By Charles Hallman
Staff Writer
KMOJ-FM Radio General Manager Kelvin Quarles will be honored this fall by American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) at their 10thAnnual Urban
Knight Awards in Dallas, Texas. The awards event, scheduled for September 19 during the NAB/RAB Radio Show annually hosted by AURN, is designed to honor selected individuals who have “significantly helped” urban radio in reaching Black listeners and consumers.
Quarles joins Natalie Swed Stone, U.S. director of Omnicom Group National Radio Investment; Cumulus Vice President Dot Ealy; Tony Quartarone, owner of WJKS-FM, Wilmington, Delaware; and Buffalo and New York’s WBLK-FM Regional Vice President Jeff Silver in the 2012 distinguished class.
Hymen Childs, who has owned Dallas’ KKDA-FM for nearly 40 years, also will be honored as he will be inducted in the Urban Knight Hall of Fame.
The presentation will be hosted by Doug Banks, DeDe McGuire and Rudy Rush of the nationally syndicated Doug Banks Radio Show.
“I was super surprised and extremely honored to be recognized with the likes of some of the people on this list,” says Quarles, a veteran broadcaster of almost three decades. “This is my first national award. God is good.”
AURN is the largest Black-owned radio network in the United States. It produces entertainment, sports, news and information programs for more than 300 radio stations nationwide, including KMOJ. It is the only Black broadcaster with a bureau in the White House, as well as news bureaus and offices in New York, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Quarles notes that although he is being honored, “This is a whole organization award. I thank everyone…from the board of directors, the staff [and] the volunteers. It took a group effort but unfortunate only one person gets recognized.”
Earlier this summer, KMOJ Program Director Candice Breedlove was named broadcaster of the year by the Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations (see “KMOJ-FM program director named ‘Broadcaster of the Year’” in MSR Jul. 26 — Aug. 1 issue), and station midday host Miss Georgia was selected as a guest judge on BET’s 106 & Park daytime program.
“I’ve been blessed to fill my camp with a bunch of people who [have] the same desire to be good,” concludes Quarles.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to chall man@spokesman-recorder.com.
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