Buffalo Broadcasting History
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The Buffalo Broadcasters Association Board of Directors
 
Chairman
Don Angelo
WGRZ-TV (ret.)

A 45 year veteran of the broadcast industry who spent the first decade of his career as a news reporter in several northeast markets, then moved to sales and management and operated his own radio station in Michigan. Don served in various management positions at WUTV, Sherwin-Greenburg, WNYB, The Buffalo Sabres, TCI Cable, WNED, and WGRZ. Don is a co-founder and current Chairman of the Board of the Buffalo Broadcasters Association. In 2007 he founded Angelo Media Services and most recently formed  Nickel City Media, LLC which was created to explore new opportunities and acquisitions in broadcast media
 
President
Dave "DG" Gillen
WIVB-TV

Started a radio station at Grand Island High School in 1971 that lead to his first job in radio in 1973 at WEBR while still in high school. He also worked part time WGRQ, WACJ and WNYS. Was Music Director  WKSE, Asst. PD, then became Program Director at WMJQ,  In 2000, Dave shifted gears to take a position as Account Executive at WJYE and was a Senior Account Executive with WYRK until 2007 when he accepted a position as Account Executive at WIVB/WNLO. In 2010, he was promoted to Director of New Business Development at the stations.  Dave has been on the BBA Board since 2004 and is the current President of The Buffalo Broadcasters Association.
 
Vice President
Steve Reszka
Anscombe Broadcasting Group

Steve Reszka has extensive media experience from both sides of the aisle.  He currently owns Reszka & Associates, a national marketing communication and entertainment booking firm based in Buffalo.  He is also co-owner of WSIR-AM in Winter Haven, Florida, where within three years he led the station from being silent to #2 in the rating in Polk County (the home of Disney World).  His media background includes stations in Buffalo and Syracuse in the late 70s.  He made the move to television news at stations throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama during the 1980s.  He was also a freelance reporter for NBC Sports and ABC News.
 
Secretary/Treasurer
Herb Flemming
Flemming Communications

Herb worked at WJSL, WDCX, and WEBR-WBCE, which was owned by the Courier Express and later purchased by Bill McKibben.   The Courier, decided to build a cable TV system and Herb re-joined  the Courier where he helped build and then market the system. It was in this time frame that Herb began a 17 year relationship with NBC Sports, working weekend football games.  After the Courier Cable TV system was built, Herb joined Tops Markets to form an in-house agency that handled their radio, TV and P-R. After twenty years with Tops Markets, he shifted his focus toward public relations and development work, and opened his own shop in 2001.
 
Directors
 
Marty Biniasz
OTB

Marty is currently Director of Marketing for Western Regional Off Track Betting (OTB). His responsibilities include marketing and promotions for 46 OTB locations in the Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse markets, Batavia Downs Raceway and Batavia Downs Gaming featuring 590 slot machines. Previously, Biniasz was marketing manager with Delaware North Companies Inc. Gaming and Entertainment at Fairgrounds Gaming and Raceway. From 2001 to 2003, Biniasz worked in Div. I NCAA athletics as an Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing at Niagara University. As Manager for Fundraising Events/Marketing at the Western New York Public Broadcasting, Biniasz worked to help PBS establish the Buffalo Niagara Guitar Festival and was involved in on-air fundraising on television and radio. From 1998 to 2000, Biniasz was a sales and marketing manager at WNGS-TV in Buffalo where he also assisted in the development of UPN television affiliates in Lexington, Kentucky, and Waterloo, Iowa. He served as a public relations specialist for the Sweet Home Central School District from 1994 to 1997. In addition he has worked as an anchor/report at radio stations WJJL-Niagara Falls, WPIG-Olean, WESB-Bradford, Pa and WBEN-Buffalo. Biniasz received his bachelor's degree in journalism/mass communications from St. Bonaventure in 1994. He is past President of the Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers. Biniasz is currently serving a 3-year term on the Executive Board of Buffalo’s Historic Broadway Market.
 
Suzanne Chamberlain
University at Buffalo

Suzanne is a public relations/communications professional with 30 years experience. Former reporter/anchor at WGRZ and WJKS Jacksonville and manager of Ralph Nader’s low-power TV station in Buffalo. She has pursued teaching, training and facilitation opportunities and has served on various community and professional boards and currently the Senior Director of External Affairs at the University at Buffalo.
 
Steve Cichon
WBEN-Radio

Steve has been a member of the board of directors since 1998 and has served as the BBA's President, as well as a term as Secretary. Spending the last 6 years as a news anchor/reporter at WBEN-AM, Steve was previously Program Director at the Adelphia-owned sports talk WNSA-FM, and a producer at WIVB-TV. His current stint at WBEN is his second. He began his career with WBEN Radio as a producer in 1993. While obviously interested in the current state of Buffalo Broadcasting, Steve is also a broadcast historian, collecting and sharing Buffalo's collective pop culture radio and TV history at his own website, staffannouncer.com.
 
J. Michael Collins
WNY Public Broadcasting (ret.)

Mike Collins spent 40 years at the WNED stations, the final 33 years as president and chief executive.  During his tenure, WNED-TV purchased commercial radio stations which became WNED-AM & FM.  The station also activated Channel 23 which has since been sold to provide a permanent endowment for WNY Public Broadcasting.  The TV station also produced three regular series for PBS: "Woman", "The Mark Russell Comedy Specials", and "Reading Rainbow", winner of over 20 national Emmy Awards.  Mike was also responsible for the stations' new broadcast center in downtown Buffalo.  He is a former Vice-Chairman of the Board of PBS and spent 12 years on that network's Board of Directors. Mike was inducted into the BBA Hall of Fame in 1999.
 
Pat Feldballe
Pat Feldballe Productions

Pat began his career in broadcasting in 1972 at WBFO. Moving from there to on air and production jobs at WBUF, WGRQ, WGR, and WKBW, leaving in 1982 to begin applying production skills as a free lance producer/voice talent.  Today, he's still at it, combining voice work and production with teaching at NCCC.  As a member of the Buffalo Broadcasters Board of Directors, Pat is trying to increase the awareness and community presence of the BBA through the development of a series of half hour cable tv shows.
 
Doris Jones
WGR-TV (ret.)

Doris was one of the most prominent personalities in the History of Buffalo broadcasting whose landmark accomplishments ran the gamut from hard news to children’s programming to advertisements. She was Buffalo’s first female TV newscaster, starting in 1965 at WGR TV CH 2, where she anchored local morning newscasts during the Today Show. She was Buffalo’s first female staff announcer, at CH 2 from 1965 through 1970. She was the first female Weathercaster in 1953 at WBES TV CH 59. Later in her career, from 1965 through 1970 she delivered the nightly Weathercast at WGR TV CH 2.

She hosted Buffalo’s first daily audience-participation show at the inauguration of  WKBW TV CH 7 from 1958 through 1961, called “For The Ladies”. She was Buffalo’s most consistently used female commercial talents between 1950 and 1970, appearing in some 10,000 commercials on Channels 2, 4, 7, 29 and 59.

 
Rich Newberg
WIVB-TV

Rich Newberg is Chairman of the Archive Task Force, coordinating the BBA’s efforts to digitize the Buffalo TV news film from the 1960’s and ‘70’s.  Rich is WIVB-TV’s Senior Correspondent and has been at the station for 32 years.  His documentaries have won 10 New York Emmy Awards.  Rich is also a Regional Vice President/New York Chapter of the National Television Academy.  He was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame in 2006.
 
Ron Rice
WHTT-FM (ret.)

Ron's career spans over thirty years in the Broadcast Industry including radio, television, and cable. Managed and directed WHTT to become the number one oldies station in the country. Began his career as an account executive WBEN Radio in1968, moving to WBEN-TV in 1972 and back to WBEN-AM as Sales Manager in 1975. Became General Manager of WACJ in 1979 and move to Cablescope in 1982 as DOS. In 1984 became VP/General Manager of WNYS and transitioned it to WHTT. In 1997, Ron began doing independent advertising and media placement. He was inducted into the BBA Hall of Fame in 2007 and implemented the first annual Buffalo Broadcasters Association 5k run in 2009.
 
Lois Ringle
WUTV-TV (ret.)

After graduating from the University of Miami, Lois Ringle began her career in broadcasting at WCKT, Miami, Florida.  With a few years experience, Lois moved to New York City where she worked on both the Ed Sullivan and Arthur Godfrey shows.  Upon coming to Western New York due to family illness, she joined the staff at WBEN-AM-FM-TV - as producer of such live programs at Breakfast at AM&A’s and Meet the Millers. Later, after her children were born and partially raised, Ringle returned to full-time work as Program Director of WUTV-TV.  Ringle was presented with a Distinguished Broadcasters Award in 2000, the same year she was inducted into the BBA Hall of Fame.  Lois has been an active member of the Board of Directors since 2005
 
Mark Scott
WBFO-FM

Mark has been at WBFO since 1981 as News Director from 1981 through 1986 and 1992 to present. A 1977 graduate of Saint Bonaventure University, he received a BA in Journalism. Mark was News Director of WMNS Radio in Olean from 1977 to 1981. Mark has been board member since 2007.
 
Lee Tulumello
Ell-Tee Associates

Lee's broadcast Career began as a disc jockey during her freshman year at Niagara University’s radio station.  When she transferred over to Canisius College to finish up her B.A. in Communications, she interned at WGRZ, then at WKBW-TV where she was immediately hired and worked her way through the station as Assistant Program Director, Production Assistant and Co-Producer of AM/Buffalo. Lee took a hiatus from Broadcasting (and Buffalo) and moved to Tampa. A couple of years later she returned to Buffalo and immediately joined WUTV as Assistant Program Director/Assistant to the General Manager.  Soon after she was promoted into corporate headquarters in NYC to serve as Administration for Citadel Communications Company’s national broadcast group.  Several years later Lee was offered a position with HDM (an international advertising agency) and was relocated to Los Angeles where she spent 6 years working on national print, radio and television ad spots, in many capacities, for Nintendo, Lexus, Pacific Bell, Air New Zealand and many other large companies.  Lee then branched out into the freelance project world, in development and production for NBC, Turner Broadcasting, Fox Sports (to name a few) and landed in management at Sony Pictures Imageworks. In 2003 she moved back to Buffalo and jumped into several freelance opportunities, including a marketing project for Adelphia.  She has since co-founded purecontemporary.com (an online magazine) and recently launched the first phase of her website, InTheAirport.com.  Lee has served as Floor Manager of the BBA Hall of Fame induction dinner since 2007.
 
Don Yearke
WIVB-TV (ret.)

Don Yearke has a lifetime of experience in many areas of radio and television. He worked as a DJ and in news at WUSJ, WNIA, WEBR, WBNY & WKBW. He was a reporter, producer and photographer at WKBW-TV for many years before joining WBEN-TV/WIVB-TV as a photojournalist and was chief videographer at WIVB for 18 years before retirement. He still works for CH-4 as a freelance photojournalist. Don has been an active member of the Board of the Buffalo Broadcasters Association and is involved in the archiving project. He is a Past-President of the local chapter of Sigma Delta Chi. He is a Hall of Fame member.
 

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