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May 18, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE KT: 156
UMSL names 2007 Media Halls of Fame inductees
The University of Missouri-St. Louis and St. Louis Mercantile Library will induct 24 media professionals into the St. Louis Media Halls of Fame at 8:30 p.m. June 9 during a ceremony at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, 212 N. Kingshighway Blvd. in St. Louis. A reception and dinner will precede the event at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the event are $110.
The St. Louis Media Halls of Fame represent a merger of the Internet-based St. Louis Radio Hall of Fame and the print and television halls; the public relations/advertising hall is a new category. Tom Eschen, vice chancellor for development at UMSL, and Frank Absher, adjunct professor of communications at Saint Louis University and radio historian, worked together to merge the halls and honor the inductees.
“This move gave us the opportunity to recognize the pioneers in all forms of St. Louis media, an opportunity that was long overdue,” Absher said. “This allows us the ability to provide a permanent way of memorializing those from St. Louis who have made major media contributions.”
The St. Louis Media Halls of Fame are housed in the St. Louis Mercantile Library on the UMSL campus. Eschen says the halls represent the perfect marriage of media and St. Louis history.
“It’s fitting for the university to be the place where we honor and recognize those individuals who helped chronicle our history,” he said. “The St. Louis Mercantile Library is an integral part of our campus. It is a touchstone of history, providing a rich mixture of art and literature, and now the Media Halls of Fame, to students and the St. Louis metropolitan community at large.
The 2007 inductees are:
O.K. Bovard*
Joseph Charless*
Mary Kimbrough
David Lipman
Mike Peters
Donald Suggs
Public relations/Advertising
Bea Adams*
William D’Arcy*
John Graham
Bob Hillard*
Michael Roarty
Helen Weiss
Radio
Donny Brooks*
Jim Holder
William Hopkins
Anne Keefe
Ray Otis
Steven B. Stevens
Television
Dick Ford
Karen Foss
Harold “Hod” Grams*
Harry Gibbs
Keith Gunther
John Roedel
*deceased
The St. Louis Media Halls of Fame were established in 2006 to recognize the market’s most influential media practitioners and provide the public with information about them. Inductees were chosen based on their contributions to and influence in media, on both local and national levels. Call (314) 516-5442 for more information.