|
2012 Inductees
 |
Rick Jeanneret
Buffalo Sabres play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret
is the longest-tenured broadcaster in hockey. He joined the Sabres broadcast
team in 1971-72 and has been doing games ever since.
Jeanneret’s career officially began in 1963, when he
filled in for the regular announcer at a Niagara Falls Flyers (Junior A) game.
He went on to become the color analyst for one season before moving to the
play-by-play position in 1965.
Jeanneret joined the legendary Ted Darling as an
analyst for Sabres games broadcast on WGR Radio at the start of the team’s
second season in October 1971. When Darling was needed for TV broadcasts,
Jeanneret took over the radio play-by-play duties and eventually assumed those
responsibilities on a full-time basis through the 1994-95 season. Starting in
1995-96, Jeanneret became the television play-by-play announcer and began
simulcasts on TV and radio in the early 2000s. After taking a few games off
each season in recent years, Jeanneret will be doing play-by-play for all Sabres
games during the upcoming 2012-13 season.
Jeanneret’s memorable calls
and player nicknames have become forever linked with Sabres history for
generations of fans. He proclaimed “May Day, May Day, May Day” when Sabres
player Brad May scored the winning goal in overtime of a playoff game against
the Boston Bruins in 1993. Then there is “Top shelf, where Momma hides the
cookies!” He called the Sabres’ two Stanley Cup finals in 1975 and 1999.
Besides working for the Sabres, Jeanneret spent
several years in the 1980s as morning host on Niagara Falls, Ontario radio
station CJRN-AM.
Besides this honor from the Buffalo Broadcasters
Association, Jeanneret will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and the
Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame later this year. In 2011, Jeanneret was
inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame.
A native of St. Catharines, Ontario, Jeanneret
currently resides in Niagara Falls, Ontario, with his wife, Sandra. Jeanneret
has two sons, Mark and Chris. Mark is the play-by-play voice of the American
Hockey League team in Portland, Maine. |
 |
Lee Coppola
Of all the honorees this year, Lee Coppola has had
the most varied career. He was a newspaper reporter, a TV investigative
reporter, an assistant US attorney and dean of the journalism school where his
storied career began.
Coppola was part of a talented class of journalism
graduates from St. Bonaventure University in 1964. Following two-and-a-half
years of military service, Coppola was hired by the Buffalo News. His articles
on organized crime and the Witness Protection Program were the inspiration for
the movie Hide in Plain Sight, starring actor James Caan.
Coppola left the newspaper after 16 years to pursue a
career as a TV journalist. In 1983, he was hired as the “Troubleshooter” for
WKBW, Channel 7’s Eyewitness News and later served as an investigative reporter
for WIVB, Channel 4’s News 4. As a television reporter, he won prestigious
national awards such as the George Polk and awards from the Investigative
Reporters and Editors and the National Press Club.
Coppola received his law degree from the University
at Buffalo’s School of Law in 1983. He eventually left TV news in 1991 and
became an assistant US attorney in Buffalo, where he spent five years
prosecuting drug dealers.
In 1996, Coppola returned to his alma mater and
became dean of the newly created School of Journalism and Mass Communication at
St. Bonaventure University. He created a thriving program in broadcast
journalism. A gift from the family of the late Bob Koop, who was a colleague at
WIVB, was used to build and equip a broadcast journalism laboratory named in
Koop’s memory. The lab has helped many students prepare for careers in
broadcast journalism. Coppola later secured the donation of a fully-equipped
remote broadcast trailer where students have learned how to produce live sports
events, such as men’s and women’s college basketball games. The games are then
streamed on the Internet.
Coppola retired as dean in 2011 but continues as a
credible source for reporters seeking his informed analysis of media issues.
Coppola, who grew up on Buffalo’s West Side, and his
wife, also named Lee, have three grown children – Julie, Frank and Michael – and
several grandchildren. |
 |
MaryLynn Ryan
This year’s recipient of the Buffalo Bob Smith Award
is not a familiar face. But MaryLynn Ryan is being recognized for her stellar
career behind-the-scenes in TV news, the last 17 years with the nation’s first
cable news network, CNN.
Ryan is currently bureau chief of the Southeast
region for CNN/US and director of CNN’s Weather Unit. She oversees the
network’s editorial coverage in the Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans and Dallas
bureaus as well as the weather team. Ryan is based at CNN’s world headquarters
in Atlanta.
Ryan has served as bureau chief of CNN’s Southeast
region since 2004. She has overseen CNN’s coverage of the Gulf of Mexico oil
disaster, the Fort Hood and Virginia Tech mass shootings and Hurricane Katrina –
coverage that has won Peabody and other awards. Previously, Ryan served as
managing editor of CNN/US. She joined the network as a producer in 1995.
Ryan’s career began in Buffalo. She worked in all
three of the local TV news departments. Ryan helped launch 5pm newscasts on
WKBW, Channel 7 and WIVB, Channel 4. She began her career in 1983, working as
an overnight producer at WGRZ, Channel 2.
From Buffalo, Ryan headed to Cleveland, where she
worked as an executive producer at two TV news operations – WJW and WKYC. At
WKYC, Ryan was nominated for an Emmy three times as best newscast producer. She
won an Emmy and a Woman in Communication Award for the program Three on 3.
Ryan has covered many of the groundbreaking stories
of our time. In addition to the ones mentioned above, she has worked on
coverage of the Columbia space shuttle tragedy, the war in Iraq, the 1996
Olympic Games and the Olympic Park bombing, the Oklahoma City bombing and the OJ
Simpson murder trial.
Ryan is a Buffalo native. She is a graduate of
Canisius College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication.
Named after one of Buffalo’s most
famous sons, the Buffalo Bob Smith Award is given to broadcasters with local
roots who made his or her mark away from the Niagara Frontier, but is still a
Buffalonian at heart. |
 |
Tom Calderone
Fellow staffers, his professors and listeners knew
Tom Calderone was a rising star during his time at Buffalo State’s WBNY in the
early 1980s. He used his WBNY experience as a launching pad to a prestigious
career that has taken him to the very top of cable TV’s VH1. Calderone has
served as VH1 president since 2008 and is this year’s recipient of the Buffalo
Broadcasters Association’s Goodyear Award.
Calderone was named one of the top 50 most
influential executives shaping the future of media by Mediaweek in 2007. As
president, he is responsible for the overall strategy and management of VH1. He
previously served as executive vice president and general manager. Calderone
serves as chairman of the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, which has donated $45
million worth of new music instruments to music education programs in public
schools.
Calderone first joined the MTV Networks, parent
company of VH1, in 1998 as senior vice president of music and talent programming
at MTV. He created new music initiatives and managed artist relations and
communication with the music industry. Calderone oversaw the development of
such breakthrough music franchises as “Spankin’ New Music” and “MTV Ultimate
Mash-Ups.” He also worked on the production of top-rated television events
including the MTV Video Music Awards and MTV Movie Awards and such successful
franchises as “Unplugged.”
Before joining MTV, Calderone was a consultant with
Jacobs Media where he advised radio stations across the country on music, talent
and marketing strategies.
In Buffalo, Calderone is best remembered for his time
at WBNY. As program director, he put in place the alternative/progressive
format that still stands today. Calderone maintains close ties with Buffalo
State, helping with internships for students. He frequently visits campus to
talk with students and alumni groups. In 2008, he received an honorary
doctorate of human letters from his alma mater.
The Goodyear Award is named in honor of George
Goodyear, the Buffalo philanthropist who co-founded WGR-TV, and is awarded each
year to those in broadcasting’s front office who have made a career of advancing
the ideals of the Buffalo Broadcasters. |
 |
Bill Cantwell
For decades when news was breaking in Buffalo, Bill
Cantwell was there with his camera. Whether it was a raging fire, a tragic car
wreck or a news conference with Mayor Frank Sedita, Cantwell documented it –
first on film and later on videotape – to become one of Buffalo’s most respected
photojournalists.
Cantwell was born in England and was educated by
Jesuits at the same school that Alfred Hitchcock attended. His first job was
with the Ministry of Information in Central London during World War II where he
was a darkroom assistant. When the war ended, Cantwell worked as a photographer
on Fleet Street. In 1948, he moved to Australia, where he spent the next five
years as a commercial photographer.
During a visit to the United States in the late
1950s, Cantwell joined Auvid, an audio-visual production company that had a
number of local broadcast contracts. One of them was for a wrestling show
hosted by WBEN-TV’s Chuck Healy. Another was to provide news film to WKBW,
Channel 7. Given a budget of $5,000, Cantwell created a functioning film lab
and editing facilities at Channel 7.
In 1965, Cantwell joined WBEN-TV, Channel 4, now WIVB-TV,
where he set a high bar for photojournalism. He was honored by the Buffalo
Police Department and the US Coast Guard for his work in the early 1960s. In
1982, Cantwell won the best photography award from UPI.
For the most part, photojournalists operated in
relative anonymity behind the scenes. But viewers of Channel 4 got to know the
name of “Billy” Cantwell and his famous “Weather Cam” late in his career.
Cantwell retired in December 1988. |
 |
Mike Roszman
In baseball, the utility man is known for his ability
to play a number of positions on the diamond. If there were ever a utility man
in Buffalo broadcasting, it was Mike Roszman. He did just about everything at
WGR Radio, where he spent much of his career until his tragic death in the 1993
crash of the WGR traffic helicopter.
Here are some of the titles and roles Roszman held in
his 20-plus years at WGR – vice president of operations, program director,
engineer, producer, disc jockey, news anchor, talk show host and traffic
reporter. Roszman joined WGR AM 550 in 1970 as a disc jockey. He briefly left
in 1973 for a radio station in North Carolina but soon returned to WGR. Roszman
survived ownership changes and format changes at WGR and its then FM frequency
96.9 (now 97 Rock). He was often heard as the voice of WGR-TV, Channel 2 (now
WGRZ).
In 1991, Roszman became WGR’s traffic reporter. Each
morning and afternoon, he would board a helicopter and deliver information about
traffic tie-ups and accidents as part of WGR’s all news and talk format of the
1990s. On a cold and dreary January day, Roszman was delivering reports during
the afternoon when the station lost contact with him. Roszman and his pilot,
Herm Kuhn, were killed when their helicopter plunged into the Niagara River.
His colleagues remember Roszman for his dry sense and
humor and good nature. He was a mentor to interns and young staff members who
were eager to learn the business.
Roszman graduated in 1962 from Marietta (Ohio)
College. After learning the broadcasting trade at the Elkins Radio and
Television Institute in Atlanta, Roszman began his broadcast career in at WDLR
in Delaware, sweeping the floors while waiting for his shot at becoming a disc
jockey.
Roszman enjoyed carpentry and bowling and was
pursuing his pilot’s license at the time of his death. He managed a Little
League team in the Town of Evans. Roszman was survived by his wife, Rebecca,
three children -- John, Janis and Jennifer – and several grandchildren. |
 |
Shannon Shepherd
2012 Tim Russert Medal of Merit Award Recipient
Fans who followed the St. Bonaventure men’s and
women’s basketball teams during their memorable 2011-12 season are familiar with
this year’s Tim Russert Medal of Merit Award recipient. Shannon Shepherd had a
prominent role as a play-by-play announcer, color analyst and courtside reporter
for the SBU-TV live game coverage of the two teams, streamed on St.
Bonaventure’s website.
Shepherd graduated in May 2012 with a Bachelor of
Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from St. Bonaventure
University. She is the 2012 recipient of the Mark Hellinger Award, the top
honor awarded by St. Bonaventure’s Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass
Communication to a graduating senior.
The BBA created this award in 2008 in memory of Buffalo’s own Tim Russert
who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003. The award-open to juniors,
seniors, and recent graduates of Western New York’s colleges and
universities-was created to inspire young people who might follow in Russert’s
footsteps, pursuing his passions of broadcasting and journalism. |
 |
WADV/WYRK, 106.5 FM
The Buffalo Broadcasters Association is also celebrating a Golden
Anniversary.
Buffalo’s first stereo FM station is celebrating its
Golden Anniversary this year. WYRK first went on the air as WADV in 1962.
Original owners Dan and Nancy Lesniak created a truly unique format that defied
description. It was a mixture of jazz, big band music and vocal standards
hosted by knowledgeable and genuine personalities, including Pat Vincent, Fred
Klestine, Rick Bennett, Jerry Glenn, Bernie Sandler, Jack Horohoe, Ken Ruof and
Ralph Irene.
When the station was sold to new owners in 1981, the
format was changed to country music WYRK. It was a bitter disappointment to
WADV’s devoted announcers and listeners. But in hindsight, it was, perhaps, one
of the smartest moves ever made in Buffalo broadcasting. WYRK rose to dominance
over the years and consistently ranks at the top of the Arbitron ratings. Now
owned by Townsquare Media, WYRK continues to employ local announcers, including
Clay Moden, Dale Mussen and John LaMond, who connect with their listeners
through live concerts and other special events.
|
Click here to
buy Hall of Fame DVDs and Box sets
|
