Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.® Announces 2011 Country Radio Hall of Fame Inductees

Nov 1, 2010 Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.® Announces 2011 Country Radio Hall of Fame Inductees

Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.® Announces 2011 Country Radio Hall of Fame Inductees Deadline for advance rate Hall of Fame tickets is Feb. 15 (Nashville, TN – Nov. 1, 2010) CRB, Inc.® has announced Dale Carter, Charlie Cook, Dene Hallam, Barry Kent, Bill Payne and Lee Rogers as its 2011 class to be inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame. Dale Carter, Barry Kent and Lee Rogers are the 2011 On-Air Personality inductees.  Charlie Cook, Dene Hallam and Bill Payneare the Radio inductees.  The class of 2011 will be officially instated at a dinner ceremony on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, at the Nashville Convention Center. Advance ticket prices for the Hall of Fame ceremony and dinner are $100 for CRS 2011 registrants and $110 for non-registrants.  The $125 on-site ticket price goes into effect after Feb. 15, 2011.  Tickets are on sale now at www.CRB.org. “The quality and quantity of applicants for the Hall of Fame is truly amazing.  It is a great reminder of the impact and legacy that so many talented people have made through their careers in Country radio.  We are thrilled to honor six such deserving individuals at this year's Hall of Fame dinner,” says Chairman of the Country Radio Hall of Fame, Charlie Morgan. The Country Radio Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony unofficially kicks off Country Radio Seminar each year.  CRS 2011 is March 2-4, 2011, at the Nashville Convention Center. To purchase tickets to the dinner and induction ceremony, click here and download the registration form and return it to the Country Radio Broadcasters prior to February 2, 2010 or visit www.crb.org. About the 2011 On-Air Personality Inductees: Dale Carter – Dale Carter’s career in Country radio began in 1979 at WROZ in Evansville, Ind.  He moved to WKDQ during his college days at the University of Southern Indiana, then took a job at WYNG in 1984, becoming the station’s program director at only 21 years old.  The following year, he won the Beasley Group’s Program Director of the Year award.  In 1992, Carter moved to WWYZ in Hartford, Conn., where he programmed the station and worked on-air for the next three years before settling into his current position as PD and morning show co-host at KFKF in Kansas City, Mo.  He has been instrumental in KFKF’s charity efforts with St. Jude’s, raising more than $4 million since 1996.  Carter has previously served on the CRS agenda committee, CRB Board of Directors and served as Chairman of the Country DJ Hall of Fame Committee.  He has been nominated by the CMA eight times, once for Small Market Air Personality of the Year and seven times as Large Market Air Personality of the Year. He is currently a District 1 City Councilman in Blue Springs, Missouri, and the stadium voice for the Kansas City Chiefs. Barry Kent – A native of West Terre Haute, Ind., Barry began his radio career at WWVR in 1969 working for WPFR before moving to WBOW AM/FM the following year where he became known as “Rockin’ Barry Kent.”  In 1975, he became the station’s program director, and in 1980 WBOW-FM changed call letters to WBOQ and flipped to country. Kent moved to WTHI in 1982, where he served as program director and afternoon DJ.  In the late ‘80s, he switched to the morning show and has remained there ever since.  In 1989, the station bought WWVR, and Kent currently serves as operations manager of WTHI and WWVR, the first station he ever worked at.  WTHI has been a St. Jude station since 1990, raising more than $1 million for the hospital.  Kent hosts all 30 hours of the station’s St. Jude Radiothon. Lee Rogers – Lee Rogers has worked in the radio business for more than 40 years.  His first job in the Country format came in 1970 at KBAM in Longview, Wash.  His career includes stops at KMPS (Seattle, Wash.), K102 (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.), WQIK (Jacksonville, Fla.) and KCBQ (San Diego, Calif.).  For the last 13 years, Rogers has held the job as operations manager and morning show host at Portland, Oregon’s KUPL.  Combining his Country radio career with his love of live music, Rogers has toured and performed with artists including Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Don Gibson, Keith Whitley, Minnie Pearl, Dwight Yoakam and Charlie Daniels. About the 2011 Radio Inductees: Charlie Cook – Charlie Cook began his Country radio career in 1972 at WSDS in Ypsilanti, Mich.  In the ‘70s, Cook spent time at KLAK in Denver, Wheeling’s WWVA and WHN in New York.  He was named “DJ of the Year” by Billboard in 1977.  In 1980, he joined KHJ in Los Angeles, flipping the station to Country.  Cook then went to KLAC before joining McVay Media in 1983 as Sr. VP of Country Programming, where he consulted more than 40 Country stations over the next 12 years.  In 1996, Cook joined Westwood One as VP Programming/Formats, and in 2006 he joined Cumulus as VP Programming for the company’s 61 Country stations.  Los Angeles’ KKGO hired Cook as Sr. Manager of Country Programming in 2008.  Cook has previously served as president of both the ACM and CRB.  In 2010 he was awarded the CRB’s President’s Award. Dene Hallam – Dene Hallam (1954 – 2009) was one of only two programmers to win Billboard’s Program Director of the Year in two different formats (Country and Top 40).  His Country radio career began as a program director at WFEC in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1977.  Among the numerous stations Hallam programmed were New York City’s first FM Country station, WKHK, as well as WWWW (Detroit), WHN (New York), KKBQ (Houston), KYCY (San Francisco), WKHX (Atlanta) and WDAF (Kansas City).  In 2007, Hallam returned to Atlanta, where he served as program director for the “Moby in the Morning” network until his death in 2009.   While at KKBQ/Houston, Hallam was awarded Billboard’s Program Director of the Year award (Country format) in 1995. Bill Payne – Bill Payne began his professional radio career in 1951 at only 12 years old, spinning records on “Bill Payne’s Record Shop” on KWHP in Cushing, Okla.   By his early twenties, he had become an FM pioneer in Oklahoma, having built an operable radio station that broadcasted from inside his garage.  In 1977, he purchased Tulsa’s KTFX and changed the format to Country, becoming the first FM Country station in Tulsa.  Today, Payne owns five Country radio stations in Oklahoma, including KEOK/Tahlequah, KTLQ/Tahlequah, KITX/Hugo, KTNT/Eufaula and the relocated KTFX in Warner/Muskogee.  Payne’s KITX has been nominated nine times for Marconi awards and received numerous awards from the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. The Country Radio Hall of Fame is dedicated to the recognition of those individuals who have made significant contributions to the radio industry over a 20-year period, 15 of which must be in the Country format. About CRB: The Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization founded in 1969 to bring radio broadcasters from around the world together with the Country Music Industry to ensure vitality and promote growth in the Country Radio format.  More information may be obtained at: www.crb.org or at the CRB office at 615-327-4487.