On Tuesday, October 4, Billboard announced that the Chicago Museum of Broadcast Communications would honor James Brown by inducting him into the Radio Hall of Fame for the Class of 2022. The award seeks to center around applying to Brown as he worked as a radio station owner in the late 1960s in Knoxville, Tennessee, by the name of WJBE-AM, better known as James Brown Enterprises. It was functional for ten years.
Kraig T. Kitchin, the co-chairman of the Radio Hall of Fame, said, “The Radio Hall of Fame is dedicated to recognizing the individuals who have made the greatest impact on our 100+-year-old industry,” he continued, “I’m thrilled to see the nominating committee confirm the induction of these 10 individuals who each made such an impact on our industry in their time.”
The other people being inducted into the Class are Doug Banks, Bob Coburn, Chick Hearn, Bernice Judis, Sid Mark, Bobby O’Jay, Pervis Spann, James Thompson, and Rosalie Trombley.
The award is described as having the intention to recognize the unique talents of “air personalities, programmers, and operators who contributed with greatness to the radio industry and have since passed away.”
Brown passed away in 2005, but his work on air has surfaced as worth being memorialized.
“We are proud to honor these legendary figures who made an indelible impact on the radio industry,” Dennis Green, the other chairman working alongside Kitchin, stated, “Their legacy lives on as Radio Hall of Fame inductees of this year’s Legends class.”
The Radio Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony is set to take place in Chicago at the Blu Acqua Hotel on November 1, according to the tickets on sale at Radio Hall of Fame’s website.
