The Buffalo Broadcasters Association will induct a new class into its Hall of Fame on Thursday at a dinner at the WNED(TV) studios.
The polyglot class will range from current TV anchors to wacky DJs of the past. Leading the class will be long-time WIVD(TV) anchor Jacquie Walker. Accompanying Walker is her news producer, the even-longer-serving Vic Baker.
From radio, three personalities enter the hall. The late radio newsman Jim McLaughlin held positions at Buffalo’s WYSL(AM), WKBW(AM) and WBEN(AM) for the better part of three decades and had a reputation as a newsman’s newsman. He passed away in 1993.
Shane Gibson, Billboard’s 1965 top DJ, jocked at WKBW, WYSL and WGR(AM), with his “Cosmic Cowboy” and “Brother Shane” personalities in the 1970s and 1980s. He also was PD at WGR.
Legendary DJ Dick Biondi spent part of his early career in Buffalo at WKBW, was fired, then worked at WNED’s AM radio station, before moving onto national fame in Chicago and L.A.
Also inducted into the HOF will be Don Angelo, a radio and TV vet who started on air and then moved into sales, management and ownership; much of it during his 30 years in Buffalo.
Other ceremonies at the dinner will include recognition of WUFO(AM)’s 50 years on the air along with the awarding of the Tim Russert Medal of Merit to Lauren Adams of St. Bonaventure University.
