George Beasley speaks at the dedication of the George G. Beasley Media Complex at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.
Appalachian State University has officially opened The George G. Beasley Media Complex on its campus in Boone, N.C. The broadcasting center is named for Beasley Broadcast’s Founder, Chairman and CEO and ASU alumnus George G. Beasley.
At the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 22, Beasley was joined by his wife Ann, as well as company President Bruce Beasley, Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer Caroline Beasley and Executive Vice President of Operations Brian Beasley. The 18,000 square-foot media complex houses the Dept. of Communications’ classrooms, labs and faculty offices, as well as the television studios and 24-hour, student-managed radio station WASU(FM).
“I not only envision Appalachian being one of the top schools in communications in North Carolina, I think that over the next few years it will become the premier school of broadcast communications in the Southeast and maybe one of the top five in America,” said Beasley, who earned a bachelor of arts in business education in 1958 and a master’s degree in educational administration in 1960.
Beasley is a current member and past chairman of the Appalachian State University Foundation Board of Directors, a current member of the university’s campaign steering committee and a former member of its Board of Trustees and the College of Fine and Applied Arts Communication Advisory Board. He received the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1990.
“The opening of this facility represents a new era of broadcasting, education and service at Appalachian State University, and it will provide a higher quality platform from which we can continue to serve the campus and the local community,” said Glenda Treadaway, dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts. “Our students will learn and work in studios that reflect the environment that they will work in after graduation.”
The complex will also host the Kellar Radio Talent Institute each summer. Led by industry veteran Dan “Vallie” Hill, the Institute brings industry professionals to teach during an intensive, radiocentric 10-day program.
Founded in 1961, Beasley Broadcast Group, owns and operates 27 FM and 16 AM stations in 11 large- and mid-size markets in the United States. The company also provides management services to one FM station in Las Vegas for which it has an option to purchase, and operates one station in the expanded AM band in Augusta, Ga.
