The Sheldon was the place to be Thursday Feb. 1 as the St. Louis Media History Foundation celebrated their 2024 Hall of Fame Induction Class. The inductees were honored for their lasting contributions to St. Louis’ media history.
Post-Dispatch Weatherbird artist Dan Martin was the chairman of the dinner as President of the Board of Directors. He has been a part of the organization since it started. His crew did a great job with the dinner.
Guests were treated to live music, a buffet and open bar, but the best part of the evening was listening to the speeches of the inductees and hearing their stories as well as meeting and talking to them.
Former KMOX newsman Frank Absher, who founded the organization in 2000 is the Executive Director and the Executive Committee for the Foundation are: President, Dan Martin; Vice President, Ginnie Westmoreland; Treasurer, Pat Crowe; Secretary, Mark Pierce.
Martin is one of the key people instrumental in helping Absher start the Foundation. It all started from an idea Absher had where he gathered Martin and a couple of other people for a lunch to brainstorm.
“Frank has had this passion for decades.,” said Martin., “It started by him contributing to the St. Louis public Library media archives until he decided it needed a separate non profit foundation. We had lunch at McMurpheys downtown and Dave Garino the past president and Fleishman executive and former WSJ reporter and I thought it sounded overly ambitious (at least I did).
This year’s class included: Joe Buck (television) Fred Bodimer and Ed Scarborough (radio) Jessica Z. Brown-Billhymer, Clay Felker, Dave Nicklaus, Jim Gallagher, and Lockhart (print) and Tim Arnold and Jim Palumbo (Advertising/PR)
Joe Buck had some good lines along with an emotional tribute to his dad, Jack Buck. He touched on how lucky he feels he has been throughout his life, and about how despite his upbringing and going to Country Day School, he was never farmed out to nannies.
“I always felt my dad wanted me with him,” he said. “I had great parents. I always felt welcome in the broadcast booth growing up. My dad made me feel like he wanted me there and for that I was lucky.”
Buck said he was humbled and impressed by all the stories he heard in the acceptance speeches, and the hard work that all of the inductees had put in to their careers.
Speaking of hard work, the Media History Foundation has worked tirelessly for the past 24 years and they have grown from their early years.
“These induction ceremonies have come a long way from what were basically happy hours to this grand affair where we sold out the Sheldon Ballroom with about 150 people,” said Martin.
Martin (shown right with Buck in photo by Kim Love Photography) is thinking about one of the first ones which was in a Downtown bar with hardly any room for people to sit. Over the years with the hard work of the committee they made improvements and it must have been satisfying for the Board Members past and present who were there to see the strides they have made. The dinner is an annual event but most of the work is done throughout the year in finding and securing the artifacts and pieces of St. Louis media history.
“We remain dedicated to preserving and celebrating St. Louis media history in the categories of print, radio, TV, advertising/PR and digital. We field research requests from all over the country. We have well over 10,000 unique St. Louis media artifacts in our archives and over 100 inductees in our Halls of Fame.”
Former KMOX Radio news woman, Carol Daniel who joined Nine PBS in September 2023 as Senior Producer and Host was the emcee. Daniel is a member of the HOF and said she still remembers the feeling she felt on stage when she accepted her award that day. (Daniel is shown in photo left, by Kim Love Photography)
She had the crowd laughing and clapping throughout the evening as she combined comedy with heartfelt appreciation and admiration of the inductees.
In a funny moment, she saved the day when Buck trying to make a joke about the microphone actually appeared to break it. Being the pro he is, he stepped to the center of the stage to give his speech in his loud broadcasting voice but was able to get back as Daniel came out and did something that made it work again.
Ed Scarborough was a successful radio producer who started at KMOX Radio and ended up in Los Angeles. He had some fun and funny stories of his days at KMOX and KMOX FM.
He talked about his early days at KMOX-FM which was located in the same building as KMOX, a couple of floors up, saying his motto was “there’s a hole in the market and a market in the hole.”
Unlike some dinners where there are a couple of media people involved, this dinner had both current and former members of the media throughout the fifth floor ballroom at the Sheldon. Many of those who have been inducted already came back to support the new inductees. There was a great camaraderie in the room as memories were shared.
All successful people started somewhere and it was clear that many of the most successful media members liked to reminisce about the early days and they gave credit to those who work so hard behind the scenes to get things done. In presenting the award to Fred Bodimer, Carol Daniel rememberd her first day at KMOX and how kind he was to her and that he was her producer.
Bodimer has spent his entire adult career since 1982, working at KMOX.
“It’s just always been fun.” he told the crowd. He been a producer, on-air, religion editor, health editor and more.
Journalists Don Corrigan and Bill McClellan sat together and had a lot to talk about.
McClellan is the long-time Post-Dispatch columnist and one of popular hosts of Donnybrook. McClellan has written for the Post for more than 40 years and always has something to say.
Don Corrigan, who has served on the Foundation board in the past, has pretty much done it all as long-time Editor of the Webster-Kirkwood Times, Journalism professor at Webster University, and lately as an author. He has written books about Forest Park, “Show Me Natural Wonders,” a book about Missouri and the environment, one about Webster Groves and even some books where he interjects comedy including “Nuts About Squirrels.”
Speaking of Donnybrook, Alvin Reid of the show and also of the St. Louis American was there. Reid, who worked for USA Today Baseball Weekly before coming back to his hometown of St. Louis and working at the American is a popular guest on radio shows .
“We just literally finished taping Donnybrook,” he said, “So I came over.”
Donnybrook is taped at PBS Nine- KETC Channel Nine, which is near the Sheldon.
Frank Viverito, who stepped away from full-time work with the St. Louis Sports Commission is still working there in an advisory position. St. Louis’ reputation for holding sports events grew incredibly under the leadership of Viverito and his team.
He and Joe Buck were sitting next to each other and had a good time catching up.
The St. Louis Media History Foundation is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that researches and compiles St. Louis media artifacts and memorabilia, including hundreds of regional publications, photos, audio, and videotapes from radio, television, and advertising in the St. Louis area. They have an amazing collection of items and it is growing every day as the word has gotten out about it. Families of media people have donated significant, memorable items to help preserve the history of the media in St. Louis
By media, they are referring to TV, Radio, Print, Digital, as well as public relations and advertising.
The Foundation houses its collection in various spaces and viewing is by appointment.
The St. Louis Media History Foundation Board of Directors are: Bob Byrne, Dan Dillon, Dave Garino*, Tim Lawlor, Avis Meyer, Ken Ohlemeyer*, Steve Perron, Eric Rothenbuhler*, Bill Salzman*, Jeff Smith, Sharon Stevens, Ashley Walter, Aja Williams. (The asterick shows they were past presidents of the board.)
“Here we are still plugging away 24 years later with a dedicated board and our own physical archive in Grand Center,” said Dan Martin. “Plus, very, very few cities have organizations like this.”
Readers can go to their website to find out more about St. Louis media history, Halls of Fame and and also how to donate https://stlmediahistory.org and visit the St. Louis Media History Foundation’s Facebook page. They also have accounts on Twitter and YouTube.
2024 Media History Hall of Fame Inductees and Board Members
