The 15th Annual Broadcasting & Cable Magazine Hall of Fame dinner will recognize 10 of the media’s most powerful and influential individuals on Monday, Oct. 24 at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The inductees join 245 luminaries (and two television shows) honored in previous years.
This year’s honorees:
- Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics. He made the Olympic Games a powerful brand; the 2004 games from Athens, Greece, featured an astounding 1,210 hours of coverage, for which Ebersol was executive producer. In 1975, at the age of 28, Ebersol was in charge of NBC’s late-night programming and became the youngest VP in NBC history. Together with Lorne Michaels, he cooked up the legendary Saturday Night Live.
- Tom Joyner, host of his own syndicated radio show and chairman of Reach Media Inc. His program reaches 8 million listeners weekly and can be heard in 80% of the country. In the mid ’80s, Joyner became known as the “Fly Jock” for hosting a daily morning show in Dallas, then hopping a plane to host an afternoon show in Chicago.
- Ken Lowe, president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Co. His company operates 10 television stations and groundbreaking cable networks including HGTV, DIY, Food Network, Fine Living and Shop At Home.
- Steve Mosko, president of Sony Pictures Television. The studio is a leading TV producer and syndicator involved with such hits as Seinfeld, Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, The Shield, Rescue Me, Strong Medicine, The Young and the Restless, The King of Queens and Judge Hatchett.
- Richard Parsons, chairman and CEO of Time Warner. His far-flung empire includes CNN and other Turner networks, such as cable giants TNT and TBS, the Emmy-hoarding HBO, Time Warner’s cable systems and The WB.
- Cristina Saralegui, enormously popular host of Univision’s prime time Cristina Show. The show is now in its 16th year, with an estimated 100 million viewers in the U.S., Latin America and Europe.
- William Shatner, writer, producer and iconic star of television’s legendary Star Trek. He also played the title role on ABC’s T.J. Hooker and currently is on ABC’s Boston Legal.
- Dennis Swanson, executive VP and COO of Viacom Television Stations Group. He gave Oprah Winfrey her big boost at WLS Chicago, headed ABC Sports and made WNBC New York a market leader before focusing on turning CBS-owned stations around.
- Anne Sweeney, co-chairman of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television Group. Her domain includes the resurgent ABC Entertainment and Disney’s solid cable network group—ABC Family, SoapNet, Toon Disney and the Disney Channel Worldwide.
- Michael S. Willner, co-founder, president and CEO of Insight Communications. He leads the nation’s ninth-largest cable operator with 1.7 million subscribers in Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana. Willner, an industry innovator, has served two terms as chairman of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.
“This year’s honorees are a dynamic group of industry leaders and innovators who all make this business so fascinating to cover,” commented B&C Editor in Chief J. Max Robins.
“We’re so proud of our recipients, who join a great list of past Hall of Fame honorees,” says B&C Group Publisher Chuck Bolkcom. “It’s a night the whole industry looks forward to.”
Ticket and other information about the Hall of Fame dinner can be obtained by calling Sandy Friedman, director of special projects, at 646-746-6740, or by e-mailing her at safriedman@reedbusiness.com.
