Another Great GRHOF Banquet

[RoddyFreeman]

The Georgia Radio Hall of Fame held its annual banquet and awards ceremony last evening, and this year again, it was an incredible event, starting with the 94Q reunion. And it was great to see deserving Atlanta radio people including Don Benson, Leslie Fram, Rick Shaw, Dennis Winslow and Steve McCoy & Vikki Locke inducted.

I had the honor of sitting with Mike Kavanagh's wife and daughter (and granddaughter!). Even Radio-Info poster bclark71 was in attendance.

Finally, it was great to see John Young, who made the trip from his new home in Nashville. John programmed Z93 in its CHR heyday. He was acknowledged by Steve McCoy, whom John brought to Atlanta from Nashville, and getting Steve to accept that Z93 job apparently took some convincing. John was also acknowledged as a mentor by Don Benson. Believe it or not, Don was the intern during John's tenure at WMAK in Nashville in the '70s.

 

[day1radio]

It was my first time to attend and I thoroughly enjoyed the event. I was privileged to accept the Legacy award for Don Elliot Heald. Kudos to John Long for all the hard work. Added bonus: Meeting Roddy! Enjoyed meeting you, Roddy.

Peter Wallace
Day1.org

 

[RichardWarner]

Total positives. My wife and I were honored to sit with Marcus Bartlett's family and got a ringside seat to see professional I've worked, including Mike McDougald and Rick Shaw, with get acknowledged for their great work.

John, the event keeps getting better.

Wonder if there would ever be bandwidth for a WGST Newsradio 92 reunion...

 

[taylorengineer]

Congrats to Rick Shaw for some well deserved recognition.

 

[Chancethegardner]

It gets better every year. Randy Brown's radio station tour video was a classic, Charlie Van Dyke as the offstage announcer, and Christie Tanner doing voice overs combined with colorful presenters and inductees combined to make it an outstanding event!

 

[RoddyFreeman]

When I heard Charlie Van Dyke's voice, I was thinking they really went all out. He's one of the top-40 greats and has a superstar radio station resume like no one else. Of course, he'd be really appropriate for next year's Fox 97 reunion because he was the Fox 97 station voice.

 

[Chancethegardner]

I second that!

 

[amitherightcaller]

IMHO, and all due respect to those who have been inducted into the GRHF, it seems like this organization puts more emphasis on recognizing the Atlanta market than the rest of the state.

 

[grhof]

IMHO, and all due respect to those who have been inducted into the GRHF, it seems like this organization puts more emphasis on recognizing the Atlanta market than the rest of the state.

A common misconception. First of all, the organization recognizes those CHOSEN by the membership, with the exception of the Elmo Ellis Spirit Award and the Founders and Directors Award. Atlanta is the largest market in the state, has the most radio stations of any market in the state, and has the most GRHoF members. Do the math.

 

[amitherightcaller]

So, you're saying that you have more GRHoF members from Atlanta than the rest of the state, hence, more nominees and winners from Atlanta? Sounds reasonable!

 

[onetake]

I think Roddy's first post captured the whole story. Considering this was only the third year for the banquet there is plenty of room for growth and recognition of deserving people. But the people honored, the names mentioned in Roddy's post, the past winners are perhaps the names first thought of when great Ga Radio comes to mind. I loved seeing the Braves announcers. Randy and Spiff, Rhubarb, Gary McKee and many others. Without disrespecting similar award shows in our state, this one has the who's who of radio and with the respect shown towards competitors here, it's no wonder some people come from a great distance to see people I like and appreciate.