INTRODUCING THE FIRST INDUCTEES TO THE HOFSTRA RADIO HALL OF FAME Todd Ant ’81 has spent nearly 30 years in the New York market, working at WCBS Newsradio 88, CBS Radio Network, 1010 WINS-AM and Metro Networks. He is currently with ABC Sports Radio Network and is the American sports correspondent for BBC Radio, UK.
Bruce Avery has been general manager at WRHU-FM since 1994. He has produced local radio and television programming since 1978 and is currently a broadcast meteorologist for News 12 Long Island. Garry Armstrong ’66 was a reporter on Boston television for more than 30 years, and is the recipient of three Emmy Awards, a National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Silver Circle Award for Life Achievement, and the Kauff Lifetime Achievement Award.
Joe Barone ’85 is owner of the award-winning agency Bar 1 Productions in New York, producing music, video and radio advertising. Clients include Disney, HBO, Audi, Dell, Oxygen, Denny’s, FedEx and Saatchi.
Alan Colmes ’71 is a nationally recognized television and radio host, as well as the author of the 2003 book Red, White and Liberal: How Left Is Right and Right Is Wrong. From 1996 to 2009, he cohosted the nightly political-debate TV show Hannity & Colmes on the Fox News Channel and currently hosts the nationally syndicated program The Alan Colmes Show on Fox News Radio.
John DeBella ’72 became famous as part of Philadelphia’s WMMR-FM’s Morning Zoo. Now he is the morning host at WMGK-FM. Before arriving in Philadelphia, he worked at WLIR-FM in the early 1980s, hosting The DeBella Travesty and helping to introduce the Dare to Be Different new wave format.
Steven Epstein ’73 was a longtime executive producer for Sony Classical Music. Over his 30-year career, he won 13 Grammys and worked with such artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Placido Domingo, Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern.
Lisa Glasberg ’77, aka Lisa G, is a news correspondent on The Howard Stern Show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio. During the 1990s she helped Dr. Dre and Ed Lover make WQHT-FM (Hot 97) a New York City institution, which earned her a prestigious Billboard’s “Personality of the
Year Award.” She reunited with the duo in 2001 to successfully launch WWPR-FM (Power 105.1). In 2003 she received a “Gracie Allen Award” for best local radio host.
Lee Harris began broadcasting at the age of 13 by voicing Schoolscope reports for WGBB-FM and worked at WVHC-FM at Hofstra. In 1995 he became the “top of the hour” anchor for morning drive on 1010 WINS-AM and was honored as best newscaster at the 2000 New York Achievement in Radio Awards. He is also president of Harris Media, a Web site and development application company he co-founded in 1996. Michael Harrison ’71 is a special media correspondent for Talk Radio News Service and editor and publisher of TALKERS magazine, the leading trade publication for the talk radio and television industries. His 40 years in radio includes on-air work at WLIR-FM, WNEW-FM, and WCBS-FM and a talk show at KMET-FM, as well as executive positions as station manager, program director, and station owner.
Jim Helfgott ’79 began his broadcasting career as station manager for WVHC-FM in the late 1970s. Currently based in Budapest, Hungary, he is the managing director (Europe) for Sand Cherry Associates, which serves the broadband industry, and he serves as co-chair at CTAM Europe, the Cable Marketing Association for Europe. Ed Ingles’ association with WRHU-FM is the reverse of most: he came to Hofstra after a successful career in radio that included 30 years with WCBS – 24 of those years as the sports director and morning drive time sports anchor at WCBS Newsradio 880. He has reported from 11 Olympics and 35 Masters Golf Tournaments. In his 11 years as WRHU’s professional in residence, he has mentored countless students, run successful summer sports camps and sportscasting institutes for adults, and earned a FOLIO Award.
Dan Ingram ’56, the iconic top-40 disc jockey, is one of the most illustrious graduates of Hofstra radio, dating back to when the call letters were WHCH-FM. His name became synonymous with music radio WABC-AM, where he was on the air for 21 years. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2007, and he received the New York Achievement in Radio Award in 2005.
Charlie Kaye, executive producer of CBS Radio News, traces his news radio roots back to 1965 when he was news director at Hofstra’s radio station. He currently oversees CBS News-on-the-Hour broadcasts on the CBS Radio Network and other CBS News radio programming.
Jeffrey C. Kraus ’61 is a name that is practically synonymous with Hofstra radio for many people. Starting as a student with WHCH-FM, he signed WVHC-FM on the air for the fi rst time on June 9, 1959. Decades as general manager followed, where he oversaw everything from the change in the station’s call letters to WRHU-FM, to upgraded and improved studios and broadcast facilities. For the Hofstra Communications Department, and later School of Communication, he designed courses and the radio major, along with broadcast and production studios. He served as a teacher, mentor and inspiration to the hundreds of students who worked with him at the Hofstra radio station. Jeffrey Kraus passed away in 1993. Dick Maitland ’63 is an award-winning Foley artist and sound effects engineer who has worked on shows ranging from Sesame Street and The Muppets to the annual Thanksgiving Day parade, the Grammy Awards and the celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, We Are One, for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Darrin Smith is vice president of music operations and weekend host of 1st Wave for SIRIUS Satellite Radio in New York. In 2000 he became program director and on-air host for WTHG-FM, an alternative station in New Jersey, and simultaneously took on the same roles at two of the company’s other stations before moving to SIRIUS in 2004.
Marc Wiener ’76 has book-ended his broadcasting career with WVHC-FM and WRHU-FM. As a Hofstra student in the late 1960s, he served as station manager and music director. He worked through the 1970s into the 1980s as assistant chief engineer and production director for WCBS-FM. After retiring from WCBS-FM, he returned to Hofstra radio, where he now mentors students, provides technical assistance and helps produce the award winning Community Spotlight show. He is currently president of the Hofstra Radio Alumni Association.
The Hofstra Radio Hall of Fame inducted its first members. Back row: (l to r) Todd Ant, Jim Helfgott, Bruce Avery, Marc Wiener, Darrin Smith, Lisa Glasberg, Dick Maitland, Garry Armstrong,John DeBella, and Alan Colmes. Bottom row: (l to r) Charlie Kaye, Sue Zizza (accepting for Jeffrey C. Kraus), Steven Epstein, Ed Ingles, and Lee Harris.
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