Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 18, 2008 at 09:40:30:
Chicago's Steve Dahl and New York's Howard Stern again have been aced out of the Radio Hall of Fame.
The two notably influential and celebrated personalities failed to make the cut this year in online voting that was free and open to the public for the first time.
Inductees named Thursday to the Chicago-based Hall of Fame include Boston's Howie Carr, who blew past Dahl and two others in the local/regional category, and Dr. James Dobson's "Focus on the Family," which beat Stern and two others in the national category.
Carr mounted an all-out effort to encourage listeners to vote for him, while Dahl remained more passive this time (although he did get public expressions of support from such media luminaries as Richard Roeper and Bob Sirott.) As usual, Stern ignored it all.
The nomination for Dobson's syndicated radio show sparked a nationwide protest by the gay rights group TruthWinsOut.org, which objected to Dobson's views against homosexuality.
Other winners announced Thursday included Art Bell in the national pioneer category, Charlie Tuna in the local/regional pioneer category, and Mickey Luckoff, president and general manager of KGO-AM in San Francisco.
Previously announced as posthumous inductees are Bob Collins, former morning kingpin of Tribune Co.-owned news/talk WGN-AM (720), Jess Cain of Boston and Dick Whittinghill of Los Angeles.
Winners will be inducted Nov. 8 at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel. The black-tie event will be broadcast nationally by Westwood One.
(Feder)