The Broadcasters Foundation of America closed out NAB Show 2026 with its Annual Breakfast on Wednesday at the Encore Resort in Las Vegas, honoring eight broadcasters and sending the industry off with a reminder of why broadcasting and the BFOA matter.
BFOA President Tim McCarthy and Chairman Scott Herman emceed the program, with McCarthy noting that over the past decade, the Foundation has distributed more than $15 million in aid to broadcasters and their families.
Red Apple Media owner and WABC Radio host John Catsimatidis received the Lowry Mays Excellence in Broadcasting Award, which recognizes innovation, entrepreneurship, and community service.
Catsimatidis, who acquired WABC in March 2020, said radio remains his favorite business across a career that has spanned groceries, real estate, energy, and aviation. “The only cards I give out are WABC,” he said. He framed his commitment to the station around a mission to restore trust in media. “We start off, we say, truth, justice, and the American way.”
Leading off the Leadership Awards, NAB EVP of Industry Affairs and Innovation April Carty-Sipp traced her connection to broadcasting across three generations. From her mother dancing on American Bandstand at WFIL-TV Philadelphia in the early 1960s, to begging her father to drive her to a live radio remote as a teenager, to eventually leading local programming at 6ABC, the very station that aired Bandstand, she said, “Local broadcasting has been there for so many times in my life,” she said, “and I’m so proud to have spent my entire career making sure it’s there for our audiences.”
RAB President and CEO Mike Hulvey also opened by connecting generations of his family to radio: his grandfather hearing it for the first time when electricity reached their Illinois farm in the 1930s, and Hulvey himself falling in love with the medium at eight years old watching two broadcasters call a game from the top row of a high school gymnasium bleachers.
Weiss Agency President Heather Cohen, a reigning Radio Ink Most Influential Women in Radio honoree and Top 20 Leaders honoree, credited her uncle, a New York news anchor, with giving her the broadcasting bug at age six. She worked her way from high school radio to college radio at Hofstra University to a board-op shift at WOR Radio the day after graduation. Cohen used her remarks to urge everyone in the room to spread the word about the Foundation. “I was brought to tears when a radio host shared that had he known earlier that the BFOA existed, maybe his co-worker would still be alive today,” she said. “I see it as every broadcaster’s responsibility to spread the word.”
ABC-Owned Television Stations President Chad Matthews reflected on mentorship as the foundation of his leadership philosophy, crediting anchor Beth Carroll, news director Colleen Maran, and executive producer Joanne Pallotta with shaping him as a young producer at Fox 25 in Hartford. “Leadership is never about a title,” he said, “but about serving something much larger than yourself.” He also included praise for his mentor, previous BFOA Leadership Award honoree, and Disney Entertainment Television Chair Debra OConnell, saying, “She sets a high bar for excellence and does it in a way that brings people along with her…Debra is the gold standard I strive for, and I’m deeply grateful for her leadership and support.”
Receiving her honor, iHeartMedia EVP of Global Music Marketing Alissa Pollack said, “Radio is probably the only medium that I feel still remains that trusted voice,” she said. “When communities celebrate, we are there. When people need real news, we are there. And when crisis hits, radio shows up.”
Hearst Television President Michael J. Hayes described the BFOA Annual Breakfast as “the most expensive free breakfast I’ve ever had” and the most important. He explained why: his cousin Luke Kamar, who followed him into broadcasting, died of glioblastoma at 39, leaving behind a wife and four children. “The Broadcasters Foundation has been there for Terry and the kids, quietly, consistently, and with dignity, most importantly,” Hayes said. “Without that support, their lives would look very different today.”
Lastly, former Inside Edition anchor and longtime BFOA board member Deborah Norville received the Chairman’s Award, presented by McCarthy, who called her “the First Lady of our Foundation.” She closed with a challenge to the room, urging attendees to help the Foundation reach broadcasters who don’t yet know it exists. “Keep on moving,” she said, borrowing from a song she wrote for an Inside Edition segment. “Keep on pushing. Nobody’s going to stop us now.”
Support for the Broadcasters Foundation comes from the broadcasting community. Over the past 15 years, the Foundation’s grant-making efforts have grown significantly, increasing from providing $400,000 in grants in 2007 to around $2,000,000 in 2025.
