Radio Hall of Fame Goes Virtual to Honor 2020 Winners

RADIO ONLINE | Friday, October 30, 2020

Radio Hall of Fame

Radio was celebrated across audio channels Thursday evening as the Radio Hall of Fame presented the 2020 Class of Inductees on radio, iHeartRadio and SiriusXM. From talk to hip hop, celebrity presenters joined the industry to honor some of radio's most listened to personalities. Due to COVID-19 health and safety concerns, this year's ceremony was not the usual in-person gala and instead was broadcast and streamed from multiple locations.

Morning personality Elvis Duran heard on Z100 in New York and syndicated by Premiere Networks, hosted the virtual gala and started the festivities by pointing out the unique power of radio in the listener's mind and imagination, and transformed everyone to a virtual ballroom. Westwood One syndicated radio host and 2003 Radio Hall of Fame inductee Jim Bohannon reprised his annual role as the Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony's announcer.

During his acceptance speech, Donnie Simpson observed, "The Hall has recognized the right side of the dial, now, a lot of people of color are going in this class, and I want to tell the Hall that I respect that."

Charlamagne Tha God noted, "Back in 2009, I gave the introduction Hall of Fame speech for Wendy Williams, and almost 11 years later, I am being inducted as part of The Breakfast Club. I read all the legendary names on that Wall at the Broadcast Museum, I felt inspired and said to myself, 'I'm going to be on that Wall one day.'"

The 2020 Class of Radio Hall of Fame Inductees are:

Mark & Brian -- KLOS-FM
Longstanding Local/Regional (20 years or more)

Cokie Roberts -- Political Reporter, NPR
Longstanding Network/Syndication (20 years or more)

Angie Martinez -- WWPR-FM New York City
Active Local/Regional (10 years or more)

The Breakfast Club -- Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee, DJ Envy, Premiere Networks
WWPR -FM, Active Network/Syndication (10 years or more)

Sway Calloway -- SiriusXM Shade 45 Channel
Public Vote Music Format On-Air Personality

Glenn Beck -- The Glenn Beck Show, Premiere Networks
Public Vote Spoken Word On-Air Personality

Donnie Simpson -- WMMJ-FM Washington D.C.
Radio Hall of Fame Nominating Committee inductee

The evening featured an impressive lineup of presenters, including:

• Grammy Award-winning Smokey Robinson -- Donnie Simpson

• TV star and singer Donny Osmond - Mark & Brian

• DJ, VJ, and B-Boy King Tech -- Sway Calloway

• Radio programmer Dom Theodore -- Glenn Beck

• National recording artist Ray J -- The Breakfast Club

• Music Producer Salaam Remi -- Angie Martinez

The ceremony concluded with an audio journey that highlighted 100 years of radio's role in listeners' lives -- from comedy to tragedy, the montage demonstrated how audio informs, entertains, and engages Americans every day.