The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation has recognized seven broadcast industry leaders for 2025, including Rick Dees, Dick Ferguson and Gary Sandy.
This year’s “Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts” class was honored at LABF’s luncheon and awards ceremony Nov. 14 at Gotham Hall in New York City.
The LABF radio honorees were:
- Rick Dees, legendary radio icon, entertainer and entrepreneur
- Dick Ferguson, radio executive and retired EVP of Cox Radio Group
- Gary Sandy, beloved for his role as “Andy Travis” on WKRP in Cincinnati
LABF also recognized David Muir of “ABC World News Tonight,” Lynn Beall of Tegna, hall-of-fame sportscaster Lesley Visser and attorney John R. Feore, Jr., communications attorney and advisor.
NBC TV was also honored for its 100 years in broadcasting. NBC White House Correspondent Peter Alexander accepted the award.
A radio historian
ABC News Radio White House Correspondent Steven Portnoy, meanwhile, received LABF’s third “Excellence in Preservation Award.”
Portnoy’s voice is familiar to listeners of all-news radio stations across the U.S., with his contributions covering affairs on Capitol Hill for ABC News Radio. He joined ABC as an intern in 2002, and then moved to the former ABC-owned WMAL(AM) in Washington, D.C., a year later, where he reported on local news. He most recently spent eight years with CBS News before rejoining ABC in 2023.
Portnoy is a self-described radio historian, and LABF’s preservation award honors those who demonstrate “extraordinary commitment” to safeguarding the history and heritage of broadcasting.
[Related: “NAB, LABF Partner on Preserving Broadcast History”]
