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Buffalo Broadcasters Honor Five

Its Hall of Fame now includes Randy Michaels, Fred Klestine

The Buffalo Broadcasters Association recently inducted five people into its Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

They include Randy Michaels, “a former WGR disc jockey who arguably became the most powerful man in radio”; voice talent Pat Feldballe; DJ Fred Klestine; TV reporter Marie Rice; and TV personality Don Polec.

The BBA also noted the 50th anniversaries of WBFO(FM), WGRF(FM) and WNED-TV.

Here is the biography of Michaels as provided by the BBA:

“Randy Michaels became Randy Michaels in Buffalo. Literally. He made the most of federal deregulation in broadcasting in the mid 90s, and became arguably the most powerful man in radio. He oversaw and led in the acquisition of over 1,000 radio stations as President of Jacor Broadcasting, and later Clear Channel Communications. Michaels started his career as an engineer and on air talent at the SUNY Fredonia campus station in the early 70s. After an on-the-spot tryout at the Erie County Fair, he quickly moved to commercial radio at Taft-owned WGR and WGR-FM, where he took the pseudonym by which he’s still known today. Working in programming and as the nighttime disc jockey on WGR, Michaels soon left Buffalo for national programming assignments, moving his way up the food chain, eventually running the 1,200 Clear Channel Communications stations. Michaels is now in Chicago at the top of the Tribune Company, which is the nation’s third largest newspaper publisher, and whose 23 television stations reach 80% of US households.”

Read all the winners’ bios here.

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