. “There were many times when I was in meetings and I was the only female,” she recalled. 

Having four older brothers helped Caroline to toughen up. 

Her journey at Beasley started 40 years ago, after she graduated from the University of North Carolina. She worked her way through all aspects of the company “basically starting from the ground up,” she said.

For Caroline, no task was too small, even answering phones. “He wanted me to learn all aspects of the business side,” Beasley said of her father. 

In 1994, Caroline was installed as chief financial officer, and she kept learning from the legend, who passed away in 2021. “I feel so lucky and fortunate to have been able to work alongside him,” she said. “He was the foundation and the basis of why I am where I am today.”

That invaluable knowledge her father passed along went well beyond what she could acquire in business school, such as forging those precious relationships. 

Another important lesson for Caroline would be instilled by George — treating all employees with respect and as part of the family. “Because without them, we wouldn’t be here,” she said. 

Her professional family was extended by negotiating the 2016 merger with Greater Media that instantly doubled Beasley’s revenue and moved its footprint into four new markets. With her father ill, the “heavy lifting” fell on Caroline’s shoulders, she said. 

“When she puts her mind to getting something accomplished, it happens,” Fiorile, who served on the National Association of Broadcasters board with Caroline, said. 

She is committed to making Beasley a major player on the digital front and bringing the best talent to the company. Such was the case last year when former NAB president and CEO Gordon Smith joined the Beasley board. 

“That’s kind of the sway that Caroline’s had over the years,” Fiorile said. 

Keeping Pace With the Times 

Since taking over as the next generation to run Beasley, her leadership skills have stood out. 

Caroline has diversified the board to include women and minorities, and deployed cutting-edge tech to make Beasley well-suited for what’s next in radio. “I’ve been able to help evolve our company with new technology to where it is today and with an eye toward the future,” she said.  

Beasley’s portfolio includes 61 stations in 14 markets that spread from Boston to Las Vegas. She is excited to see how broadcasting and online can move forward together. Although not ruling out buying any more radio clusters, she is focused on a successful transition to digital and finding other revenue streams and opportunities to grow.

While Caroline thinks long-term for Beasley, the idea of getting personal accolades was never part of the plan. “I was really shocked. It’s very humbling,” she said of the Hall of Fame announcement. “To see the other past honorees and to be even in the same paragraph with them is just unbelievable.”

It’s bittersweet for Caroline, who fittingly gets enshrined with her late father. “I’m proud of my dad; I just wish he were here to be able to accept the award alongside me,” she said.  

As Frank Comerford, chief revenue officer and president of local sales, has ascended the ranks within NBCUniversal, he always remained laser-focused on local. “My whole career has been in local, and local is about community,” Comerford said. “People care about where they live, whether it’s safe, where their kids go to school. I learned right from the beginning that that local station connection is something you can’t replace.”

That commitment to local extends to the work he does in his community.   

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

“My family has been in New York City for generations,” he said. “I care about doing the right thing, I care about safety in New York and I care about supporting New York City charitable organizations. Doing good is good for the company and it’s good for the community.”

Advocating for Inclusion

For example, when Comerford served as grand marshal for New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, he heard the conversations happening around him that no LGBTQ+ groups were allowed to march in the annual event under an identifying banner.

“There were conversations going on between advocacy groups outside of NBCUniversal and we were having discussions internally, but there didn’t appear to be any progress,” Craig Robinson, executive VP and chief diversity officer, NBCUniversal, said. “Frank called me to his office and said, ‘It’s past time for change and I am dedicated to doing what I can to break through that barrier.’ ”

After a year of conversations with key players, the NBCU employee resource group OUT@NBCUniversal was able to march as an identified group in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2015. The event made worldwide news. 

“Eight years later, it seems like a matter-of-fact issue; it is not,” Robinson said. “It was  absolutely groundbreaking. It was Frank Comerford who said, ‘What am I doing if I’m not using my voice to fight for equity and equality?’ ”

It’s those skills of listening and persuasion that have served Comerford throughout his more than 40 years in the TV industry and more than 30 years at NBCU. 

“One thing I tell every person early in their career is that sales isn’t about talking, sales is about listening. The customer will tell you what they need if you take the time to listen,” Comerford said.

“Frank puts himself in the seat of his client,” Jon Miller, president of acquisitions and partnerships, NBC Sports, said. “The people in our business appreciate that.”

Comerford started his career at Storer Television Sales in New York in 1981 and then served in several sales management positions at WSBK Boston from 1986 to 1994, when he moved to NBC in sales leadership roles. In 1996, he was named VP of sales for WNBC, and he was promoted to executive VP of sales and marketing for the NBC Owned Stations Group in 1999. 

In 2002, he was named president and general manager of NBC’s flagship station, WNBC New York, where he worked for 11 years. In October 2013, he was promoted to his current role, overseeing sales and marketing for all of NBCU’s local media properties, including Telemundo.

Leading the Charge on Measurement

Over the past several years, Comerford has worked to convert NBCUniversal’s ad sales to impressions, leading the industry in moving away from ratings to a more modern means of measurement. 

“I’ve been working for him on and off for 15 years,” Mike Chico, executive VP, NBCU Television Station Sales, said. “He has been an industry leader in all of those years, and most recently when we started changing the industry to move from ratings to impressions.” 

Comerford also moved to combine NBCU’s national and local ad sales teams so that every salesperson has the ability to sell across NBCU’s raft of platforms and offerings.

“I think it’s been one of the best moves we’ve ever made,” Comerford said. “It’s given us communication between the network and local teams that has never been as good. We share information, we share resources, we share strategies. For me, it’s turned out better than I ever expected.” 

Perry Sook, chairman and CEO of Nexstar Media Group, says negotiating with Ray Hopkins is like “watching the first 15 minutes of Saving Private Ryan over and over again.”

Jordan Wertlieb, chief operating officer of Hearst, compared dealing with Hopkins to a 19th-century duel. “It is defined. It is gentlemanly. It is head-on. And once it concludes it concludes,” he said. “Both parties are bloody but shake hands at the end of the day.”

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

When asked about Hopkins, Tegna CEO Dave Lougee recalled cartoons in which the barnyard dog would protect his chickens ferociously all day long, but when the whistle blew at 5 p.m., he’d have a drink with the predator and ask about his family.

Despite the fireworks, Sook, Wertlieb and Lougee all consider Hopkins a friend. 

Hopkins grew up in New Jersey. His father, Big Ray, negotiated as a union rep. He wanted to be in sales and, after two years selling medical supplies, his aunt, In Demand CEO Dale Hopkins — then in ad sales for CNBC — helped him get an interview in the TV business.

Instinctive Negotiator

Hopkins took a job in affiliate relations at CNBC. He planned to do that for a few years, then move over to ad sales. “Thirty years later, I’m still waiting.”

He did some of the first retransmission-consent deals. “I can always teach the business, but I can’t teach intangibles like good judgment, work ethic and passion for the industry,” Bridget Baker, former president of TV Network Distribution at NBC, recalled. “From the first meeting, I could tell Ray wanted to win. He was instinctively a good negotiator.”

Hopkins, who loves sports, moved to Prime Ticket, the Los Angeles regional sports network acquired by Fox. At Fox, Hopkins was part of an all-star lineup of young cable distribution execs, also including Mike Hopkins, Mike Biard, Dana Zimmer and Albert Cheng, said NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, who was president of Fox Cable Networks. “Ray was definitely the first among equals back then,” Shell said. Shell took Hopkins with him when Rupert Murdoch chose him to try to fix Gemstar-TV Guide.

Hopkins, a Mets fan, was recruited by Tracy Dolgin, another former Fox exec, to join YES Network. “By far the best distribution person I’ve ever met in my life is Ray,” Dolgin said. “He’s a unicorn. Even though he got an amazing deal, the top people at the top distributors loved him. They walked out feeling it was a partnership and they knew with 100% certainty that every single thing he said in that meeting was true.”

Hopkins helped sell YES at the top of the market to Fox. “Now, he’s a Yankee fan. We paid for his house in the Bahamas and the Jersey Shore and his parents’ house in Florida,” Dolgin said.

CBS had meetings about buying YES and wound up hiring Hopkins. When CBS combined with Viacom, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish picked Hopkins to head distribution for Paramount Global. 

“I’m very grateful for being in an industry by pure luck and having so much upward trajectory,” Hopkins said. “Along the way I’ve had great bosses, many of whom I’ve become good friends with. They have mentored me and trusted me to do the job.”

Keen Competitor

Hopkins works hard and plays hard. “A round of golf with Ray is an 18-hole betting affair. I’ve even seen Ray turn the practice tee into a competition while we’re warming up,” Sook said. Hopkins doesn’t believe in letting the client win. “I don’t win all the time, but it’s not for a lack of trying or effort,” Hopkins confirmed.

Gemstar-owned horse racing channel TVG and Hopkins would send friends an annual email with Kentucky Derby picks. “For seven years in a row, I won money on the Kentucky Derby,” Shell said. “Once he got the CBS job, I stopped winning money.” 

Hopkins doesn’t believe in betting on his health. When a pimple wouldn’t heal, he went to a doctor. A short procedure turned into eight hours of surgery and 75% of his nose being removed. The cancer is gone and with reconstructive surgery, he says you can barely notice that he has a new nose.

“If I didn’t get tested it would have metastasized and become a larger issue,” he said. “I can’t stress enough for those that are fair-skinned to get tested regularly.” 

During his recuperation Hopkins grew a beard. “My daughter says it makes me look a little more relaxed,” he said.

She has a legacy of groundbreaking journalism, her own production company and a stack of awards, including three Emmys and a 2022 Film Independent Spirit Award for HBO docuseries Black and Missing. But don’t expect Soledad O’Brien to slow down anytime soon in her pursuit of investigating and sharing stories of human impact through her unique lens of candor.

“Over time, I have learned some fearlessness in asking questions that involve tricky subjects — like rape, like class,” O’Brien said. “Sometimes you have to keep drilling down and you can’t take some half answer at face value.” 

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

Recalling her coverage of Hurricane Katrina for CNN in 2005, when then-Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown was being showered with kudos for getting supplies into New Orleans, O’Brien said she saw a different scenario. “It would be very easy to stick with the narrative that Brown was doing a great job,” she recalled. “But you do have to sort of say, ‘Wait a minute, that’s not what I’m seeing.’ There’s a responsibility, an opportunity. Because a lot of people just aren’t covering things, and you just have to not give a f*** about the backlash and what comes back to you.”

Katrina Was a Pivot Point 

O’Brien cited reporting on the Katrina aftermath — for which she remained on-site for months — as a pivotal career moment. “That was the first time I started thinking about, ‘What are we trying to do in our coverage?’ and understanding how you could consider social implications that were rolled into a story that was not the story of a storm, certainly, but was about who has access and who doesn’t.” 

Another inflection point came with her work on the 2008 CNN docuseries Black in America. “I had not really done a deep dive into anything before that and it was a big, important series and there was a ton of money, time and focus being put into it. It felt to me like the stakes were really high,” she said.

O’Brien left CNN in 2013 and launched her own production company, now called SO’B Productions, where she focuses on uplifting “people who are chronically and constantly ignored and left out of the narrative. The voiceless have a voice, but getting someone to want to hear it is a little bit challenging. So if I can use my platform to elevate their message that’s what I want to do.” She’s also expanded her relationships in media including with Hearst Media Production Group, home of political magazine program Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien.

O’Brien “elevates the content and identity of this important weekly program with her unique blend of journalistic experience, integrity, compassion and natural curiosity,” said Frank Biancuzzo, president of HMPG, who noted that through the series, she “connects with all demographic groups, a rarity in the national news and information space.”

Consistent throughout her work is O’Brien’s passion for getting to the heart of the story without being sidetracked by the noise and superficial discourse. Her feature documentary The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, streaming on Peacock and a Critics Choice Award nominee, is a prime example.

Putting Things Into Context

“One thing I’ve loved about doing Matter of Fact is we spend a lot of time informing viewers about things they have not heard about and giving a lot of context to politics,” she said. “We certainly don’t have elected officials who sit on either side of the aisle yelling at each other for four minutes. It’s not helpful to people. We have so many complicated issues happening and there are so many opportunities to really explain them to people, so why squander that?”

O’Brien is also an active participant in dialogue over social media — she has 1.3 million Twitter followers — including a recent thread regarding her thoughts about working with Don Lemon (spoiler alert: they aren’t positive) during her tenure at CNN. 

“I don’t need to go through my ‘people’ to give a comment on something that’s obviously hurtful and mean and inappropriate,” she said. “I can just tweet about it or go on Instagram. People don’t always agree with me, which is also fine, but I think you end up in a dialogue, a conversation with your viewers, versus feeling like you’re just a disembodied person telling a disembodied story.” 

In the beginning of The Walking Dead, Sheriff Rick Grimes — played by Andrew Lincoln — wakes up in an abandoned hospital and finds the world engulfed by a zombie apocalypse.

The series had its debut on Halloween 2010 and AMC Networks awoke to a monster. The premiere drew 6.3 million total viewers and 4.3 million adults 18-49, making it, at the time, the biggest cable series launch ever.

“The show was a ratings success from the first episode, delivering numbers that could only be described as surprisingly good,” former AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan said. “But even with that initial response, none of us saw the biggest show in the history of cable television coming.” 

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

During its third season in 2012-13, The Walking Dead became the first cable series in history to rank as the No. 1 series in all of television. It would stay No. 1 in all of TV for five consecutive seasons, with its season five premiere drawing 22 million total viewers and 14.6 million adults 18-49, records that still stand.

AMC had aired a pair of critical darlings in Mad Men and Breaking Bad and wanted to build the network around marquee shows for adults. The network was looking at the horror genre in order to capitalize on its “October FearFest” franchise, Sapan said. “The Walking Dead gave us the momentum to focus on and invest in more great stories,” he said.

There’s Money in the Zombie Apocalypse

The show brought a financial windfall. Revenue at AMC’s domestic networks climbed from $896 million in 2009 to $2.4 billion in 2017, including $959,551 million in advertising.

The Walking Dead was the first series AMC fully owned. “It was controversial and not even close to universally supported internally — a huge emotional and financial bet,” recalled Roku Media president Charlie Collier, then president and general manager of the AMC network. 

“It had been passed on by NBC and others, but we were passionate about the source material,” Collier said. “As we pushed to make the show, [we] discussed what it was about endlessly. It was not about zombies, per se, as much as it was about humanity and survival.” 

To Walking Dead comics fan Scott Gimple, who joined the show as a writer and producer in season two, became showrunner in 2013 and then chief content officer for The Walking Dead Universe in 2018, the huge ratings meant “I could plot out three years and not worry about the rug being pulled out from underneath the audience.” Episodes could also focus on a few characters at a time “to make every one of them real people with real lives,” Gimple said.

Because the show was shot in a remote area outside Atlanta, away from other Hollywood productions, it took a while for the show’s magnitude to sink in. “We were on our own, and I think that was a big part of the success of it,” Gimple said. “We held ourselves to very high standards. And we only had so many resources. It blows me away. This was just the right show at the right time with the right people.”

The Walking Dead finished its 11th and final season in 2022, but its characters and its walkers remain undead. Starting in 2015 with Fear The Walking Dead, AMC has expanded the franchise. The Walking Dead: World Beyond and Tales of the Walking Dead have already aired. Upcoming are The Walking Dead: Dead City, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and a series focused on Rick Grimes and Michonne (Danai Gurira). 

Dead City stars Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprising their characters Maggie and Negan. Cohan joined the original series in season two. ”I had the benefit of getting the job and then watching season one and saying, ‘Oh my god, this is really good. Don’t screw it up.’ ”

Cohan said it wasn’t until season three or four that she really got the sense of excitement around the show. 

Now she’s signed up again. “There was something about the depth of what we could do in The Walking Dead Universe that was always compelling that has kept me coming back for more,” she said. “When you have a character for that long you get to see how they would evolve and be shaped and changed by their environment and their relationships and their losses and their wins.”

In the new show, Maggie is paired with Negan, who killed her lover Glenn in one of The Walking Dead’s most memorable scenes.”This show gives Jeff and I an opportunity to peel off another layer of these characters,” Cohan said. “I don’t think we had that opportunity to do that with a much larger cast.” 

In the streaming universe, the show is a hit for Netflix, AMC Plus and a number of AMC FAST (free, ad-supported streaming TV) channels.

From Hit to Franchise

“I can’t overestimate the value of The Walking Dead Universe,” Dan McDermott, president of AMC Entertainment and AMC Studios, said. “It is definitive television history.”

Some of the new Walking Dead series are based on fan favorites characters like Cohan, And if the show sticks to its DNA of “telling human dramas under extreme circumstances,” McDermott said there will be more characters to build on.

McDermott said there’s no limit to how long AMC can tell Walking Dead stories. “We have to take care to ensure that the stories themselves are unique, human and adhere to some of the core principles of what makes this whole universe so unique. We definitely very much believe that every show has to stand on its own and be compelling television. You don’t get a free pass just because the series is a part of an existing universe.”

Sapan compares The Walking Dead franchise to Star Wars and Star Trek. “It is clear by now that these walkers will keep right on walking for many, many years to come,” he said. 

Growing up in Atlanta as the daughter of Bill Lucas, VP of player personnel for Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves, one wouldn’t have blinked an eye if Wonya Lucas took a career swing at the sports business.

But it was television that made an impression and would eventually guide her to success in leading a number of prestigious entertainment brands, from The Weather Channel to TV One to Hallmark Media, where she serves as CEO.

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

“I never really left the South growing up because my dad was in baseball, but television helped me really move beyond those boundaries,” she said. “It was the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies that really resonated with me. It was there that I first saw Black life treated respectfully.”

Still, Lucas considered a career in sports following in the footsteps of her father — who was the first African-American executive to run a Major League Baseball team — as well as her uncle, baseball great Hank Aaron, when she enrolled at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. It was there, though, that her focus shifted to media.

Finding a Career With Meaning

“When I went to business school I wanted to be a sports agent, but I ultimately wanted to be in the entertainment business,” she said. “It seemed like more fun. I wanted to be in a business that, like sports, really mattered in people’s lives, and that mattered in my life.” 

Her father’s influence remained as she sought to be a general manager and run a business like her dad. After graduating and working as a brand manager at Clorox and Coca-Cola, in 1994 she joined Turner Broadcasting System, which owned the Braves and where her mom, Rubye, worked. She would remain there through 2002, ascending to VP of business operations and network development for TNT and TBS and senior VP of strategic marketing for CNN.

“I was so proud and so happy at Turner and about the potential for my life and career, but I knew I wanted to be a general manager and run a network,” she said.

Lucas would realize her dream in 2002, becoming executive VP and general manager of The Weather Channel. “The other through line in my career is trying to work on brands that had a sense of purpose, and The Weather Channel was all about making a difference in people’s lives,” she said. 

Lucas continued to seek opportunities to work on brands that focused on teaching, entertaining and influencing people through stints at Discovery, as chief marketing officer; as president and CEO of African-American targeted cable network TV One; and president and CEO of Public Broadcasting Atlanta.

“Wonya is one of the most talented leaders in the business. She has incredible people skills, business acumen and her marketing prowess is pure genius,” TV One and Cleo TV president Michelle Rice said. “She is a strong advocate for women and has been a necessary disruptor in our industry for decades.”

Full Circle at Hallmark

In 2020 Lucas would take the reins of Hallmark Channel, part of the entertainment brand that initially influenced her as a child. “The Hallmark Channel did mean something to me from an emotional perspective, but I also saw the opportunity from a brand perspective to reach people,” she said.

One of Lucas’s major initiatives at Hallmark was last year’s extension of the Mahogany card brand into original movies that tell authentic stories from a Black perspective. “When I saw Mahogany within our portfolio, as well as DaySpring [greeting cards] which targets the Christian community, I felt like there was a substantial opportunity to build on well-established intellectual property and brands that existed under the umbrella of Hallmark,” she said. 

Growing up, Lucas said, she could have never imagined all the accolades that her career path would garner, including induction into the B+C Hall of Fame. “I knew I loved this business and how it changed my life as a child and as a person throughout my life, and it’s such a great honor to be recognized in this way.” 

When George Beasley died in 2021, he left behind a broadcasting legacy that few could match. 

For 60 years, he ran an eponymous radio company. Today, his children have high-profile positions at Beasley Media Group, led by fellow B+C Hall of Famer Caroline, the company CEO, along with Bruce, Beasley Broadcast Group’s president, and Brian, Beasley Broadcast Group’s executive VP and chief operating officer. 

For George, the family business literally grew out of the soil. Growing up in Virginia, farming was the hand-me-down occupation. His grandfather let him try his hand at raising tobacco. 

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

Finding that farming was not for him, George headed off to the Army and saved money for college. Education became a vocation for Beasley, first as a teacher and later as a principal. But, as he told the Naples Daily News, making $12,000 a year forced him to find extra income to support his wife and five children. It was radio that filled the void. 

Beasley worked at a station in Mount Airy, North Carolina. An uncle owned the station, helping George and his cousin Stu Epperson, the future Salem Media chairman, learn the building blocks of making radio a viable business. 

“He worked at the station at night and weekends, while being a principal for a local school,” Caroline said. 

George later started assembling his group. He founded his first station, WPYB, in Benson, North Carolina, in 1961. 

“He had a tremendous will and desire to build something big and succeed,” Beasley board vice chair Allen Shaw said.  

Master Delegator

One of George Beasley’s management skills was knowing how to effectively delegate, placing trust in his employees. “He put out a memo to the staff,” Shaw recalled about his joining the company, where he was executive VP and chief operating officer in the ’80s. In the memo, Beasley told workers to report to Shaw if they had an issue. “He is fully in charge of the operations of the company,” it read. 

“And he kept that word,” Shaw said. 

Since Beasley started in humble beginnings, he was careful when it came to the bottom line. “He didn’t spend money on buildings and plush offices,” Shaw said. “It was just, ‘Don’t spend money you don’t have  to spend.’  ”

Shaw got to see the thriftiness firsthand when he subscribed to the Associated Press and Beasley called to complain. “You get a TV set, you put it in the newsroom and tune it to CNN,” Shaw remembered Beasley saying. “That’s where you get your news. It’s free.”

Shaw, who never heard George yell, said his boss wasn’t a fan of mornings.
“But when it came to nighttime, he could stay awake longer than anybody else,” Shaw joked. 

After learning the ropes at his uncle’s station, Beasley’s confidence grew, and he turned the sideline job into his sole career choice as he began to grow his burgeoning company.

“Everything was pretty much traveling by car to different markets,” Caroline said. “He tried to purchase stations that were fairly nearby where we were living.”

Shaw was introduced to George Beasley in the mid-1980s on a flight to North Carolina. “I’m a dealmaker,” Shaw recalled Beasley telling him, so he wanted Shaw to master the day-to-day Beasley business. George said handling that was “not really my cup of tea,” Shaw recalled.

Lessons in Entrepreneurship

Shaw would spend the remainder of the decade as chief operating officer. The big win from signing on the dotted line: He learned how to do entrepreneurial radio from the master. 

“He would teach me everything that he knew about ownership,” Shaw said. 

Caroline was in a unique spot as she grew with the company into chief financial officer before becoming CEO. “I worked day to day alongside him,” she said. “He was my mentor.”

Beasley gave sage advice to his daughter, including how to handle working for a family business.  

Beasley merged his two passions, education and radio, with the creation of The George G. Beasley Media Complex on the campus of Appalachian State University, his alma mater. 

“He could not have been prouder to be able to pay it forward,” Caroline said, “and provide students with the opportunity to pursue their dreams of getting into broadcasting.” 

On the day we caught up with sports broadcasting legend Jim Nantz, he was coming off, for the very last time, what has been an annual scheduling gauntlet, transitioning from CBS play-by-play of men’s college basketball’s Final Four to pro golf’s The Masters. 

In the midst of all this 24/7 busyness, Nantz bumped his elbow. Real hard. The affable broadcaster just officially stepped away from the March Madness tournament after decades of leading CBS’s coverage. He’ll have a bit more time to spend with a family that features two young kids, but Nantz will remain very active, still spearheading the network’s golf and National Football League play-by-play, the latter alongside Tony Romo. When we got him on the phone from his hometown of Houston, he was on his way to have a doctor finally look at that aching elbow.

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

Despite the injury, make no mistake: Nantz, who will turn 64 in May and is certainly among the most decorated on-air personalities in sports broadcasting history, continues to enjoy one heck of a charmed narrative.  

Take his days in the early 1980s at the University of Houston, where he managed to letter on a vaunted golf team that featured Fred Couples and Blaine McCallister.

“That was awful kind of them to do,” Nantz quipped of his letter offering, remarking about his humble place in a program that captured 16 NCAA titles over 30 years. 

But Cougar Golf, and the relationships he formed within it, were among a number of sports-related experiences that were life-changing for Nantz. 

“Every day, I was around people who set goals and achieved them,” he explained. 

It was at Houston that Nantz set his own set of goals: To become the best sports storyteller he could be; and to ply his trade at CBS, the broadcaster on which he’d avidly observed pro golf coverage dating back to his days as a two-sport athlete (golf and basketball) at Marlboro High School in New Jersey.

Truly charmed is the man who knows exactly what he wants to do and who he wants to do it for while still in college. And keeps doing it through four decades. 

But becoming the public address announcer during the nascent days of Houston basketball’s iconic “Phi Slama Jama” era? And being the one to coin the nickname for future NBA Hall of Famer Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, while still just an undergrad?

Come on. This man’s life and career are off the Zelig charts. Even in the earliest of beginnings, he was intersecting, in a meaningful way, with athletes at the very highest of levels. 

‘So Many Amazing People’ 

Zelig is actually an imperfect simile. It implies that Nantz has connected with so many zeitgeist shifters, across multiple eras, by happenstance. 

Intimately familiar with the sports and athletes he’s covered, he’s probably one of the more gifted improvisational journalists of our time, always adhering to the core job requirement — “forming sentences and phrases and storylines in real time, and doing it quickly and succinctly.” 

He’s called so many Final Fours, so many Super Bowls, and so many Masters, and made us feel connected to the athletes and their games so many times, because he’s the best there is at doing this. 

We know this. In a broadcast business in which everything else has been washed away by the erosive forces of digital disruption, the championship games and matches called by Nantz, still seen by mass audiences of tens of millions of viewers, stand ever taller and ever more resilient. 

What is surprising is the sheer volume of interesting relationships this man has formed. Asked who he’ll remember most, Nantz can spend minutes rattling off the personal bonds he’s formed with the athletes and coaches he’s covered extensively: “Belichick and Brady” … “Peyton Manning” … “Arnold Palmer.” 

Career Built on Relationships

Folks who work in sports routinely say it’s about the people you meet and the relationships you make. And dude could rattle off names all day. 

You want to talk charmed? That’s when you call your first Final Four for CBS in 1991, and the title game features a spectacular Duke forward named Grant Hill.  And this kid — now a retired NBA legend — ends up becoming your March Madness broadcast partner.

Legendary former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who won five NCAA men’s basketball championships that were called by Nantz, called the announcer “the voice of the Final Four,” noting that basketball fans can’t recall any of the tournament’s biggest moments over the past four decades without hearing Nantz’s play-by-play in their heads. 

“You’re the best who’s ever done this,” Krzyzewski added in a video tribute posted on Twitter, calling the announcer a “special friend.”

Pretty, pretty cool tribute to get. 

Or when your profession falls under a new kind of intense viral scrutiny in the social internet era, and talented peers like Al Michaels start getting skewered by “influencers” simply because they’re not calling the games with enough “excitement.” (Oh, boy.) 

As for Nantz, he remained charmed enough to be able to call his last NCAA title game a few miles down the block from his home, at Houston’s NRG Stadium, his network running a star-studded, tear-jerking career retrospective narrated by Ron Howard, and his 9-year-old daughter among those in attendance to watch it all.

Nantz says he doesn’t have — or want — a Twitter, Instagram or Facebook account. But leaving the stadium after UConn defeated San Diego State that night, his daughter gave him the “score,” anyway. 

“You’re trending No. 1 on Twitter. They love you.” 

Growing up in the small town of Kingsley, Iowa, Ray Cole started working in the family grocery store at age 5. “I’d sort pop bottles and break 100-pound bags of potatoes down to 5- or 10-pound bags for sale,” he recalled, adding that of the seven kids in his family, he was dubbed “Most Likely to Take Over the Store.” 

In fact, while at college in Sioux City, he would drive home to help keep the store going when his father suffered health problems. After all, he planned to graduate and then return to the family business. That meant he was so busy he passed over the opportunity for Briar Cliff University’s new internship program until a department chairman pulled Cole aside and insisted that as a top student, he should help the school put its best foot forward. 

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

Cole, now 67, chose a 10-week internship at KCAU Sioux City, the station he’d grown up watching.

It changed his life forever. “Bill Turner, who was running the station, gave me special projects after the internship ended, then another internship and then a full-time job,” Cole said. “That internship was in 1976 and I’ve never left the business.” 

Cole — who proudly noted that he’s just the second Iowa-born person in the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame after some guy named Johnny Carson (who famously moved to Nebraska) — had become KCAU’s general manager when Phil Lombardo and his company, Citadel Communications, took over in 1985.  

Up to the Challenge

“I asked if he trusted me,” Lombardo, a 2015 B+C Hall of Fame inductee, recalled. “I said, ‘You have a title you don’t have the background for, so I want to demote you but then train you and mentor you so you can really become a general manager.’ Ray didn’t even ask to think about it, but immediately accepted the challenge.” He was made director of broadcast operations to gain experience in news, production, promotions and engineering.

 Cole said running the station was rewarding because of the work but also “because it gave me an opportunity to serve the community,” and he soon found himself on the boards of numerous local nonprofits. (If you do a word cloud of a conversation with Cole, “serve” and “community” are likely to dominate.) 

Cole became president and chief operating officer of Citadel. In 1994, after Citadel added stations in Des Moines; Rock Island, Illinois; and Lincoln, Nebraska (Providence, Rhode Island, came later), Cole moved to Des Moines. 

“As settled as our family was in Sioux City, I was going to be spending a lot of time in Des Moines, so it made sense to move and it was an exciting new challenge to have responsibility for the oversight of many stations instead of being general manager for just one,” Cole said, adding that the programming during the presidential caucuses, such as a primetime Republican debate in 2012, was especially rewarding. “It was an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.”

Keeping True to His Roots

In fact, Cole, who frequently traveled to New York and Burbank for business, turned down opportunities to trade life in Iowa for the big city. “My wife and I are high school sweethearts and we really wanted to raise our family here, so while I always enjoyed going to New York and Burbank, I was always happy to come back,” he said. 

Cole continued to focus on serving his community in Des Moines, sitting on the boards of the Principal Charity Classic, Iowa Hall of Pride, Partnership for a Drug-Free Iowa, Rock in Prevention and the 2017 Solheim Cup Tournament.

While TV has changed dramatically since his childhood — “I remember when KCAU transitioned from black-and-white to color and as an executive I helped stations navigate the transition from analog to digital,” he said — he has learned along the way that technology is not the be-all, end-all. 

“All the advances take a back seat to how well broadcasters serve their local community,” Cole said. “It’s still about being a good person and having good relationships, about being responsive with your programming and making sure you’re serving your community.”  

The day after her daytime talk show, Rachael Ray, ended, it didn’t even occur to the host and cook to take a break: She was on her way to Lviv, Ukraine, where she has been bringing key supplies to the country’s largest orphanage, a children’s hospital and a rehab center, whether by raising funds to acquire them or by buying them herself. She’s planning a fifth trip to the country in June. 

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

When Ray speaks about these efforts, her passion rings out. “I will keep going as long as these people need me,” she said. “These people are protecting democracy for the entire planet. There are children with no limbs, grandmothers who are building Molotov cocktails. All of the men, daddies and grampas, are working on the front lines. Our freedom is what we owe these people.”  

Superhuman Energy

Ray’s energy is daunting even to her peers. “People like Rachael are what I call superhumans,” Sunny Anderson, TV chef, frequent guest on Rachael Ray and co-host of Food Network’s The Kitchen, said. “She’s able to do so much more in 24 hours than I can even imagine. To see it up close, you just see it’s like an engine.”

Janet Annino, who executive produced Rachael Ray throughout its entire 17-season run, noted how the war in Ukraine sparked something in Ray. “She’s smart as a whip and she has ideas coming out of every pore,” Annino said. “She gets so excited about things in a way I find very refreshing.” 

Ray started in TV after being discovered by CBS affiliate WRGB Albany-Schenectady, New York, while she was working for gourmet market Cowan & Lobel. She had created a course teaching “30-Minute Mediterranean Meals” to shoppers that became a signature segment on the local evening news, then a show on the Food Network and finally a line of cookbooks. In 2006, she launched her daytime talk show with CBS Television Distribution in association with Harpo Productions, Scripps Networks and Watch Entertainment. 

“Rachael is incredibly humble and relatable,” Emeril Lagasse, famed TV chef and restaurateur, said. “Rachael creates recipes that almost anyone can cook at home and her bubbly and friendly personality is magnetic. She connects with people and what you see is what you get. There isn’t anything fussy about Rachael.” 

All of that is why Ray succeeded as a daytime host, Steve LoCascio, president of CBS Media Ventures, said. “Rachael Ray is like your girlfriend teaching you how to make a meal every day,” he said.

Brand Builder

Ray’s brand has grown into cookware, furniture and home design, pet food and care and, of course, philanthropy. All of the profit from her line of premium pet food and treats, Rachael Ray Nutrish, goes to The Rachael Ray Foundation, which she founded in 2016 and helps animals in need and other causes she cares about. She also launched nonprofit organization Yum-o! in 2006. Named for one of her signature phrases, it helps kids and families develop healthy relationships with food and cooking. All of that has allowed her to donate more than $100 million to  her favored causes around the world. 

Now she’s expanding those efforts to Ukraine and beyond.

Even with all of that on her plate, Ray already is planning her next content empire, with several shows in development. One thing is sure: wherever she is, Ray will keep on working.

“My grandfather taught me all of the most important lessons in life,” Ray said. “If I came home crying from kindergarten, he would say, ‘What are you crying about? You have 10 fingers, 10 toes and a brain.’ He gave me no excuses for not enjoying the gift of life itself and taught me to appreciate the privilege and joy of work. We all must learn, we all must work, we all must try — there’s no excuse for not trying your best at these basic things.”  

Matt Bond is the Wayne Gretzky of cable programming and distribution deals, says hockey fan Tom Montemagno, executive VP, programming acquisition at Charter Communications.

“I challenge anyone to come up with a name who’s been involved in more transactions,” Montemagno said, noting that Bond has worked with many of cable’s greatest minds — John Malone, Brian and Ralph Roberts, Leo Hindery, Steve Burke and Jeff Shell — becoming a beacon for the industry who has mentored many successful executives.

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

Before moving to the content sales side, Bond was head of content acquisition for cable giants Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) and Comcast, making him one of the industry’s most powerful gatekeepers.

“It was like getting a meeting with the pope back in the day,” DirecTV chief content officer Robert Thun said. 

Tough Negotiator

When NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was with Comcast, his office was down the hall from Bond’s. Distribution executives “would come to kiss the ring in his office and then traipse down to my office and complain about how unreasonable Matt was,” Shell said. “I, of course, would wait for them to leave and then go back into Matt’s office and have a laugh about it.”

Even Oprah Winfrey couldn’t impress Bond when she was launching OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, according to a former colleague. Bond recalled not liking the channel’s economics.

“I never liked the term gatekeeper,” Bond said. “It implies we had all this power and authority to decide what goes on TV. Programming was as important to us as we were to them. It was a balanced arrangement and obviously they determined what was on the air at the end of the day.”

When Comcast bought NBCU, Burke asked Bond to head content acquisition. “I didn’t have to think about it,” Bond said. “It was an exciting change in my career, something new to do. And I thought I could also create a lot of value.”

Said Shell, “One key to his success is he’s so thoughtful about the world and how our business has changed.” Now Bond negotiates with streaming platforms in addition to traditional pay TV distributors. “I think Matt was clairvoyant in realizing that the future was more similar to the past than people would like to think.”

People he negotiates with say Bond’s elbows are less sharp now that he’s in sales. “Yeah, that’s probably true,” Bond said.

Originally from Las Vegas, Bond went to the University of Denver and law school at the University of Colorado and settled there. He spends time outdoors — hiking, fishing and surfing. He also paints and rescues boxers, sometimes persuading colleagues to adopt large dogs.

Last year, he was climbing a frozen waterfall when he fell over and stopped breathing, suffering what’s known as the widowmaker heart attack. The guide he was climbing with saved his life by performing CPR for 30 minutes and was fortunate to get a cell signal to call a local hospital. A doctor told Bond’s wife, Lisa, that his heart had stopped for 30 minutes and encouraged her not to revive him because he likely suffered monumental brain damage and wouldn’t be able to feed himself. “To her credit, she said no,” Bond said.

Back To Work 

Bond was in a coma for two weeks. When he came out of it, he felt few effects. “The doctor came in as I’m eating some breakfast, and he said ,‘I can only explain this as proof of the existence of God,’  ” Bond recalled. A year later, he was ice climbing again in the same spot.

“If you said to me, ‘Who’s the person that’s going to come through this?’ It’s Matt Bond,” said Lori Conkling, global head of TV, film and sports partnerships for YouTube. 

“Given what happened to me last year, I’m going to be the happiest person to ever receive this award,” Bond said, referring to joining the B+C Hall of Fame.

“I feel like I started in the Model T era and now I’m finishing in the Tesla era,” he said. “When I look over my life and my career, I’m enormously grateful and enormously lucky. I’ve really been proud to work with everybody. I’ve never had a bad boss. I know, most people can’t say that about their career.” 

When Jim Thompson became president of the Broadcasters Foundation of America in 2008, the group, like the radio and television professionals it supports, had fallen on hard times.

“Jim brought vision and energy and cast a wider net in reaching more people,” recalled BFOA VP Peter Doyle, who noted that the organization had lacked leadership and the Great Recession was wreaking havoc with fundraising. 

“When Jim came in, the foundation really wasn’t raising enough money or helping enough people,” BFOA chair Scott Herman added. “But he took it to the next level, raising more money from individuals and companies and holding more events. He had a giving spirit and was unwavering about helping people — he did more than just give grants, he would then check up on people afterward.”

Read More: Here’s to the 2023 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Inductees

Under Thompson, who died at 75 last year, the charitable organization more than quadrupled the amount of financial aid it distributes to broadcasting professionals, from $400,000 to nearly $2 million. 

“He was a unique man and I miss him desperately,” Doyle said, adding that Thompson’s time in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War gave him the discipline that made him an excellent leader. He also noted that Thompson almost went into the seminary and always retained that genuine sense of caring for others. 

A People Person

But Thompson was also a whole lot of fun. “He enjoyed a cocktail and a cigar, could tell a joke with the best of them and also sing Irish ballads,” Doyle said. “He was an all-around great guy.”

Earlier in his career that gregarious side made Thompson into the man to see in Philadelphia, said Herman, who was one of the many people Thompson mentored after they met in 1985. “He knew everybody and helped me understand the market,” Herman recalled. “He made everybody smile and commanded every room he walked into.”

Starting in sales at KYW Philadelphia in 1971, Thompson worked his way up to become VP and general manager, overseeing original programming and local news that boosted ratings and advertising revenue. “It was a second- or third-tier station when he took over, but he took it to new heights,” Herman said. 

In 1989, when Thompson ascended to become president and CEO of Group W Radio — the nation’s second-largest radio company — he told Herman, then a program director, that he thought program directors shouldn’t be paid less than general sales managers. So he extended raises to every program director. (That same year, Thompson who had attended St. Joseph’s University and Temple University, graduated from the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.)

With Mike Craven, Thompson then owned 19 stations under Liberty Broadcasting. “We had a lot of fun there and later in other businesses, and we never once had an argument,” Craven said. “We would always find a compromise point.”

Thompson also created the Radio-Mercury Awards to recognize creative work in radio advertising. “He felt the radio industry needed to be taken more seriously,” Herman said. “TV [advertising] had the Clios and people at ad agencies didn’t want to do radio ads. So he wanted to reward excellence in radio. It really did work.”

Committed to Community

Thompson’s commitment to the industry led to him sitting on numerous boards, including the Radio Advertising Bureau and The Advertising Council. He was also vice chairman of the Pennsylvania State Broadcasters Association.

And he was involved in the community beyond the workplace. Besides being involved in veterans affairs, he served on the boards of the Police Athletic League of Philadelphia and the Urban League of Philadelphia and other organizations. 

“It’s a great honor to go into the Hall of Fame with Jim,” fellow inductee Ray Cole said. “Nobody was more fun than Jim, but more importantly he was an all-time good guy and incredibly dedicated to the mission of the foundation.” 

Emily Barr, former president and CEO of Graham Media Group, gave an impassioned speech at the B+C Hall of Fame as she was inducted April 14. Barr urged local broadcast to stay strong amidst its mounting challenges.

“I have never been known to be shy so tonight I want to take a moment to speak a little truth to power,” she said. “If 42 years in local broadcasting has taught me anything, it is that each of us fundamentally identifies with the communities in which we live.”

Barr noted “a palpable sense of connection that comes from knowing your physical neighbors–sharing their joy and pain, supporting one another in good times and bad. Just being there.”

She stressed how important that connection was amidst the pandemic, and said it is what local television does best. “Local television connects community,” said Barr. “By providing a record of everything from the mundane, to the unbelievable, local TV news helps stitch together communities with the thread of its own stories— binding them through triumph and tragedy, challenge and celebration.”

Barr became Graham Media Group president/CEO in 2012 and announced her retirement earlier this year. Catherine Badalemente is the new group president/CEO. 

The 2022 Hall of Fame inductees are here.

Barr described how so many people today are “left searching for information and finding comfort in conspiracy.” Social media, she said, is where they often turn, finding voices that sound like their own. “Social media scrapes our headlines, liberally mixing fact and fiction and feeding off our original reporting while giving us nothing for our efforts,” said Barr, who noted that the social platforms, unlike broadcast, are not regulated.

Barr criticized networks for shifting broadcast shows to streaming, including longtime ABC show Dancing with the Stars relocating to Disney Plus. Moreover, stations’ “ability to measure and monetize has been severely damaged and no longer appears capable of giving us an accurate reflection of who is watching.”

“We are, in many markets, the last local news source standing and that does not bode well for our collective future,” Barr added. 

Barr stressed broadcast’s significant role in a democracy. “Now we are at a moment of inflection and it is essential that we work together to ensure that the free flow of information and a common frame of reference remains the underpinning of our democracy,” she said. “Because if you subscribe to the notion that all news is local–which, clearly, I do–then we must find a path forward that allows local news coverage not to just survive, but thrive. 

“Quite frankly,” Barr concluded, “our future depends on it.”

NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt, who attended the B+C Hall of Fame Thursday night, commented on Barr's remarks.

“Emily Barr is a fierce advocate for local broadcasting and knows firsthand from her decades of experience the need for trustworthy, reliable journalism that binds our communities together and supports a strong democracy," LeGeyt told B+C. "Her words have credibility because she has demonstrated this commitment in every role she has held in her illustrious career. I share her resolve in advocating for policies that provide broadcasters with the tools to ensure the future and viability of local journalism.”

The 30th anniversary B+C Hall of Fame black-tie dinner was held at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City and about 450 were in attendance. ■

“Nearly everybody reads The Bulletin” was the popular slogan for what was once the top evening newspaper in the nation. In the summer of 1974, one of those readers was Steven Swartz, who would splay the broadsheet on the floor in his suburban Philadelphia home. It seemed a heady time for news and Swartz knew it. On TV, Sen. Sam Ervin prosecuted President Richard Nixon during the Watergate hearings; at 6 p.m., The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite became required viewing. Swartz recalls being captivated. He was also “around 11 or 12 years old,” he said. “I became a news junkie at a very early age. I loved the role it played in society.”

Years later, attending Harvard, he’d watch the local news on WCVB Boston, now a flagship station for Hearst, the corporation Swartz has run as president and CEO since 2013. By the time he arrived at college, the die was cast. “I had decided before I got to campus that my ambition was to become a journalist,” he said. But the dream didn’t end there. “My long-term ambition was to be able to lead a media company that at least in part did journalism.”

Also: Welcome to the 30th Anniversary of the ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame

That Swartz has risen to such corporate heights, with Hearst thriving during seismic shifts that have buckled many competitors, speaks to a remarkable mix of determination, talent and opportunity for the executive. (“I would throw a lot of luck in there,” he also insists.) His colleagues would add other qualities to the formula. “Steve is widely respected, forward-thinking, has tremendous energy and big insight, and he’s got an important voice in the marketplace,” said Leo MacCourtney, president of Katz Television Group and a fellow B+C Hall of Fame honoree this year. “Hearst might be, in my mind, the finest broadcaster in America. They just do everything right. And that’s no small tribute to Steve.”

Swartz’s prosperous run atop a 135-year-old company speaks to his eagerness to partner with great predecessors: “I’ve been really fortunate on the mentor side,” he said. He cited among them seventh grade English teacher John DeGregorio (“He just radiated enthusiasm and I learned a lot from him”) and Norman Pearlstine, then-managing editor at The Wall Street Journal, where Swartz was recruited out of college and where he eventually worked on the Page One desk. “That was my most enjoyable time there,” Swartz said.

The movement toward combining journalism with business came when Hearst and Dow Jones agreed to partner on a personal finance magazine that became SmartMoney, with Swartz named founding editor in 1991. Four years of award-winning copy later, Swartz was tapped as president and CEO.

SmartMoney introduced him to Hearst, with its corporate culture fixed and strong on legacy, thanks to leaders such as William Randolph Hearst and Frank Bennack, who served two tenures as Hearst’s CEO from 1979 through 2002 and from 2008 through May 2013. Toward the end of Bennack’s run, Swartz became executive VP, rising to chief operating officer in 2011.

Helping Hearst Grow

In his current tenure, Swartz has either continued or orchestrated growth measures that have well insulated Hearst’s vaunted place in the market. Along with the newspapers  on which the company built its foundation, Hearst’s empire currently includes holdings among cable networks (A&E, History, Lifetime and ESPN); 33 television stations that in total reach 19% of U.S. viewers; 250 magazine editions worldwide; and a successful roster on the B2B side, including global financial services (Fitch Group) and medical information and transportation assets.

The diversification is an asset that helps Swartz’s Hearst in these times of technological change where, as he said, “everybody is fighting to establish a sustainable growth business model. It’s a challenge but I think we’re up to it.”

Swartz’s colleagues agree because they see in him a leader bent toward inspiration, and a man whose understanding of what matters most at any given moment was bred back in his early newspaper-reading days. Hearst Television president and B+C Hall of Famer Jordan Wertlieb recalled that, at the start of the pandemic when other companies were cutting back, “Steve announced we were bonusing all employees. He wanted people to not only feel secure in their jobs, but to share in the success of the prior year. The timing of that was extraordinary.” 

Unusual, but certainly in character. “I was not surprised at all that that was the way Hearst, through Steve’s leadership, acted,” MacCourtney said. “His legacy is the way that company operates.”  ■

In the year 2000, Espn Curiel was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Espen Blondeel was born in Michigan. At the time, Espen Blondeel’s father, Chad, told the Associated Press he watched SportsCenter at least three times a day.

Soon, there was a rash of kids named after the cable network, which goes to show how deeply fans were being touched, how legendary ESPN quickly became — and why it is the first Iconic Network to be inducted into the B+C Hall of Fame.

Such glory was not assured when founder Bill Rasmussen struggled to find financial backing for his crazy idea of a 24-hour cable network. When Getty Oil put up $10 million to get the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network off the ground in 1979, programmers filled its schedule with college basketball, slow-pitch softball, full-contact karate, America’s Cup sailing, boxing and a lineup of even more obscure sports.

Also: Welcome to the 30th Anniversary of the ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame

SportsCenter was one of ESPN’s original shows and a 24-year-old sportscaster with only a few months of television experience named Chris Berman was one of its first anchors. “Had they been two years old, they never would have hired me,” Berman recalled. “They couldn’t pick and choose.” Berman was already in Connecticut, where ESPN was headquartered, so the network didn’t have to pay his moving expenses, which made him an attractive candidate.

There were seven original SportsCenter anchors. “I called us the Mercury astronauts,” Berman said. “We went up in a rocket and we weren’t sure where the hell we were going to come down.”

TV’s Sports Section

Berman said one reason for ESPN’s early success was because it became a hometown sportscast for people who’d left their hometown, whether they’d moved or were just traveling. “If you’re from Chicago and you’re in a hotel in Seattle, it’s the same show,” he said. “We became your station.”

That was true of athletes as well. When ESPN was just starting, players would readily agree to be interviewed. Why? One told Berman he liked the channel but, more importantly, “ ‘My mom in Mississippi will have a chance to see this.’ I never thought of that and I’ll never forget that.” 

George Bodenheimer, who would become president of ESPN in 1998, joined the network in 1981, 15 months after it went on the air. In his early days at the network, Bodenheimer played a key role in getting cable operators to pay a fee for the channel. They did that because of the strong support ESPN got from fans. Fan support was harder to gauge in those days, before the internet and social media. “We were using newspaper clips and the reactions we got on-site when we were producing events,” he  said.

An early staple on ESPN was Australian Rules Football. Few Americans knew the sport, so ESPN put a graphic on its screen during a game that told viewers they could get a rule book by sending in a postcard. ESPN got thousands of postcards, Bodenheimer said. The network also would get calls from fraternities, firehouses and police stations asking where they could get ESPN so they could follow the NFL draft, he added. “People wanted hats. They stole our banners. These things anecdotally told us people liked what we’re doing.”

One of those people was the late ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings, who called Bodenheimer one day to tell him everything had stopped in the newsroom because everyone was watching the National Spelling Bee on ESPN. Another was the late Sen. John McCain. Bodenheimer was in Washington to lobby legislators on telecommunications regulations, but McCain was a devotee of the sweet science. “We talked boxing for 50 minutes and spent 10 minutes on the issues of the day,” he said. “All the politicians had favorite teams from their states and wanted to know when they were coming up on our schedule. It was fascinating.”

NFL Milestone

ESPN hit the big time when NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle let ESPN buy a package of Sunday-night games in 1986, meaning viewers needed a subscription to watch (except in local markets where stations simulcast the games). 

“That was obviously a game-changer,” Bodenheimer said. “Cable operators said they needed ‘punch-through programming’ and it didn’t get any bigger or better to deliver punch-through programming than when ESPN secured its first NFL contract.” 

With the NFL on its roster, ESPN grew quickly. “We established a financial model that was going to work, and we began getting a fair fee from the cable operators and the business really took off,” Bodenhemier said. 

ESPN was the country’s most distributed cable network by 1983 and its total number of subscribers topped out in 2011 at 100.1 million. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Kagan, ESPN received $3.48 per month per sub from cable operators in 2007. That grew to $5 per sub by 2012, $6.91 per sub in 2017 and hit $8.81 a sub in 2022, by far the highest in the industry. Kagan said cash flow peaked in 2014 when ESPN brought in $3.5 billion for The Walt Disney Co., which had taken control of ESPN when it bought Capital Cities/ABC in 1996.

ESPN’s influence grew beyond sports. SportsCenter anchors became household names and their catchphrases resonated from arenas to schoolyards. Berman’s “back-back-back” call as a home run neared the wall became well known, as did the nicknames he gave players like  Bert “Be Home” Blyleven, Lance “You Sunk My” Blankenship and Oddibe “Young Again” McDowell.

In 1998 The New York Times acknowledged SportsCenter catchphrases, such as Dan Patrick’s “He’s en fuego;” Kenny Mayne’s “Your puny ballparks are too small to contain my gargantuan blasts! Bring me the finest meats and cheese for all my teammates;” Keith Olbermann’s “He puts the biscuit in the basket;” Stuart Scott’s “He must be butta ’cause he’s on a roll;” and Rich Eisen’s “You want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.” 

“SportsCenter went to a different level in the early ’90s,” said author James Andrew Miller. “You had an unbelievable cavalcade of terrific anchors. Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Robin Roberts, Bob Ley, Charlie Steiner, Craig Kilborn, Stuart Scott, Rich Eisen. This was an all-star lineup and there wasn’t anything else like it. It became real appointment television for people.”

Miller said it took a while for the anchors, sitting in remote Bristol, Connecticut, to become aware of their popularity.

The Walt Disney Co.’s acquisition of ESPN worked out great for Disney, Miller noted. ESPN crushed what little competition cable channels from Fox or NBC offered and ESPN’s profits helped Disney buy Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars. 

Miller’s 2011 book on ESPN, co-written by Tom Shales, was called Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN. Miller said if he were writing a sequel, it might be called Those Guys Don’t Have All the Fun.

In 2015, Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger acknowledged that cord-cutting was eating into ESPN’s subscriber count. Disney’s stock plunged. The company went through a series of layoffs that stunned network veterans after its irrepressible success. The departures included many of its best-known faces. ESPN’s subscriber numbers would drop to 76 million at the end of 2021.

In 2018, Jimmy Pitaro was named president of ESPN. Growing up, ESPN was on all the time at home and when he was in charge of Yahoo! Sports, “I woke up every day trying to beat ESPN,” he said. When he was interviewed by Iger to become head of Disney’s interactive unit, “I conveyed to him at some point, I would love to end up over at ESPN,” Pitaro said. “Being a passionate sports fan, it was my dream.”

But cord-cutting had reached nightmare proportions at ESPN when Pitaro took over. “By the way, that is still a challenge today,” he noted. The company was also preparing to launch ESPN Plus, its streaming direct-to-consumer business, which would grow to have 21.3 million subscribers by the end of 2021.

Sports Mission Continues

Pitaro said ESPN’s mission to serve sports fans anywhere, anytime hasn’t changed. “It is just as relevant, if not more relevant today than it ever was.” ESPN’s current strategy is to follow consumers, particularly young ones, which has meant being on Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, video games as well as streaming. That connects with the brand and gets them watching SportsCenter and other ESPN properties.

ESPN research found that viewers expect a direct-to-consumer platform to give them access to live events plus shoulder programming and original films like ESPN’s 30 for 30 franchise. ESPN Plus has what Pitaro called infinite real estate and the technology to help fans find what they want to watch.

“The beautiful thing about ESPN Plus is you can put everything up and through personalization you can serve what you think is going to resonate based on a user’s consumption patterns,” Pitaro said. “The future is going to bring a more personalized, more interactive experience starting with the game. You’re going to have many choices. You’ll be able to watch a betting-themed broadcast, or a broadcast with different camera angles, or a broadcast that is a little bit lighter, more fun and entertaining like the Manning brothers [alternate NFL broadcast] currently on ESPN2.”

But Miller said ESPN still has to figure out how to manage in a streaming world where nonviewers don’t have to pony up through their cable operators whether or not they watch the channel. There’s also ongoing talk about ESPN being spun off from Disney. “I know it’s a big topic of conversation in Burbank and Bristol,” Miller said. 

Whether or not that happens, ESPN will remain iconic. “Those four initials are a brand that is recognized around the world,” Miller said. ■

“Fundamentally, the cable business is really an infrastructure business. We need to think about how to evolve our infrastructure so it’s flexible to not only offer and scale today’s products but be prepared to offer the products our customers will want tomorrow.” 

Steve Miron is discussing one of his favorite topics — the future of the industry he quite literally grew up with. After decades in the trenches — including at the helm of Bright House Networks alongside his sister (and fellow honoree) Nomi Bergman — as CEO of Advance/Newhouse, he now advises some of cable’s most senior executives, including those at Discovery and Charter Communications, on whose boards he sits. 

“I’ve had a unique opportunity to be involved on the distribution side and on the content side with a variety of companies, whether Time Warner Cable or Bright House or Charter and Discovery, and to watch the way those companies think,” he said. “It’s been really fascinating. It’s been a great journey.”

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Miron’s journey began back in high school, selling cable services door-to-door and via telemarketing. After college, he had stints at Newhouse cable properties MetroVision in Chicago, Vision Cable in Charlotte, North Carolina, and NewChannels in upstate New York. When the Newhouse family combined operations with Time Warner Cable in 1994-95, Miron stopped working directly for the family business and went to work for TWC for the better part of a decade. 

He stepped into the spotlight in 2003 with the launch of Bright House, in conjunction with TWC. “Steve Miron built the best service organization as CEO of Bright House, and it became a model for the industry,” Charter chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said. “Today he continues to lead through his board positions at Charter and Discovery with the same great values he used as CEO.” 

Some of those values Miron is proud to say he gleaned from the family patriarch, Robert Miron. “I definitely learned from my father about being a good listener,” he said. “Listening is hugely important and underrated, and I still work at that all the time.”

In fact, the opportunity to work with his family was one of Miron’s favorite parts of the Bright House experience. “We were partnered with Time Warner Cable at the time but we had [free rein] of how we wanted to put Bright House together, how we wanted to organize it, even what we wanted to call it,” he said.

The feeling was mutual. “I have the deepest respect for my brother, and it’s a really wonderful feeling knowing he’ll always be here for me and I’ll always be here for him,” said Bergman. “And I also really enjoy my time with him. He makes me laugh so hard.”

The naming process was a journey unto itself, with the team landing on the Bright House moniker that made it stand out from the pack from day one. “It was definitely a little bit different for the industry,” Miron said. 

The team had rights to some of the legacy Newhouse brands but decided to take a different route. “We put together a group and a process, and we talked about what we wanted to be as a company. We wanted to be a customer-focused company, and we wanted to have a name that was customer-focused. Bright House emerged as the leading contender, and it was a name that was what we aspired to be,” Miron said.

Super-Serving the Customer

That customer focus enabled the company to super-serve subscribers and gave Bright House an edge in an increasingly competitive landscape. “We had one of the first Verizon Fios overbuilds in the country in our markets, in Texas and Florida, and we had a strong brand in those markets and we were a good competitor,” he said. “As time wore on and we saw more competition in video and broadband from overbuilders, having that customer focus was something that was important to our competitive stance.”

Former Cox Communications CEO Patrick Esser said Miron offers a unique mix of skills for a cable executive. “I appreciate Steve for his thoughtful leadership and ability to build strong industry relationships,” he said. “I’m very excited to see him recognized.”

As the industry keeps evolving, Miron looks to its roots to serve as a bellwether. “I have a real appreciation for just how wonderfully flexible our architecture is, how powerful it is, and how the business has been made with a great entrepreneurial spirit, and great engineering as well,” he said. “The industry has done a really nice job building and scaling flexible architecture to offer an amazing array of products that really changed people’s lives.” ￭

When Pearlena Igbokwe was a sophomore in college, she landed a job as a summer associate with NBC. “It was my first taste of the entertainment business, and I was hooked,” she said.

Thirty-five years later, and Igbokwe now sits atop NBCU’s Universal Studio Group empire — which comprises Universal Television, Universal Content Productions, Universal Television Alternative Studios and Universal International Studios — leading a team of more than 450 people and a content roster that spans more than 30 platforms. 

It’s a full circle whose significance is not lost on the Lagos, Nigeria-born executive, the first woman of African descent to lead a U.S. television studio, who spent much of her childhood glued to the small screen when she didn’t have her head in a book studying. “I’m Nigerian,” she said. “It’s a culture of achievement.’ ”

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Igbokwe’s career hit the fast lane at Showtime, where she helped launch shows including Linc’s, Soul Food and flagship drama Dexter. After 20 years there, in 2012 she headed to NBC, where she reunited with her Showtime boss Bob Greenblatt. As executive VP of drama programming, she guided a string of hits including The Blacklist that elevated the network from fourth to first place. She rose to president of Universal Television in 2016, and took the helm of USG in September 2020.

“If someone walked into my office tomorrow and told me, ‘Sorry, it’s over, you’re out,’ I would not have one regret,” she said. That scenario, of course, is highly unlikely. Igbokwe is heralded as an executive who leads with business acumen, vision and humanity.

“Pearlena is a unique leader; she is an outstanding manager as well as a creative inspiration,” said Jeff Shell, NBCU’s CEO, to whom Igbokwe reports. “She has an amazing ability to find compelling stories, nurture new voices and create award-winning TV shows.”

Universal Studio Group’s portfolio includes Dick Wolf’s entire NBC roster, Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, HBO Max’s Hacks and Apple TV Plus’s Little America. The Kate McKinnon-starring Joe vs. Carole debuted on Peacock in early March; Hulu’s Elle Fanning true crime series The Girl From Plainville is up next.

“Pearlena is the best partner I’ve had in my 30-plus years at Universal,” Wolf said. “She has impeccable taste and we work together seamlessly.”

Tina Fey, whose production company Little Stranger is based at Universal Television and is behind hits including Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Girls5eva, said Igbokwe offers a unique perspective for a studio chief. “Pearlena’s very smart,” she said. “She cares about story and quality. Also, she gets the jokes. It’s so much easier to make comedy for people who get the jokes.

“Pearlena is also great at staying calm during chaotic times,” Fey added. “And I think she has a deep sense of fairness.” 

Igbokwe’s penchant for keeping calm was handy when the pandemic altered the trajectory of the content business. 

“When the lockdown started, we were selling to everyone, and now in two short years it’s all become about streaming,” she said. “What I think about now is how quickly the environment can change, and how we constantly have to think ahead because some of the rights and deals we might not have anticipated are important now.  … It’s an interesting tug of war between studio and the streamers now around who’s owning rights.”

Telling Hopeful Stories

What hasn’t changed is her knack for bringing forth a good story. She waxes philosophical about the kind of content she’s most excited to deliver these days.

“Maybe it’s corny, but we as a species don’t have a reason to get up in the morning if we don’t believe something good’s going to happen,” she said. “I want to make all kinds of stories, but if we can lean toward those things that bring more hope into the world, I think we’re better off.”

Igbokwe has always been generous in sharing her time and knowledge, especially with young people. Lately, she’s grown more comfortable stepping into the spotlight.

“I remember looking around to see ‘are there other people that looked like me in the entertainment business?’ And there weren’t a lot,” she said. “So I’m realizing it’s important to be visible, that me having visibility means other people who never thought they could be in this business and rise to the level I have now know it’s possible. 

 “I have to leave some kind of legacy that’s different from if someone else had this job. Otherwise, that would make me having this job pointless. And I never want it to be pointless.” ■

We gather to celebrate a very special event — the induction of the 30th anniversary class of the B+C Hall of Fame in recognition of their special contributions to our industry. 

In 1991, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Broadcasting magazine, the Hall of Fame  was created to honor 60 individuals who had through the course of their careers made significant contributions to TV and electronic media. The original class included industry legends ranging from Guglielmo Marconi to William S. Paley, Bob Hope, cable pioneers Bill Daniels and Dr. John Malone and C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, to name but a few. Lucille Ball was one of three women honorees, alongside Irna Phillips, creator of the daytime soap operas Guiding Light and As the World Turns, and Joan Ganz Cooney, one of the founders of Sesame Workshop.  

This year’s class, announced in 2020 with the celebration delayed due to concerns over COVID-19, is a special one indeed. Its 12 members include six women, ranging from on-air journalists Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie, co-anchors of NBC’s Today, to Emily Barr, the recently retired president and CEO of Graham Media Group. They are joined by Pearlena Igbowke, chairman of NBCUniversal Studio Group; and Susanne Daniels, former global head of original content at YouTube and a media consultant and lecturer. Also included is Nomi Bergman, president of Advance/Newhouse Investment Partnership and a director of Comcast Corp.  

Nomi is joined by her brother Steve Miron, CEO of Advance/Newhouse Partnership; their father, Bob Miron, was a member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2002, creating a First Family of Cable, if you will. The breadth of our class includes Katz Television Group president Leo MacCourtney along with the former CEO of ION Media Networks, Brandon Burgess. They are joined by Steven R. Swartz, president and CEO of Hearst, and Curtis Symonds, now CEO of HBCUGo.tv Network following a lengthy career at BET Networks and ESPN. Radio is well represented by a career-long veteran, Dan Mason, the retired president and CEO of CBS Radio and subsequent chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation of America, a primary beneficiary of our event, in addition to the Paley Center for Media. ESPN will also receive a first-time honor, recognized as our Iconic Network for its 40 years as the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” and a major entertainment industry presence. 

We are grateful to our co-hosts for the evening, Hannah Storm, anchor of ESPN’s SportsCenter, and Al Roker, weather and feature anchor of NBC’s Today and co-host, third hour of Today, for their contributions to the festivities. Thanks also to our in-house editorial and sales staffs at B+C; the marketing and production teams; and Future events leader Kelly Boon. And, of course, our event producers at Live Star Entertainment, Eric Drath and Danielle Naassana; as well as Alan Winnikoff and Carina Sayles, our PR team; and especially our sales team, led by Jessica Wolin and Jo Stanley. Finally, thanks to you, our inductees and company sponsors, alumni and attendees, for your 30 years of support and generosity.  

Thank you all!  

The 2022 ‘B+C’ Hall of Fame Class

• Emily Barr
• Nomi Bergman
• Steve Miron
• Brandon Burgess
• Susanne Daniels
• Savannah Guthrie
• Hoda Kotb
• Pearlena Igbokwe
• Leo MacCourtney 
• Dan Mason
• Steven R. Swartz
• Curtis Symonds

Iconic Network

• ESPN

Honor Roll: A complete listing of past Hall of Fame inductees 

For registration and sponsorship information for the B+C Hall of Fame, please click here. 

As president of Katz Television Group, Leo MacCourtney oversees sales growth for more than 800 stations in nearly 200 markets. About 80 broadcast groups are served by Katz and MacCourtney. 

MacCourtney joined Katz, the largest media representation company for TV and radio in the country, in 2007 and was appointed to his current position five years later. 

In his role, the longtime sales executive works with local television stations as the conduit between advertisers and ad agencies on the national representative side.

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Those connections with clients are “tremendous,” his boss, Katz Media Group CEO Mark Gray, said. “He is extremely well-known and well-liked. He has the highest amount of integrity.”

Brian Lawlor, president of local media at E.W. Scripps, has known MacCourtney for more than two decades.

“He’s somebody that on a regular basis, more than annually, we’re talking about strategy [and] competitive positioning,” Lawlor said.  

MacCourtney previously was in charge of Eagle Television Sales and Blair Television. 

Using technology, Katz can access data and strategic insights for product research for their clients. They oversee all retail ad campaigns and book political spots across the country on behalf of those stations.

After more than 40 years, MacCourtney, 66, has honed his craft in TV sales and humbly considers himself an expert in the field.

A senior leadership team of 10 reports directly to MacCourtney.  

With 10 offices across the country, he will often leave his Manhattan headquarters to meet employees or his dozens of clients. 

“He attracts great talent and people are very loyal to him,” Gray said.

However, MacCourtney said: “It’s not about me. It’s about giving people great opportunities to knock it out of the park.”

Experience was only part of MacCourtney’s skill set. He got a front-row seat to broadcasting, thanks to his father, Leo MacCourtney Sr., who owned TV stations.

Although the junior MacCourtney didn’t have the same drive, he was introduced to the national scene when his father connected him to Blair TV head Harry Smart in the 1970s.

He started in Cleveland for Blair and within two years was transferred to New York, where he’s been based ever since.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, MacCourtney was already thinking about his future. 

“When I spent the summers at home, I liked hanging out with the sales guys at [dad’s] TV station,” he recalled.  

Getting a glimpse into his career, MacCourtney was hooked when he attended the University of Notre Dame in 1973. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration but didn’t rely on his degree for work. 

“The job was to get a job,” he said. 

After a slew of interviews, MacCourtney landed a sales job at Johnson & Johnson.  However, his path would be altered forever upon listening to the radio one day. A commercial came on the air seeking sales personnel at radio station WERE Cleveland.

With a love of sales and the culture at Katz, MacCourtney keeps the passion alive.  “There’s never been a day that I’ve gone to work that I didn’t like,” he said. “I’ve always thought broadcasting is the most fun job because it’s all people. It’s very outward.” 

MacCourtney, a strong advocate for local TV, regularly gives back to the industry that has meant so much to him. 

Giving Back to Broadcasting

His involvement in the Broadcasters Foundation of America, as VP and treasurer, makes sure that those in need are not forgotten. Katz Media has gone to bat for that worthy cause, raising more than $400,000 from employee and seller donations. 

“He devotes a lot of time and energy in doing that,” Gray said. 

The veteran exec also is on the board of the Washington Media Scholars Foundation, which “gives young people the opportunity to learn what’s going on in the business,” MacCourtney said. 

MacCourtney is also chairman of the International Radio and Television Society and previously held that title for the Television Bureau of Advertising.

“I do believe there is a huge mission here for people like myself to give back to the industry and I work very hard to make sure that I’m helping,” he said.

MacCourtney’s passion for his job is as strong as ever. “My motto in the business is, ‘There is no finish line,’ ” he said. ■

Susanne Daniels has held executive positions at many networks and platforms in her time in the entertainment industry — ABC, Fox, The WB, Lifetime, MTV and YouTube — but her mission has remained the same: Find programming that resonates with young people.

That job has only gotten harder as those young audiences have migrated to digital platforms and social media. 

Still, Daniels managed to find a big hit for YouTube — and later for Netflix — with Cobra Kai, a sequel to the popular Karate Kid movies of the 1980s. Who knew that the kids of Gen X, who first fell in love with Daniel-san and his teacher, Mr. Miyagi, would grow up and want to see more? Well, Daniels, for one.

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Backing up a few years, when Daniels was overseeing programming for MTV, she developed a drama for the cable network called Finding Carter. 

“It was so good, I just loved it,” she said. “But it wasn’t getting a lot of traction even though we were marketing it well. One day, out of complete frustration, I turned to our head of research and said, ‘Where are they? Why aren’t they watching this show?’ And she said, ‘They’re all on YouTube.’ I then started educating myself on YouTube creators.”

Daniels started reaching out to those creators to see if they could work together. When Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s chief business officer, discovered what she was doing, he invited her to lunch and then to work at YouTube. “He told me, ‘You’ll have better success reaching the audience where these YouTubers live,’ ” she said. “I decided he was right.” 

Back to Cobra Kai. “I knew from YouTube’s data that Karate Kid was a highly searched term with our heavy users in a positive way. The pitch was one of the best pitches I have ever heard — they even brought in Ralph Macchio and William Zabka. There was no way I was letting them walk out the door without begging them to bring their show to YouTube.”

Daniels and her team pitched the benefits of YouTube to Cobra Kai’s creative team: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. When they heard Daniels’s enthusiasm, they were in. 

“She saw the vision before anyone else did,” Hurwitz said. “Nobody else was willing to say to us, ‘we’re going to make an entire season,’ but she had that passion, understanding and trust in us.”

She’s always been able to see the business from a producer’s point of view, and that’s helped her lure talent to any platform she’s leading. “There’s so much risk assessment in our business, but Susanne was willing to take a bet on who we were and what we could bring,” said B17 Entertainment’s Rhett Bachner, who launched Broke-Ass Game Show on MTV under Daniels’ watch.

Part of that understanding comes from a  very personal place: her marriage to Greg Daniels, creator and EP of such shows as NBC’s The Office and Parks and Recreation. They met when she was assistant to Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels and he was a writer there. 

After three years at SNL, Daniels moved to Los Angeles to join ABC as a director of reality and variety programming. She then served as VP of comedy at Fox. Her next move was to startup The WB, where founder Jamie Kellner first offered her a job as head of comedy. 

Rolling the Dice at The WB

“What I said to Jamie Kellner was, ‘I’m going to take a chance on your startup network, but I’m only going to take this job if I can oversee all development.’ He didn’t get back to me for a couple of weeks because I think he was desperately trying to find someone else during that time. But he came back and offered me the job I wanted,” she said. “I don’t think it was bravery to ask for more. I just think it was me wanting to maximize my potential.”       

At The WB, she helped develop some of the most generationally defining hits of the late ‘90s and early 2000s, including Dawson’s Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Felicity and Gilmore Girls.

By the time The WB merged with UPN to become The CW in 2006, Daniels and most of the original executives had left. She went on to oversee programming at Lifetime, MTV and YouTube. 

As YouTube’s global head of original content, Daniels also worked with pop superstar Katy Perry on Katy Perry Witness Worldwide and with Barack and Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga and Lizzo on The Class of 2020 Graduation Special.

With YouTube exiting originals, Daniels left in early March. As she considers what to do next, young audiences are always on her mind. 

“I would like to build something for young audiences again and I’m giving some thought as to what that is,” she said. “I truly love the medium of TV.”  ￭

Few television executives can say they had a hand in building two legendary cable brands while at the forefront of working to diversify the cable industry’s C-suites before launching a successful streaming business. Curtis Symonds can certainly lay claim to that fame, as well as many other TV-industry accomplishments. 

From the 1980s through the 2000s, Symonds was instrumental in steering ad sales and marketing fortunes of ESPN and BET. He also worked behind the scenes to foster greater employment of people of color as an active and influential board member of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and as president of the T. Howard Foundation.

Later, as an entrepreneur, he launched HBCUGo.TV, one of the first national cable networks or digital services targeted specifically to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

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“Curtis Symonds is one of the great pioneers of the cable industry and a visionary in the new digital era,” said Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, which last year purchased HBCUGo.TV. “Curtis has an impeccable reputation and is also an outstanding media executive.”  

High praise for the Bermuda, West Indies, native who grew up in Wilberforce, Ohio, wanting to follow in the footsteps of his mother, who taught at Central State University. Symonds would earn a bachelor of science degree at the historically Black college. 

“I believed my goal was teaching because I watched my mother for so many years,” he said. “I just loved the way she handled herself and what she did for students.” 

A part-time job laying underground coaxial cable for a local Continental Cable system launched his TV career. Symonds eventually became manager of the system in 1979. He relocated to Chicago in 1983 to work at ESPN’s regional office as a local advertising sales consultant. “At the time ESPN wasn’t the monster that it is now, so I had the opportunity to come on when they were beginning to grow,” Symonds said. 

As ESPN grew, so did Symonds’s profile, as he rose to director of affiliate marketing for ESPN’s Midwest region.

His influence transcended ESPN. He became one of the chief architects in building NAMIC, which sought to encourage African-American participation and employment  in the cable industry. Symonds served on its board for a decade beginning in 1983. 

“That was a critical time because there weren’t a lot of minorities in the business, and I liked the direction that NAMIC was going in because we were making noise about what we deserved from the business,” he said. “I think to this day, the group of individuals who were part of NAMIC’s national board did a masterful job of convincing MSOs and programmers that there was another group of folks who deserved a chance to be in this business and function at a higher level.”

His next big turn came in 1988 with a call from BET chairman Robert Johnson about coming to work at the African-American targeted channel. “I saw the vision Bob had for the network so I took a chance,” Symonds said. 

Symonds became executive VP of affiliate distribution and marketing for BET Holdings, helping transform the entertainment network into one of the industry’s most recognized and celebrated brands. Symonds was able to help increase the network’s annual sales revenue growth to 57% by 2001 by building a brand that had broad appeal. 

In 1998, NCTA recognized Symonds’s marketing prowess with a Vanguard Award. 

Entrepreneur and Advocate

After leaving BET in 2001 — the year the network was sold to Viacom for more than $2 billion — Symonds sharpened his entrepreneurial skills in the Washington, D.C., and Virginia area. He continued his advocacy as president of the T. Howard Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting women and people of color in the satellite and telecommunications industry, from 2003 to 2006.   

He also had a stint as chief operating officer for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics before launching HBCUGo.TV as a cable network in 2011. The network pivoted to digital, operating independently until Allen acquired it and its 5,000 hours of original content. 

“It couldn’t have been a better dream for me because I’m now doing what I want to do,” said Symonds. “I have a visionary [in Allen] who is really behind me and I believe we’re going to make some big noise with HBCUGo. In fact, I predict that HBCUGo will be bigger than BET in the next five years.” ■

The enduringly popular CBS procedural series Blue Bloods is known for its family drama. Tom Selleck stars as New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, who also heads the Sunday dinner table every episode. Frank often delivers clear-eyed wisdom in the face of long odds. “Doing the right thing may be hard,” he once said, “but it sure as hell isn’t complicated.”

That may be how Brandon Burgess felt when he offered up one of the most successful and prescient ideas in modern media. After moving to head up Paxson Communications in 2005 from his spot running business development and global strategy for NBCUniversal, Burgess looked through the numbers. With over 70 stations, the knee-jerk option for the company — renamed ION Media Networks — was to spend big and build a roster of originals programmed for a younger demo. But ION’s hobbling debt and a fervent study of ratings suggested a different plan: license off-network hits, particularly crime dramas, for a song and aim them at an underserved TV market: older adults, especially women.

The strategy was crazy, counter­intuitive, vastly unpopular and brilliant. In time, ION found a home for popular procedural fare (including Blue Bloods) and turned a red ledger black with a smooth efficiency that matched the company’s chairman/CEO.

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“A lot of people would have blown their brains out trying to program originals, but Brandon didn’t fall for it,” said Jeff Sagansky, former Paxson CEO and cofounder of media ventures company Flying Eagle Acquisition Corp. “He licensed the biggest shows when there was no other audience for them. It was really a visionary move.”

Added Guggenheim Partners executive chairman Alan Schwartz: “In media and in business, there are some people who are really good at seeing the big picture, and others who really drill down and work on all the details. Brandon’s one of the few I’ve come across in my career that did both.”

None of this was accidental for Burgess. He grew up in Germany “with a healthy work ethic” and, after coming to the U.S., graduating from Wharton and doing stints at PepsiCo and Goldman Sachs, he set his sights on New York and a job at NBC. “Over time, we all have to figure out what we’re good at,” Burgess said. “I wasn’t going to direct episodes of Friends. The question is looking for the angles where you can apply yourself in the environment you want to succeed, and for me, that’s always been analyzing things, and if need be, playing the long ball.”

Toward that end, he understood early the eventual reach of digital and, at NBC, worked to create nbcolympics.com; he was also part of the purchase of Telemundo and instrumental in NBC’s first entertainment network acquisition, Bravo, and of buying Universal Entertainment. 

“Universal was the big cherry on top,” he said now of the deal that led to NBCUniversal. “The industry was consolidating around us. [NBC was] left with a 90% advertising business and declining ratings; it was the early 2000s and all the shows were expiring, and the content creators had all the leverage. We needed to diversify … and needed, basically, a transforming deal.”

Playing ‘Moneyball’ in TV

The same need explains the much more organic licensing move Burgess implemented in fall 2008, after coming to ION in late 2005. Burgess, a fan of the book Moneyball, about the Oakland A’s statistics-based strategic rise to success starting in 2002, used a similar tactic to explain the move to his people, who were dumbfounded. “Boy, did we have boardroom arguments,” he said.

Burgess has never shied away from such challenges, and his enviable record of reading trends and producing results speaks for itself. Favoring national over-the-air networks in 2007 sparked ION’s multi-network portfolio, and the U.S. multicast category. And he’s long been a leader on topics such as broadcast spectrum and wireless. 

With ION’s $2.7 billion sale to E.W. Scripps in 2021, Burgess has pivoted away from the boardroom to enjoy family and leisure time — for now. “It’s hard not to be intrigued by all the technologies that are coming out,” he said, looking down the road. “I think there are organizing principles out there that would require a whole new learning curve.”

Perhaps, but one expects he’d join a company, crunch the numbers and, true to form, make visionary moves, leaving other execs shocked, even dismayed. One gets the sense that, for Brandon Burgess, it sure as hell isn’t complicated. ■

Anyone who still subscribes to the adage that nice people finish last hasn’t met Nomi Bergman. 

Bergman has been shining her light and leadership on a family legacy that’s seen her serve early executive stints at Advance/Newhouse (in publishing and cable) and Time Warner Cable; as president of Bright House Networks, the sixth-largest U.S. cable operator at the time of its 2016 merger with Charter Communications; and in her current role as an adviser on the evolution of the cable infrastructure she’s been championing since day one.

“The continued innovation of our infrastructure has enabled us to deliver products and services to our customers that we might not have dreamed of during earlier days,” she said.

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A self-described “rational optimist,” Bergman has “a lot of hope for the remarkable things a healthy team can create by working collaboratively together, staying close to customers, falling in love with our craft and aiming high.”

It’s a descriptor shared by Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts, a decades-long ally and friend who counts Bergman as a Comcast board member.

“Nomi is a force in telecommunications — having been at the forefront of many trends in media and technology over the last several decades,” Roberts said. “She is unique for her knowledge, passion and unwavering optimism. It has been a privilege to have her great insights on our board, and we are lucky that Nomi’s leadership and vision are helping to shape our industry.”

That vision began in the early ’90s with Bergman joining her father Robert Miron in the cable business, initially consulting on back-end systems including the streamlining of disparate billing systems.  

In 1998, she was on the ground in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the launch of Road Runner, TWC’s initial cable-modem internet service. 

“It really felt like a historical moment,” said the mother of three daughters. “The fact that plants could be two-way … it was huge. People didn’t believe it, and they didn’t think they needed it because they thought dial-up was fine.”

Bergman ascended to perhaps her most notable career highlight to date — helming, along with her father and brother, Steve Miron, Bright House Networks and its 8,500 employees serving 2.2 million customers.

“The opportunity to build a multibillion-dollar brand, and to build leadership teams and cultivate a culture of care by authentically engaging and listening to employees and customers and learning how to best show up to serve them was just incredible,” she said. 

Steve Miron, also a 2022 Hall of Fame honoree, said it’s been a career highlight to work so closely with his sister: “She’s the most driven person I know; she’s got a great strategic head. She always knows what I’m thinking, and I always know what she’s thinking … and 90% of the time it’s the same thing.”

Among notable customer-first initiatives, Bergman launched a campaign called Just Say Yes, plastering signage in call centers and ensuring employees knew the company had their backs as they super-served customers. Then came the Friends Campaign, centered on the premise that Bright House would pull out all the stops to treat its customers like family and close friends, whether that meant bringing needed food to house calls or technicians working after hours to ensure a student could take an online test. “It was a magical time,” she said.

“Nomi has made a career out of ‘saying yes’ to customers, colleagues, and partners who need her,” said Peter Stern, a VP at Apple who worked with Bergman at Time Warner Cable from 2006 to 2014. “She has enriched countless people’s lives with her insight, integrity, and boundless generosity.”

Sharing Industry Pride

Throughout her career, Bergman has led with a genuine love for the industry, and for the people who make it run. “I look at the infrastructure our industry provided during the pandemic, and I feel such humility and pride,” she said. 

What’s on the mind of the avid adventure traveler these days? Regulation and opportunity. 

Aside from Comcast, Bergman is on boards of Black & Veatch, Visteon and her alma mater, the University of Rochester. She is also on the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council. For Advance, she’s a board member of 1010data and Hawkeye360, which enables the observation of RF signals from space.

 “I love the space industry,” Bergman said. “There are a lot of ties to the cable industry.” ■

The career hallmark of longtime Graham Media Group president and CEO Emily Barr, who just stepped back to serve as a consultant before she retires, is that she has kept her stations connected to their communities while encouraging journalism to thrive.

“She is truly motivated by the mission of broadcasting,” National Association of Broadcasters president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “That’s always been larger than her role at her specific company. She knows the importance of having a medium that unites and serves as a real local nexus to which people can turn to find the resources they need.” 

That’s on the macro level. On the micro level, to a person everyone notes Barr’s warmth and authenticity. 

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“The first thing that strikes you if you spend time with Emily is that she’s a very good listener,” LeGeyt said. “Her role at NAB [as chair of the Television Board] was to find common ground on advocacy solutions. She’s someone who can do that because she’s willing to put herself in others’ shoes.” 

Catherine Badalamente just succeeded Barr as Graham’s president and CEO after working closely with her as Graham’s VP and chief innovation officer. 

“She’s everything that you see and more,” Badalamente said. “I always tell the story about how I worked closely with Alan Frank [Graham’s CEO before Barr] and he told me that I was going to love working with her. I read every article I could find on her and I went to the comments, because that’s where you get the real story, and every story about her was how she was real and genuine and hard-working. All of that turned out to be true.” 

After graduating from Carleton College in Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in film studies, Barr got a job as a news editor at KSTP St. Paul in 1980. 

She decided to get her master’s degree in business administration (MBA), starting first in Minneapolis and then transferring to George Washington University after she was hired as writer and producer at WJLA Washington, D.C. She transferred again to the University of St. Thomas in Houston when she was hired as promotion manager at KHOU, later moving up to creative services director.                   

MBA finally in hand after four years, she began to look around again, landing a job as director of broadcast operations at WMAR Baltimore working for then-general manager Arnie Kleiner. 

 She remained in Baltimore for six years, rising to assistant general manager. “I felt like Baltimore was the place where I really got involved in the community and started to understand the nuance of what it took to be a general manager,” Barr said.

Kleiner departed WMAR five years later to run KABC Los Angeles, and Barr started setting her sights on a GM position. WMAR’s owner, Scripps, thought that at 35 Barr was too young to run a TV station, but Kleiner tipped her off to a position at ABC’s WTVD in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Just after she got married in October 1994, she and her new husband, Scott M. Kane, a freelance videographer, moved to Raleigh where she ran the station for just under three years. 

Getting Rooted in Chicago

In 1997, at seven and a half months pregnant with her first child, Barr decamped again, this time for Chicago, where she lives to this day. She ran ABC’s WLS Chicago, well-known as Oprah Winfrey’s home station, for 15 years. 

“I was very happy working for ABC and Disney for all those years,” she said. “I really got connected in the city and the community. I knew everybody — I was connected to the mayor and knew the governor — and I was on a lot of nonprofit boards.”

In 2011, Frank was due to retire and was helping Graham find his replacement when Barr’s name came up. After discussing the move for a year, Barr finally agreed to leave WLS to run Graham Media’s seven TV stations, remaining in Chicago even though the company was headquartered in Detroit. 

“When you are running seven stations versus running one, you have a slightly wider viewer of the industry and of the issues concerning the industry,” she said. “I also had to learn how to deal with the people directly at corporate and on the board of directors. It adds a different layer of complexity to what you do.”

After that full career, her guiding principle hasn’t shifted. “The ability to hold important people accountable in your community and celebrate and uplift your community — that’s the key to being a great local broadcaster,” Barr said. ￭

Dan Mason compares his 20-year CBS Radio tenure that ended in 2015 with the career of Tom Landry, the Dallas Cowboys’ iconic coach.

“So many assistant coaches underneath Tom Landry became head coaches in their own right,” noted Mason, who similarly aimed to influence the next generation of broadcasting leadership. “A lot of people went on to run or lead companies.”

Currently venture partner and strategic adviser at SeventySix Capital, Mason climbed the corporate ladder to the C-suite after humble disc jockey beginnings. 

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“I grew up in Louisville,” Mason remembered, citing Cawood Ledford, the voice of University of Kentucky sports for decades. “All I wanted to do was be on the radio. He was a great role model to study. I read every word of his book three times.” 

Mason’s background reads like a modern-day Horatio Alger Jr. novel. 

“I had no intention of ever being an executive,” he reflected. “When I became an on-air announcer, somebody once told me I’ll never get off the all-night show.” That revelation led Mason to soon realizing, “I’d like to be the boss of the disc jockeys.”

Named a GM at 27

Atlanta’s WZGC-FM in 1977 kick­started Mason’s radio programming trajectory. Two years later, Mason became program director of WPGC-FM Washington, then served as national program director for First Media, the station’s parent company. In 1979, the 27-year-old Mason became one of the youngest general managers in the country at KTSA and KTFM of San Antonio, Texas. He returned to First Media, which was sold in 1988 to Cook Inlet Radio Partners, marking the first time Mason held the president title.

Group W acquired Cook in 1993, then two years later merged with CBS Radio which two years later merged with Infinity Broadcasting. 

“I worked with Mel Karmazin until about 2002,” said Mason, who took a five-year break from running the company, albeit remaining a consultant. “Les Moonves in late 2006 asked me to come back as president and CEO of CBS Radio,” Mason said. He oversaw 117 stations across 26 markets, establishing the 24-hour CBS Sports Radio Network and resurrecting the classic hits radio station WCBS-FM New York. 

In 2015, Mason “retired” from CBS at 64, leaving to call women’s basketball games for the CBS Sports Network and thoroughbred racing for the Horse Racing Radio Network.  

“You don’t retire,” Mason explained matter-of-factly. “Who knows what’s next?”

Indeed, this was no typical early retirement. Whereas most executives would spend more time on golf courses than in front of a camera, on a mic or in a boardroom, Mason’s post-CBS entrepreneurial itch led him to buy several radio stations, consulting with iHeart Radio and VSiN.

“I was going to do on-air talent for horse racing,” Mason said of the latter. After a dinner with VSiN CEO Brian Musburger, a sports agent and nephew of company founder (and legendary sportscaster) Brent Musburger, “it was pretty obvious they really needed me to advise in an executive role.” 

A few months later, Mason went from just being an announcer to owning part of  VSiN, which was sold to DraftKings four years after its launch in 2017.

Under his CBS watch, executives “flourished,” whether they stayed with the station group or went elsewhere (i.e., the Landry “coaching tree”). Weezie Kramer, who retired in 2020 as chief operating officer of Entercom after nearly 20 years, and Ezra Kucharz, DraftKings’ chief business officer, were among his successful colleagues.

True Radio Lover

Mason recruited Scott Herman as general manager of New York’s all-news WINS after being news director at Group W’s TV station KYW Philadelphia. 

Himself retired after 39 years at CBS, Herman last year followed Mason as chair of the Broadcasters Foundation of America. Herman praised his mentor’s ability of securing multiyear financial gifts for the organization. “I don’t think I ever worked with anyone in my career who has loved the medium of radio more than Dan,” Herman said.

Chris Oliviero, currently Audacy’s senior vice president/New York market manager, spent eight years reporting directly to Mason at CBS with his office right next to Mason’s. He said he learned two important things from his former boss. The first was that stations need to create “community and companionship” for listeners. The other is “integrity.” ■

It can be hard enough to digest the news of the world, be it COVID-19 or the war in Ukraine, when a news consumer wakes up in the morning. It is a heckuva lot harder to process it all and deliver it to morning TV viewers as they sip coffee and get the kids off to school. 

Speaking just before Russia invaded Ukraine, Hoda Kotb discussed witnessing world history from the front row.  “It’s been horrifying and saddening and awe-inspiring at the same time,” she said. “This is a moment in history like no other. Sometimes you just can’t believe this is the part of history you’re witnessing in your lifetime.”

The Today co-anchor is precisely where she wants to be at 7 a.m. each weekday, even if she never quite let herself dream about that scenario. “I get to do a job that was so far out of my mind, it wasn’t even in the dream,” Kotb said. 

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Kotb grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia, her parents coming to America from Egypt to attend college. She described “a kind of idyllic childhood” in a neighborhood where everyone looked out for each other. She played high school basketball, getting by on grit. “I played with heart and I loved it,” Kotb said. 

Took to TV Journalism

Her parents were “newsies,” Kotb said, always with the news on TV, and that was a factor in her studying broadcast journalism at Virginia Tech. 

“I fell in love with storytelling,” Kotb said. “I covered city council meetings, and it was, ‘Oh my god, this is amazing!’”

When it came time to find a job in local TV, Kotb drove her mother’s car all over Virginia, getting a no in each market, but also coming away with a suggestion about someone in a smaller market who might be looking for an entry-level reporter. “I never left a station without another one to go to,” Kotb said. 

She finally interviewed in Greenville, Mississippi. The WXVT news director was promoted from sport director the day before, and hired the woman he called “Hilda” after watching her “horrible” tape, she said. 

“He said, ‘We’ll pay you nothing and you’ll work all the time,’ ” she said. “I have never been more grateful in my life for a job.”

Kotb moved on to WQAD Moline, Illinois; then WINK Fort Myers, Florida; then WWL New Orleans. Kotb adored that city and job, and NBC called about a position at Dateline NBC in 1998. Neal Shapiro, CEO of The WNET Group, was a Dateline executive producer. He met Kotb in New Orleans. Some talent pops on camera more so than in person, he said. Kotb popped on camera — and was even warmer in person. 

“Delightful, charming, curious,” he said. “She had a lot of great qualities.”

Kotb started at Dateline, and when Shapiro was promoted to NBC News president in 2001, he put her on a range of NBC News programs. “Everywhere she went, Hoda impressed,” he said. “People saw in her what I saw.”

Kotb joined Kathie Lee Gifford as the co-host of Today’s fourth hour
in 2008, and moved up to Today co-anchor in 2018. 

Co-anchor and fellow 2022 Hall of Famer Savannah Guthrie said Kotb brings “intense smarts” and a lot of warmth. “She’s so funny and loving and warm, which everyone knows from the fourth hour, but may have missed the fact that she’s an incredibly smart and astute journalist,” she said. “She’s also a great writer and great communicator.”

Empathy Lessons

Being the child of immigrants has helped Kotb as a journalist. Her friends growing up would visit their grandmother in a neighboring state, while she hopped on a plane to Egypt to do so. “It made the world small,” she said. “You realize, people here are like us, and people there are like us. People all around are human beings.”

Kotb is up at 3:15 each weekday. To unwind, she plays with her kids, who are 5 and 3. She enjoys strumming the guitar — “Take Me Home, Country Roads” is a favorite — walking through Central Park and shooting hoops, never leaving the playground on a missed shot. 

The news can feel a bit overwhelming, but Kotb anticipates things eventually getting back to a more sedate state. 

“Nothing is a hurricane 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said. “Hurricanes come and go. We’ll hopefully get to a point where we get back to life, and we get back to other stories that lead our newscast.” ■