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John Sabin – 2015

John Sabin’s girlfriend Elaine was so impressed with his voice that she pushed him to take elocution lessons and audition for a job in radio. Her persuasion paid off. He was hired at KFUO, where he worked for a short time before being hired as the news director of WTMV. John and Elaine married and she became his lifelong supporter.

His work covering the floods of the Mississippi River in 1947 cemented John’s reputation as an accomplished radio journalist, and that led to an offer to join the KMOX news staff in 1950. He continued working for the CBS O&O past his 65th birthday, having received special permission to violate the company’s mandatory age, thanks to a request from his co-workers and the station’s manager, Robert Hyland. When he retired in the late 1980s, John Sabin had been honored by the Associated Press nine years in a row for his contributions to broadcast journalism.

John was the first “non-print” person to be elected president of the St. Louis Writers’ Guild. His spare-time project of teaching broadcast production and journalism brought students into the newsroom as interns, where he mentored literally hundreds of potential broadcasters.

Lee Michaels – 2015

At the young age of 12 Lee Michaels was a big fan of radio. By the time Lee was 15 he had his own radio station broadcasting live from his bedroom. Shortly after that he got his first shot at real radio in his hometown of Norfolk, VA.  While still in high school Lee worked at local station holding down the overnight show.    

Eight years later Lee got a call from St. Louis, where he accepted a job at KATZ-AM. The station was a dominant voice in the local Black community and Michaels became the afternoon drive jock. Within 6 months he was pulling top ratings and had become one of the most popular jocks in town.

Lee Michaels worked in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Charlotte, and Washington, DC. He launched an Internet talk network in June 2008 USTalkNetwork.com and offered syndicated shows to radio stations. In 2011 Lee Michaels was named the #1 Urban Radio Program Director of all time.

Bob Whitney – 2014

In 1959, Bob Whitney was hired by Balaban Broadcasting as a programmer for its Dallas station and was subsequently promoted to National Program Director of the company’s radio group. Shortly thereafter he moved to St. Louis and began work on transforming Balaban’s WIL from an MOR station into a top 40 outlet.

Whitney hired on talent like Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy and Bob Dayton (Robin Scott) to jumpstart the new format, and added Gene Hirsh and Nelson Kirkwood to the newsroom to bolster that department.

WIL, under Whitney’s leadership, held its own in the early Top 40 wars of St. Louis. Later in the decade, he worked for other broadcasters at other stations around the nation before beginning a career in video production. In 1970, local independent station KDNL-TV began broadcasts of his syndicated musical video program, “The Now Explosion.”

Bob Burnes – 2014

Bob Burnes, “The Benchwarmer,” was the first host of KMOX’s “Sports on a Sunday”, the hugely popular roundup of the previous week’s sports highlights. In addition, he was a host several times per week of the station’s “Sports Open Line” call-in show, and it is believed he hosted the premier broadcast of that program as well. Burnes often shared the microphone with other sports reporters on the show, which he hosted through the mid-1980s. In addition to his long stint on KMOX Radio, Burnes was a legendary sports reporter and columnist for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Rick Balis – 2014

A native of Chicago, Rick Balis arrived in St. Louis and joined the staff of KSHE-95 in 1976, performing various duties for the station. He signed on to the airwaves in 1977 as an afternoon drive jock and continued in that capacity for three years until he exchanged the mic for a job in the programming office. Except for a brief stint as program director for KSD-FM, most of Rick’s career has been spent at KSHE. He was named Radio and Records Magazine’s 2008 Rock Operations Manager/Program Director of the Year and in 2014 was selected as one of three panelists in the RAB/NAB Radio Show’s “New Creative Edge Challenge.”

As of the time of his Hall of Fame induction, Rick was VP and Director of Programming for the Emmis St. Louis owned stations… KSHE-95, NOW96.3, The Point and FM News Talk 97.1.

Nancy Pool – 2011

Few people who worked with Nancy Pool during her radio career realized that she once worked as administrative assistant to KXOK’s PD Bud Connell in the ‘60s. She learned well, moving on to manage several stations in the St. Louis market, where her strength in ad sales served her and her employer well. She was president of KADI-FM, VP/GM of KSHE, WIL-AM/FM and was brought in to resuscitate the operations of KMOX-FM, KXOK/KLTH, and KWK/KGLD. Nancy was featured in “Who’s Who in Radio and Television,” “Who’s Who in Advertising” and “Who’s Who in American Women.” After leaving radio Nancy went on to a second successful career in real estate sales.