Meredith wins Johnny Eagle Impact Award
Ron Meredith, president of Clinton Broadcasting, has been named the recipeint of the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame’s inaugural Johnny Eagle Impact Award. The award recognizes the impact local radio and personalities have on a community. (photo:Tony Cox )
“This award [is] given to a broadcaster showing great community service and making a difference,” the hall of fame states on its website.
He will recieve this award on Saturday, July 25. The award honors an individual in the radio business on ties to the community.
Bob Kessing, president of the radio hall of fame, called Meredith a “natural” fit for the award due to his dedication to community announcements.
“If you turn it on in the morning, they’ll tell you when the latest little league sign-ups are,” Kessing said of WYSH. “If you tell them that you have something going on in the community they put it on the air.”
He also said he appreciated Meredith’s commitment to broadcasting about high school sports and church events.
“It’s just such a fiber of the community,” he said of WYSH.
Kessling encouraged people from Anderson County to come and help celebrate Meredith’s award. Tickets for the award ceremony are available at Tennradiohalloffame.org for $50. It will be held at the Battle Ground Academy Performing Arts Center, 336 Ernest Rice Lane, Franklin.
A social will begin at 4 p.m. Central time, with the award ceremony starting at 5 p.m.
“I am very proud of our news coverage of our community and the fact that we have been able to build a major large metro radio group while continuing to be live, local and deeply involved in the community,” Meredith told The Courier News.
He said he was especially proud of WYSH’s coverage of the 1993 blizzard during a time when most other Eastern Seaboard stations were off the air.
Meredith said radio is a mixture of several things: entertainment, the music business, news, and in his station’s case, community involvement.
“If you enjoy music, concerts, meeting artists, meeting people, and helping local businesses succeed, you might be a perfect candidate to work in radio,” he said.
He told The Courier News that he thanked Clinton and his listeners.
“In 1990, at 25 years old, I leveraged everything I had and borrowed every penny the bank would loan me to buy WYSH,” he said. “I was told AM radio was dead and that I had wasted my money.”
However, he said that 36 years later he is one of the largest and last local broadcasters in the country.
“Some say we are successful; I will let the listeners determine that,” he said. “Clinton has always supported me. And I am forever grateful.”
