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Radio And TV Stories Journalist Andy Potter, Sportscaster George Commo And Vermont Public Television President And Managing Director John King Will Be Inducted In The Yearly VAB Awards Party Nov 19 In Burlington.
Burlington, VT A stories columnist, a sportscaster, a station executive and a legendary crooner have been named to the Vermont Organisation of Broadcasters Hall-Of-Fame.
Radio and TELEVISION stories hack Andy Potter, sportscaster George Commo and Vermont Public Television President and Managing Director John King will be inducted during the annual VAB Awards Feast Nov 19 in Burlington. Radio and film star Rudy Vallee will be inducted posthumously.
Vallee was born in 1901 in Island Pond. A teen bandleader, he drew attention with the band he started at Yale School, “Rudy Vallee and the Connecticut Yankees.” In 1929, Vallee commenced hosting “The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour” on NBC, later “The Royal Gelatin Hour.” The show was one of the two most popular programs in the country for the subsequent ten years (the other being “Amos ‘n’ Andy”). His program was first to present acts such as Burns and Allen, Milton Berle, Kate Smith, the Mills Siblings and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.
His radio, stage and film career was lengthy. He worked into the early 1980′s, when he occasionally served as the opening act for the Village People. Vallee died in 1986. His better half, Eleanor Vallee, said she was thrilled with the VAB respect. “I’m so pleased and appreciative of this honor for my late husband, my ‘vagabond lover,’” she revealed from her home in LA “Vagabond Lover” was the name of Vallee’s first film, in 1929. She revealed she is figuring on attending the ceremony.
The recently-retired Andy Potter is a legend among reports reporters in Vermont. He started his radio career while attending Middlebury College in the mid-1960′s. After serving in Vietnam, he returned to Vermont, where he brought his reporting talents to a spread of radio stations, including WJOY, WDOT and WKDR among others . He carved a second career on The television, where he was a longtime senior newshound for WCAX in Burlington.
George Commo is a six-time winner of the Vermont Sportscaster of the Year award and is also a member of the Vermont Press Organisation Hall-Of-Fame. George has been a radio and TELEVISION sportscaster from the early 1970′s and was the longtime voice of UVM Hockey and Vermont minor league baseball. Since 1998, he’s been covering Norwich College Hockey for WDEV.Among his fans and peers, George is considered one of the best hockey play-by-play sportscasters to ever climb behind a mike.
John King joined VPT in 1987 and has served as President and CEO since 1998. He also serves on the PBS Board of Directors and has served as Chairman of the Vermont Television Broadcasters Co-location Organisation. He is credited with helping to form a powerful bond between private and non-private broadcasting in Vermont.
WDEV Radio in Waterbury has been named the “Broadcaster of the Year” for 2011. The station did an extraordinary job of keeping the general public informed during and after Tropical Typhoon Irene. Their around-the-clock coverage of the disaster is credited with saving lives and keeping folks informed.
John Likakis, Director Of WBTN-AM in Bennington is also being famed for notable coverage of Tropical Tempest Irene. Likakis is one of two winners of the VAB’s Distinguished Service Award. Likakisand station volunteers at WBTN provided critical information to their community before, during and after the storm. For days, they were the sole link between local emergency officials and marooned voters.
The other Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Ginny McGehee of WJOY radio in Burlington. Ginny is the longest-serving female radio personality in Vermont history, having started at WJOY in 1983. Her radio family wouldn’t think about beginning the day without her good humor and upbeat attitude. She’s served her community in alternative ways as a board member of Champlain Valley Crimestoppers and the Vermont and New Hampshire Valley chapter of the North American Red Cross.
The Alan Noyes Community Service Award is going to WJJR-FM in Rutland for their wonderful yearly Gift-of-Life blood drive. WJJR characters Terry Jaye and Nanci Gordon helped collect 1,400 pints of blood in 24 hours last December, breaking a New England record set in Boston. The annual drive has been a focus of community involvement in Rutland. The regional and national record has after that been eclipsed by Manchester, New Hampshire. This year’s drive is lined up for December twenty.
Two other Community Service Awards will be presented to WOKO-FM and ABC22 / FOX44-TV.
WOKO radio in Burlington has been conducting their “Big Change Round-up for Kids” for 7 years. Last year, the station raised an astounding $206,000 for the Vermont Children’s Surgery at Fletcher Allen. The once a year campaign finishes in a four-day radiothon.
ABC22 / FOX44 is being honored for organising a telethon for June eight that raised more than $45,000 for the local Red Cross. The stations took action when reporter Natalie Paterson came back from covering damage from Vermont’s spring floods and asked Managing Director Vic Vetters what the stations could do to help their neighbours. The telethon helped replace the local Red Cross coffers at a critical time.
The Vermont Organisation of Broadcasters has been representing the interests of radio and TV broadcasters in Vermont since 1956. For detailed info about the VAB, including ticket information for the November 19 event, come and visit the internet site at www.vab.org., writes tagza.com.
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