Dave Magnum was 13 years old the first time he went on the air. Fifty years later, he’s in the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame, and so are three of his peers, inducted Thursday night at the WBA Summer Conference in Lake Geneva.
Magnum moved through stations in Madison, Kansas, Texas, and Michigan, and returned to Wisconsin in 1991 with his wife Lynn to build Magnum Media from a single construction permit in Tomah. The company now holds 27 AM and FM stations, 25 FM translators, and three LP-TV stations, and is in its second generation under sons Reid and Ty.
Also honored was Jeff Tyler, who served as Market Manager, Regional President, Division President, and Area President for iHeartMedia. Along the way, he built sports broadcast partnerships with the Green Bay Packers, Wisconsin Badgers, Minnesota Vikings, and Minnesota Gophers.
Kelly Radandt came up through sales at Woodward Community Media, joining in 1989 and eventually rising to General Manager and Director of Broadcast. She became WBA Board Chair in 2014 and stays active through the WBA Foundation.
Finally, Steve Wexler started behind a microphone at WTMJ, WKTI, and WISN. He moved into management and worked his way through senior roles at Hearst, King Broadcasting, Journal Communications, E.W. Scripps, and Good Karma Brands, leading the Journal Radio Group through a period of consolidation and into a successful sale. He has served as WBA Chair and on the boards of NAB and RAB.
The WBA also named four Local Broadcast Legends: Randy Allen, a Country radio fixture across Green Bay, Appleton, and Oshkosh; Dave Luczak, Milwaukee’s long-running morning voice; Rod Perry, whose Wisconsin radio career tops 65 years; and Susan Siman, a television journalist with nearly four decades in the state.
With Thursday’s class, the WBA Hall of Fame membership stands at 172.
