Silver Circle
Society Members
The Silver Circle is not an award; it is a society of honor.
Television professionals are inducted to recognize their significant contributions to the industry over 25 years or more.
M
Macias, Al
Madrid, Lucia
Magee, Lisa Fuller
Manning, Joseph
Martel, Larry
Martin, Robert (Bob)
Martin, Robert
Martin, Todd
McCloskey, Cory
McComb, Paul
McCord, Keith
McCoy, Al
McKee, Richard
McLaughlin, Sean
McSpadden, Jay
Mikita, Carole
Mills, Jorj Marie
Miller, Bill
Miller, David
Miller, Neil
Mooney, Sean
Morgan, Howard
Munsey, Dave
Murillo, Lupita
Silver Circle Honoree
2021
Bruce Haffner
Don’t tell Bruce Haffner it can’t be done. Let’s start with his years as a student and fresh out of ASU, when everyone wanted to be part of the newest craze — the music video. There you found Bruce Haffner, helping produce an MTV-style show showcasing the likes of U2, B.B. King and Rod Stewart.
Then it was on to yet another competitive, high octane vocation — TV news. As a television news cameraman covering stories around the country and across Arizona, Haffner earned 15 Emmy® Awards. “While most of us know Bruce Haffner as the helicopter pilot and reporter on Phoenix airwaves for years, he is also an amazing photographer and editor,” says former KTVK executive producer Abbie Smith. “His storytelling abilities behind the camera were among the best in the business, capturing the beauty and the challenges of people and places all over Arizona. But it was telling stories from the air that he loved the most, so while he was doing his day job as a photographer and editor for NewsChannel 3, he was also working to get his pilot/helicopter license so he could live his dream.”
And once he got that pilot’s license, Haffner transformed his career into a helicopter pilot. And not just any helicopter pilot. Given his news experience, he took his TV photography experience in the air and calls his helicopter “just an expensive tripod.” Haffner also supplied support for reporters on the ground while they covered breaking news. “Whenever we were entering the Gates of Hell on the ground,” says former KTVK reporter Mike Watkiss, who from time to time has used his share of colorful descriptions, “it was always comforting to know Haffner was up in the sky looking out for us and guiding us in.”
In 2009, Haffner saw his career change dramatically when KTVK sold its helicopter. Two years later, he bought his own helicopter and launched CHOPPERGUY to provide top quality aviation aerial video production and news coverage for KTVK and later KPHO CBS 5 as well. His company also shoots aerials for production companies, ad agencies and CHOPPERGUY even has a few movie credits on the big screen.
Haffner’s 25-year run as a Pilot/Reporter for KTVK-TV3 and CBS 5 ended in 2020. Now he produces THE CHOPPERGUY SHOW on his CHOPPERGUY YouTube channel.
“Drones take great pictures from on high at a cost that’s low,” says former KTVK news director Phil Alvidrez. “But Bruce Haffner took viewers with him on daily adventures, and his storytelling rides were worth every penny. Phoenix television is poorer without him in the sky.”
If Haffner’s career proves anything, it is that we shouldn’t be surprised when he recreates himself once again.
Silver Circle Honoree
2014
Jeff Halberg
In college, Jeff was interested in photography and chose it as his major. He studied at Arizona State University. One day, at ASU he went to KAET, the University PBS Affiliate, and asked if they hired students. Back then, they had a volunteer program for students which he applied for. He was one of five selected from a pool of 80 and began working at the public television station.
Also, while a student, Jeff pursued his interest in flying by working weekends at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport. During that time, he was able to obtain his private pilot’s license. While working at both KAET and Sky Harbor, Jeff continued his studies as a part-time student and graduated from ASU.
Jeff worked at KPHO-TV after graduation and worked on their newscasts and many commercial projects. One of his favorite programs to work with was “The Wallace and Ladmo Show”. Also, he worked at KPNX-TV as a Production Director, directing the 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00pm newscasts.
When KAET started the “Horizon” Public Affairs program Jeff was hired as a staff member to direct it. He has been on the staff ever since.
Jeff is now the Manager of Production Services at Eight, Arizona PBS and oversees all studio production and events. He has enjoyed many years of training and working with ASU students to prepare them for the workplace. He also taught video production for 14 years at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunications at Arizona State University. In 2014 he was inducted into the Silver Circle Society in The Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Jeff flew a traffic watch airplane for over 4 years with a reporter on radio stations KFYI and KKFR. He went on to earn his Airline Transport Pilot Certificate (ATP). Combining his two passions he has done some aerial photography on his own and has also worked on aerial shoots from helicopters. Jeff was in the helicopter which was used for the opening scene in KAET’s groundbreaking open-heart surgery program, “The Operation,” which he also directed and was broadcast live on the PBS network and internationally.
Married for 26 years to his wife, Susan, Jeff has three children –His son, Kyle, is an attorney in Missouri, and his daughter, Tegan, is an Emergency Room Physician Assistant in Maryland. His son, Reed, is studying computer Science at Chapman University in California.
Silver Circle Honoree
2012
Scott Hanson
Scott Hanson is president of HMA Public Relations. He has been with the firm since 1986.
Recognized as an industry leader, he is among only 600 PR practitioners to be admitted to the Public Relations Society of America’s distinguished College of Fellows and among only 20 percent of PR practitioners nationwide to have earned his Accredited in Public Relations certificate from the PRSA. He received the 2012 Percy Award from PRSA’s Phoenix Chapter, the highest honor bestowed by the chapter. Hanson has earned several Copper Anvil Awards for public relations programming from the PRSA, numerous writing awards from Associated Press, as well as a prestigious Gold Award for media relations from Bulldog Reporter Magazine. He has also been recognized for his communications expertise by numerous client-related industries, including a President’s Award from the Arizona Association for Economic Development for his efforts to improve Arizona. Hanson is also a founding member of the Public Relations Global Network, one of the world’s largest international public relations networks with more than 50 agencies worldwide.
He is also the author of “Who Is Gym?” an Arizona history book that captures the fascinating stories about the names behind high schools and their sports venues, and “What’s Your Number?” a book about the stories behind the retired numbers at Arizona’s high schools.
Hanson is a graduate of Valley Leadership Class XX and was active in Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization for nearly 20 years. He is past-chairman of the Northern Arizona University School of Communications’ Advisory Council and is also the professional advisor for NAU’s PRSSA chapter. He sat on the board for Junior Achievement of Arizona for 10 years and served for more than a decade on the board of directors for The Arthritis Foundation’s Greater Southwest Chapter, as well as representing the chapter on the foundation’s National Awareness and Planning committees. He has also served on the board of directors for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Phoenix Chapter.
Additionally, Hanson has hosted “Protecting The Public,” an award-winning monthly news and information program for Phoenix Channel 11, and has done freelance work for other news organizations, including KPHO-TV (CBS), KSAZ-TV (FOX) and KNXV-TV (ABC). He has also appeared regularly on KAET-TV (PBS).
Hanson is also a certified high school baseball umpire and football official for the Arizona Interscholastic Association. He has umpired three state championship baseball games and dozens of regional and state playoff games in both baseball and football.
Hanson is a telecommunications graduate of Northern Arizona University.
Silver Circle Honoree
2022
Parker Harms
It was a choice between working in the DA’s office or at a television station. For Parker Harms, that first big career choice out of college was an easy one, accepting her first job out of college at KOAA in Colorado Springs, Colorado. When she left Colorado what she took away from that first “promotions” job was a career-long belief in local news broadcast stations and their importance to our world.
After a couple of years doing award-winning creative work for an agency in Dallas and freelance writing for WXYZ in Detroit, Parker moved back to Colorado for a short radio stint. Then, in 1983 while visiting family in Santa Fe, an impulse call to a General Manager in Albuquerque, eventually landed her the top station marketing job at ABC affiliate KOAT. It was there that she began a career-long practice of working closely with news directors to blend marketing and public service efforts with the news product.
“When I was the News Director at KOAT-TV, Parker and I were locked at the hip”, remembers Mary Lynn Roper. “Parker was not shy to tell me when she thought our product was off the mark or that we were getting kicked by the competition. Parker cares about people, cares about her community, cares about informing the public, and her work is truly outstanding. Parker was a pleasure to work with, producing award winning, thoughtful and important marketing campaigns.”
Although Parker left broadcasting a few times for jobs in public service, including 4 years of consensus work for non-profit New Mexico First, she always returned. Broadcasting touches what is most important to her, helping people get information and offering them a way to help or get help when needed. “I’ve never met a more intuitive person than Parker. She knows what our community needs, when they need it. And she follows through 100%” notes Michelle Donaldson, Vice President & General Manager at KOB 4
Among the major projects Parker Is most proud of is the launch and success of “KOATS for KIDS” which is still collecting warm clothes for needy children & a viewer-centric campaign to change DWI laws.
“Parker's passion is what makes her successful. As Creative Services Director, Parker does not see each station project or initiative as something to just cross off the list. Instead, she views each project as an opportunity to improve our world. Parker has worked at every major network affiliate in the Albuquerque market. It is safe to say that Parker's fingerprints are on every station's success”, notes KOB news director, Tim Maestas.
Outside of work, Parker and long-time partner Jeff are dedicated “critter” rescuers, counting dogs, cats, deer, horses, birds, turtles , frogs and insects among the species they’ve helped or homed.
Silver Circle Honoree
2020
Mike Harris
Mike Harris has worked in television/video since 1993. He began his career shooting political talk shows for CNBC in Washington, D.C. while also working the assignment desk at WTTG. Mike moved back to Arizona and worked at KNAZ in Flagstaff. As a graduate of Northern Arizona University, he was happy to be back in Arizona. During that time, Mike mastered a new skill by filling in on holidays as a videographer so others could have the holidays with their families.
Mike relocated to California and worked at KGET in Bakersfield and KSEE in Fresno. He moved back to Arizona in 1997, joining the videography staff at KTVK in Phoenix and later working at KPHO. Mike enterprised stories that he then produced, shot, wrote and edited. The first story he ever wrote and reported aired on CNN. Currently, Mike produces, shoots, writes and edits stories for the City of Glendale for their cable channel and social media platforms.
Reporters lucky enough to be paired with Mike work with a true teammate. Famous for communicating with reporters about their joint vision and the best way to approach a story, Mike also never hesitates to jump in when he is done with his tasks to help someone else on deadline. Mike never settles for average, always seeking to tell a story uniquely and meticulously.
Known fondy as “Glendale Mike,” he does numerous live reports about a variety of news events around the community. Inspired and deeply moved by a story about two patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), he began volunteering for the ALS Association where he worked with a Major League Baseball umpire to shoot promotional material for the association as well as participating in several walks for ALS. Other volunteer endeavors include working with Paper Clouds, an organization that helps raise money for people who have special needs, and HAART Animal Rescue.
Mike teaches videography as an adjunct professor at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He is the recipient of four Rocky Mountain Southwest regional Emmy® Awards, has been honored by the National Press Photographers Association multiple times and judged Videographer of the Year for the National Press Photographers Association.
Silver Circle Honoree
2017
Troy Hayden
Troy Hayden is as comfortable in the field taking viewers to the depths of Lake Mead in search of submerged ruins as he is behind the anchor desk delivering the evening news.
He joined KSAZ Fox 10 in 1994. He served as weeknight 10pm anchor for nearly 20 years before making the move to morning in August 2016.
Troy routinely gets out from behind the desk to deliver compelling news stories which have garnered him multiple Rocky Mountain Emmy® Awards to go along with his accolades for anchoring. Along with his Emmy® Awards, he has been named “Anchor of the Year” by the Associated Press, “Best 10pm Anchor” by Phoenix Magazine, “Best Live Reporter” by the Phoenix New Times, and was given the “Media Excellence” award by the Phoenix Fire Department.
In May 2013, Troy gained national recognition when he conducted an exclusive interview with murderer Jodi Arias minutes after her conviction.
Work with the Phoenix Fire Department has taken him with firefighters into 1,100-degree fires. He is certified as an advanced scuba diver, and conducts operations with underwater and swift water search and rescue teams, including taking the point position on a body recovery with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Dive Team. He went more than 100 feet underground to explore the deepest drug tunnel ever found by US Border Patrol.
Troy has reported live from the Democratic National Convention, the launch of the space shuttle Discovery, the World Series, and four Super Bowls.
A graduate of Sacramento State University, he started his media career as a sports writer for the Sacramento Bee. He then moved to television in Sacramento and also worked in the Eureka and Reno markets.
Troy is married to former news anchor and reporter Stephanie Angelo Hayden. Outside of work Troy enjoys spending time with Stephanie and their two daughters Lexi and Ashley.
Troy was inducted into the Silver Circle Society in 2017.
Silver Circle Honoree
2007
Tom Heidinger
Tom Heidinger got his start in 1982 at Channel 10 in the tape room. He was among the first to pioneer satellite technology with Channel 10’s Celebrate Arizona. Satellite technology was just coming to local television and Celebrate Arizona was among the first in the nation to take local newscasts on the road. In 1986, he moved to KTVK to become manager of satellite operations. He built the entire department, designing both the satellite and microwave trucks. He hired entry level techs to operate his ENG trucks and taught them how to run and maintain them.
Known as a can-do kind of guy, Tom was instrumental in KTVK’s success with their remote broadcasts during the 80’s and 90’s. Stories abound of Tom’s problem solving skills and abilities to pull engineering feats in tough circumstances to get a broadcast on the air. He inspired confidence among the field crews as well as the team backing the studio, because if Tom was on the crew you knew the technical details were handled.
Today he still works as field operations manager at KTVK and hires, manages and nurtures those in the career using his engineering skills to design things for live news gathering using the web, remote control and digital technology.
Silver Circle Honoree
2000
Mark Heier
Mark Heier, who is owner of Heier Productions and a principal in PHX Sound Labs and PHX Video Lab, is a writer, producer, and director. He has worked in the television industry for 27 years. He holds a bachelor's degree from Arizona State University in Mass Communications and has attended Thunderbird University. He began his TV career with a summer internship at Channel 12. He moved to Flagstaff to become a producer and director for KOAI-TV, and then moved to Wichita, Kansas, as Commercial/News Director at KTVH-TV.
He returned to Phoenix as a producer/director at KOOL-TV in 1976, a post he held until 1981 when he became Production Manager at American Cable. He served as Creative Director for the Hunt Group Advertising agency prior to establishing his own production company in 1987.
Silver Circle Honoree
2018
Joe Hengemuehler
Joe Hengemuehler was born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa. News legend Tom Brokaw is a mentor and family friend, so it’s no wonder Joe has become a 28-year veteran of the broadcast industry.
Joe’s life has required having to explain there are four “e’s” in his last name. He’s the kind of guy who never misses giving an energetic “good morning” via text!
A broadcast journalism major from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, like many, Joe’s career began as a producer before moving into news management. His TV news career has touched millions of viewers and colleagues around the country including KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City, WUSA9-TV in Washington, DC and three Phoenix stations: KPNX-TV, KTSP (now KSAZ) and KNXV-TV, where served as news director for six years.
During his leadership at KNXV, the station received the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter Emmy® Award for Overall News Excellence and two George Foster Peabody Awards.
Most recently, Joe served as Vice President and General Manager of KOLD-TV, in Tucson, where he also previously served as News Director.
Joe is past president of the Arizona Chapter of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association and has held membership positions with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Joe was inducted into the Silver Circle Society in 2018.
Silver Circle Honoree
2000
Ray Hinshaw
Raymond Sanders Hinshaw was born on April 1, 1942 and was a proud 3rd generation Arizonan who enjoyed gardening, camping, hunting, fishing, traveling the state and impressing folks with his knowledge of the great outdoors. Indoors, he was a worthy chess opponent as well as with ping pong, dominos, and bowling.
Ray worked about 30 years at KPNX-TV Channel 12 before retiring. He was a loyal family man and a strong friend to many. As Ray said in January 1993, as part of employee of the month recognition, “My motto is… You don’t have to remember what you said if you always tell the truth.” He was also inducted into the Rocky Mountain Southwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Silver Circle Society. To be selected, individuals must have served in broadcasting for more than 25 years and have made major contributions to the industry.
Mr. Hinshaw passed away on April 11 2019.
Silver Circle Honoree
2021
Tara Hitchcock
Tara Hitchcock knew she wanted to be on television in the sixth grade. Thanks to a teacher who saw early on this girl could TALK, she enrolled in a speech and debate class in high school and never looked back. Indeed, years later when she was the host of Good Morning Arizona, there would be segments of the show that would be internally slugged simply as “Tara Talks.”
Hitchcock graduated cum laude with a BA in Communications and Political Science from Boston College and went on to get her Master's Degree in Broadcast Journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern. It only took one phone call to get her first job in TV at KBMT-TV in Beaumont, Texas. She quickly proved her deftness in covering crawfish festivals and holiday tree lightings, and within three months, Hitchcock was named the station’s main co-anchor.
In 1996, she moved to Phoenix to host the highly-rated Good Morning Arizona on KTVK-TV. “Tara is smart, funny and a breath of fresh air -- and for someone who loves to talk, she is one of the best listeners and interviewers you’ll ever see,” says the guy who hired her, former KTVK news director Phil Alvidrez. “Her quick wit, down-to-earth personality and ability to move seamlessly between the serious and the silly endeared her to viewers. She was an immediate hit and a talented one at that,” Alvidrez adds. “Over the next 15 years, Tara became synonymous with 3TV and Good Morning Arizona – a regular morning viewing institution – though I am sure she would laugh at that description (even though it is true).”
Hitchcock has made her mark on Arizona television. She has interviewed everyone from John McCain to Justin Bieber and her love of sports has brought her to host shows from the Masters, Super Bowl and World Series. She also accumulated an inordinate amount of pre-dawn speeding tickets over the years in her race to get to work. She would have had even more speeding tickets, but she talked her way out of them.
A member of the Critics’ Choice Association, Hitchcock currently hosts “Behind The Screens” for Harkins Theatres. Viewers can catch her weekly celeb/travel segments on “Good Morning Arizona” and “MORE Good Day Oregon.” Her other passion is travel, and you can read about her adventures in her periodic “Tara’s Big Travels” feature in Phoenix Magazine (as well as JetSet Magazine, City Lifestyle publications & more).
Off camera, Hitchcock has used her high profile to help countless charities. She's been honored with numerous awards for her tireless work in the community, named as one of Arizona's Top Ten "Trendsetters" in 2012. She has helped raise a tremendous amount of money for the Barrow Neurological Center. She serves on the board of Best Buddies Arizona, is a National Celebrity Ambassador for Childhelp USA and is active in charities including the Foundation for Blind Children, Celebrity Fight Night, For Those without a Voice and more. She and her three sisters participated in multiple AVON 2-day breast cancer walks in honor of their grandmother, Babci.
Silver Circle Honoree
2012
John Hollenhorst
John Hollenhorst is a Senior Correspondent for KSL Television in Salt Lake City.
Born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota, John began a life-long love affair with the Intermountain West in 1969 when, following a tour of duty in Viernam, he was sent to Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground by the U.S, Army.
After he left the Army, he returned to his native state of Minnesota, He graduated with a BA in Journalism from the University of Minnesota and began his reporting career as a print journalist in Minneapolis.
In 1975 John moved back to Salt Lake City. After driving a Yellow Cab for nearly a year, he began his broadcasting career by taking a job answering telephones at KSL. Within a few months, he moved up to reporter and was given the assignment of Courts Specialist for KSL.
John spent a couple years as general assignment reporter for WFM in Dallas and served Assistant Bureau Chief for Bonneville International in D.C. in the 80’s before returning to Salt Lake City and KSL in 1986.
Mr. Hollenhorst was selected to be a William Benton Fellow in Broadcast Journalism in 1990. During his fellowship year at the University of Chicago his studies emphasized science and history.
He has won numerous awards over the years, including The National Headliners Award. The Society of Professional Journalists named him Utah's "Best TV Reporter" three years in a row.
Silver Circle Honoree
2016
John Hook
John Hook joined the FOX10 News team in August of 1993. He anchors an hour of news on both “FOX 10 News @ 5 pm” and “FOX 10 News @ 9 pm.” John and co-anchor Kari Lake make up “Hook and Lake,” the longest running news team in the Valley. John also hosts Fox10 Newsmaker Sunday every Sunday morning at 5:30am.
John has spent 32 of his 33 years in broadcasting in Arizona. He has earned more than a dozen Rocky Mountain Emmy® Awards in that time. He’s been Associated Press’ Anchor of the Year five times. During his tenure in Phoenix, John has covered every major story for more than a quarter of a century. In 2002, John was inducted into the Walter Cronkite School “Hall of Fame” at his alma mater. A true supporter of future broadcasters, John established the John Hook Endowment Scholarship at ASU. John is also passionate about promoting organ donation.
When he’s not on set or in the field, John enjoys spending time with his wife, Gina Salazar Hook and their children, twelve-year-old twin boys and a ten-year-old daughter.
Silver Circle Honoree
2015
Ron Hoon
Ron joined FOX 10 in 1982 when it was known as KOOL-TV. Today, he anchors FOX 10 Arizona Morning weekdays from 4:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. During the mid-1990s, Ron hosted a morning show at KPNX-TV before returning to FOX 10 in 1998. Ron’s community involvement includes donating many hours to charities like the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, for which he promotes the annual JDRF walk at Tempe Town Lake. Ron is also passionate about promoting literacy and regularly visits classrooms around the Valley to encourage reading. Ron has also been active with Waste Not for many years in helping raise money to feed the Valley’s hungry.
Silver Circle Honoree
2005
Don Hopfer
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Don Hopfer graduated from Notre Dame University and then moved to Tempe, Arizona to be his family and the Chicago Cubs during spring training. It was there that he met his wife, Devi, who he called “The Goddess.”
Don became a KAET-TV volunteer in 1975 and then a full-time employee in 1977. He spent over 25 years at KAET producing programs, mentoring ASU students and creating cutting edge television. Don’s numerous credits included the first globally-televised, live open-heart surgery program, live coverage of Arizona Governor Evan Mecham’s impeachment proceedings and news pool coverage of the Pope’s visit to Sun Devil Stadium.
His passion for photography led him to produce the acclaimed “Barry Goldwater: Photographs and Memories,” recognized with a Rocky Mountain Southwest Emmy® Award for his direction. His production of “Thieves of Time” was honored with and International Film and Television Award and a CINE Golden Eagle Award.
Don influenced every KAET production as an executive producer, director or coach — always willing to share his experience and extend his hand to help anyone at anytime.
Silver Circle Honoree
2022
Paul Horton
Paul Horton has done thousands of live shots in Arizona and considers the valley his forever home. He was the morning meteorologist and host of the CBS 5 morning show for nine years. Paul now brings you the weather forecast on Good Evening Arizona at 4 p.m., and helps host “The Extra Point” sports show each evening. He also does a weekly segment for the “Pay It Forward” program that highlights people doing great things in our community.
Paul is a graduate of the communication/broadcasting program at George Fox University and received his meteorology degree from Mississippi State University.He is a nine-time Emmy award winner and recipient of the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Television of Arts & Sciences Governor’s Award for his work on his annual car wash. Being involved in the community is very important to Paul. In the last 14 years, Paul's car wash has raised close to 2 million dollars for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Arizona.
Paul is originally from Portland, Oregon and was a weather anchor in Spokane and Cincinnati before moving to Phoenix. On the weekends, you can find Paul hosting events, coaching his kids teams, and exploring the great state of Arizona with his wife Jennifer, and their two children Jake and Samantha.
Silver Circle Honoree
2013
Dr. Dale Hoskins
Dale was a Professor Emeritus for Creative Media & Film at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. He received his BA in1969 from Baylor University, his MFA in 1974 from Texas Christian University and his PhD in 1984 from North Texas State University.
In 2013, Hoskins was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Emmy®'s Silver Circle Society, which recognizes those who have dedicated at least 25 years in the broadcast industry, while making significant professional contributions and making a difference in the community. The Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, serves Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and El Centro, Calif.
Dale was also a recipient of the Jack Clifford Excellence in Broadcast Education Award from the Arizona Broadcasters Association Foundation.
Dr. W. Dale Hoskins passed away February 22, 2021, after a short battle with cancer.
Silver Circle Honoree
2009
John Howe
John Howe is an accomplished executive producer, television producer-director-writer-cinematographer with a long track record of national PBS success with many of television’s significant awards. He lives in the ski resort town of Park City, Utah and is currently KUED’s executive producer.
He is probably best known as a producer-director-writer-cinematographer of long form network films which have been narrated by Academy Award winners Robert Redford and Joanne Woodward as well as Academy Award nominee Hal Holbrook, beloved Hollywood actress Ali MacGraw, E.G. Marshall (of National Geographic fame), television actor Robert Urich (Vegas, Lonesome Dove), Peter Coyote (national Emmy® Award winner for best narrator for Ken Burns, PBS The Roosevelts), Joseph Campanella (of National Geographic, Imax, and Jacques Cousteau fame), Edward Asner (Mary TylerMoore show, Lou Grant), Roma Downey (Touched By An Angel), Rod McKuen, etc. (National Parks – Troubled Edens, Unspoken-America’s Native American Boarding Schools, Return of the Wolves: The Next Chapter, Wild Horses of the West, Wallace Stegner, Wilderness: The Great Debate, Butch Cassidy and The Outlaw Trail, Wild River: The Colorado, Desert Wars: Water and the West, Utah: The National Parks, The Snow Wolves, Return of the Wolves, Arctic Wars, The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo, Nuclear National Park, The Last Cowboys, River of Stone, Desert Dreams, Wild Horses, Artists of the West, America’s Legacy of Wetlands, The Winds of Time, Troubled Waters, Backstage,etc.)
John Howe served as executive producer for the Christmas with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir national series on PBS which was consistently their highest rated holiday performance special. It features world class talent such as the national Emmy®-winning Muppets, Grammy Award winner Natalie Cole, Alfie Boe from Broadway’s Les Miserables, legendary NBC journalist Tom Brokaw, Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough, Hollywood actress Jane Seymour, Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes (“Cinderella”), world class soprano Renee Fleming, actor Peter Graves, Sissel, Audra McDonald, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, among many others. He directed the national PBS special, Christmas with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir featuring The Canadian Brass and Roma Downey. He was Executive Producerof the national PBS special A Gift of Music featuring conductor Keith Lockhart (PBS Boston Pops) and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The MTC special with The Muppets was one of the highest rated shows nationally on PBS for that ratings period. The Piano Guys: Live at Red Butte Gardenfeatures the YouTube sensation produced for PBS national pledge and Sony Records.
Yellowstone Symphony premiered nationally on PBS in March 2019. Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools was distributed nationally on the World Channel to PBS stations.
John Howe holds a Master’s Degree from San Diego State University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Arizona State University.
Silver Circle Honoree
2009
Jan Jacobson
Jan was a journalist, photographer, realtor, author, editor, public relations and marketing consultant, and radio show host, whose contributions to the television industry garnered her the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ prestigious Governor’s Award. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Jan moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s after graduating from Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and began her career as a professional journalist. An author by the age of 23, Jan wrote the Amphoto Guide to Framing & Display and the Professional Guide to Green Plants. She was an editor to two other books and at Big Valley magazine, where she was introduced to the entertainment and television industry, interviewing celebrities and focusing on the motion picture and television industry. She was also active in a number of local professional organizations, including the Valley Press Club (where she was President) and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), where she also served as President.
She left Big Valley to accept the position of Director of Communications for U.S. Administrators (First Health). While at USA, Jan met her husband Dan and together they moved to Phoenix in the late 1980s. In Phoenix, Jan quickly established herself as a member of the media, starting her own public relations firm, JB Communications, and beginning her involvement with NATAS. Past regional president and national trustee of the organization, she also served on the Academy’s National Public Relations Committee and as an advisor to TV Quarterly magazine. In addition to the Governor’s Award, Jan was the recipient of two Presidential Emmy® Awards and was inducted into the Academy’s Silver Circle Society in 2009, an initiative with which she had been involved since its inception in 1993.
An internationally published photojournalist, publicist and independent producer, she has served as editor and writer for national, regional and local consumer and trade magazines, newspapers, and newsletters including Adweek, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and Business Week. She frequently wrote for the Business Journal and Arizona Homes & Lifestyles Magazine. She was also a contributor to the Arizona Republic, Arizona Business Gazette, Foothills Focus, North Central News and many other publications. A board member for six years at the House of Broadcasting Museum in Phoenix, Jan also received a Journalist of the Year Award at the Hollywood Fame Awards in 2008 and was honored in 2009 with a Career Achievement in Journalism Award from the Phoenix Music Awards. She also served as the Public Service Director for Sandusky Radio’s five local stations and as host and producer of the weekly, hour-long public affairs program, Valley Focus. Jan passed away in 2010 at the age of 58.
Silver Circle Honoree
2019
David James
David James was hired at KUTV in August of 1992. Over the last 27 years he has covered two NBA Finals, an NBA All-Star game and an NCAA Final Four. He traveled to Japan in 1998 and Australia in 2000 in preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. David anchors KUTV weekend sports shows and helped launch the weeknight version of “Talkin’ Sports” on sister station KMYU. From 2005-2009 he hosted the Utah Jazz pregame, halftime and post- game TV shows. He has been the TV Voice of Real Salt Lake soccer on KMYU since 2015 and for 17 years has partnered with Pat Kinahan to make “DJ&PK” a morning drive radio institution on 97.5/1280TheZone, the Utah Jazz flagship radio station.
Silver Circle Honoree
1997
George Kay
George graduated from Dickinson Central High School in North Dakota and joined the Navy. In 1955 he started at the American Institute of the Air, an broadcast journalism school in Minneapolis. In 1956 he got his first production job at WIGM Radio in Medford, Wisconsin. In 1957 he moved to KRFO Radio in Owatonna, Minnesota, but moved back the same year to Dickinson and KDIX Radio & Television. In 1966 he made the move to Casper and started at KTWO, where he remained for the next 38 years. He initially served as a reporter and anchor, then started do sports. In 1972 he became new director. In 1980 he moved over to Sports as an anchor.
In 1993 he was given the Distinguished Service Award by the S=Wyoming Coaches Hall of Fame. In 1997 he was inducted in the NATAS Silver Circle Society. He retired from broadcasting in 2004.
George met his wife Marge when they were both working at KDIX, where George was a DJ and weatherman. Marge and George married on January 4, 1958 in Trotters, North Dakota and to this marriage two children, Lynne and Mark, were born. George’s career led the family to Casper where he took a position at KTWO TV & Radio in 1966. While George is the face everyone remembers, Marge was the driving force behind his success. She was very proud of him and his accomplishments and never missed a single broadcast. Marge Kronschnabel, 82, a long-time resident of the Casper, Wyoming area, died, January 22, 2020 at her home. George died February 23, 2022.
Silver Circle Honoree
2001
Sharon Kelley
A lifelong Arizonan, Sharon attended ASU and worked at KAET-PBS while pursuing a degree in Radio-TV. In her junior year, she was awarded the NATAS Scholarship for Academic Excellence, presented at the Playboy Club on Central Avenue. She graduated with honors (B.A. Broadcasting) and after a brief time working in radio, landed a job at KPHO-TV5 as a Studio Camera Operator.
One of her first duties was working on Wallace & Ladmo — a show she grew up watching. Within a few years she was promoted to Video Switcher and in 1982, at the age of 30, became the first female Director at KPHO. She directed daily newscasts, commercials and a series of Arizona travel shows, as well as directing the daily Wallace & Ladmo Showuntil it went off the air in 1989. Sharon’s Producer/Director credits include the“Wallace & Ladmo 30thAnniversary Special”, the “35thAnniversarySpecial”, the “Final Show”and the two-hour LIVE special: “Ladmo Remembered.”
In 2000, Sharon won an Emmy® for producing/writing/editing the “Wallace &Ladmo Tribute” hosted by Alice Cooper and in 2001, became a member of the NATAS Silver Circle. In 2003, Sharon became a certified AVID editor from SCC and later moved into the Creative Services wing of CBS5 to produce commercials until her retirement in April 2014. In October 2014, she was inducted into the Arizona Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She currently has a DJ shift at internet rock station Radio Free Phoenix (for fun!)
Silver Circle Honoree
John Kelso
John William Kelso was born on June 9, 1932 in Vinton, Iowa. He moved to Arizona in 1941. John began his career working for Goodyear Aerospace in 1951. While working at Goodyear in 1958, he began to pursue a career in television production as a cameraman for KOOL-TV Channel 10 News (now KSAZ FOX 10). He continued at Goodyear until 1989 when he retired and dedicated himself full time to television production. In addition to his duties at Channel 10, he was well known for his exceptional freelance work that ranged from sporting events to concerts. During his tenure at Fox 10, John was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Silver Circle Society, established in 1992 to recognize industry leaders, who have served over 25 years.
In 2004, John retired from Fox 10 to spend more time with his family and friends. Professional responsibilities aside, John was a man of many personal interests. John had an appetite for knowledge; he studied extensively on topics of technology, space exploration, and astronomy. John was most content spending time with his family and friends on the beaches of San Diego.
John passed away Sunday, February 12, 2006. He was survived by his wife, Patricia, two sons, a daughter and many grandchildren.
Silver Circle Honoree
2011
Patti Kirkpatrick
It wasn’t Kirkpatrick’s intention to land in broadcast news. She graduated from Principia College in Elsah, Ill. She was going to be a print reporter, but a professor pointed her toward radio. On a dare, she wound up at a private broadcasting school, then moved through different markets as a TV reporter. Eventually as an anchor, Kirkpatrick served along with Heidi Foglesong at Channel 3 in the early ’90s, when the two served as co-anchors. Later, she flew solo, anchoring the station’s two-hour 4:30 p.m. newscast. Kirkpatrick worked at Channel 12 for six years before moving over to Channel 3, where she became one of the station’s flagship performers, serving 22 years, until 2013. Among other honors, she was named best TV Newscaster in 2007 by the New Times and was inducted into the Arizona Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame in 2011.
Silver Circle Honoree
1990
Dick Knipfing
Dick Knipfing came to Albuquerque in the early 1960s as a University of New Mexico student. Since then he reported on hundreds of events which changed the direction of Albuquerque and state history. He has seen incredible changes in technology, the style of network news, and the methods by which news is collected.
His broadcasting career spanned 51 years, all in New Mexico. He retired as a senior anchor at KRQE News 13, in 2014. While there, Knipfing also served as a reporter and news director. He worked at all three major Albuquerque television stations during his career, including KOB-TV Channel 4, and KOAT-TV Channel 7. His return to KRQE brought him full circle. His TV news career began at the same station in 1963 when he was hired as a reporter-photographer (then called KGGM-TV).
Knipfing has received numerous awards for his writing and reporting abilities. In October 2013, he was inducted into the prestigious Gold Circle Society of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Rocky Mountain Southwest chapter.
Dick is married to Charlene Armijo of Albuquerque. They have two children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Silver Circle Honoree
Ladimir Kwiatkowski
Ladimir Kwiatkowski was born July 13, 1928. Growing up he loved baseball. After graduation from John Adams High School, where is honed his skills on the diamond, he left Ohio to attend Arizona State College in Tempe, along with a few high school buddies. He knew that Arizona’s climate would actually allow him to play baseball year-round! Lad was a good player. He was on the varsity team four years, from ’50-53. He led Arizona State in hitting in 1951 with a .358 average, including two doubles, a triple and a single against rival University of Arizona. He was made captain of the team the next year. Lad brought respect to a baseball program where players wore hand-me-down uniforms and official statistics were not yet kept.
He was pretending to play slide trombone to “Ragmop”, a popular tune playing on a nearby jukebox, when Patsy Lou Killough first saw him. Patsy and Lad started dating soon afterwards. It was halftime at the Arizona State versus the University of Arizona football game that Lad proposed to Patsy. No getting down on one knee, no mushiness — just a simple request: “Will you marry me?” She said yes and they were married on Mar 31, 1951.
Lad not only played sports, he wrote sports. He worked at the State Press, Arizona State’s daily paper, writing a column on football called, “Kwiat’s Kwikies”. He graduated from the university with a journalism degree in 1953 and was offered a chance to play for a Cleveland Indians farm team. But Lad was not sure he wanted to invest the time slugging it out in the minors, especially with a wife and child at home. Plus, he liked Phoenix and he was intrigued by television. “I saw the future in television,” he observed.
KPHO-TV was still the only television station in town, so Lad headed there. “I went and applied for a job the day after I graduated, the day after I got my diploma,” Lad grinned. “I went in at nine o’clock and at eleven o’clock, they called me and asked when I could start. At one o’clock the day after I graduated, I started at KPHO. “It was a great education. Lad was assigned to help produce KPHO’s slate of live shows.
He also cleaned and swept the floors, folded chairs, raised sets and eventually ran the cameras. And although he could see the future in television, Lad had no way of knowing what would happen next.
Bill Thompson asked Lad to join him in January, 1956, as his sidekick on “It’s Wallace?” They found a top hat in KPHO’s prop room and put a sweater over a smock from Safeway. “Ladmo” was born. Through the decades, their routines together grew out of their close relationship. The Ladmo Show premiered in the summer of 1963, airing weekdays from 12-1 p.m. It was an instant success. The Ladmo Bag, with a toy and an assortment of sponsor’s products, was born in 1965. “To have your product in a Ladmo Bag was an association with Wallace and Ladmo,” Lad recalled.
On June 15, 1970, “Wallace and Company” officially became “The Wallace and Ladmo Show. “In early 1972, Ladmo got his own cartoon show, Ladmo’s Clubhouse, in addition to his regular stint. On Friday, Dec. 29, 1989, “The Wallace and Ladmo Show” went off the air. Ladmo passed away in 1994 of lung cancer.
Silver Circle Honoree
2015
Jude LaCava
For the past 22 years, Jude has been the sports anchor for FOX 10 in Phoenix and host of FOX 10 SportsNight on Sunday nights. Prior to coming to FOX 10, Jude hosted the 620 Sportsline for four years on KTAR radio in Phoenix. He has won numerous journalism awards, including two Rocky Mountain Emmy® Awards and numerous Associated Press honors. Jude was the Phoenix Suns analyst during the ‘92-‘93 season and was also the original voice of the Arizona Rattlers in their initial season in 1992.
Jude is actively involved in Arizona charity work, including the Italian American Federation. He is a past president of the Heather Farr Foundation, the spokesman for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and a board member of the Dorothy Foundation. This small group is dedicated to finding a pre-stage-one cancer test (more here: Dorothy-Foundation.org). The foundation is named for Jude’s mother.
Silver Circle Honoree
1992
Homer Lane
Homer was born in New York City in 1923. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1941, and served in the US Army during World War II. He joined the CBS radio station in New York in 1944. In 1946, he and his family moved to Marshall, Minnesota where he began working for KMHL as Program Director. In April 1951, Homer joined KOOL Radio in Phoenix, AZ as an Account Executive. He remained with the KOOL organization until 1986. During his more than 30 years with KOOL he served as Radio Program Director, Radio Station Manager, General Manager of both radio and television, Member of the Board of Directors, Treasurer of the Corporation, Executive Vice President, and was the station’s Chief Charter Pilot. For the last ten years of service he was one of the three stockholders of KOOL with Tom Chauncey and Gene Autry. Homer wrote and delivered the Station Editorials for 25 years. After leaving from management of KOOL-TV in 1982, he continued to manage KOOL radio stations until 1986. Following his services at KOOL, Homer helped in the restructuring of television stations in Tirana, Albania, and in Kiev and Kharkov, Ukraine until his retirement in 1994. Along with his military service, Homer served in the Broadcasting Industry for 50 years. Homer was an outstanding citizen as well as a pioneering influence in the Phoenix area. He was a charter member and president of the Board of Governors of the Arizona Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences where he served several terms. Homer was one of the first members to be inducted into the Silver Circle Society of the Academy in 1992 and later went on to become a Gold Circle Society Member in 2007.
Homer also served as a member of the Inspection Team for Radio Free Europe Installations in West Germany in 1963, and was an Honorary Blue Angels Member. In 1970, with his late wife Doris, Homer served as a member of a five-person delegation in Paris to speak with the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) regarding the treatment of POW’s held by both sides during the Vietnam War. Homer was personally thanked by the late Senator John McCain for this work. Homer was an officer and/or member of over 65 community organizations including: Arizona Broadcasters Association, League of United Latin American Citizens, The Rolls Royce Club, and Sigma Delta Chi. He was also a member and past president of the Arizona 100 Rotary Club. In his lifetime Homer received approximately 125 different awards including Volunteer of the Year, Distinguished Citizen of the Year and the Abe Lincoln Award for exceptional Achievement as Broadcasters and Citizens. In addition to these awards, Homer was inducted into the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1982. He also received special citations from the following: United States of America, State of Arizona, City of Phoenix, Maricopa County, US Navy, US Army and US Air Force. In recognition of his services in Washington D.C., the late Senator Barry Goldwater presented Homer with a US flag that was flown over the US Capital Building on our nation’s bicentennial. With a passion for life and love of community service, Homer left a real mark on society far beyond the Phoenix metropolitan area. During the 1970`s he was voted as “the most recognized person in the state of Arizona” in a survey conducted by one of KOOL TV station’s competitors. Homer passed away in 2008 at the age of 85.
Silver Circle Honoree
2021
Tom Leander
Tom Leander is a two-time Rocky Mountain Emmy Awarded television and radio sports broadcaster with more than 38 years of on-air experience. While his background includes radio, television sportscasting, editing and sports production, the majority of his career has been as an on-air personality for the Phoenix Suns.
Leander first started as a Suns “ball boy” in the mid 1970’s. In 1993, he secured his dream job with the team as the host and producer of pre-game, half-time and post-game shows. He continues in that role, along with some play-by-play duties to this day.
Leander is a 1982 graduate of Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix where he played varsity basketball. He then attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and became the University’s Sports Director for KXLU Radio, calling play-by-play for the LMU men’s basketball team for three years. Following his college career, he moved into on-air television work when he joined the CBS affiliate KMST-TV in Monterey, California, as a sports anchor and reporter. He then moved on to Tucson’s CBS-affiliate KOLD-TV, also as a sports reporter and anchor.
Moving back to Phoenix in 1991, Leander joined the Suns organization as the host and producer of its pre-game, halftime and postgame shows. He spent many years working alongside former Suns players Tom Chambers and Eddie Johnson. Leander’s other play-by-play experience includes the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury with Hall-of-Famer Anne Meyers Drysdale, Arena Football League’s Arizona Rattlers, Pac-12 College Football’s ASU Sun Devils, Indoor Soccer’s Arizona Sandsharks and live-streaming high school basketball and football games for the Brophy Broncos.
In 2016, Leander wrapped up a project titled, “The Sunderella Suns,” a one-hour documentary which recaptured the magic of the 1975-76 Suns team that reached the NBA Finals. This earned Leander a Rocky Mountain Emmy Award for sports production.
Leander coaches 8th grade basketball at Saint Simon and Jude Catholic School, runs his Leander Hoop Academy for kids K-8, and teaches TV and radio broadcasting courses at Brophy College Preparatory where he mentors high school students in learning the beauty and complexity of sports broadcasting.
He and his wife Sandy have been married 30 years. They met and fell in love at KOLD-TV in Tucson while working as fellow reporter/anchors. The couple has three beautiful children: Lauren, Keaton and Bryson, and three dogs — two rescues and his favorite mountain biking partner, an Australian shepherd named Bindi.
Silver Circle Honoree
2010
Bob Lee
Bob is an outstanding broadcaster dedicated to serving his community. Bob hasserved in all phases of broadcasting and has worked at stations from LancasterPennsylvania to Tucson (and back again). From 1969 to 1996, Bob worked at radiostations KTKT, KHOS, KCUB, KAIR, KGMX, KRQQ, KNST, WSBA, KNST and KCEE.
Bob’s television career began at WGAL-TV in 1958 to 1961 where he worked in allphases of production. He then turned up at KVOA-TV (co-owned by WGAL-TV at thattime) in Tucson as a director from 1963 to 1965 when he became Operations andProgram Manager from 1965 to 1973. Bob took a break from television to go back toradio and the United Way from 1973 to 1997. He then joined KMSB-TV/KTTU-TV in Tucsonin 1997 and is currently the Community Relations Coordinator and Public Affairs Directorfor the stations.
Community service has always been part of Bob’s commitment. He has been involvedin non-profits in Tucson for over 40 years, serving on the boards of Awareness House andOpen Inn. He has been involved with the Tucson Rape Crisis Center, CODEC, 88-Crime,the Tucson-Pima Arts Council, the Tucson Fund-Raising Review Board and the TucsonAdvertising Club.
In his current position at KMSB-TV/KTTU-TV, Bob helps numerous non-profits by producingand airing public service campaigns. He has one of the only weekly scheduledpublic affairs programs on Tucson Broadcast television and uses it benefit the entirecommunity.
Silver Circle Honoree
2002
Fredric Leigh
Frederic (“Fritz”) Leigh Professor Emeritus, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Arizona State University.
While at the Cronkite School, he taught a variety of broadcasting courses and held several administrative positions. He retired from his position as Associate Dean for Student Affairs/Recruitment and Retention in 2010.
During his professional career, he put two radio stations on the air. He served as program director and general manager for KVNO Fine Arts Radio at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. At Arizona State, he initiated and advised KASC, the campus radio station. He has extensive experience as an on-air announcer and program host.
While at ASU, he co-authored two books, Electronic Media with John Craft and Don Godfrey and Historical Dictionary of American Radio with Don Godfrey. He also published a number of book chapters and professional articles.
He is a past member of BEA, the Broadcast Education Association.
During his retirement, Fritz and Helen, his wife of 49 years, have enjoyed spending time with their two children and four grandchildren. He continues to pursue his passion for music and still plays and records with his rock band, The Torres.
The group played throughout the midwest in the 1960s and 70s and was inducted into the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
Silver Circle Honoree
Bill Leverton
Bill was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised pretty much in Northern New Mexico. After his four years in the Air Force, he wound up in Albuquerque where he got a job at KGGM-TV as a photographer, which amazed him since when the man interviewing him handed him a camera to look at, Bill held it upside down and then had to convince the man, no, he was just joking! Of course, he knew how to operate a camera! He learned quickly, and moved over to KOB-TV, also in Albuquerque, as a reporter/photographer. In 1973 he got a job at KOOL-Television in Phoenix, a CBS affiliate at the time. A few years later his expertise at finding the small, interesting places to visit in the state and his profiles of fascinating “real” people impressed his bosses enough that they made him Feature Editor and gave him his own franchise, “On the Arizona Road with Bill Leverton.” Over his 26 years there he won numerous awards, including his induction into the NATAS Silver Circle Society.
Bill retired from the Channel 10 newsroom, then called Fox Ten News, in 1999. He freelanced video projects and photography for a while, eventually moving back to Northern New Mexico where he and his wife Bonnie lived for almost 20 years.
Silver Circle Honoree
Bonnie Leverton
Bonnie was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and moved with her family to Phoenix when she was six years old. In her junior year at Arizona State University she had the opportunity to get a job at KOOL Radio-Television, Inc., in Phoenix. She worked her way through working at the radio station, then the station’s promotion department, and then got her dream job…working for Special Projects in the News Department. She wrote and produced about 100 documentaries and special programs over the next 30 years, winning several awards in the process including being inducted into the NATAS Silver Circle Society. The station changed hands several times, finally ending up as a FOX owned and operated station. The last two of the 32 years she was at the station were spent doing special programming and anchor packages for the news department.
In 2001 she took early retirement to move to Northern New Mexico with her husband Bill to live in a round adobe house. Almost 20 years later, she now resides in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, with Bill and the cat.
Silver Circle Honoree
Delbert Lewis
Delbert & Jewell Lewis met in Florence, Arizona when Del was eleven years old and Jewell McFarland was seven years old. The Lewis family later moved to Phoenix. In 1940, Jewell’s father, Ernest McFarland, who was an Arizona Superior Court Judge and a cotton farmer, was elected to the U.S. Senate. In 1944, Del joined the Navy and was sent to the Pacific during World War II.
Upon his return to Arizona, Del and Jewell met again just prior to enrolling at the University of Arizona. They dated through college and were married, in 1951, Afterwards, Del worked as a civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers in Virginia.
Del & Jewell were soon given the opportunity to move back to Arizona and assume responsibility for the McFarland family cotton farm in Florence. Del managed the farm operations and Jewell taught. In 1952, when Senator McFarland was defeated by Barry Goldwater, he returned to Arizona and, with a desire to continue to serve the community, was elected Governor of Arizona in 1954. Meanwhile, Ernest McFarland saw an opportunity to pioneer a new business – television stations. In 1955, with a group of three friends, Del and Jewell received the permit for Arizona Television Company, KTVK-TV.
The Lewis’s became partners in the company and, many years later, took over the station management with Del Lewis as president, CEO & general manager and Jewell Lewis as chairman of the board. The early years were lean but, with family spirit, persistence, and hard work, Channel 3 and ABC finally shot to the top of network ratings in 1976. It therefore came as a shock in 1995 when ABC was forced to pull the network from Channel 3 due to a series of acquisition repercussions.
Despite this obstacle, the Lewis family remained steadfast and rebuilt as an independent station. KTVK 3-TV became one of the top independent television stations in the country. Over the years, their media empire acquired KESZ-FM radio, KOAZ-FM radio, Desert Video Production Center, Phoenix magazine and a local marketing agreement with KSAW Channel 61.
The Lewis’s generously contributed time as well as funding to a number of local organizations. The Orpheum Theater restoration is one example. Del and Jewell received numerous honors from the community, many bestowed upon them as a couple.
Silver Circle Honoree
Jewell Lewis
Jewell McFarland Lewis was born in Fairfield, Iowa, she came by train to live in Arizona at a mere 6 weeks old. She was heavily influenced by her father, the late Ernest W. McFarland, who served his state and country as a U.S. Senator, Senate Majority Leader, Governor and Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. He was a founder of Arizona Television Company, KTVK Channel 3, in 1955 which began the family’s introduction to the communications industry. Jewell leaves behind a brilliant legacy of compassion, service and stewardship for the state she loved, and causes for which she truly believed. She was passionate about education. Jewell graduated cum laude from the University of Arizona, received her M.A. from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and earned a Ph.D. in secondary reading from Arizona State University. She taught for almost 20 years in Florence and Coolidge. Her commitment to education is further demonstrated by the generous gifts of $2 million to each of Arizona’s universities given by she and her husband Delbert. The “mom and pop” status she and Del earned as owners of KTVK Channel 3 became a trademark in the industry. In 1994, Jewell became the first Phoenix woman inducted into the Arizona Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame and is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter’s Silver Circle Society. When the Lewis’ sold Channel 3 in 1999, it was the largest family-owned media company in the United States. That stature allowed her the resources to affect countless organizations and causes. And as she embraced those causes, she exuded a genuine, caring spirit that always made a difference. Her civic activities are numerous and varied. Jewell and Del served as co-chairs of the capital campaign for the restoration of the Orpheum Theatre, which re-opened in January, 1997. The auditorium was renamed the “Lewis Auditorium” in honor of Del and Jewell and their family. The Jewell McFarland Lewis Fresh Start Women’s Resource Center, the first self-help center for women in Arizona, opened in April 2002. Her support of the effort is a clear reflection of her passion to help others. Jewell passed away at the age of 73 in 2003.
Silver Circle Honoree
2023
Vanessa Lichvar
Vanessa Lichvar has two loves in TV news: editing and capture. Her editing experience began the old-fashioned way — using a razor blade to physically cut tape. When technology advanced to ¾-inch tape, her first piece to edit was a POV Roller Coaster ride. From that point, she was hooked! She edits on much more advanced equipment now but does so with the same enthusiasm. She’s a master at capture as well — taking in live feeds from satellites, microwave signals, computers and cell phones locally and around the world.
While in high school, Vanessa began her career “behind the scenes” working as a lighting and sound tech in theatre in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She moved into broadcasting while in college at Eastern New Mexico University. She then served as a technician and weather reporter at Clovis radio station KTQM and worked at ENMU’s PBS station KENW-TV.
After graduation, she accepted her first job at KTVK -- 3TV in Phoenix, which was an ABC affiliate at the time. Vanessa was working as a video editor the day the iconic Good Morning Arizona newscast debuted in 1994. In 2003, she went to KPHO-CBS 5 as a video editor and eventually transitioned to capture, but she never stopped editing. In 2014, the Meredith Corporation brought Vanessa full circle with the purchase of KTVK-TV, bringing her back home to “Arizona’s Family”.
Always evolving, Vanessa worked on her first True Crime Arizona podcast and documentary, “Finding Robert Fisher”. She uses her time between newscasts and long-form projects to cross train with engineers on live trucks to better assist field crews as issues arise. She is known in the newsroom for her good-natured spirit, comedic relief and willingness to help. Vanessa is a voice of confidence, competence and kindness.
A mother of two and stepmother to three, Vanessa helped raise and counsel countless other kids in her years of service with Chandler Christian (now Compass Church) in the East Valley. For five years, she volunteered as a Sunday school teacher there and started a video ministry for the campus in 1998. She has also volunteered to assist with many station community service events from the annual Phoenix Pride Parade to most recently the Super Bowl Host Committee outreach effort on the Pima Maricopa Indian Reservation, bringing former NFL players together to teach kids how to stay active. In her free time, Vanessa loves to watch movies and explore Arizona with her wife Sara.
Vanessa is living a dream she didn’t even know she had and is very humbled to be included in the 2023 class of Silver Circle inductees.
Silver Circle Honoree
2012
Stacy Lincoln
Stacy Lincoln graduated with honors from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in Journalism Radio/TV/Film. She’s a die-hard Oklahoma Sooners fan! Boomer!
Stacy has been producing, directing and creating advertising at Cox Media for nearly 14 years, where she is currently a Creative Consultant. Prior to joining Cox Media, she spent eight years at KTVK-TV in Phoenix in Creative Services and eight years before that in news and promotion at KSAZ-TV in Phoenix. Stacy started her career at KWTV-TV in Oklahoma City.
Stacy has earned 9 Emmy® Awards, 14 Telly Awards, 2 Cable Advertising Bureau Grand Prizes and a National Cable Fax Award. She is also a member of the prestigious Silver Telly Council.
“I love weather, being from Oklahoma,” says Stacy. “I would have been a meteorologist if it hadn’t been for that darn math! I also wanted to work in sports. I suppose if the door opened today, I’d do it! It wasn’t my plan to work in news, creative services or advertising! You never know where life will take you. I started volunteering for the Fiesta Bowl, so at least I’m getting the sports in later in life!”
Silver Circle Honoree
2011
Richard Lindstrom
Richard Lindstrom came to Arizona as a United States Air Force Vietnam Veteran in 1968. In his first year of service, he began teaching the new recruits electrician skills. He earned a degree in Secondary Education, with distinction (Kappa Delta Pi Honorary Society). His teaching major was in English, with a minor in Humanities (Art History). In January of 1972, he taught Communications, Mass Media & Film Study. He quickly became a Board Member of the Southwest Institute of Film Teachers to assist teachers and students throughout Arizona in developing film study and production skills. He bought a Super-8 film camera with his first pay check to add a film production unit to his Film Study class. The overwhelming student enthusiasm to make their own films ignited a spark of motivation in his students that defined his career.
When he learned that the Tempe Union High School District was forming a committee to consider the possibilities of the use of video to enhance instruction throughout the district, he joined that group and submitted a pilot proposal for a TV Production curriculum and production facility. It became the first state of the art color TV Production Facility in any school throughout Arizona! Our content focus started with augmenting curriculum throughout the district and producing public service programming to service the larger community. During the first year (1978-79), his students won 9 Arizona Media Awards in TV & Radio Production, with one winning a Best 5 Videos in a national competition.
In 1984-85, he taught Art Photography and English at Greenway High School. The Photography elective grew from three to five sections the first year.
In July of 1985 he was offered a position to design and implement a Television Production curriculum and facilities for a TV Production, Performing and Visual Arts Magnet school. The rapid success of the program led to the evolution of a separate Communication Arts Magnet that included two complete TV Production Studios, with the capability of using the full Auditorium for live and edited TV Production while interfacing with the Music, Performing & Visual Arts Students. A Radio Station that narrow cast to the community & state of the art Print facilities were also added. Much of our production provided a service to the larger community. We formed a partnership with KTVW, the Spanish TV station and crewed a daily, morning broadcast news and entertainment show every morning before school started. They were paid interns and we owned a small percentage of the show that went to scholarships for outstanding students throughout all our Magnet students at South Mountain High School. We also became the video sports crew that shot and edited the high school football games throughout the Valley and were aired on the Friday night News for Channel 10. We co-produced a program with KAET on violence reduction strategies being implemented in schools throughout the valley which won an Arizona Associated Press Broadcasters Association award for Best Enterprise News. Our final and largest single service to the community was a series of drug resistance strategy instructional videos that were incorporated into curriculum packets which taught students in elementary school how to avoid drug use. We partnered with the ASU Psychology Department to develop the curriculum and the videos for NIDA, the National Institute for Drug Abuse. This influenced programs to resist drugs at a national scale. It was called “Keeping it REAL”. He won a few Emmy® Awards as well from that series.
He had the honor of working with the likes of Janet Reno, Edward James Olmos, Rosa Parks, Stevie Wonder, and cast of the award winning international musical from South Africa, called Ipi Tombi, to mention a few. Many of his student are now working in TV Stations, video departments and film companies throughout Arizona and the United States, for example Erik Yater, Ben Avechuco, Mary Lou Gonzales, Art Trujillo, Magali Rivera, Weldon & Weston Watson, and Gina Santiago, to mention a few.
Silver Circle Honoree
2016
Morgan Loew
Morgan Loew is an investigative reporter at CBS 5 News in Phoenix, Arizona. Morgan’s reporting career has taken him to every corner of the state, lots of corners in the United States, and some far-flung corners of the globe.
His past assignments have included covering the invasion of Iraq, human smuggling in Mexico, vigilantes on the border and Sheriff Arpaio in Maricopa County. His reports have appeared or been featured on CBS News, CNN, NBC News, MSNBC and NPR.
Morgan’s peers have recognized his work with 10 Rocky Mountain Southwest Emmy Awards, two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, an SPJ First Amendment Award, and a commendation from the Humane Society of the United States.
Morgan is graduate of the University of Arizona journalism school and Concord Law School. He is the president of the Arizona First Amendment Coalition and teaches media law and TV news reporting at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Silver Circle Honoree
2004
Anita Favela Luera
Anita Favela Luera, Director, High School Journalism InstituteAnita Luera, an award-winning journalist who has played a pivotal role in the advancement of Latinos in the news industry, currently directs the Cronkite High School Journalism Institute. She manages a range of programs and outreach efforts that expose students to journalism and support high school journalism programs at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Luera was the first woman news director at a Phoenix television station, running the news department for the Spanish-language Univision affiliate KTVW. She worked in newsrooms at KPNX, the NBC affiliate in Phoenix and KOOL-TV, now Fox 10. She is a long-time officer and board member of the Arizona Latino Media Association and was inducted into the Cronkite Alumni Hall of Fame in 2018.
Silver Circle Honoree
2008
David Luna
Dr. David Luna has been instrumental in creating and implementing change, especially for Mesa Hispanic residents. He’s the first Hispanic to serve on the Mesa City Council and has been recognized for his community involvement with numerous awards. Dr. Luna has also been a pioneer internally for City of Mesa employees. Mesa Hispanic Network is an internal group dedicated to attracting, developing, and retaining Latino employees through the promotion of professional excellence, leadership and cultural awareness while serving as a strategic partner in the community collaborations and the City's diversity initiative. He has been an integral part in representing the Mesa Hispanic community.
Luna spent more than 30 years working for Mesa Public Schools, including 27 years as the Director of Education Television for Mesa Public Schools, directing and managing channel 99 and edtv99.org. He retired from MPS in 2017. He also spent time as an Arizona State University and Mesa Community College adjunct professor. Councilmember Luna has dedicated nearly ten years of service to the Mesa City Council.
Silver Circle Honoree
2003
Carol Lynde
Carol Lynde began her 40+ year career in TV as a news photographer at KTVK in Phoenix. After four years, this Arizona girl let her videography and editing skills take her across the country. She spent seven years at WAGA in Atlanta as a news photographer and editor, then moved to WGNX, also in Atlanta, where she was chief photographer for six years.
Then she did something odd. At the height of her television career, she packed up and moved to Great Falls, Montana to work for KRTV in their video production department. “Not everyone considers it a good career move to go from the 10th market to the 183rd, but it was the best thing I have ever done for myself personally. Montana was wonderful. I consider my time there a three-year working vacation.” But the vacation eventually ended when she moved to Denver and KWGN, where she was assignment manager for the news department. “My first and, I hope, last desk job. I can honestly say I tried it, and it confirmed what I already knew-I want to be in the field shooting video.”
The search for a new and challenging video position brought her back to Arizona and the PBS station KAET. Then in 2004, when a video producer position opened at the Arizona Game and Fish Department, she jumped at it. As part of a three person video department she produced Arizona Wildlife Views, a 13-week half hour series that aired on Arizona PBS and community stations across the state. “Throughout my career, I have always been drawn to stories that involve nature and the outdoors and this job took me all over Arizona, telling the stories of the fabulous array of wildlife who live here.”
She has earned 22 Regional Emmy® Awards and dozens of other broadcasting and film festival awards during her career. She has served on the NATAS Board of Governors for three chapters; Southeast, Heartland and Rocky Mountain Southwest.
In 2016 Carol retired as Video Production Manager from Game and Fish, but continues to run her own production company, Tall Paul Productions, specializing in wildlife and outdoor videos.
Silver Circle Honoree
2000
Al Macias
"Al Macias has built and managed news teams in four Phoenix newsrooms over the past 30 years. After earning a journalism degree from ASU, Macias was an assignment editor for KTVK-TV, before spending 13 years in news room management positions at KPNX-TV. In 1994, Macias moved over to KNXV-TV, where he oversaw the rapid growth of a newsroom from 20 to more than 60 people in less than a year after the station became an ABC affiliate.
Macias takes great pride in his public service work. He is a founding board member of the Arizona Latino Media Association and is part of the Raul H. Castro Institute Advisory Committee. He also served as Maricopa County’s communications director and spent time as a Partnership Specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau.
Today, Macias is the News Director of KJZZ-FM, the NPR station in Phoenix. Macias not only oversees the daily operations of KJZZ’s newsroom, but also the Fronteras: the Changing America Desk, which has bureaus in Hermosillo and Mexico City, and covers the giant swath of desert that ranges from southern Utah all the way to Sinaloa, Mexico, an area nearly 50,000 square miles that is home to more than 14 million people.
Silver Circle Honoree
2005
Lucia Madrid
Lucia Madrid is a native Arizonan who grew up in Chandler. Her broadcasting career began in 1982 at KTAR radio as Community Service Director and later as a Certified Radio Marketing Consultant. During this time, Lucia became one of the first Hispanic women to produce and host a weekly television program in Arizona, which she continued for nine years. Lucia was General Manager of Madrid Communications and Director of Broadcast Promotion and Community Service for KAET-TV, the PBS station in Phoenix, before she joined KPNX-TV in 1990 as the Vice President of Community Relations.
During her more than two decades at KPNX, Lucia was responsible for Channel 12’s community involvement and community service projects. She earned many industry and community awards for the stations projects, including several Emmy® and “Best of Gannett” awards, the Chicanos Por La Causa Community Involvement Award, Val del Sol’s Profiles of Success and the Martin Luther King “Living the Dream” award. Lucia was inducted into the Seton Catholic High School Hall of Fame in 2005 and selected for the Alumni Achievement Award from St. Mary’s College in 2007. In 2009, she was named as a Pioneer Woman of Distinction by the City of Chandler.
Lucia retired early from her broadcasting career to care for her elderly mother and work part-time as an artist and realtor.
Silver Circle Honoree
2021
Lisa Fuller Magee
Lisa Fuller Magee started her broadcast career in radio when she was just 16 years old. Being a disc jockey helped put her through college at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. A few years after she graduated, a visit to Arizona would change her broadcasting path.
Magee took a part-time job at KTVK-TV as what was then known as a “liver-driver” -- driving a microwave truck to locations and engineering the equipment so reporters could do live shots throughout the Valley. It was a great experience as she moved into what she loved -- writing stories, telling stories and coordinating broadcasts. Now 34 years later she has been a writer, assistant producer, show producer, live program producer, booker, special project producer, movie critic and Senior Producer -- all at KTVK.
For nearly 15 years, Magee was the line and show producer for the Good Morning Arizona, a runaway hit and ratings grabber in the Phoenix market. Also during that time, Magee served as a movie critic for the show. After producing Good Morning Arizona during the weekdays, she would fly to Los Angeles or New York on weekends to see movies, interview the actors and then turn the interviews into stories for Good Morning Arizona. She also did live-shots and interviews from locations around the world, including Hawaii, Genoa, London, Toronto, Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro and Moscow. Magee also used her entertainment contacts to book and handle hundreds of movie stars, comedians and bands when they appeared on Good Morning Arizona. This included everyone from Jason Aldean to Damon Wayans to Liam Hemsworth.
“Viewers may not know that Lisa Fuller Magee is a Phoenix television institution,” says Phil Alvidrez, the former longtime News Director at KTVK and now a partner in MagicDust Television. “She would hate that description, but it’s true. And many of the stories viewers loved for years on Good Morning Arizona never would have happened without Lisa’s guiding hand.”
Her co-workers agree.
“Lisa has always been the consummate professional and the person you wanted in the booth producing live programming like Good Morning Arizona,” says Abbie Smith, the Executive Producer of The List and former KTVK co-worker. “She was always the calm in the storm when news was breaking, and it had to get on the air.”
“Lisa is the total package,” says Marty Hames, the Community Liaison of Circle the City and a former Good Morning Arizona anchor. “She is the definition of integrity, a class act, and a true friend.”
Silver Circle Honoree
2001
Joseph Manning
Joe was served as the Manager of Engineering (Chief Engineer) during the formative years of KAET TV, Channel 8. The Public Broadcasting Service affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Rocky Mountain Southwest chapter’s Silver Circle Society.
Silver Circle Honoree
1997
Larry Martel
Larry Martel began his career in the mid-fifties doing “The News of the Day” from the University of Arizona. When he finished school and his 1st position in the industry he moved back to his hometown in New York and landed a job working for a small radio station. From there he has worked for newspapers, magazines, wire services, a few networks and then returned to Arizona as part of the first All-News Station – KPHO in 1961. He eventually moved across the hall to the TV side and remained with KPHO for 38 years as one of Channel 5’s journalists.
In addition to his work at Channel 5, Larry taught a News Writing class at ASU for 22 years. Larry has retired a few times only to find himself drawn back to what he loves to do and that is work in the industry. Currently, he is writing, producing, directing, editing and narrating for Peoria 11.
Silver Circle Honoree
2001
Robert "Bob" Martin
Robert “Bob” Martin was a reporter and helicopter pilot for KRQE News 13 in Albuquerque. A graduateof Eastern New Mexico University, Bob’s broadcasting career spanned some 40 years covering NewMexico and its people. A winner of two Rocky Mountain Emmys and several Albuquerque Press Clubawards for reporting and documentary work, he shot, wrote and edited his own stories.
Well-known for his coverage from the air of wildfires around the state, Bob’s in-depth knowledge of thestate’s terrain gave an added dimension to his reporting. Homeowners, firefighters and governmentofficials would occasionally call on him for help in assessing fire and flood-related damage.
Bob also spent almost a year in combat zones overseas, reporting on New Mexico military troops andcivilians deployed to places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Tellingthe stories of military men and women who are in harm’s way was one of his most rewarding duties. Bobalso had a love of science, that led him to cover New Mexico researchers and their work at home andaround the globe. He traveled with scientists to a volcano in Antarctica, traveled down the Nile withagricultural experts, and followed astronomers to mountaintop observatories.
On September 16, 2017, Bob was killed when Sky News 13, the KRQE helicopter, crashed 80 milessouthwest of Albuquerque. A plaque in his honor hangs in the KRQE newsroom with the inscription:“Bob Martin: Pilot, Reporter, Mentor and Leader. Bob took us all on his great adventure, and together wewent places we never imagined.”
Silver Circle Honoree
Robert Martin
Bob Martin’s television career spanned 30-years in the Phoenix market. From 1952 to 1962 he was program director and operations manager of KPHO-TV (Channel 5). In 1954, after being “pestered” by Bill Thompson, a kid in the art department, Martin gave him the opportunity to host the kid’s show. Soon after, The Wallace & Ladmo show would begin a 35-year run as the longest running, locally produced kids program in the nation.
From 1962-1982, Martin was Vice-president and assistant manager of KOOL-TV(Channel10), the CBS Affiliate. He served as vice president of programming, promotions, operations and personnel. In 1976 he was instrumental in the hiring of MaryJo West, the first female to anchor a newscast in the Phoenix Market. In 1962-1963 he was also the assistant to the president of KOLO Radio and Television inTucson.
Born in Thayer, Missouri, Martin was a full time movie projectionist in the local movie theatre at the age of 13. In his early career, he made commercial and education films for various companies, and produced newsreels for Paramount Pictures Company.
Martin was in the US Army from 1943-1946 and was stationed in New York City. He was a Signal Corps motion picture cameraman, ending up as Chief Instructor at the Photographic Center on Long Island New York. During his service in the US Army, he met many famous people, including Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Dwight Eisenhower.
In 1946 there were only five television stations in the country -three in NY, one in Chicago and one in LA. There were 5000 television receivers but most were in the hands of engineers. Martin was hired as Director of Operations for CBS and served as assistant program director and production manager for WBBM, the CBS Chicago station. In 1952 Martin left the wind and snow of Chicago and moved to Phoenix , AZ. He was hired by KPHO-TV, Arizona’s only television station which went on the air in 1949.
Bob was an active member of many clubs and organizations including: National Academy of Arts and Sciences – NATAS – President 1975-1976 Arizona Broadcasting Association.
Silver Circle Honoree
2023
Todd Martin
Todd is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and has worked at KTVK in Phoenix for over 30 years. He was hired right out of college as a videotape editor for KTVK in 1993. He then went on to staff the station's Flagstaff Bureau as a photographer from 1994 to 1998. In 1998 he returned to Phoenix as a general assignment photographer/editor and regularly flew in the station’s helicopter.
In the early 2000’s, he transitioned into the Special Projects unit, and now mainly focuses on the “On Your Side” unit. “On Your Side” has recovered over $1 million for viewers during the time Todd has been involved.
Over the years Todd has covered stories such as the Investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing, Rodeo-Chediski fire, Hurricane Katrina, World Series and multiple Super Bowls. He also worked on a cooking and lifestyle show called “Everyday Entertaining”.
Todd has expanded his skills to include being a Certified Fire Journalist from the Phoenix Fire Department, and received his Type-2 Wildland Firefighting certificate through the Prescott Fire Department. He is an FAA certified drone pilot for KTVK/KPHO and also engineers and edits podcasts. He has continued to acquire new skills throughout his career.
His main passion is inspiring and mentoring upcoming journalists. He guest lectures at schools throughout the Valley and at ASU.
Todd has over a dozen regional Emmy® nominations and 6 regional Emmy® wins. In 2023 he was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Southwest Silver Circle Society.
In his free time he loves to hike and has completed over 20 triathlons. He is married to his wife Michelle, who is a middle school principal.
Silver Circle Honoree
2024
Cory McCloskey
Cory is a familiar face in Arizona as the energetic weather guy for FOX10 in Phoenix, where he crisscrosses the Valley in search of on-air adventures. He spent 20 years answering a 2:50 AM wakeup call on FOX10’s AZAM, but now perpetrates his on-air hijinks on the evening shift.
Prior to his Arizona arrival, Cory spent about a dozen years as the weather anchor at his first station, WGEM, in Quincy, IL. But before getting into the weather business in 1989, Cory made his living in the theater and on the small screen. He played Equity stages in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and has a few commercial jingles in his repertoire, too – perhaps you’ve sung along with him! “It’s a good time… for the great taste… of McDonald’s!” Cory appeared as young Michael Hudson on NBC’s Another World and spent nearly a decade as a model, wearing everything from Swatches to Tommy Hilfiger to Fruit of the Loom.
In addition to acting when he can, Cory is a busy stand-up and improv comic and is perhaps the Valley’s most sought-after master of ceremonies. He has made bearable hundreds of charity events through his quick wit and good humor. His wife, Mary Jane, is an accomplished singer and actor, and they occasionally have a chance to share the stage (their regular gig together is in their church choir).
The McCloskeys have three daughters, one son-in-law, and the world’s first two granddaughters.
Silver Circle Honoree
2001
Paul McComb
When Paul McComb first came to the Valley as a teen, with his parents to visit family friends, he knew he would be coming back.
After graduating from high school, Paul worked at Chevrolet then at O’Hare Airport in Chicago while attending college. But his number came up and he was drafted into the Army, heading to Vietnam in 1968. That was where his interest in photography was piqued.
After a year of combat, he returned to the States, landing at Fort Lewis, WA but Paul never forgot the Valley of the Sun.
He made the move in 1969 and got his first job with Sperry Flight Systems in North Phoenix. He also attended Phoenix Community College, taking a class from renowned photographer Allen Dutton. It was Dutton who connected Paul with his first TV job, at KTVK.
He left KTVK in 1971 and after a brief foray into the construction business was hired by KPHO in Commercial Production as film processor, still photographer and sports film photographer.
When a position opened up in the News Department, Paul made the move, as a film editor and a part-time film photographer.
He then moved to full-time photography with the advent of video, covering everything from California earthquakes, Presidential visits, Arizona politics, the Dude fire, floods around the state, major league football and baseball arriving in the state. He’s just about seen it all at least once.
In 1995 Paul was made Chief Photographer over a staff of 15 Photojournalists when KPHO became a CBS affiliate.
With a change in management, Paul returned to the ranks and continued serving the Valley as a talented, hardworking Photojournalist.
He has adapted to the television news business through 37 years of growth and change, retiring in 2010
Paul McComb is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Rocky Mountain Chapter’s Silver Circle Society, recognizing his contributions to the television news business for 25 years or more.
Silver Circle Honoree
2013
Keith McCord
Keith McCord began working for KSL-TV in Salt Lake City as an anchor in February 1981. He is currently an anchor on the weekend and also works as a reporter for evening newscasts.
McCord has been involved in broadcasting since 1975 when he graduated from Long Beach City College in California with an Associate Degree in telecommunications. His career began as an announcer and news director at a small radio station in Loveland, Colorado. In 1978, he became a television news anchor, at the CBS affiliate KYCU-TV in Cheyenne, Wyoming. For his first broadcast there, he wore a lime green suit–no kidding! He also pulled down a huge salary of $800 a month (also, no kidding!). In 1980, he anchored at KRDO-TV, the ABC affiliate in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
In 2013, Keith became an Emmy® Award winner as he was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Emmy® Silver Circle Society, an award marking 25 years of outstanding service to the broadcasting industry. Keith loves golf, the L.A. Dodgers, and hopes the Olympics return to Utah someday. He lives in North Salt Lake.
Silver Circle Honoree
2000
Al McCoy
Al McCoy has been called the dean of NBA play-by-play announcers and has been “The Voice of the Suns” for 40 memorable years, nearly the length of the franchise’s existence. He is the Sr. Vice President, Broadcasting for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Phoenix Suns.
McCoy first hit the air during a preseason game on September 27, 1972, and has been synonymous with Suns basketball ever since. From “Shazam” to “Zing Go the Strings” to “Heartbreak Hotel,” McCoy has cultivated an unparalleled style.
McCoy will forever be remembered for his call in the 1976 Suns-Celtics NBA Finals at Boston Garden when he had to fling an inebriated fan off his lap as he was describing “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World” by Garfield Heard that sent the game into the third of three overtimes.
The 2012-13 season will mark his 41st season and he will call play-by-play action on KTAR Radio and the Suns radio network. McCoy’s term with the Suns is the longest consecutive run with one team among current NBA broadcasters. His many contributions to the sport were recognized when he received the 18th Annual Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame during Enshrinement Weekend in September 2007 in Springfield, Mass. The Suns honored him with the Al McCoy Media Center, dedicated in October 2007.
In 2012, Phoenix Magazine named McCoy the best play-by-play announcer in their annual “Best of the Valley” issue for the 14th consecutive year. He’s the only broadcaster to win the award since it debuted in 1999. McCoy was honored with induction into the Silver Circle Society by the Rocky Mountain Southwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the House of Broadcasting Museum. He also became the first play-by-play announcer to be inducted into the Arizona Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame on Oct. 19, 2004.
McCoy’s broadcasting career began in 1951 at KJFJ Radio in Webster City, Iowa when he was a freshman at Drake University. In 1958, he arrived in Arizona to do play-by-play for the Triple-A Phoenix Giants baseball club. He has also covered Phoenix Roadrunners hockey, Arizona State football and basketball and filled in as a backup for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
A native of Williams, Iowa, a tiny farming community, McCoy was a member of his high school basketball team and was influenced by legendary broadcasters Harry Caray, Bert Wilson and Jack Brickhouse. He received his degree in drama-speech from Drake University and performed graduate work at the University of Iowa. In 1994, McCoy received Drake’s Alumni Achievement Award.
He and wife Georgia, a Valley artist, have three sons: Mike, and twins Jay and Jerry. A culinary critic, he is the club’s expert on gourmet restaurants around the league. McCoy is an accomplished jazz pianist.
Silver Circle Honoree
2008
Richard McKee
The man behind the lens.
He got his start as a medical photographer at Duke University Medical Center and spent the next 10 years as a production photographer and chief photographer at WTVD in Raleigh Durham.
In 1981, Richard McKee moved to Phoenix as news photographer at KOOL TV and eight years later became the station’s assistant chief photographer and in 1991, Channel 10s chief photographer. He retired in 2005 to develop a small business in fine-arts photography in the Denver area but his imagery and story telling thru his camera will not be forgotten.
Silver Circle Honoree
2020
Sean McLaughlin
Sean McLaughlin is much more than just the familiar face of a news organization. He is a consummate professional, a talented journalist, and newsroom leader for over 25 years as well as being a dedicated family man. On weekday mornings, you can find him hustling his four children to school, a bit bleary-eyed from lack of sleep. But at night, you can find the veteran broadcast journalist serving multiple news/weather anchor roles for 3TV & CBS 5, Arizona’s Family.
He comes in with multiple story ideas every day and contributes to the content on a consistent basis. One of the things Sean is known for is his "performance" at the twice yearly all station meetings with the corporate bosses. After the presentation from the big wigs is over and the floor is opened up for questions, every head twists and turns to seek out where Sean is sitting, knowing he has all of their backs and will ask the question everyone else wants but is afraid to ask.
Career highlights include his stint as MSNBC's main meteorologist and Sunday weather anchor on NBC's "Weekend TODAY Show.” He appeared on all NBC platforms during the record-breaking hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, including non-stop coverage of “Hurricane Katrina” as it made landfall. Sean also has the distinction of anchoring weather on two network, weekday morning broadcasts, filling in for Al Roker over 90 times on NBC’s “TODAY SHOW.” Sean served as a fill-in meteorologist on “The EARLY SHOW” on CBS and has covered multiple Olympic Games, Super Bowls and is now a ten-time Emmy® Award Recipient for both news and weather. He also maintains his Broadcast Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association.
Sean represents the best of the best in our business. But, he is reminded daily that the real star of the family is his amazing wife Emily, who he met at the 1995 Phoenix Open. A true Arizona love story for a true Arizona treasure.
Silver Circle Honoree
2005
Jay McSpadden
Jay McSpadden started his career in 1977 in Odessa, Texas as a television news photographer. He had a 4-year stint in Oklahoma City and eventually made his home in Phoenix working at KPNX-TV. Jay worked at NBC Affiliate, KPNX- TV Channel 12 until he retired in 2018. During his time at KPNX, Jay covered some pretty exciting stories including: Presidential Inauguration of George H.W. Bush, the Oklahoma City bombing, San Francisco Earthquake, and Johnny Carson’s last show.
Jay is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Rocky Mountain Chapter’s Silver Circle Society, recognizing individuals who have served in the industry for a minimum of 25 years, with the majority being spent in the Rocky Mountain Southwest region. Individuals selected for induction have done more than work professionally for 25 years. They are the best and brightest in our business with extensive public service, mentoring, leadership and professional accolades.
Silver Circle Honoree
2013
Carole Mikita
Carole grew up in Steubenville, Ohio and graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. She had planned to perform on Broadway, however, a friend from a local radio station introduced her to the world of broadcast journalism so she took classes in writing and reporting. She later landed had a job in the news department of a station in her home town and developed a love of telling other people’s stories. She got a job as a nighttime anchor in a small news department in Pittsburgh, which soon afforded her opportunities to work in bigger markets. After her brother, Steve, moved to Utah to attend law school, she followed him there and began working at KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, in 1979.
Mikita has won a regional Emmy® Award for “Gideon’s Story” and is a member of the Rocky Mountain Emmy®’s Silver Circle Society. She has also received awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the Utah Broadcasters Association for both news stories and documentaries. She was honored in 1994 by the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation, in 1996 by the Assistance League of Utah as a “Woman of Distinction,” and in 2000 by the Utah-California Women’s Association, with its Legacy Award. Carole has hosted the Primary Children’s Medical Center Telethon for more than 20 years. Carole also speaks to and participates in a number of community and church organizations.
She is married to Neil York, an American history professor at Brigham Young University. They have two daughters, Jennifer and Caitlin, and grandchildren.
Silver Circle Honoree
2024
Jorj Marie Mills
Jorj Marie Mills started her broadcast career as a reporter/producer for KTAR radio and then transitioned to television. From 1981 to 2015, she worked at KTVK-TV in the Engineering department, advancing her knowledge from physical manipulation of operations to digital operations. She moved through formats from 2-inch reel to reels, to 1-inch tape, to ¾ inch tape, to 1-inch cassettes, and finally to digital recording. Jorj Marie earned her First-Class FCC License and was a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Broadcasting from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. Jorj Marie served as a Crew Chief closely collaborating with the news department, managing crews, and making assignments to ensure smooth operations. Ensuring the well-being of newscasters was a primary concern for her. She was involved with "Good Morning Arizona" from its inception and played a pivotal role in its growth. She also edited commercials, shows, and collaborated closely with the Sales department, vetting political ads and ensuring correct commercial input for the station.
Jorj Marie mentored new team members, teaching them how to read commercial ISCI codes, operate equipment, interface effectively with other departments, and maintain on-air quality. She collaborated with technical staff to deliver the high-quality news broadcasts expected by KTVK-TV. She authored a handbook for new hires introducing them to the technology and standards necessary to uphold.
Outside of work, Jorj Marie was a Girl Scout leader for many years, teaching camping skills and assisting with various badge programs. She organized a Field Day-International festival for the Cactus-Pine Group involving multiple troops. Jorj Marie has also been actively involved with the Daughters of the American Revolution and Job’s Daughters service groups. As a Union officer, she worked with members to promote quality work, safe working conditions, and high performance standards.
Silver Circle Honoree
Bill Miller
Bill Miller began his career in broadcasting in 1962 at KOOL-TV in Phoenix, where he started as a member of the floor crew and earned the then-minimum wage of $368 a month. Bill worked newscasts and live commercials in the studio and on an outdoor set that was used for car commercials. Over the next 24 years at KOOL, Bill worked a variety of jobs before becoming News Director. In 1986, Bill joined KTVK-TV as station manager and two years later was named vice president and chief operating officer. Bill was named president and general manager of KTVK in 1999. During his time at KTVK, Miller also managed KASW-TV (WB), the Arizona NewsChannel, a cable news joint venture with Cox Cable, KESZ-FM radio and Phoenix Magazine. When KTVK lost its network affiliation in 1994, Miller led the effort to transform KTVK into one of the more successful independent stations in the country. This included the creation of Good Morning Arizona, which quickly became the model for local TV morning shows throughout the country, as well as several locally produced programs,
Bill helped found MagicDust Television in 2000. Today, MagicDust produces RightThisMinute, Arizona’s first daily, nationally syndicated television show, which currently airs in 141 markets.
Bill has served on the ABC Affiliates Board, the Board of Directors of Northern Trust Bank and has served as board chairman of the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Barrow Neurological Foundation and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix.
Silver Circle Honoree
2007
David Miller
David is one of those guys who has done just about everything in creative media. He’s been a director, producer editor, photographer, artist, animator, designer and developer and is the recipient of more than two dozen Rocky Mountain Southwest Emmy® Awards. During his 18 years at KTVK-TV from 1986 to 2004, David worked as an editor, 3-D animator, photographer, graphic designer, composer and producer. Among David’s award-winning work at KTVK were the iconic “Arizona’s Family” and “The Place with More Stuff” campaigns. While at KTVK, David’s collaborative work won PROMAX’s award for “The best major-market, local TV promotional spot or campaign in the world” more than a half dozen times.
Since 2004, David has been a partner at MagicDust Television, where he is responsible for much of the digital technology used every day on the nationally syndicated show, RightThisMinute. He’s also the designer of RightThisMinute.com and the RTM apps for phones, tablets and TVs.
Silver Circle Honoree
1999
Neil Miller
Neil A. Miller was born in 1945 and raised in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. He first became interested in photography in high school. Early work experience was photography related and included summers as publicity photographer for a local racetrack. After completing a B.F.A. in Photography at Ohio University, the US Navy offered photographic experience well beyond his expectations. Assignments ranged from documenting NATO Exercises in the North Atlantic to earthquake assistance in Peruvian Andes. Following the Navy and a move to Arizona, his career took him into television news videography and into teaching photography at the college level. Art on the other hand became Neil’s mode of expressing life and resulted in an M.F.A. from Arizona State University. Participation in the Ansel Adams and Friends of Photography workshops as a student and assistant was most influential in Miller’s creative career. The opportunity to study with Wynn Bullock, Gary Winogrand, Jerry Uelsmann, Fredrick Sommer, W. Eugene Smith along with Ansel Adams and other masters opened a vision for his future. He has been drawing from these lessons to develop his personal body of work, ever since. Neil is a member of the prestigious, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Rocky Mountain Southwest chapter’s Silver Circle Society.
Silver Circle Honoree
2023
Sean Mooney
During a career that has spanned more than 40 years, Sean Mooney has traveled a path that included working as a producer and talent for Major League Baseball Productions, an announcer for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), an anchor and reporter for WWOR in New York and WBZ in Boston, a correspondent and producer for Fox Sports Arizona and a reporter and anchor for KVOA, NBC in Tucson. Along the way he has been recognized for his work in broadcasting by winning several awards, including a National Emmy® and two regional Emmy® awards.
Raised in Tucson, and eventually graduating from the University of Arizona, Sean began his career in New York by working in sports television. After working in the world of professional wrestling he entered the news business and worked in the top two markets in the country before returning home to his beloved Arizona. There he then spent the next decade working, once again, in sports television by covering professional and college sports across the state. During that span of time, he also started his own production company — Moonrise Productions, which produces television shows for Fox Sports. In 2012 he had the opportunity to go to work for the TV station where he once interned – KVOA-TV in Tucson. There he has remained in the city that he loves.
When not anchoring four news programs each night, Sean spends his time with his large family and is active in the community. He commits his time to several charities including; the American Heart Association, Steele Children’s Research Center, Southern Arizona Community Food Bank, and his own non-profit — DoDads.
Silver Circle Honoree
1990
Howard Morgan
Howard Morgan spent 46 years in broadcasting as a weathercaster known for his heartwarming smile and creative weather icon for sunny weather. In a time before computer-generated graphics, Morgan drew a trademark smiley face on drawings of the sun and named that character “Thermo.”
Morgan started in broadcasting as a graphic artist and began forecasting the weather for KHOL-TV in Nebraska in 1953. From there, Morgan moved to Kansas and Utah before joining KOAT-TV as a weathercaster in Albuquerque in 1971.
Morgan was also an artist and a horticulturist. Many of Morgan’s paintings were used as Christmas cards for KOAT. Morgan’s fascination with planting and gardening led to an on-air series titled “Gardenlore.” Viewers would drop off their prize vegetables at the station, and Morgan would show them on air. The television series led to Morgan authoring three books on gardening, also using the “Gardenlore” title.
In addition to his induction in the Silver Circle, Morgan was inducted into the New Mexico Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2005.
In November 1991, Morgan retired from KOAT after 46 years in broadcasting. Howard Morgan died July, 2021. He was 91.
Silver Circle Honoree
2002
Dave Munsey
Dave Munsey has worked in the radio and television industry for over 50 years. In September, 2015 he celebrated 40 of those years at Chanel 10, which is a milestone, because no other anchor has remained at one station for that long. Dave started at KOOL FM radio as the morning drive DJ, and in a short time he added KOOL TV weather and reporting. The “live at five” newscast was basically built around Dave’s live weather segment. In another short time Dave left radio and devoted all of his time to TV.
In 1980, 36 years ago this summer, after the tragic drowning death of a family friend’s two-year-old son, Dave started his water safety program, “Watch Your Kids Around Water”. The program is still going strong due to Dave’s constant reminders on the evening news and the many mornings and weekends he spends attending water safety events throughout the Valley. Because of this program, Dave’s home city of Tempe has honored him with two, “Dave Munsey Days”, and a citizen of the year award. Munsey also has a “Dave Munsey Day” in Phoenix.
Dave’s major awards during his career include a National Emmy® for “Summer of Supervision”, a regional Emmy® for weather storm reporting and a regional Governor’s award Emmy® for the “Watch Your Kids Around Water” program.
Dave was born and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota in a family of nine children. In high school and college Dave worked as a radio announcer and became popular for his quick wit and storytelling. After attending college at the University of North Dakota, Dave spent two years in the Army. During Dave’s tour in Viet Nam he maneuvered his way out of an infantry unit and into a spot-on American Forces Radio and Television after being asked to interpret a Christmas Eve Mass. His performance earned him an invitation to the Bob Hope Christmas show the very next day, where he met and had his picture taken with Mr. Hope. Several years later Dave reunited with Mr. Hope at the Phoenix Open and interviewed him on “live at 5” about their first meeting in Viet Nam.
Dave is a member of the NATAS Silver Circle and the Silver Key journalistic Societies. Dave was inducted into the Arizona Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2016. Dave and his wife Bunny have been married for 45 years and live in Tempe with their Golden-Doodle, dog child, Mya Merlot. Dave has written a book entitled “Munsey Business.”
Silver Circle Honoree
2017
Lupita Murillo
Lupita Murillo may be the first Silver Circle member anywhere to live in a home made out of crime tape.
“Years ago I just began picking up crime scene tape at crime scenes I was covering for KVOA and after a while I thought what on earth am I going to do with all this crime scene tape?,” Murillo told the Arizona Daily Star in 2014. “And then, while I was working out at the gym, it came to me.” In 2009, Murillo began building her own home out of the yellow tape, and finished it five years later.
Murillo came to Tucson and joined KVOA-TV in 1978 after several years working with KRGV-TV in Weslaco, Texas. Upon her graduation from the University of Texas–Pan American, Murillo joined KRGV-TV where she became the first female Hispanic broadcaster in South Texas. “I remember one time walking into the break room and the guys were drinking their coffee and smoking their cigars,” told the Arizona Daily Star in 2008. “One of them said, ‘What is this world coming to when we are letting women into the business?’”
What the world was coming to, at least in Weslaco and then for the last 39 years in Tucson, was that it was getting not only a great reporter, but someone would become a fixture in Southern Arizona. As a general assignments reporter, specializing in crime reporting, Murillo has interviewed celebrities and death-row inmates and covered homicides and drug busts. Her efforts have earned her numerous awards, including several prestigious Edward R. Murrow and Associated Press honors. Murillo has also been active in the community, giving her time to numerous organizations and charities like Las Familias, the People With AIDS Coalition of Tucson, the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon and, the professional organization, Concerned Media Professionals. She also sits on the Governor’s Violence Against Women’s Commission.
“There is no harder worker than Lupita Murillo,” says her long-time co-worker, former KVOA anchor Kristi Tedesco. “Even on the toughest days, she digs deep and gets it done. She leads by example, she’s more connected than anyone I know, and she makes a rum cake you wouldn’t believe. If you get one, you know you’ve done something right. Lupita is the epitome of Southern Arizona finest and I absolutely love her.”
“I’m certain whomever coined that phrase, ‘The best things in life come in small packages,’ must have been talking about Lupita Murillo,” says KVOA news director Cathie Batbie. “At 4’10, she is the queen of crime fighting, a connoisseur of the high heel shoe, the best teacher of every Spanish word that you never learned in school and a force to be reckoned with when it comes to journalistic integrity. At the end of the day, she’s the person you want to go into battle with on a news story and we have been lucky enough to have had her on the KVOA team for over 35 years. The best of the best in the world of journalism — that’s Lupita Murillo.”
Murillo never expected to be at one station for almost 40 years. “My goal was to be here for two years at the max and then go back to Texas,” she said. “I guess the Catalinas kept me here.”
Murillo was inducted into the Silver Circle in 2017.