Indiana Broadcast Pioneers

THE INDIANA BROADCAST PIONEERS TO INDUCT EIGHT

INTO THE RICHARD M. FAIRBANKS HALL OF FAME IN 2011

The Indiana Broadcast Pioneers will induct Joe Angotti, Kenneth “Ken” Beckley, Richard “Rick” Cummings, Robert “Swoop” McLain, Joe Piggott (Pickett) and Chuck Workman into the Richard M. Fairbanks Hall of Fame at an awards banquet, October 6, 2011 at The Fountains in Carmel, Indiana. John DeCamp and William Donald “Don” Payne will be inducted posthumously.

The Hall of Fame honors members of the broadcasting industry who have made significant contributions to broadcasting’s growth and improvement. 140 people have been inducted since the Hall of Fame was founded in 1981. They have represented all areas of broadcasting: “on air” talent, engineers, technicians, sales people, owners and management. This year’s inductees include:

National Emmy award-winning veteran Joe Angotti was born and raised in Gary where he worked at his dad’s bakery, filling jelly donuts before delivering them to the steel mills. While at IU, he was the first student news director of WFIU and earned the first graduate degree ever awarded at IU in radio and television. After stints at Louisville’s WHAS and Chicago’s WMAQ, he was promoted to New York where he was eventually named Senior Vice-President of the NBC News division and Executive Producer of NBC Nightly News. From 1993 - 1998, he taught broadcast journalism at the University of Miami School of Communication. In 1999, he was named professor and chair of the broadcast program at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He is now the Visiting Distinguished Professor in Communication at Monmouth University.

Lynnville, Indiana native Ken Beckley was a broadcast journalist for 14 years with stints at Terre Haute’s WTHI-TV, Asheville, North Carolina’s WLOS-TV and Indianapolis’ WRTV-TV. It was at WRTV in 1970 when he and Howard Caldwell were pioneers, as one of Indiana’s first dual-anchor teams. He became the station’s first executive news producer in 1976. From 1977 - 1983, he served as IUPUI’s first Director of University Relations. During an 18-year career with H.H. Gregg, he served as Executive Vice President and was the public face and voice on all the firm’s broadcast commercials. From 2002 - 2007, he was President and CEO of the Indiana University Alumni Association. He served as vice-president of the Indianapolis Press Club and president of the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers.

In 1981, Rick Cummings, from Cloverdale, became Emmis Broadcasting’s first program director at flagship station WENS-FM, 97.1. In 1984, he was named Emmis’ National Program Director, launching KPWR in Los Angeles, followed by WQHT in New York, and then the country’s first all-sports station, WFAN in New York. In 2002, he became President of the Radio Division of Emmis Communications, overseeing more than 20 radio stations. In 2008, he became President of Programming for Emmis’ domestic radio group.

John DeCamp began his journalism career as a paper boy for the Kendallville News Sun. While earning his electrical engineering degree at Purdue University, he was a student announcer as a sophomore at WBAA, Indiana’s first broadcast station. His broadcasting career began there as Program Director in 1946. From 1960-75 he was Station Manager of WBAA, and then he was named Director of Sports Promotions, for the Purdue Athletic Department. John retired from that position in 1986. For 43 years, DeCamp was the “Voice of Purdue,” doing play-by-play for Boilermaker basketball and football. In 1957, he was a supporting member of the Indianapolis 500 Radio Network. Then in 1964, he gained a speaking role on the network as Chief Statistician. DeCamp served in this role through the 1988 Indianapolis 500, having worked for the race-day world-wide network for 32 years. In 1971, he was named “Top Broadcaster of the Year” by the Indiana Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. In 1974, he was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was recognized as a Charter Member of the Indiana Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, and was also inducted into the Purdue University Sports Hall of Fame. DeCamp died on December 5, 2003.

Bob “Swoop” McLain was born and raised in Chicago where, as a kid, he watched his hero Harry Volkman on television. Volkman is known for being the first weatherman to issue a tornado warning. McLain is remembered for making swooping gestures while talking about weather fronts. McLain majored in meteorology and minored in Radio/TV at the University of Wisconsin in Madison where he did a weekly weather program on the campus TV station. Graduating in 1967, he became a weather officer in the Navy. His first TV weather job was at WKZO, Kalamazoo, Michigan. And in May, 1972, he became a TV meteorologist at WFBM-TV, (WRTV), Channel 6, staying until 2002.

At the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, Don Payne worked at radio stations KAAY and KLPO. While attending Purdue University’s School of Engineering, he worked at WZUS and WAZY in Lafayette. He was a trained engineer but also an on-air personality heard live on WZPL in Indianapolis and WAZY in Lafayette simultaneously. After working as Director of Engineering for WKRQ in Cincinnati, he returned to Indianapolis to be Chief Engineer for Radio One‘s one television and four radio stations. Payne died on December 12, 2010.

Born and raised on Indianapolis’ Eastside, Joe Piggott (Pickett) began his broadcasting career in Logansport in 1951. His four decade long career had stops in New Albany, Columbus, St. Louis, Cincinnati and West Palm Beach, Florida. In Indianapolis, he was on the air at WXLW, WIBC and WFBM. In the early 60’s, he teamed with Glenn Webber of WFBM for the “Pickett-Webber Thing,” a top-rated morning program which was one of the city’s all-time best talk radio programs.

Chuck Workman grew up in Indianapolis' Lockefield Gardens. As a teen, he frequented the legendary jazz clubs along Indiana Avenue. In 1967 he received a call from Dr. Frank Lloyd asking him to come to work as the Music Director for WTLC FM. His dream of becoming a broadcaster was realized when he went to work at the WTLC studios in the Dearborn Hotel. WTLC FM was the first station in Indianapolis to be fully owned by African Americans. In 1969 he joined WTTV as a sportscaster, and in 1974 he became the first African American Sports Director in the state of Indiana. He continued in that role until 1980 when he became Director of Public Affairs at the station. While at WTTV he began hosting a jazz program at WIAN FM. Over the years he has hosted jazz programs on WFYI FM and WTPI FM. In 2006 he moved to WICR FM, where he still hosts a weekly jazz program.

He has written a jazz column for NUVO for seventeen years. Black Expo recognized him in 2010 for his contributions to jazz culture by awarding him the Lynn Dean Ford print award. He is a member of the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation's Hall of Fame.

Click the "Hall of Fame" tab above for the link to the list of inductees through 2010.