We are honored to announce the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame Class of 2014. The induction ceremony will take place at a special luncheon during our summer conference in the Empire Room at the Waldorf Astoria, Friday, June 13th at noon. Tickets for the luncheon are being sold individually or as part of our Summer Conference package. For more information click HERE.
John Cooper – Legendary Radio Broadcaster – (Capital Region & Syracuse)
“Doctor” John Cooper was bitten by the radio bug when his older sister got a two-transistor radio in the early 60’s. From that point on his fascination with radio broadcasting has never waned.
While at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1973, John became an on-air personality at WAER-FM. In the Winter of 1974, WOUR-FM in Utica added John to their weekend line-up and by Summer of 1974 he held a full time job doing nights, and worked weekends at WQBK-FM in Albany, NY.
Upon graduation he made the move to full time work at WQBK-FM and spent the next 9 years there on the air, and as Music and Program Director. In 1987, he moved across the street to WPYX. Broadcasting in New York State continuously for over 40 years “Doctor John” can still be heard middays Monday-Friday on WPYX and weekends on WTRY. For almost 20 years, John has lent his voice to WTEN-TV in Albany, voicing promos and commercials and was a studio camera operator there when the station began their early morning newscasts in the 90’s. He has been with Clear Channel Media + Entertainment since 2000, and is currently Regional Programming Manager for CCM + E stations in Albany, Poughkeepsie, and Sussex, NJ.
John enjoys playing the role of Santa Claus during WGY’s Christmas Wish fund raising events, being part of the local Honor Flight organizations who fly World War II Vets for free to Washington, DC to visit their Memorial, attending various ceremonies for area Veterans as a Patriot Guard Rider, helping organize Stars for Our Troops “Star Parties” at the station, and taking part in fund raisers for the Alzheimer’s Association and Toys for Tots.
Nancy Duffy – Pioneering TV Reporter and Journalist (Syracuse)
Throughout her career, Nancy led the way for women in journalism. She became the first woman police reporter in Central New York after joining the Syracuse Herald-Journal in 1966. She was Syracuse’s first female TV reporter when she moved to WHEN-TV (now WTVH 5) in 1967. She picketed the Syracuse Press Club for membership, and later served as its president. In 1970, Nancy served as press secretary at Syracuse City Hall, the first woman in that position. She returned to Channel 5 after a year, and moved to Channel 9 (then WIXT, now WSYR) as a reporter and morning anchor in 1977.
Nancy received the Syracuse Press Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and was among the first group of journalists honored with a plaque on the Press Club’s Wall of Distinction in 2000. She has been honored with many awards on the local, state and national levels, and was a driving force behind countless community initiatives.
She considered her greatest legacy to be the Syracuse St. Patrick’s Day Parade. She led a small group of volunteers in putting together the first parade, March 19, 1983. The Parade has become Central New York’s largest one-day event. The parade is “the largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, per capita, in the world” with up to 10,000 marchers and 125,000 spectators. A pioneering journalist and community leader, Nancy Duffy passed away in 2006.
Mike Francesa – Radio Sports Talk Show Host (New York City & the Nation)
Now well into his third decade in afternoon drive, Mike Francesa has firmly established himself as the most celebrated and successful sports talk show host in the history of radio.
Mike captured the Marconi Award as “Major Market Personality” in 2000, and again in 2012. He joined a very select list of multiple Marconi Award winners, and was the first sportscaster to ever earn radio’s biggest honor more than once.
Both Talkers Magazine and Radio Ink have recognized Mike as the No. 1 sports talk host in the country the past two years and Talkers ranked Mike the 35th most important radio personality in history. This honor grows in stature when it is noted that Howard Cosell was the only other sports figure in the Top 75.
For 19 years, Mike teamed with Christopher Russo on the iconic “Mike and the Mad Dog,” widely recognized as the most celebrated sports radio program ever. Since 2008 his afternoon drive program, heard weekdays on WFAN from 1 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., has grown to even greater heights. Fox Sports 1 recently entered into a multi-year agreement with Mike and CBS to simulcast his legendary radio program. He also hosts the highly regarded “Mike Francesa’s Football Sunday,” which will enter its 28th season next fall.
It was recently announced that Francesa has agreed to a long term contract extension with WFAN. “Mike has earned his place in radio history as a great broadcaster and we’re thrilled to continue our relationship with sports radio’s most celebrated host,” stated CBS Radio President and CEO, Dan Mason.
Marty Glickman – Legendary Sportscaster (New York City and the Nation)
Martin “Marty” Glickman was born in The Bronx, New York in 1917. A graduate of Syracuse University, Glickman was also an All-American football player. He had brief careers in professional football and basketball.
Glickman joined radio station WHN in 1939 and was its sports director by 1943. When the New York Knickerbockers were formed in 1946, Glickman became their radio announcer and remained so for 21 years. Later, he was the National Basketball Association’s first TV announcer. Glickman was also the first announcer for the New York Nets before the ABA-NBA merger. His descriptions of the game, including “swish,” “top of the key” and many others became the lexicon used by all sportscasters. He was the voice man for the sports newsreels distributed by Paramount News, between 1948 and 1957.
In the early 1960s, Glickman teamed up with the analyst Al DeRogatis, to form a legendary broadcast team for the “New York Football Giants” for the next 23 years. He was the voice of the New York Jets for 11 years.
Glickman did pre and post-game shows for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees for 22 years. Glickman was often heard on WPIX-11’s telecasts of local college basketball during the winter. As the sports director of WCBS Radio in the 1960s, he briefly resurrected the ancient broadcasting art of re-creation for New York Yankees spring training games. When HBO premiered in 1972, Glickman announced HBO’s first telecast from Madison Square Garden. He was also the voice of the Yonkers Raceway for 12 years and did some New York Rangers broadcasts.
Glickman was a longtime mentor of broadcasters. NBC employed him as a critic and teacher of its sports announcers. Glickman is a member of the Curt Gowdy wing of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Glickman was an 18-year-old member of the U.S. team in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, as a sprinter. He had been a track star and football star at Syracuse University. The day before he was scheduled to compete, Glickman and the only other Jew on the U.S. Olympic team that year, Sam Stoller, were replaced on the 4×100 m relay team. Sixty-two years later, in 1998, the then-president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, William J. Hybl, honored Glickman by presenting Glickman with a plaque “in lieu of the gold medals they didn’t win” in Berlin. Hybl noted that although there was no written proof that anti-Semitism had been at play during the 1936 Olympics, it was clearly the case. “I was a prosecutor,” Hybl said. “I’m used to looking at evidence. The evidence was there.”
Chris Musial – Television Station Management (Buffalo)
Chris Musial began his broadcasting career in 1974 as a radio DJ, news contributor, sports director, and play-by play announcer at WSMH (Saint Mary’s HS, Lancaster) 91.3 FM. From St. Mary’s, it was on to Medaille College in Buffalo and a contributing role at WJPM 91.7 FM.
He joined WIVB-TV in 1978, producing weekend newscasts with Rich Newberg. After a short period of on-air reporting, Chris made the permanent shift to behind-the-camera. While assigned to the evening newscast, he was honored as a Newscast Producer, statewide and regionally. by the Associated Press and United Press International. Later “News 4” would be honored with the New York State Associated Press Grand Prize for Overall Excellence, while Chris was News Director.
A fifteen (15) time nominated and seven (7) time Emmy Award winning journalist, Musial is also very proud of the two (2) national Sigma Delta Chi (Society of Professional Journalists), and two (2) national and other regional RTDNA Edward R. Murrow awards, won by his News Teams at Channel 4. His newscasts have also been honored by the NYS Broadcasters Association, National CINE Golden Eagle and Gabriel Awards, the New York and Chicago Film and Television Festivals, the Ad Council, and NATPE.
In 2006, Chris and his colleagues were honored by the Paley Center for Media with the selection of four “News-4” Special programs that were included in the Center’s permanent collection.
While serving as News Director and President/General Manager, WIVB-TV, Channel 4 received the distinction (3 times), of being the highest overall rated television station in the United States from sign-on to sign-off. It was also recognized several times as the highest rated CBS Affiliate in the nation. WNLO-TV was also named the Top CW Affiliate in 2012, winning the Model Affiliate Award. Since its inception, the 10pm News on Channel 23 has been the top rated UPN & CW network affiliated newscast in the nation. Chris was chosen by LIN Media to help create and guide the corporate-wide LIN Media News & Digital Task Force for three and a half years.
Chris has actively supported many community causes while serving on the United Way Board of Delegates, Board of Directors at Saint Mary’s HS in Lancaster, and Saint Francis HS in Athol Springs, and on a Media Advisory Board at Medaille College. In retirement he remains involved in the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Tops Markets efforts to battle cancer. He works to support the Buffalo Broadcasters Association efforts to restore, digitize and preserve the priceless collection of news film and videotape from Buffalo’s past.
Marvin Scott – Television Journalist (New York City)
The recipient of ten prestigious Emmy awards for journalistic achievement, Marvin Scott has done it all. Since joining WPIX in 1980, he has served in multiple capacities as anchor, reporter, host and producer.
Scott is currently the station’s Senior Correspondent and anchor/host of the weekly issues-oriented program, “PIX News Close Up”
A veteran journalist with over 40 years of experience in both print and broadcast mediums, Scott’s background includes local, national, and international assignments. He previously anchored “INN Midday Edition” and “USA Tonight Weekend,” nationally syndicated newscasts produced by WPIX’s Independent Network News. For several years Scott was co-anchor of the nightly “WB11 News at Ten.” He has co-hosted special programs, including the Emmy award-winning “OP SAIL ’92: An American Celebration”, “Operation Homecoming”, and a number of Columbus and Puerto Rican Day parades.
Prior to joining WPIX, Scott was an anchor/reporter at WNEW-TV (now WNYW-TV). He held previous positions as anchor, correspondent, and producer at CNN, Mutual Broadcasting System, and WABC-TV. In the print media, he was a feature writer for the New York Herald Tribune and a Contributing Editor to Parade Magazine. Scott began his media career at the age of 14, when he sold a news photo to the NY Daily News.
Scott’s assignments have taken him from the front lines of Iraq, Cambodia, and the Middle East, to the highways of America’s South, where he covered civil rights protests with Dr. Martin Luther King. He spent Christmas 2004, 2006, and 2008, with New York soldiers in Iraq. He has interviewed six American presidents. Scott’s coverage of the Congressional Whitewater hearings won him an Emmy for “Outstanding Political Reporting.” It was “Outstanding Entertainment Programming” that won him an Emmy in 2006, for his enlightening interview with the King of Comedy, Jerry Lewis. In addition to the seven wins, Scott has received more than 30 Emmy nominations. During visits to the Middle East, he interviewed Golda Meier, Yitzhak Rabin, and Yasser Arafat, among others. In New York, he has covered every Mayor since John Lindsay. A veteran reporter of the U.S. space program, Scott has witnessed the launch of numerous Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle flights. Scott has pulled 9 G’s in an F -16 jet, circled beneath the Long Island Sound in a nuclear attack submarine, and rang the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange.
A graduate of New York University, Scott’s professional honors include a citation in the Congressional Record for his “responsible reporting” of urban riots. Associated Press Broadcasters awarded his reporting of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident, along with two AP honors for “Outstanding Interview.” The New Jersey Working Press Association presented him the “Terry Anderson Award for Professionalism in Journalism,” (the award named for the journalist held hostage in Lebanon). Scott’s work has been cited by the American Bar Association, Aviation Space Writers Association, New York’s Finest Foundation, and the Cops Foundation. A native of the Bronx, Scott has been installed in the “Bronx Walk of Fame,” and he is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for Distinguished Americans. In 2001 he was inducted into the coveted Silver Circle of the NY Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2005, Scott and his team were presented the Tribune Values Award, one of the corporation’s highest honors, for their reporting from Iraq.