Preserving the history, heritage and works
of electronic media
Pictured: NBC is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2026. Over that time, the network has poked fun at just about everything, including itself and its corporate masters with its award-winning sitcom 30 Rock. It ran from 2006 to 2013.
Our principal mission is supporting the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland. Through its collections, the LAB tells the extraordinary story of electronic media’s first century and lights the way into the second.
We encourage all efforts to preserve, explore and document the history of electronic media and to enrich the public’s understanding of the media and how it impacts the world.
And each year we salute the giants of electronic media — leading business people, journalists, performers, technologists and program producers, past and present — who have made it all possible.
GRAMMER JOINS GIANTS CLASS OF 2026
Acclaimed actor, producer, and director Kelsey Grammer will be honored as one of the 2026 Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts, recognizing his remarkable contributions to the entertainment industry, it was announced April 15 by the LABF.
He will join a previously announced group of accomplished leaders whose work has helped shape electronic. See below for the entire class.
A towering figure in television, theater, and film, Grammer has achieved enduring success across multiple platforms over a career spanning decades. Best known for his iconic portrayal of Dr. Frasier Crane, Grammer brought the beloved character to life in three hit TV series—Cheers, Wings, and Frasier—over a 20-year period. He most recently reprised the role in the Frasier revival on Paramount+.
See here for more on his remarkable life and career.
The Giants of 2025 and Friends
The Giants class of 2025 was inducted at LABF’s annual awards luncheon at Gotham Hall in New York on Nov. 14, 2025.
The Giants (seated, l-r): Peter Alexander, NBC News, who represented NBC, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary year.Lesley Visser, network sports correspondent; David Muir, ABC News; Lynn Beall, TV station group executive; Rick Dees, multimedia entertainer and entrepreneur; John Feore, communications attorney; Gary Sandy, stage, screen and film actor; Dick Ferguson, radio group executive.
Standing are LABF board members, except those otherwise identified (l-r): Harry Jessell; Steven Portnoy, of ABC Radio, winner of the LABF Preservation Award; Mike McVay; Heidi Raphael; Heather Cohen; Julie Talbot; Ginny Morris; Dr. Judy Kuriansky;Tony Coles; Jack Goodman; Ernesto Mourelo; Joyce Tudryn; Dennis Wharton; Chachi Denes; Jeff Liberman; David Kennedy; Deborah Parenti; April Carty-Sipp; Wally Podrazik; John Taylor; Mary Collins; Bill Whitaker, CBS News, Giants luncheon emcee; Gary Chapman; and Jim Morley.
Photo: Wendy Moger Bross
Insight Goes to Mo
The LABF will honor CBS News Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca by bestowing on him its 2026 Insight Award. The presentation will be made on April 21 during the NAB Show in Las Vegas.
Rocca joined CBS News Sunday Morning in 2011, reporting on subjects ranging from politics and public policy to culture, religion, and history. His work has included interviews at the Vatican, profiles of American presidents, and features on figures often overlooked in mainstream narratives.
“Mo Rocca exemplifies the essence of broadcasting at its best – thoughtful, engaging, and rooted in a genuine desire to inform and inspire,” said LABF co-chairs Deborah Parenti and Dave “Chachi” Denes.
Changing of the Guard
Denes, Parenti Elected LABF Co-Chairs
By vote of the LABF board, Dave “Chachi” Denes and Deborah Parenti succeeded communications attorney Jack Goodman and Beasley Media Group executive Heidi Raphael as co-chairs at the beginning of this year. Denes is president and co-founder of Benztown, a leader in radio imaging, production libraries, jingles, voiceover, and podcasting services. Parenti is publisher of Radio Ink and Radio + Television Business Report. For more on them and other board changes, click here.
Collins Tapped for New
Executive Director Post>
Longtime LABF Board Treasurer Mary M. Collins has been named executive director, a new post from which she will oversee LABF’s numerous initiatives, including preservation grants, educational programming, and the annual Giants luncheon. “Mary’s leadership, deep industry knowledge, and passion for media’s history and future make her the ideal person to help guide the LABF into its next chapter,” said LABF co-chairs Heidi Raphael and Jack Goodman in a statement. Collins brings extensive industry experience to the job.
<Radio’s Finn Named Director of Philanthropy and Strategic Partnerships
In a newly created role, Dan Finn will lead LABF’s fundraising initiatives and cultivate strategic relationships with donors, corporate partners, and industry leaders to further advance the Foundation’s mission of preserving, honoring, and celebrating the history of American broadcasting. Finn brings decades of leadership experience in the media industry. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and regional market manager for Beasley Media’s New Jersey cluster.
For the second consecutive year, the LABF will serve as the official presenting sponsor of the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Career Fair and Graduate Student Showcase, held in conjunction with the NAB Show in Las Vegas.
Scheduled for Monday, April 21, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the fair will connect top students, industry professionals, and recruiters in a dynamic environment designed to foster talent discovery, mentorship, and meaningful career connections.
Last year, some 400 students and professional attended the four-hour event, where they met with recruiters and representatives of 25 leading broadcasting companies and graduate schools.
“We are incredibly excited to partner again with the LABF,” said Heather Birks, executive director of the BEA. “LABF’s continued dedication to preserving broadcasting’s legacy while championing its future aligns perfectly with BEA’s mission to support the academic and professional development of students entering the broadcast and media industries.”
LABF Back As BEA Career Fair Sponsor
Representing LABF at the 2025 fair (l-r): then LABF Co-Chair Heidi Raphael and board members Chandra Clark and Heather Birks, who doubles as executive director of the BEA.
The LAB Collections Blog
Melanie Pincus, a graduate student in the University of Maryland’s information sciences program, is mining the archives of the Library of America Broadcasting at the university’s College Park campus and forging the nuggets into a lively blog that provides new and interesting insights into broadcast history.
The LABF encourages you to visit the blog, where currently you will meet Helen Sioussat, the woman who succeeded Edward R. Murrow as director of talks and public affairs for CBS Radio (Murrow had an imminent war to cover); Nick Kersta, of NBC, who was deeply involved in the roll out RCA’s pioneering TV system in 1939 (his suggestion for programming: “Try everything”) and Edythe Meserand, who was bounced from her job at NBC by an “efficiency expert,” but went on to enjoy a long career in radio and become a founding member of the American Women in Radio and Television (now the Alliance for Women in Media).
Pincus’s mining operation has also uncovered a 1935 script of the long-running radio show, Fibber McGee and Molly; lobbying materials related to the National Association of Broadcasters’ push to win passage of the all-important Cable Act of 1992; a 1938 schedule of fees for union talent on radio (solo singers could make $17 [$388 in 2025 dollars] for a 15-minute performance); and, oddly, a pair of signature glasses and bowtie that belonged to Dave Garroway, the first host of NBC’s Today show.
“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