This year's Gala Banquet was our best yet. On Friday, November 20th at the beautiful and luxurious Bala Golf Club, 2200 Belmont Avenue in Philadelphia, the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia held our 41st annual "Person of the Year/Hall of Fame" Dinner. Reception was at 6 pm with dinner starting at 7 pm. Anyone who is anyone was there.
Our "Person of the Year" for 2009 was:
Bill Wright, Sr.
July 21, 2009
Photo by Broadcast Pioneers Board Member Bob Kravitz
Our Person of the Year was:
Bill (The Rebel) Wright, Sr., former WIBBAGE "Good Guy" & WPEN jock
Our 8 inductees into our "Hall of Fame" were:
Elliot Abrams, Accu-Weather's Senior VP, mornings on KYW Newsradio
Joanne Calabria, VP of Public Affairs for CBS 3 and the CW Philly 57
Renee Chenault-Fattah, co-anchor of the NBC 10 News at 11 o'clock
Mort Crim, former "Eyewitness News" TV Anchor on KYW-TV, Channel 3
Gene London, former Philadelphia TV Children's Celebrity and Host
Al Meltzer, sports director/anchor and play-by-play on Channels 3, 6, 10 & 17
Irv Ross, Channel 6's very first Director of Engineering, there for 50 years
Lisa Thomas-Laury, 6ABC "Action News" Co-Anchor and ReporterWe also inducted 12 persons into our "Hall of Fame" posthumously. They were:
Joey Bishop, nationally known comedian from South Philly
Jay Cook, former Program Director & Boss Jock at WFIL, Famous 56
Hugh Gannon, former sportscaster for WCAU (Radio & TV) and Prism
Powers Gouraud, the ol' nightowl, who ruled the airwaves in the 30s & 40s
Florence Hanford, Philly's pioneering TV chef who started in 1947
Wally Kinnan, the Weather Man, the city's well loved meteorologist
Siani Lee, former news anchor on WCAU, NBC 10 and CBS3 (KYW-TV)
Tony Mammarella, the producer for ABC-TV's "American Bandstand"
Jack McKinney, the telephone talk show host on both TV and radio
Jack Pyle, air personality extraordinaire for Philadelphia broadcasting
George Thomas, former announcer for the WCAU broadcast stations
Long John Wade, the pleasing voice of WFIL, Famous 56 and WIBG Radio
COMPLETE AUDIO!
We started the evening off with Maura McKinney Mastro, Jack McKinney's daughter singing our National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.
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We inducted our posthumous inductees into our Hall of Fame. Maura McKinney Mastro stepped back up to the microphone to accept on behalf of her dad.
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Next was Mary Mammarella, daughter of Tony Mammarella, who came to the podium to accept on behalf of her father.
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Then we started inducting into our Hall of Fame, this year's class of inductees. First up was Renee Chenault-Fattah.
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Next was Joanne Calabria, Vice-President of the CBS Stations Television Group that includes CBS 3 and the CW Philly 57.
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Third was Lisa Thomas-Laury. She told us that it was, indeed, a great honor to be inducted into our Hall of Fame.
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Also from 6ABC was inductee Irv Ross. He was the former Director of Engineering for WPVI and he's our first engineer to be inducted into our Hall of Fame.
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Elliot Abrams was inducted next. He's a Senior Vice-President for Accu-Weather and is based near State College, PA.
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The forever young-at-heart Gene London was next. He filled us in on his childhood, his show on Channel 10 and working at the networks in New York.
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Our next inductee flew all the way in from Florida in his own private aircraft. We're talking about none other than Mort Crim.
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Finally, was the tallest inductee for this year, Big Al Meltzer who worked at most every station in the Philadelphia Market.
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Next it was time for our Person of the Year section of the event. The induction was done by Liz Matt, a former Broadcast Pioneers scholarship winner and a member of our organization today.
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Finally, it was time to hear from our Person of the Year for 2009. This man ruled the airwaves at WIBG along with Hy Lit and Joe Niagara. Of course, we're talking about Bill Wright, Sr.
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Funds raised from this event underwrite the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia's scholarship program. Earlier this year, we underwrote twelve $1,000.00 scholarships for area college students with monies raised from last year's banquet.
From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Photo originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Bob Kravitz
© 2009, Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
All Rights Reserved
The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com