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.
The Giants of 2025 and Friends
Photo: Wendy Moger Bross
The class of 2025 was inducted at LABF’s annual awards luncheon at Gotham Hall in New York on Nov. 14. The eight newcomers are now part of the honor roll of 263 Giants. Pictured here are the Giants, other honorees and members of the LABF board.
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 here (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 emcee; Gary Chapman; and Jim Morley.
Photo: Wendy Moger Bross
Insight Award 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.
LABF Back As BEA Career Fair Sponsor
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.”
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.
RIGHT AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Nine Million Pages of Media History
Are you interested in researching the history of TV and radio for an academic paper or news article? Do you want to identify 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 Executive Committee Member 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.
“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