Tom (and everyone), To be certain, this was a celebration of Bay Area radio, and was probably the greatest gathering of local broadcasting talent in one room, ever. I've been a great fan of Alex for as long as I can remember, and it was an honor for me, personally, to present him into the Hall of Fame.
The program itself lasted a bit more than an hour and a half. That's nowhere near as long as many awards shows last. > Since most of those being recognized are dead, it seemed like a funeral. > Spouses, children, and grandchildren mourned the loss of those great radio > talents as they accepted the awards in their absence. There were sixteen people inducted. Ten of them are alive and were in attendance. Would you have preferred that we skipped over the few (not "most") that are no longer with us? > (Ben) Fong-Torres was one of the few minorities in the room. I saw three > blacks, and two of them were honorees. Tom, if you want a list of "minorities" who were in attendance, I'll send you a list; otherwise, I'll just chalk it up to you not having paid attention, or that you are trying to be dramatic. Renel Brooks-Moon received more votes this year than any other nominee. At her table were her mother, brother, and other family members. And her manager (Filipino). KGO's Rosie Lee Allen was a top vote-getter and an inductee. At the next table, with Dave Sholin, was Gary Mora (Hispanic). Should I keep going? If you're suggesting that there was something racist in the make-up of the audience, I can go table-by-table to prove you wrong. > Alex warned us over a decade ago of the damage deregulation would do, and now > it has come to pass. The audience at the luncheon did not want to hear it. > Deregulation was the elephant in the room, and Alex was doing an intervention. If you are suggesting that the people in the room -- many of whom have lost their jobs in radio recently because of the consolidation of local ownership -- don't know what's happening in their own industry, then you are naive. The audience didn't want to hear it? The audience is LIVING IT. Barely two weeks after the BARHOF program, KFRC changed formats and Dave Sholin, Celeste Perry and Ben Fong-Torres were fired by CBS. I can name the friends of mine in that room -- dozens of them -- that are struggling because there simply aren't any jobs in radio these days. Do you think they are unaware of the current situation in the industry, or that they disagreed with Alex's spot-on assessment of the current state of terrestrial radio? I'm sorry that you thought the show went on too long. I wish that somebody had started the Hall of Fame thirty years ago so that more of the honorees were still alive to attend the ceremony, and so that we would only be inducting four or five new members each year. We're trying to do something special, and I know we can't please everybody. That said, the response I have received from the honorees and those in attendance has been overwhemingly positive. We'll try to do better next year. David Jackson Executive Director Bay Area Radio Museum http://www.sfradiomuseum.com/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AlexBennettProgram" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/alexbennettprogram?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
