Proud patron of the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland
The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which poked fun at local TV news, ran for seven seasons on CBS, starting in 1970.
Through its deep and rich trove of video, audio, photos, scripts, books and artifacts, the LAB at Maryland tells the extraordinary story of broadcasting’s first century and lights the way into the second.
The mission of the LABF is to raise funds for the library, while raising its profile and seeking out new collections for its shelves and expanding digital archives. It also celebrates the “giants” of electronic media and works to preserve the history and enrich the public’s understanding of the media over the years.
Giants of Broadcasting & the Electronic Arts
Each fall in New York, the LABF recognizes business executives, innovators, journalists, performers, producers and others who have excelled in the world of electronic media. The 2023 class of eight Giants is pictured here at the Nov. 14 event along with LABF representatives. The awardees are in boldface type. Back row (l-r): Joyce Tudryn, Giants luncheon chair; Heidi Raphael, LABF co-chair; Eric Shanks, Fox Sports; Wolf Blitzer, CNN; Tony Danza, actor/singer; David Kennedy, Aspire Ventures; Bill Whitaker, CBS News and emcee; Jack Goodman, LABF co-chair. Front row (l-r): Valari Dobson Staab, NBCU Universal Local; JuJu Chang, ABC News; Caroline Beasley, Beasley Media Group; and Nina Totenberg, NPR. (Photo credit: Wendy Moger Bross)
Soledad O’Brien Receives
2024 LABF Insight Award
Emmy Award-winning broadcaster, author and philanthropist Soledad O’Brien was honored with the LABF Insight Award at the NAB Show in Las Vegas on April 15.
The third annual award recognizes an individual or organization for an outstanding artistic or journalistic work or body of work that enhances the public’s understanding of the role, operation, history or impact of media in our society. Previous recipients are LeVar Burton and CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
Currently, O’Brien hosts "Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien," America’s No.1 nationally syndicated public affairs and news program, produced by Hearst Media.
At the presentation ceremony (photo, l-r): Curtis LeGeyt, NAB president; O’Brien; Jack Goodman, LABF co-chair; and Heidi Raphael, LABF co-chair.
Inspiring the Next Generation
Of Radio and Podcasting Talent
As part of LABF’s educational Radio & Podcasting Power Session series, an expert panel provided students at the BEA Conference in Las Vegas on April 13 with professional, real-world insight on creating audio content, programming hit radio stations, co-hosting a top 20 podcast, and syndicating a radio show.
The panel (photo, l-r): Sona Movsesian, co-host, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend Podcast; Hiram Lazar, chief financial officer, Compass ; LABF Board Member and Benztown President Dave “Chachi” Denes, who produced and moderated the panel; and Justin Chase, chief content officer, Beasley Media Group. LABF co-chair Heidi Raphael is on the extreme right.
Meet Our LABF Board Newcomers
Leo MacCourtney
President
Katz Television Group
Tony Coles
President
BIN: Black Information Network
Caroline Frick
Associate Professor
University of Texas
For bios on our new board members check out the press release announcing their election.
RIGHT AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Nine Million Pages of Media History
Are you interested in researching the history of TV and radio for an academic or news article? How about in seeking out long-term industry trends? Or, do you just want to relive your career by browsing through Broadcasting or R&R?
May we suggest worldradiohistory.com, an extensive online collection of industry publications — broadcasting and cable trades, books, music mags, technical manuals, directories, yearbooks, company and station pubs, programming guides and more.
The collection is the avocation of David Gleason, a broadcaster and radio programming and research consultant who, over the past two decades, has digitized more than nine millions printed pages, organized them and made them fully searchable for all to explore.
In recognition of his extraordinary work, the LABF presented Gleason its Excellence in Broadcast Preservation Award at NAB New York in 2023. There is more on Gleason here.
“There is no stopping him,” says LABF Co-chairman Heidi Raphael. “What he has accomplished – virtually single-handedly — is extraordinary. He’s made an unparalleled contribution not only to the history of broadcasting, but to the story of the modern world as reflected and shaped by the media.”
And if that’s not enough…
Other major searchable online archives of books, magazines and other publications about electronic media and film include the Media History Digital Library, part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Communication Arts Department, and the Internet Archive, a non-profit funded by a variety of foundations. The Internet Archive also has audio recordings, still images and TV news programs.
SAVE THAT TAPE!
Co-produced by the LABF and the National Association of Broadcasters, Preserving Broadcast History was recorded at NAB Studios last year with LABF Co-chairman Jack Goodman and NAB’s April Carty-Sipp hosting. In the 30-minute video, Dr. Laura Schnitker joins University of Maryland Libraries colleague Mike Henry in encouraging stations and networks to save their old film, tapes, disks and printed matter for documentarians, podcasters, scholars, biographers, historians, students, genealogists, producers and others. Institutions like UMD are ready to help, they say. Stations often fail to recognize the value of the material that piles up in their storage rooms, says Schnitker, “Once a station changes format or management, which happens all the time, they’ll just chuck everything into a dumpster.”
“Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows
to the world and inspire us
to explore and achieve.”
— Sidney Sheldon, TV producer and author