Monday, September 25, 2006

South Carolina Broadcaster Wins Marconi

A radio personality who prides himiself on "cutting-edge comedy without any vulgarity" took home the National Association of Broadcasters' Marconi Radio Award for Medium Market Personality of the Year.

Brent Johnson of WTCB-FM in Columbia, S.C. hosts the No. 1 local morning show for women 25-54 and 35-64 in his market. He is a seven-time South Carolina Broadcasters Association Radio Personality of the Year for a seventh time.

Johnson was one of five nominees in a field that included KEZO (92.3 FM) morning hosts "Todd and Tyler." The Marconi Awards were established in 1989 and named after inventor and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi. They were awarded last week in Dallas.

According to his Marconi nomination form, Johnson is Columbia's most involved media personality: speaking at elementary schools, emceeing for the Midlands Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, playing keyboard for his church, and helping raise $300,000 in one day for Red Cross Hurricane Relief. He also spent countless hours recording interviews and montages for the Children's Hospital Radiothon, sharing his personal story of his daughter's struggle with a brain malformation.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a deserving winner for the award, but at the same time, how did T&T get to be one of the five nominees? Were there only five in total? Jeez.

Anonymous said...

Right - which was the point of my previous comment. I thought those who won deserved it.

Last time I recall accidentally hearing some of T&T, I wanted them to "give back" the 5 minutes they stole from me. Heh heh.

Unknown said...

Here is the official nomination statement for Todd & Tyler, KEZO-FM Omaha, NE:

The "Todd and Tyler" morning show owns Omaha! During 2005, "Todd and Tyler" won morning drive ratings by an average of 10.1 shares. Their 4-book average (Persons 25-54) was a 17.4 share. Awards and Community Services include: 1. 2005 Omaha Press Club "Wall of Fame" inductees. Previous inductees include Johnny Carson, Warren Buffet and Senator Tom Osborne. 2. 2005 Best of Omaha Magazine "Radio Personalities of the Year." (9th straight year) 3. Their "Gutterboys" Bowling team raised $30,000 for local charities in 2005. 4. Nebraska Broadcasters Association Public Service Award for "Doc Talk," a two-hour show dedicated to public health issues. "Todd and Tyler" are connected to the community and local politics. In 2005, they hosted a series of "on-air" debates between local candidates and issue oriented proposals. Senator Ben Nelson, Congressman Lee Terry and other local and state politicians are frequent guests.

Anonymous said...

Thank god for satellite radio!

Anonymous said...

My favorite Todd and Tyler moment was the time they threw a tantrum at an Omaha Royals game when it was announced that Warren Buffett would throw out the first ball, and they had to share the pitchers mound with him. They topped it off the following Monday morning when they bashed the O Royals for several hours...never once realizing that Buffett's "night" at the ballpark draws 10,000 investors and media from all over teh world.

And this was back in 1998 when they were still relatively nobody.

The fact that people listen to them is amazing to me.