LABF to Honor David Gleason for Broadcast Preservation

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, October 17, 2023

David Gleason

Spanish radio pioneer and broadcaster David Gleason will be honored with the inaugural Library of American Broadcasting Foundation's (LABF) Excellence in Broadcast Preservation Award in recognition of his outstanding dedication and commitment to preserving broadcast history. The presentation will take place at NAB Show New York on Thursday, October 26 immediately following the panel session entitled "Your Content is King: Preserve It!" on which Gleason will appear.

Working on his own time and with his money for the past 20 years, Gleason has built a massive online archive of broadcasting and cable trade publications, books, music magazines, technical manuals, directories, yearbooks, company and station publications, programming guides and more. The archive -- worldradiohistory.com -- now tops nine million pages. Because it is online, the pages are readily available to the public -- and searchable.

"There is no stopping him," said LABF Co-chairs Heidi Raphael and Jack Goodman. "What David 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."

Gleason's principal role in life has not been digitizing pages for the web, but radio. Beginning as an intern at an AM/FM combo in Cleveland, Gleason has spent 64 years in ownership, management, sales, programming and engineering across 16 countries in Latin America and major U.S. markets.