Tom Shane Makes Appearance at A.I.R. Awards

[RoddyFreeman]

Maybe others were aware of it, but I was not. I was surprised when Tom Shane was introduced as a speaker at tonight's A.I.R. Awards. He is obviously a huge user and great advocate of radio advertising. For anyone who doesn't know, he has stores in many markets around the country. I thought his speaking there was extremely cool.

Otherwise, I didn't care for tonight's event. I thought it was much better when awards to talent were given away. They did play a terrific video of past A.I.R. Awards, and it was kind of a thrill to see Larry Munsen, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award, speak to the audience although he rambled on to the point where it became painful. And Mike Kavanagh paid a heartfelt tribute to the late WSB great Elmo Ellis.

And a number of radio liminaries were there but not nearly as many as in past years.

 

[georgiametfan]

I was also there at the Salute to Radio event. While I love great play-by-play men, Larry Munson did go a little long. The salute to Elmo Ellis was touching, and Tom Shane's speech was great.
Unlike Roddy, I didn't miss the awards. I was getting tired of everyone throwing jabs at each other, and the drunken acceptance speeches. It was a nice change of pace.
If we can get back to more civility next year, I would have no problem with bring the awards back. Otherwise, I thought it was a good evening. It was for a great cause. That's what matters the most.

 

[rho01]

No regular AIR awards, not as many stars

I agree with Roddy that the evening was lacking without the regular awards. On the bright side, it was a lot shorter and gave folks more time to mingle and gab after the awards ceremony (and hopefully raise more money with the silent auction.) I suspect this was also done as a way to streamline the proceedings and minimize the amount of work necessary to actually put it together. (I can imagine it takes quite a bit of time and energy to gather the ballots and tapes and judge them, then get all the presenters.)

But the lack of awards also meant the lack of presenters and potential victors, which normally draws more star power. I only counted reps from four morning shows there -- Craig Cornett, new to Kicks; most of the Bert Show; Rashan and CJ from Hot 107.9 and Steak from 790 (but he's an exec, too.). Steve Goss, Tripp West and Cadillac Jack were there, too. Rhurbarb (who emailed me to say he had a grad class Thursday night) and Randy & Spiff, who normally come, were not there. Ditto with Ryan Cameron, who always added a bit of spice to the silent auction. This time, there was nobody with that magnetic personality exhorting people to spend, spend, spend! (Folks such as Frank Ski, Barnes, Steve & Vikki, the 99X morning show, Clark, Neal, the Kimmer and the Regular Guys typically don't show up anyway.)

I missed that best of AIR Awards video, unfortunately. It apparently featured Crash Clark from last year's proceedings, which got folks feeling instantly nostalgic.

I would bet money the awards, however silly some of them may be, will be back next year. <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Rodney Ho on 12/02/05 05:58 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[RoddyFreeman]

> I was also there at the Salute to Radio event. While I love
> great play-by-play men, Larry Munson did go a little long.
> The salute to Elmo Ellis was touching, and Tom Shane's
> speech was great.
> Unlike Roddy, I didn't miss the awards.

I will say that I was stunned when I saw Tom Shane. I had imagined a decrepit little old man. And that was not at all what he looks like. Knowing that it was Tom Shane, I recognized his voice. But even that seemed a lot more normal than I would have expected. I had the same reaction when I met Ike Newkirk. I had pictured a serious, cantankerous old man. And I wasn't close there either.