Texas Radio shines on Marconi Awards night

The stars did, indeed, shine bright in the heart of Texas last week as four Texas Radio stations and one syndicator reaped top honors at the NAB’s Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show, capping the three-day Radio Show jointly presented by RAB and NAB in downtown Austin. One hundred stations from throughout the country were vying for the coveted honors.                                                                                                                                                                             
Bryan Broadcasting’s KNDE-FM in Bryan-College Station nabbed the Small Market Station of the Year Award. The station – a repeat winner of TAB’s Bonner McLane Public Service and Lone Star Leader awards – is helmed by Ben Downs, TAB’s immediate past chairman and 2010 Broadcaster of the Year.

Cumulus Media won big, scoring wins with KRBE-FM Houston for CHR Station of the Year, KPLX-FM Dallas-Fort Worth for Country Station of the Year, and KTCK-FM Dallas-Fort Worth for Sports Station of the Year. All three stations are overseen by Dan Bennett, regional vice president for Dallas and Houston.

Bennett has decades of experience in the DFW market, having helped lead Susquehanna’s operations there long before the company was acquired by Cumulus.

The event featured a performance by Grammy Award-winning country music band Asleep at the Wheel. Rickey Smiley of Dallas-based Reach Media, who was honored with the Marconi for Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year, emceed the show.

Winners were selected by the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Selection Academy, comprised of general managers, program directors, regional executives, owners, programming consultants and former Radio executives.

NAB has not yet established a call for entries for the 2018 awards which will be presented Sept. 25-28 in Orlando.

Questions? Contact TAB’s Oscar Rodriguez or call (512) 322-9944.