Originally posted Sunday, May 19, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
The 2019 Georgia Radio Hall of Fame is giving Atlanta radio ladies much love in its latest career achievement nominations: WSB Radio's veteran reporter Sabrina Gibbons Cupit, V-103 late-night host Joyce Littel and jazz specialist Rene Miller.
This is Gibbons' second nomination and first for both Littel and Miller.
Gibbons, 51, joined News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB in 2000 and was first nominated in 2017. She has been in radio since she was 15.
“It’s an honor to be included among such a great group of professional broadcasters!” she said. “It’s a blessing to be able to do something you love for so many years.”
Littel started the Quiet Storm show on V-103 in 1990 and worked there for 20 years. She was let go in 2000 but the station kept the show jockless for many years. She returned on a part-time basis at V-103 in 2014 and was brought back to the Quiet Storm in 2017. She was recently named program director of news/talk 1380/WAOK-AM, where she hosts a Sunday relationships talk show from 4 to 6 p.m.
Miller has been in Atlanta for decades, working at WAOK/AM 1380, Jazz Flavors 104.1, Smooth Jazz 107.5, Majic 107.5/97.5 and now Smooth Jazz 101.1/1310. She is now program director and afternoon host.
“I am humbled, grateful and thankful,” Miller wrote me. “I came to Georgia with no job, a U-Haul, $900 in my pocket and a dream. I just wish my father was here to share this moment with me.”
Others from metro Atlanta who are being considered: 91.9/WCLK-FM jazz expert Jamal Ahmad, WCLK 1970s jazz king Dr. William "Bill Gay, a veteran radio executive Sanders Hickey, Athens WGAU news director Tim Bryant, WSB Radio news anchor Bob Coxe (who goes back 28 years at the station), former WGST, 790/The Zone and GPB executive Bob Houghton, former Fox 97.1 and Peach 94.9 exec Tim Johnson, long-time Georgia Radio Network Bulldog sideline reporter Loran Smith, former WDUN news director Ken Stanford, former WDUN radio host Joel Williams and former Z93 and WGST host Brian Wilson (of Ross and Wilson fame.)
In its early years, there were complaints the 12-year-old Hall of Fame did not recognize enough African-American broadcasters, but creator John Long has worked hard to solicit more minority representation. His efforts have borne fruit recently. Last year, for instance, Silas "SiMan" Alexander and Mitch Faulkner were voted in.
Among the "legacy" inductees who are no longer alive, founding 99X program director Sean Demery will be honored. Demery passed away last September after a severe stroke. Other legacy inductees include former WSB-AM voice-over man and weekend host Gary Guntor, Atlanta native, former WAOK host Burke Johnson and former "Miss America" host Bert Parks.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
About two-thirds of career achievement nominees get inducted each October. The past two years, three very worthy nominees inexplicably did not get into the Hall of Fame: V-103 morning host Frank Ski (who has been with the station for a collective 20 years), the Kevin and Taylor show on Fish 104.7 (since the station's inception in 2000) and Q100 Bert Show lead Bert Weiss, who launched the show in 2001.
Members of the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame nominate and vote each year. Anybody can be a member for a one-time fee of $25. Voting occurs via email in July. This year's ceremony will be in LaGrange October 26.
And while people complain that Kim "The Kimmer" Peterson is not in the hall of fame, I don't think he has ever been officially nominated.
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