https://www.massbroadcastershof.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021-HOF-Induction-Luncheon-tix-1.png788940jordan/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/logo-for-web1.pngjordan2021-07-14 11:41:022022-08-03 18:26:49Tickets for Sept. 22, 2022 luncheon on sale now
To purchase tickets for our September 27th Induction and Awards Luncheon, please contact Lynne Osborn at lynne1203@me.com, or call 617-763-0109
Nine major figures in radio and television will be inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame at its annual Induction and Awards Luncheon on Friday, September 27, at the Boston Marriott Quincy Hotel. They are: Marjorie Arons-Barron, the retired long-time former WCVB-TV, Boston, Director of Editorials; WCVB’s founding President and General Manager, the late Robert Bennett; WBZ-TV Boston meteorologist Barry Burbank; Boston TV38’s former “Movie Loft” host Dana Hersey; Boston 7News former political reporter/commentator Andy Hiller; WBZ Boston Radio sports reporter Jonny Miller; Lisa Mullins, the voice of All Things Considered on NPR’s Boston affiliate, WBUR Radio; Springfield’s WWLP-TV retired General Manager Bill Pepin; and Richard Chase, retired from WBZ-TV after 40 years as a news photographer. Chase will be honored with the Hall of Fame’s Pioneer Award, which is presented to individuals or organizations who fundamentally contributed to broadcasting.
Hall of Fame Presidentand former WBZ-TV News Director Peter Brown commented, “Our class of 2019 represents some of the true treasures of broadcasting. This group of outstanding professionals has been recognized for their enduring commitment and deep dedication to their craft. Their body of work is a testament to their talents and their passions for bringing to their audiences the very best in news, information and entertainment. They are the leaders who set forth the path that future generations will follow. Let us welcome them as they join more than 150 others who can proudly state they have been inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters of Fame.”
Marjorie Arons-Barron
The long-time former Editorial Director at WCVB-TV, Channel 5, Boston’s ABC affiliate, Marjorie Arons-Barron has been an award-winning journalist for nearly three decades. For 20 years, she produced and often hosted WCVB’s Five on Five, at one time the nation’s longest running, locally produced public affairs discussion program. Prior to working at Channel 5, she was an associate producer of PBS Television’s The Advocates, a national political affairs writer for The Boston Phoenix, a reporter for WGBH-TV’s Ten O’Clock News and political editor of The Newton Times. Arons-Barron has won many awards, including three New England Emmy Awards and, for five consecutive years, the National Award for Excellence in Television Editorials from the National Broadcast Editorial Association. She has also been honored by, among others, United Press International, Associated Press, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association, the Massachusetts National Guard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the YWCA, and the Big Sisters Association of Greater Boston.
Robert Bennett
Adapted from The New York Times, Dec. 4, 2016(on Mr. Bennett’s passing) – In 1972, the Federal Communications Commission, for the first time in its history, awarded a television license to a new group of operators in Boston, and Bob Bennett, among a field of elite candidates, was selected to lead the group. He emerged as that station’s principal architect, builder, manager, and owner. WCVB-TV, from the start, was conceived as a model of what local television broadcasting could be in America. It produced more than 60 hours of locally produced programming at a time when most stations were content simply to run local news and occasional documentaries. … WCVB-TV, which received the prestigious Peabody Award as America’s finest television station, was sold in 1981 to Metromedia for $220 million, eclipsing the highest price ever paid for a television station in the country. It became the flagship station for the Metromedia broadcasting group [and Mr. Bennett headed that company’s station group, then the largest in the nation]. … In 1985, he arranged and directed the sale of WCVB-TV to the Hearst Corporation for $450 million, which was then cited as the new high-water mark for any television station sale in the U.S.
Barry Burbank
Veteran meteorologist Barry Burbank is the region’s longest-tenured broadcast meteorologist, having begun with WBZ-TV on March 3, 1978. He began his on air career in February 1976 as the weeknight forecaster at WCSH-TV 6 in Portland, Maine. He was Maine’s first professional television meteorologist. Burbank has led a distinguished career, receiving numerous accolades for his work. He received the 2006 Award for Outstanding Service by a Broadcast Meteorologist, a national honor presented by the American Meteorological Society. He was also chosen to become a member of the Boston/New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Silver Circle in 2005. This honor is given to distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to television over the course of at least 25 years.
Dana Hersey
The Movie Loft and Ask the Manager are two iconic programs formerly on TV 38 that remind us of Dana Hersey. With his deep, resonant theatrical voice, Hersey expertly hosted The Movie Loft in the late 70s and 80s, making it a Boston area household name. His encyclopedic knowledge of movies made his introductions to the films of The Movie Loft a preview you did not want to miss. The Movie Loft actually helped pioneer a new type of television broadcasting by introducing the hosted movie format, as well as airing only “unedited” movies. That was quite an eye- and ear-opener for someone who was watching shows like Gilligan’s Island, Leave it to Beaver, and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Hersey also asked the questions on Ask the Manager with then Channel 38 General Manager Dan Berkery. On radio, Hersey was an announcer with WLYN-AM in Lynn and more recently co-hosted the popular morning show on North Shore 104.9 FM, Boston.
Andy Hiller
Andy Hiller is widely regarded as the most provocative political reporter in New England. He spent 15 years as a political reporter for WBZ-TV, Boston’s Channel 4, before moving in 1993 to what is today, WHDH-TV, 7NEWS in Boston. He is well known for his often-acerbic analysis of political events, as well as his regular segment entitled, “The Hiller Instinct.” Throughout the years, Hiller covered virtually every major political campaign in Massachusetts since 1977. His reporting career began at Iowa’s Davenport Times-Democrat in 1971. From 1972-1977, he was a political editor in Atlanta for WAGA-TV, where he covered Governor, then President, Jimmy Carter. For his distinct political reporting, Hiller won an Emmy award, and has been named “Best TV Reporter” several times by Boston Magazine. Hiller earned a Master’s degree in public administration from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He received his B.A. from Beloit College.
Jonny Miller
Adapted from the August 25, 2018 Boston Globe, by Dan Shaughnessy… If you follow the Red Sox, you’ve heard the voice of the man who’s always asking the tough questions. The man’s name is Jonny Miller, and he is a Boston sports media institution, a Red Sox historian, a philanthropist, soon to be a septuagenarian, and probably the hardest-working guy in our business. Jonny was born with cerebral palsy … grew up in Newton, went to his first Red Sox opener in 1958, graduated from Boston University in 1972, and immediately went to work for WBZ radio, asking questions and gathering sound for the station. … “I’m not afraid to ask tough questions,’’ he says. “He never shies away from anything,’’ says Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley “As a player, you know that’s the toughest question you’re going to get, and it’s always the first one.’’… Jonny also covered the Celtics (home and away) in the old days. … A medical marvel, he never gains weight even though he seems to exist on a diet of Cokes, cookies, doughnuts, turkey subs, pizza rolls, and ice cream. He was a recreational jogger until back surgery slowed him in 2005. It’s painful for him to stand for long periods but he never complains and rarely takes a seat in the Sox clubhouse … Before and after games at Fenway, Jonny gets to ask the first question. He is Helen Thomas with a white polo instead of a red dress.
Lisa Mullins
Lisa Mullins is known for her hard-hitting interview style and her wide knowledge of international affairs. She is the voice of All Things Considered on Boston’s NPR affiliate, WBUR Radio. Mullins is also guest anchor of the WBUR and NPR midday show Here & Now. From 1998 through 2012, Mullins was chief anchor of the daily international news program, “The World,” co-produced by the BBC, WGBH and PRI. Her foreign reporting has taken her to Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Cuba, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Hong Kong, South and North Korea and elsewhere. Between 1996 and 2014, Mullins wrote, produced and narrated programs and documentaries for New England Public Radio. She also hosted a PBS-TV series called “Thinking Big.” Early in her career, Mullins anchored WBUR’s Morning Edition. Even earlier, she was news director at WEIM in Fitchburg. In 2010, she was awarded a fellowship at Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation. Mullins has also received the bronze award for “Best Network Anchor” in the New York Festival’s international radio competition, and Boston Magazinehas honored her with its “Best Radio Voice” award. She was also awarded an honorary doctorate of journalism degree by her alma materSimmons College.
Bill Pepin
Capping a broadcasting career that spans five decades, William M. Pepin retired last year as Vice President and General Manager of WWLP-TV, 22News. Pepin began his broadcasting career while still in high school, working for a WREB-AM Radio in Holyoke. He joined WWLP in 1969 working in production, on-air as a weathercaster, and in management. In 1978, Pepin moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to serve as Vice President and General Manager of WWLP’s sister station KSTU, becoming the youngest television GM in the country. Pepin returned to Massachusetts and WWLP in 1981, assuming the position of General Manager. Under his leadership of more than 35 years, WWLP was recognized repeatedly as an innovator in the market. Being actively involved in his local and broadcast communities has been a staple of Pepin’s career. He has been or is currently a board member of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, the Western Mass. Economic Development Council, the MA Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and more, including serving as Chairman of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association (MBA) from 2007 to 2009. Pepin was named the 2017 “Broadcaster of the Year” by the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association, the MBA’s highest honor.
The 2019 Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame Pioneer Award-Winner
Richard Chase
When Richard Chase was asked what he liked about being a TV photographer, Chase answered, “It’s loving what you do, caring about people, and enjoying photography.” In 1970, Richard Chase traded his newspaper camera for a TV one and spent a total of four decades at WBZ-TV before retiring in May 2008. Through much of the time with WBZ, Chase worked the morning shift and covered, among many major stories, the day-to-day drama of Boston’s 1970s turbulent school desegregation. “What bothered me the most about that story,” he told an interviewer on his retirement, “were the kids getting off buses – young children – with glass in their hair and crying.” Chase also remembers the more joyous stories over the years, such as the Olympics and championship seasons with the Bruins, Celtics, and Patriots. Richard Chase is the Hall of Fame Board of Directors’ choice for its 2019 Pioneer Award.
/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/logo-for-web1.png00Conor McDonough/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/logo-for-web1.pngConor McDonough2019-06-27 20:51:112019-09-26 15:04:26Introducing the Hall of Fame Class of 2019
Nine Individuals to Be Inducted Into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame at Induction and Awards Luncheon, Thursday, September 28, at Quincy Marriott Hotel
Hall of Fame to Honor: 7News’ Byron Barnett, Channel 38 General Manager (retired) Dan Berkery, KISS 108 Radio Personality and Co-Host of TV’s “Dining Playbook” Billy Costa, Western Mass News TV Anchor Dave Madsen, Founder and Chairman of Cramer Tom Martin, WBZ Radio “NightSide” host Dan Rea, Boston Red Sox TV Analyst Jerry Remy, Former Chairman and CEO of Greater Media, Inc. Peter Smyth, and WBZ Radio News Anchor (retired) Diane Stern
Nine distinguished individuals will be inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame at its 11th annual Induction and Awards Luncheon on Thursday, Sept. 28 at the Boston Marriott Hotel in Quincy.
Slated for induction are (alphabetically) 7NEWS’ Byron Barnett, retired Channel 38 General Manager Dan Berkery, KISS 108 radio personality and host of TV’s “Dining Playbook” Billy Costa, Western Mass News TV Anchor Dave Madsen, Cramer Productions Founder and Chairman Tom Martin, WBZ Radio “NightSide” host Dan Rea, Boston Red Sox TV analyst Jerry Remy, Former Chairman and CEO of Greater Media, Inc. Peter Smyth, and recently retired WBZ Radio News Anchor Diane Stern. Martin will receive the Hall of Fame’s “Pioneer Award,” which is presented to individuals or organizations for their pioneering contribution to broadcasting.
Hall of Fame President Peter Brown, Principal of Peter Brown Communications, called this year’s inductees “an extraordinary group of broadcasters with impressive credentials. Each person stands alone for his or her outstanding contributions, and together they represent some of the very best in the radio and television industry across the state.” Former long-time WBZ Radio host Jordan Rich, a Hall of Fame Board member, will emcee the luncheon. Tickets for the luncheon are $75 each and may be purchased via the Hall of Fame’s website, www.massbroadcastersHOF.org.
The Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame honors the industry’s most noteworthy members from Massachusetts, commemorates their achievements and contributions to broadcasting, and preserves their work for future generations. The Hall of Fame conducts a nomination and selection process in March and April of each year to induct individuals who have made major contributions to Massachusetts broadcasting and broadcasting in general. A permanent Hall of Fame exhibit with plaques representing all past inductees is on display opposite the Akillian Gallery on the Canton campus of Massasoit Community College.
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Following are brief biographical sketches of the 2017 Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductees…
Byron Barnett, host of the long running WHDH-TV public affairs show Urban Update, joined Boston’s 7NEWS in 1983. From crime stories to human interest features to political campaigns, Barnett has covered an incredibly wide range of major stories of local, national and international interest. Among the blockbuster stories Barnett has covered are: the 1984 riots in Lawrence, the release of American hostages from a hijacked TWA flight in Lebanon in 1985, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that killed New Hampshire school teacher Christa McAuliffe and six other astronauts in 1986, the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, and the death penalty trial of bomber Timothy McVeigh. He has also covered every Presidential campaign since Reagan vs Mondale in 1984, including the historic campaigns of the nation’s first African-American President Barack Obama and the nation’s first female major party Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. An Emmy Award-winner, Barnett has won many other awards including a Sigma Delta Chi Award, the National Association of Black Journalists’ Region One Journalist of The Year Award, YMCA Black Achievers Award, and several community service awards.
Dan Berkery was General Manager of Boston’s WSBK-TV, Channel 38, from 1981 to 1994. He also was a significant player in revolutionizing the Boston sports media landscape as the co-founder of the New England Sports Network (NESN),the first regional sports network launch in the industry. During Berkery’s tenure at TV38, the station was the home for the Boston Red Sox, The Boston Bruins, and later the Boston Celtics, airing more than 150 live sporting events a year. Berkery launched many successful careers, including in 1985, hiring a young broadcaster out of Syracuse University, Sean McDonough, as the Bruins between-period host. McDonough later went on to a three-decade-plus sports broadcasting career and, among other achievements, was the youngest person to ever call a baseball World Series game. As General Manager of a major-market, independent television station, Berkery was a visionary and well respected by almost every national program syndicator, purchasing such shows as Seinfeld, Cheers, M*A*S*H, Family Ties, and many others. Berkery may be best known locally as the host of “Ask the Manager,” where he engaged energetically and candidly with viewers on the behind-the-scenes business of commercial television.
Billy Costa is a television Emmy Award-winner and popular radio personality with KISS 108-FM in Boston. He serves as co-host of The Matty in the Morning Show and hosts the KISS Top 30 Countdown. He is also the host of High School Quiz Show on WGBH-TV. He and co-host Jenny Johnson currently star on Dining Playbook, a 30-minute show on the New England Sports Network (NESN) that combines two of New England’s favorite pastimes … food and sports. Dining Playbook is a fan’s playbook to the New England dining and lifestyle scene. Costa previously created and hosted TV Diner on NECN and has been a part of food television for 20 years. Costa’s pro bono work for local charities is exceptional. He regularly supports The Genesis Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters, The Landmark School, North Shore Cancer Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Angel Flight, the Walker School, and South Shore Hospital.
The year 2017 marks Dave Madsen‘s 47th year in broadcasting and 25th anniversary with Western Mass News, broadcast on CBS 3, ABC40, and FOX 6 in Springfield. Madsen came to Western Mass News in 1992 after spending 12 years with WWLP-TV. He began his broadcasting career in 1970 with WMAS in Springfield. Later that year he began a nine-year association with WHMP Radio in Northampton. Madsen serves as anchor of Western Mass News’ 5, 5:30, 6, 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts. He was born and raised in Southampton, attending schools there and Easthampton High School. He attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where he majored in Communications studies. From 2000 to 2014, he was an adjunct professor at UMass, developing and teaching a television news reporting course in the Journalism department. Madsen is very active in the community as a longtime member of the Jimmy Fund Council of Western Massachusetts, having served as its president and current vice president. He also chaired Western Massachusetts’ most successful golf tournament, the Jimmy Fund – Jeffrey Vinick Classic, and has served as that tournament’s emcee since 1987. He emcees a number of other charity golf tournaments, including Brightside, and the Dawn to Dusk Golf Marathon. He’s involved with Baystate Health’s Rays of Hope Walk, serving as emcee for a number of its events. In 2011, Madsen was inducted into the New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Science’s Silver Circle for his accomplishments in broadcasting and his work in the community. He’s won a wide array of community service awards, and TV viewers have honored him with the Valley Advocate’s “Best of Valley” award for nine straight years and 12 out of the last 13 years. Madsen was also voted the Favorite Local TV Personality in the Springfield Republican‘s “Reader’s Raves” poll for four consecutive years.
A Boston College and USA Olympics Team hockey star, Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame 2017 Pioneer Award-winner Tom Martin spent five years as a CPA at Arthur Anderson and was subsequently hired by Cramer Electronics in 1966 as a corporate controller, later shifting gears to become national sales manager in the multi-national company. When in 1979 the company was acquired by Arrow Electronics, Tom took out a loan to purchase the firm’s budding audio/video equipment sales division and, retaining the Cramer name, called the new venture, beginning in 1982, Cramer Productions. He noticed that many companies were still using slides and overheads when they could be taking advantage of then-new video production technology. Now, Cramer operates out of a 70,000 square foot former warehouse in Norwood, MA, modified to be a state-of-the-art studio for their brand experience agency. Powered by their team of 150 people, Cramer produces meetings and events, experiential marketing, and video for global brands. Martin considers it an essential part of Cramer’s mission to contribute to nonprofit and charitable causes. Over the years, Cramer’s team has helped organizations such as Mother Caroline Academy & Education Center, The Francis Ouimet Society, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, and Catholic Charities, to name a few. Over the years, Martin helped Cramer earn a reputation for producing great sports programs, including the critically acclaimed Boston Red Sox: 100 Years of Baseball History, the Emmy Award-winning documentary, Story of Golf, The Banner Years (a Boston Garden retrospective), Home Run Heroes (a tribute to legendary Red Sox players), Ray Bourque: The First 20 Years, and a 50-year retrospective of New England’s famous Beanpot HockeyTournament.
Dan Rea, a veteran Boston television journalist, is the host of NightSide on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 every weeknight from 8 pm to midnight. In November of 2010, Rea was honored with the prestigious Yankee Quill Award by the Academy of New England Journalists and the New England Society of Newspaper Editors. This distinguished award is considered to be the highest individual honor awarded by fellow journalists in New England. NightSide focuses on a wide variety of issues, political, economic and social. Rea is a native Bostonian, educated at the Boston Latin School, Boston State College and Boston University School of Law. Rea spent 31 years as an on-air television reporter at WBZ Radio’s sister television station, WBZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Boston. He considers his most important work in television a 15-year crusade that helped gain freedom for Joe Salvati, a Boston man wrongfully convicted for a 1965 murder. Rea exposed corruption within the Boston office of the FBI, whose agents conspired with a disgraced federal informant to wrongfully, intentionally, and maliciously convict Salvati and three other innocent men. The men and their families were awarded more than $101 million by Federal District Court Judge Nancy Gertner on July 26, 2007, a day during which Rea concluded his career at WBZ-TV with a series of day-long on-air reports. Rea has been awarded Honorary Doctorate Degrees from UMass Boston, Endicott College and the Massachusetts School of Law.
Jerry Remy has been the New England Sports Network (NESN) Boston Red Sox color analyst since 1988, when he was first teamed with veteran play-by-play announcer Ned Martin. For 15 years, Remy worked with play-by-play announcer, Don Orsillo, and since the beginning of this season with Dave O’Brien. Voted “Massachusetts Favorite TV Announcer” by Sports Illustrated in 2004, Remy has been honored with four Emmy Awards and was named the “Massachusetts Sportscaster of the Year” by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in 2004. Remy is a former Major League second baseman. In 1971, he was drafted in the eighth round by the California Angels. He played three seasons for the Angels starting in 1975 before being traded to the Red Sox. He played second base for the Sox from 1978 to 1985. A knee injury forced his retirement during spring training of 1986. Remy had his best year in 1978 when he batted .278, scored 87 runs, stole 30 bases and was selected to the American League All Star Team. He finished his career with a .275 average, 208 stolen bases and a .981 fielding percentage. Small traditions followed by Remy include always greeting Spanish-speaking viewers with “Buenas noches, amigos” or another appropriate greeting upon the announcement of the SAP simulcast, and by bringing a doll of Wally the Green Monster (the Sox’ mascot) and his white Adirondack chair to the announcer’s booth of every ballpark the Red Sox visit. Remy loves to regale viewers with tales of his frequent vacations in Aruba and is affectionately known as the “RemDawg.”
Peter Smyth is recognized as a visionary and thought leader in the radio broadcasting industry. He most recently served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Greater Media, Inc., one of the nation’s leading broadcasting companies. In this role, Smyth oversaw the operational efforts of 21 AM and FM radio stations in Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, Philadelphia and New Jersey; a group of weekly newspapers in central New Jersey; and several telecommunications towers throughout the United States. Over the past three decades, Smyth served in a variety of capacities within Greater Media, including General Manager of WMJX-FM in Boston, Vice President of the Radio Group, and Chief Operating Officer of Greater Media, Inc. He began his career in broadcasting in 1977 as an account executive with WROR-FM in Boston and was quickly promoted to General Sales Manager, a position he held for the next five years. In 1983, RKO General, the parent company of WOR, recruited him to serve as general sales manager of its New York stations, where he directed the company’s sales operations until his departure in 1986 to work at Greater Media. Smyth helped to revolutionize the broadcasting industry by advocating for and adopting new technologies such as HD Radio and internet streaming, and by developing and incorporating innovative content to improve media communications and meet the emerging demands of the industry and its advertisers. He was named a “Giant of American Broadcasting” by the Library of American Broadcasting in 2014. Radio Ink Magazine, a leading broadcast industry publication, in 2005 and 2011, selected Smyth as “America’s Best Broadcaster.” In addition, he has been recognized as one of Radio Ink’s “40 Most Powerful People in Radio,” ranking among the top ten. In 2007, the publication named him “Radio Executive of the Year.” An active philanthropist, Smyth currently serves on the Board of Directors of New England Baptist Hospital and the One Hundred Club of Massachusetts, an organization dedicated to enhancing the welfare and safety of the families of public safety officers and firefighters. He is a past member of the Board of Trustees of Emerson College and the United Way of Massachusetts. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Board for US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. In 2007, he received the “Humanitarian of the Year” Award from the Hundred Club of Massachusetts and the Golden Mike Award from the Broadcasters Foundation of America for exemplary service in the radio Industry.
Diane Stern anchored the news at WBZ NewsRadio from 1983 to 2016. During her more than three decades there, Stern brought listeners the news of some of the region’s most historic stories. From Presidential elections and the New Hampshire primaries, to the Gulf Wars, to the 9-11 attacks, the capture of James “Whitey” Bulger, and the Boston Marathon bombings—Stern was one of New England’s “go-to” journalists when people needed straightforward, unbiased reporting. Stern also specialized in covering stories involving the vast changes in the medical world. She focused on the research and development of new treatments for diseases as well as new technologies that made the jobs of healthcare providers easier. Recently, Stern won the 2017 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast. Prior to joining WBZ News Radio, she worked as a morning anchor at WEEI Radio in Boston from 1978 to 1983, WITS and WMEX Radio in Boston from 1976 to 1978, and WMLO Radio in Danvers, Massachusetts from 1975 to 1976. Stern has also been honored with several Associated Press awards for her work in radio, was a finalist in the New York Radio Festival Awards and won for Best Newscaster in the March of Dimes Achievement in Radio Awards of 2000. One of the highlights of her career was covering the New England Blizzard of 1978 for WMEX Radio when the broadcasts were conducted by phone in candlelit studios. Stern also conducted a live interview with President Clinton in 1995. Stern is a Board of Trustees member of and an ESL tutor at the Immigrant Learning Center in Malden; she has volunteered for My Brother’s Table in Lynn; and she emcees events for charitable groups including The Arthritis Foundation, the Preeclampsia Foundation, the Salem Literary Festival (Salem Lit Fest), and the Alzheimer’s Association, MA/NH Chapter.
Tickets for Sept. 22, 2022 luncheon on sale now
/in Events, News /by jordanIntroducing the Hall of Fame Class of 2019
/0 Comments/in Events, News /by Conor McDonoughTo purchase tickets for our September 27th Induction and Awards Luncheon, please contact Lynne Osborn at lynne1203@me.com, or call 617-763-0109
Nine major figures in radio and television will be inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame at its annual Induction and Awards Luncheon on Friday, September 27, at the Boston Marriott Quincy Hotel. They are: Marjorie Arons-Barron, the retired long-time former WCVB-TV, Boston, Director of Editorials; WCVB’s founding President and General Manager, the late Robert Bennett; WBZ-TV Boston meteorologist Barry Burbank; Boston TV38’s former “Movie Loft” host Dana Hersey; Boston 7News former political reporter/commentator Andy Hiller; WBZ Boston Radio sports reporter Jonny Miller; Lisa Mullins, the voice of All Things Considered on NPR’s Boston affiliate, WBUR Radio; Springfield’s WWLP-TV retired General Manager Bill Pepin; and Richard Chase, retired from WBZ-TV after 40 years as a news photographer. Chase will be honored with the Hall of Fame’s Pioneer Award, which is presented to individuals or organizations who fundamentally contributed to broadcasting.
Hall of Fame Presidentand former WBZ-TV News Director Peter Brown commented, “Our class of 2019 represents some of the true treasures of broadcasting. This group of outstanding professionals has been recognized for their enduring commitment and deep dedication to their craft. Their body of work is a testament to their talents and their passions for bringing to their audiences the very best in news, information and entertainment. They are the leaders who set forth the path that future generations will follow. Let us welcome them as they join more than 150 others who can proudly state they have been inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters of Fame.”
Marjorie Arons-Barron
The long-time former Editorial Director at WCVB-TV, Channel 5, Boston’s ABC affiliate, Marjorie Arons-Barron has been an award-winning journalist for nearly three decades. For 20 years, she produced and often hosted WCVB’s Five on Five, at one time the nation’s longest running, locally produced public affairs discussion program. Prior to working at Channel 5, she was an associate producer of PBS Television’s The Advocates, a national political affairs writer for The Boston Phoenix, a reporter for WGBH-TV’s Ten O’Clock News and political editor of The Newton Times. Arons-Barron has won many awards, including three New England Emmy Awards and, for five consecutive years, the National Award for Excellence in Television Editorials from the National Broadcast Editorial Association. She has also been honored by, among others, United Press International, Associated Press, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association, the Massachusetts National Guard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the YWCA, and the Big Sisters Association of Greater Boston.
Robert Bennett
Adapted from The New York Times, Dec. 4, 2016(on Mr. Bennett’s passing) – In 1972, the Federal Communications Commission, for the first time in its history, awarded a television license to a new group of operators in Boston, and Bob Bennett, among a field of elite candidates, was selected to lead the group. He emerged as that station’s principal architect, builder, manager, and owner. WCVB-TV, from the start, was conceived as a model of what local television broadcasting could be in America. It produced more than 60 hours of locally produced programming at a time when most stations were content simply to run local news and occasional documentaries. … WCVB-TV, which received the prestigious Peabody Award as America’s finest television station, was sold in 1981 to Metromedia for $220 million, eclipsing the highest price ever paid for a television station in the country. It became the flagship station for the Metromedia broadcasting group [and Mr. Bennett headed that company’s station group, then the largest in the nation]. … In 1985, he arranged and directed the sale of WCVB-TV to the Hearst Corporation for $450 million, which was then cited as the new high-water mark for any television station sale in the U.S.
Barry Burbank
Veteran meteorologist Barry Burbank is the region’s longest-tenured broadcast meteorologist, having begun with WBZ-TV on March 3, 1978. He began his on air career in February 1976 as the weeknight forecaster at WCSH-TV 6 in Portland, Maine. He was Maine’s first professional television meteorologist. Burbank has led a distinguished career, receiving numerous accolades for his work. He received the 2006 Award for Outstanding Service by a Broadcast Meteorologist, a national honor presented by the American Meteorological Society. He was also chosen to become a member of the Boston/New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Silver Circle in 2005. This honor is given to distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to television over the course of at least 25 years.
Dana Hersey
The Movie Loft and Ask the Manager are two iconic programs formerly on TV 38 that remind us of Dana Hersey. With his deep, resonant theatrical voice, Hersey expertly hosted The Movie Loft in the late 70s and 80s, making it a Boston area household name. His encyclopedic knowledge of movies made his introductions to the films of The Movie Loft a preview you did not want to miss. The Movie Loft actually helped pioneer a new type of television broadcasting by introducing the hosted movie format, as well as airing only “unedited” movies. That was quite an eye- and ear-opener for someone who was watching shows like Gilligan’s Island, Leave it to Beaver, and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Hersey also asked the questions on Ask the Manager with then Channel 38 General Manager Dan Berkery. On radio, Hersey was an announcer with WLYN-AM in Lynn and more recently co-hosted the popular morning show on North Shore 104.9 FM, Boston.
Andy Hiller
Andy Hiller is widely regarded as the most provocative political reporter in New England. He spent 15 years as a political reporter for WBZ-TV, Boston’s Channel 4, before moving in 1993 to what is today, WHDH-TV, 7NEWS in Boston. He is well known for his often-acerbic analysis of political events, as well as his regular segment entitled, “The Hiller Instinct.” Throughout the years, Hiller covered virtually every major political campaign in Massachusetts since 1977. His reporting career began at Iowa’s Davenport Times-Democrat in 1971. From 1972-1977, he was a political editor in Atlanta for WAGA-TV, where he covered Governor, then President, Jimmy Carter. For his distinct political reporting, Hiller won an Emmy award, and has been named “Best TV Reporter” several times by Boston Magazine. Hiller earned a Master’s degree in public administration from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He received his B.A. from Beloit College.
Jonny Miller
Adapted from the August 25, 2018 Boston Globe, by Dan Shaughnessy… If you follow the Red Sox, you’ve heard the voice of the man who’s always asking the tough questions. The man’s name is Jonny Miller, and he is a Boston sports media institution, a Red Sox historian, a philanthropist, soon to be a septuagenarian, and probably the hardest-working guy in our business. Jonny was born with cerebral palsy … grew up in Newton, went to his first Red Sox opener in 1958, graduated from Boston University in 1972, and immediately went to work for WBZ radio, asking questions and gathering sound for the station. … “I’m not afraid to ask tough questions,’’ he says. “He never shies away from anything,’’ says Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley “As a player, you know that’s the toughest question you’re going to get, and it’s always the first one.’’… Jonny also covered the Celtics (home and away) in the old days. … A medical marvel, he never gains weight even though he seems to exist on a diet of Cokes, cookies, doughnuts, turkey subs, pizza rolls, and ice cream. He was a recreational jogger until back surgery slowed him in 2005. It’s painful for him to stand for long periods but he never complains and rarely takes a seat in the Sox clubhouse … Before and after games at Fenway, Jonny gets to ask the first question. He is Helen Thomas with a white polo instead of a red dress.
Lisa Mullins
Lisa Mullins is known for her hard-hitting interview style and her wide knowledge of international affairs. She is the voice of All Things Considered on Boston’s NPR affiliate, WBUR Radio. Mullins is also guest anchor of the WBUR and NPR midday show Here & Now. From 1998 through 2012, Mullins was chief anchor of the daily international news program, “The World,” co-produced by the BBC, WGBH and PRI. Her foreign reporting has taken her to Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Cuba, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Hong Kong, South and North Korea and elsewhere. Between 1996 and 2014, Mullins wrote, produced and narrated programs and documentaries for New England Public Radio. She also hosted a PBS-TV series called “Thinking Big.” Early in her career, Mullins anchored WBUR’s Morning Edition. Even earlier, she was news director at WEIM in Fitchburg. In 2010, she was awarded a fellowship at Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation. Mullins has also received the bronze award for “Best Network Anchor” in the New York Festival’s international radio competition, and Boston Magazinehas honored her with its “Best Radio Voice” award. She was also awarded an honorary doctorate of journalism degree by her alma materSimmons College.
Bill Pepin
Capping a broadcasting career that spans five decades, William M. Pepin retired last year as Vice President and General Manager of WWLP-TV, 22News. Pepin began his broadcasting career while still in high school, working for a WREB-AM Radio in Holyoke. He joined WWLP in 1969 working in production, on-air as a weathercaster, and in management. In 1978, Pepin moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to serve as Vice President and General Manager of WWLP’s sister station KSTU, becoming the youngest television GM in the country. Pepin returned to Massachusetts and WWLP in 1981, assuming the position of General Manager. Under his leadership of more than 35 years, WWLP was recognized repeatedly as an innovator in the market. Being actively involved in his local and broadcast communities has been a staple of Pepin’s career. He has been or is currently a board member of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, the Western Mass. Economic Development Council, the MA Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and more, including serving as Chairman of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association (MBA) from 2007 to 2009. Pepin was named the 2017 “Broadcaster of the Year” by the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association, the MBA’s highest honor.
The 2019 Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame Pioneer Award-Winner
Richard Chase
When Richard Chase was asked what he liked about being a TV photographer, Chase answered, “It’s loving what you do, caring about people, and enjoying photography.” In 1970, Richard Chase traded his newspaper camera for a TV one and spent a total of four decades at WBZ-TV before retiring in May 2008. Through much of the time with WBZ, Chase worked the morning shift and covered, among many major stories, the day-to-day drama of Boston’s 1970s turbulent school desegregation. “What bothered me the most about that story,” he told an interviewer on his retirement, “were the kids getting off buses – young children – with glass in their hair and crying.” Chase also remembers the more joyous stories over the years, such as the Olympics and championship seasons with the Bruins, Celtics, and Patriots. Richard Chase is the Hall of Fame Board of Directors’ choice for its 2019 Pioneer Award.
Nine Individuals to Be Inducted Into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame at Induction and Awards Luncheon, Thursday, September 28, at Quincy Marriott Hotel
Hall of Fame to Honor: 7News’ Byron Barnett, Channel 38 General Manager (retired) Dan Berkery, KISS 108 Radio Personality and Co-Host of TV’s “Dining Playbook” Billy Costa, Western Mass News TV Anchor Dave Madsen, Founder and Chairman of Cramer Tom Martin, WBZ Radio “NightSide” host Dan Rea, Boston Red Sox TV Analyst Jerry Remy, Former Chairman and CEO of Greater Media, Inc. Peter Smyth, and WBZ Radio News Anchor (retired) Diane Stern
Nine distinguished individuals will be inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame at its 11th annual Induction and Awards Luncheon on Thursday, Sept. 28 at the Boston Marriott Hotel in Quincy.
Slated for induction are (alphabetically) 7NEWS’ Byron Barnett, retired Channel 38 General Manager Dan Berkery, KISS 108 radio personality and host of TV’s “Dining Playbook” Billy Costa, Western Mass News TV Anchor Dave Madsen, Cramer Productions Founder and Chairman Tom Martin, WBZ Radio “NightSide” host Dan Rea, Boston Red Sox TV analyst Jerry Remy, Former Chairman and CEO of Greater Media, Inc. Peter Smyth, and recently retired WBZ Radio News Anchor Diane Stern. Martin will receive the Hall of Fame’s “Pioneer Award,” which is presented to individuals or organizations for their pioneering contribution to broadcasting.
Hall of Fame President Peter Brown, Principal of Peter Brown Communications, called this year’s inductees “an extraordinary group of broadcasters with impressive credentials. Each person stands alone for his or her outstanding contributions, and together they represent some of the very best in the radio and television industry across the state.” Former long-time WBZ Radio host Jordan Rich, a Hall of Fame Board member, will emcee the luncheon. Tickets for the luncheon are $75 each and may be purchased via the Hall of Fame’s website, www.massbroadcastersHOF.org.
The Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame honors the industry’s most noteworthy members from Massachusetts, commemorates their achievements and contributions to broadcasting, and preserves their work for future generations. The Hall of Fame conducts a nomination and selection process in March and April of each year to induct individuals who have made major contributions to Massachusetts broadcasting and broadcasting in general. A permanent Hall of Fame exhibit with plaques representing all past inductees is on display opposite the Akillian Gallery on the Canton campus of Massasoit Community College.
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Following are brief biographical sketches of the 2017 Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductees…
Byron Barnett, host of the long running WHDH-TV public affairs show Urban Update, joined Boston’s 7NEWS in 1983. From crime stories to human interest features to political campaigns, Barnett has covered an incredibly wide range of major stories of local, national and international interest. Among the blockbuster stories Barnett has covered are: the 1984 riots in Lawrence, the release of American hostages from a hijacked TWA flight in Lebanon in 1985, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that killed New Hampshire school teacher Christa McAuliffe and six other astronauts in 1986, the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, and the death penalty trial of bomber Timothy McVeigh. He has also covered every Presidential campaign since Reagan vs Mondale in 1984, including the historic campaigns of the nation’s first African-American President Barack Obama and the nation’s first female major party Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. An Emmy Award-winner, Barnett has won many other awards including a Sigma Delta Chi Award, the National Association of Black Journalists’ Region One Journalist of The Year Award, YMCA Black Achievers Award, and several community service awards.
Dan Berkery was General Manager of Boston’s WSBK-TV, Channel 38, from 1981 to 1994. He also was a significant player in revolutionizing the Boston sports media landscape as the co-founder of the New England Sports Network (NESN),the first regional sports network launch in the industry. During Berkery’s tenure at TV38, the station was the home for the Boston Red Sox, The Boston Bruins, and later the Boston Celtics, airing more than 150 live sporting events a year. Berkery launched many successful careers, including in 1985, hiring a young broadcaster out of Syracuse University, Sean McDonough, as the Bruins between-period host. McDonough later went on to a three-decade-plus sports broadcasting career and, among other achievements, was the youngest person to ever call a baseball World Series game. As General Manager of a major-market, independent television station, Berkery was a visionary and well respected by almost every national program syndicator, purchasing such shows as Seinfeld, Cheers, M*A*S*H, Family Ties, and many others. Berkery may be best known locally as the host of “Ask the Manager,” where he engaged energetically and candidly with viewers on the behind-the-scenes business of commercial television.
Billy Costa is a television Emmy Award-winner and popular radio personality with KISS 108-FM in Boston. He serves as co-host of The Matty in the Morning Show and hosts the KISS Top 30 Countdown. He is also the host of High School Quiz Show on WGBH-TV. He and co-host Jenny Johnson currently star on Dining Playbook, a 30-minute show on the New England Sports Network (NESN) that combines two of New England’s favorite pastimes … food and sports. Dining Playbook is a fan’s playbook to the New England dining and lifestyle scene. Costa previously created and hosted TV Diner on NECN and has been a part of food television for 20 years. Costa’s pro bono work for local charities is exceptional. He regularly supports The Genesis Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters, The Landmark School, North Shore Cancer Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Angel Flight, the Walker School, and South Shore Hospital.
The year 2017 marks Dave Madsen‘s 47th year in broadcasting and 25th anniversary with Western Mass News, broadcast on CBS 3, ABC40, and FOX 6 in Springfield. Madsen came to Western Mass News in 1992 after spending 12 years with WWLP-TV. He began his broadcasting career in 1970 with WMAS in Springfield. Later that year he began a nine-year association with WHMP Radio in Northampton. Madsen serves as anchor of Western Mass News’ 5, 5:30, 6, 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts. He was born and raised in Southampton, attending schools there and Easthampton High School. He attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where he majored in Communications studies. From 2000 to 2014, he was an adjunct professor at UMass, developing and teaching a television news reporting course in the Journalism department. Madsen is very active in the community as a longtime member of the Jimmy Fund Council of Western Massachusetts, having served as its president and current vice president. He also chaired Western Massachusetts’ most successful golf tournament, the Jimmy Fund – Jeffrey Vinick Classic, and has served as that tournament’s emcee since 1987. He emcees a number of other charity golf tournaments, including Brightside, and the Dawn to Dusk Golf Marathon. He’s involved with Baystate Health’s Rays of Hope Walk, serving as emcee for a number of its events. In 2011, Madsen was inducted into the New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Science’s Silver Circle for his accomplishments in broadcasting and his work in the community. He’s won a wide array of community service awards, and TV viewers have honored him with the Valley Advocate’s “Best of Valley” award for nine straight years and 12 out of the last 13 years. Madsen was also voted the Favorite Local TV Personality in the Springfield Republican‘s “Reader’s Raves” poll for four consecutive years.
A Boston College and USA Olympics Team hockey star, Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame 2017 Pioneer Award-winner Tom Martin spent five years as a CPA at Arthur Anderson and was subsequently hired by Cramer Electronics in 1966 as a corporate controller, later shifting gears to become national sales manager in the multi-national company. When in 1979 the company was acquired by Arrow Electronics, Tom took out a loan to purchase the firm’s budding audio/video equipment sales division and, retaining the Cramer name, called the new venture, beginning in 1982, Cramer Productions. He noticed that many companies were still using slides and overheads when they could be taking advantage of then-new video production technology. Now, Cramer operates out of a 70,000 square foot former warehouse in Norwood, MA, modified to be a state-of-the-art studio for their brand experience agency. Powered by their team of 150 people, Cramer produces meetings and events, experiential marketing, and video for global brands. Martin considers it an essential part of Cramer’s mission to contribute to nonprofit and charitable causes. Over the years, Cramer’s team has helped organizations such as Mother Caroline Academy & Education Center, The Francis Ouimet Society, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, and Catholic Charities, to name a few. Over the years, Martin helped Cramer earn a reputation for producing great sports programs, including the critically acclaimed Boston Red Sox: 100 Years of Baseball History, the Emmy Award-winning documentary, Story of Golf, The Banner Years (a Boston Garden retrospective), Home Run Heroes (a tribute to legendary Red Sox players), Ray Bourque: The First 20 Years, and a 50-year retrospective of New England’s famous Beanpot HockeyTournament.
Dan Rea, a veteran Boston television journalist, is the host of NightSide on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 every weeknight from 8 pm to midnight. In November of 2010, Rea was honored with the prestigious Yankee Quill Award by the Academy of New England Journalists and the New England Society of Newspaper Editors. This distinguished award is considered to be the highest individual honor awarded by fellow journalists in New England. NightSide focuses on a wide variety of issues, political, economic and social. Rea is a native Bostonian, educated at the Boston Latin School, Boston State College and Boston University School of Law. Rea spent 31 years as an on-air television reporter at WBZ Radio’s sister television station, WBZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Boston. He considers his most important work in television a 15-year crusade that helped gain freedom for Joe Salvati, a Boston man wrongfully convicted for a 1965 murder. Rea exposed corruption within the Boston office of the FBI, whose agents conspired with a disgraced federal informant to wrongfully, intentionally, and maliciously convict Salvati and three other innocent men. The men and their families were awarded more than $101 million by Federal District Court Judge Nancy Gertner on July 26, 2007, a day during which Rea concluded his career at WBZ-TV with a series of day-long on-air reports. Rea has been awarded Honorary Doctorate Degrees from UMass Boston, Endicott College and the Massachusetts School of Law.
Jerry Remy has been the New England Sports Network (NESN) Boston Red Sox color analyst since 1988, when he was first teamed with veteran play-by-play announcer Ned Martin. For 15 years, Remy worked with play-by-play announcer, Don Orsillo, and since the beginning of this season with Dave O’Brien. Voted “Massachusetts Favorite TV Announcer” by Sports Illustrated in 2004, Remy has been honored with four Emmy Awards and was named the “Massachusetts Sportscaster of the Year” by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in 2004. Remy is a former Major League second baseman. In 1971, he was drafted in the eighth round by the California Angels. He played three seasons for the Angels starting in 1975 before being traded to the Red Sox. He played second base for the Sox from 1978 to 1985. A knee injury forced his retirement during spring training of 1986. Remy had his best year in 1978 when he batted .278, scored 87 runs, stole 30 bases and was selected to the American League All Star Team. He finished his career with a .275 average, 208 stolen bases and a .981 fielding percentage. Small traditions followed by Remy include always greeting Spanish-speaking viewers with “Buenas noches, amigos” or another appropriate greeting upon the announcement of the SAP simulcast, and by bringing a doll of Wally the Green Monster (the Sox’ mascot) and his white Adirondack chair to the announcer’s booth of every ballpark the Red Sox visit. Remy loves to regale viewers with tales of his frequent vacations in Aruba and is affectionately known as the “RemDawg.”
Peter Smyth is recognized as a visionary and thought leader in the radio broadcasting industry. He most recently served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Greater Media, Inc., one of the nation’s leading broadcasting companies. In this role, Smyth oversaw the operational efforts of 21 AM and FM radio stations in Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, Philadelphia and New Jersey; a group of weekly newspapers in central New Jersey; and several telecommunications towers throughout the United States. Over the past three decades, Smyth served in a variety of capacities within Greater Media, including General Manager of WMJX-FM in Boston, Vice President of the Radio Group, and Chief Operating Officer of Greater Media, Inc. He began his career in broadcasting in 1977 as an account executive with WROR-FM in Boston and was quickly promoted to General Sales Manager, a position he held for the next five years. In 1983, RKO General, the parent company of WOR, recruited him to serve as general sales manager of its New York stations, where he directed the company’s sales operations until his departure in 1986 to work at Greater Media. Smyth helped to revolutionize the broadcasting industry by advocating for and adopting new technologies such as HD Radio and internet streaming, and by developing and incorporating innovative content to improve media communications and meet the emerging demands of the industry and its advertisers. He was named a “Giant of American Broadcasting” by the Library of American Broadcasting in 2014. Radio Ink Magazine, a leading broadcast industry publication, in 2005 and 2011, selected Smyth as “America’s Best Broadcaster.” In addition, he has been recognized as one of Radio Ink’s “40 Most Powerful People in Radio,” ranking among the top ten. In 2007, the publication named him “Radio Executive of the Year.” An active philanthropist, Smyth currently serves on the Board of Directors of New England Baptist Hospital and the One Hundred Club of Massachusetts, an organization dedicated to enhancing the welfare and safety of the families of public safety officers and firefighters. He is a past member of the Board of Trustees of Emerson College and the United Way of Massachusetts. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Board for US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. In 2007, he received the “Humanitarian of the Year” Award from the Hundred Club of Massachusetts and the Golden Mike Award from the Broadcasters Foundation of America for exemplary service in the radio Industry.
Diane Stern anchored the news at WBZ NewsRadio from 1983 to 2016. During her more than three decades there, Stern brought listeners the news of some of the region’s most historic stories. From Presidential elections and the New Hampshire primaries, to the Gulf Wars, to the 9-11 attacks, the capture of James “Whitey” Bulger, and the Boston Marathon bombings—Stern was one of New England’s “go-to” journalists when people needed straightforward, unbiased reporting. Stern also specialized in covering stories involving the vast changes in the medical world. She focused on the research and development of new treatments for diseases as well as new technologies that made the jobs of healthcare providers easier. Recently, Stern won the 2017 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast. Prior to joining WBZ News Radio, she worked as a morning anchor at WEEI Radio in Boston from 1978 to 1983, WITS and WMEX Radio in Boston from 1976 to 1978, and WMLO Radio in Danvers, Massachusetts from 1975 to 1976. Stern has also been honored with several Associated Press awards for her work in radio, was a finalist in the New York Radio Festival Awards and won for Best Newscaster in the March of Dimes Achievement in Radio Awards of 2000. One of the highlights of her career was covering the New England Blizzard of 1978 for WMEX Radio when the broadcasts were conducted by phone in candlelit studios. Stern also conducted a live interview with President Clinton in 1995. Stern is a Board of Trustees member of and an ESL tutor at the Immigrant Learning Center in Malden; she has volunteered for My Brother’s Table in Lynn; and she emcees events for charitable groups including The Arthritis Foundation, the Preeclampsia Foundation, the Salem Literary Festival (Salem Lit Fest), and the Alzheimer’s Association, MA/NH Chapter.
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