On-air personalities Mary Turner, Bob Grant, Jack “The Rapper” Gibson, Long John Nebel and Terry Dorsey are among 12 radio professionals who will receive the Legends of Radio award from the Radio Hall of Fame. The award recognizes “the talents and efforts of on-air personalities, programmers and operators who contributed with greatness to the radio industry and have since passed away.”
They will be honored at the 2023 Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Nov. 2 at the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel in New York City. Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo, a 2022 Radio Hall of Fame inductee, will MC the event.
“It’s heartfelt recognition to see these individuals and their career contributions to the radio industry recognized with this induction,” Kraig T. Kitchin, co-chair of the Radio Hall of Fame, said in a statement. “They’ve made a forever impact on the audiences and businesses they interacted with and for that, we’re grateful.”
Dennis Green, the other co-chair of the Radio Hall of Fame, added: “Gone but never forgotten, these Legends of the radio industry deserve to be recognized as Hall of Famers and it is an honor to induct them to the Radio Hall of Fame. From programmers to talent to executives, these individuals are the best of the best.”
Another of this year’s Legends of Radio honorees, Tom Rounds, co-founded Watermark Inc., the syndication company responsible for American Top 40, American Country Countdown and other shows. By coincidence, Shadoe Stevens, who succeeded Casey Kasem as host of American Top 40 in 1988, is one of eight inductees into the Radio Hall of Fame this year.
This year’s seven other Radio Hall of Fame honorees are: John DeBella (WMGK-FM, Philadelphia), Gerry House (WSIX-FM, Nashville), Pat St. John (60s Gold, SiriusXM), Bob Rivers (The Bob Rivers Show), Nina Totenberg (National Public Radio), Deborah Parenti (publisher, Radio Ink) and Charles Warfield (executive).
Here are this year’s recipients of the Legends of Radio award:
- Bob Grant – on-air personality
- Dave Robbins – programming executive
- Ed Christian – executive
- Eduardo Caballero – executive
- Jack “The Rapper” Gibson – on-air personality/writer
- Joe “Butterball” Tamburro – programming executive
- Long John Nebel – on-air personality
- Marty Glickman – play-by-play host/executive
- Mary Turner – on-air personality
- Steve Rivers – programming executive
- Terry Dorsey – on-air personality
- Tom Rounds – executive
