Don Brown
Don Brown was born and raised in Dayton. He is a 1978 graduate of Stebbins High School and 1983 graduate of Wright State University.
Don began his career while in college, working part-time at WHIO Radio, running the board and learning from the likes of Lou Emm, Winston Hoehner and Carl Day. He received his first taste of sports broadcasting as the color analyst for the WHIO Radio high school game of the week.
Brown made the move to television in 1985 at WKEF-TV, first as a weekend weather reporter and sports reporter/anchor. He was hired as Sports Director in 1986.
In his 18 years at Channel 22, Don covered the Reds at Spring Training, the World Series, the Bengals at the Super Bowl, the Indianapolis 500 several times, as well as high scool and college tournaments and championships.
Don also served as the host of the local segments of the Jerry Lewis Muscular Telethon for 17 years and received two regional Emmys for his on-air work. During that run, Brown worked tirelessly to raise millions of dollars for research to battle the disease.
While at WKEF-TV, Don helped raise money for countless charities around the Miami Valley.
After spending some time coaching and substitute teaching at Stebbins High School, Don returned to TV as a part-time sports anchor/reporter at WHIO-TV from 2005-2014.
Tom Carroll
Tom Carroll is a legendary program director. He is the unsung hero of Dayton’s greatest Rock era and its singular voice, 104.7 WTUE. Tom was always destined for a radio career. After his graduation from Northmont High School, he studied broadcasting and gained a part-time entry at WTUE. He worked side jobs in the high school’s music department while pulling long hours as a dispatcher for the local police while waiting for that big break at a radio station.
It finally came at WTUE and Tom never stopped learning. He studied the music industry and programming industry. He took on the station’s merchandising and the printing of it monthly. It was Tom who introduced the WTUE Bit Board making the station a pioneer of broadcast social media. By 1984, Tom was ready to lead an already nationally renowned Rocker station, making it even bigger. It was Tom wo paired Christopher Geisen with new morning man Steve Kerrigan and then let them get away with their stunts. He made WTUE the soundtrack for the City with concerts at Island Park, Hara Arena, Courthouse Square and the Nutter Center.
Add charity work to Tom’s resume, with his fundraising for the refurbishing of the old Courthouse windows, the Louie, Louie parades for the Leukemia Foundation and support for the annual MDA Telethon, just to name a few.
Tom delivered WTUE a number of awards: Billboard Magazine’s coveted album-oriented “Rock Station of the Year” trophy, multiple trade awards for programming and talent and plenty of local “People’s Choice” awards. Yet, he stayed in the background, always letting the station and air personalities take the bows.
Larry Coressel
Larry Coressel is an icon at WDPR-FM in Dayton. He has been the morning announcer for nearly 30 years and still hosts that shift from 6:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. every weekday. He is also the station’s Operations Manager, Production Manager and PSA Director.
This all started for Larry in 1987 after graduating from the International College of Broadcasting and became the morning announcer at WDPR-FM. The station had been on the air less than a year and was still building an audience and establishing its music format. Larry was charged with many responsibilities: be an on-air personality, operate broadcast equipment, select music to play, train and oversee volunteer announcers, engage listeners and turn them into financial supporters. Failure in any one of these duties would have put the station’s future in jeopardy. But Larry showed an extraordinary work ethic and professionalism.
Larry believes that classical music is very much alive and so he has hosted and produced programs about modern music, the American composer and new music. He also hosts WDPR’s broadcasts of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and conducts live interviews on the stage at the Dayton Art Institute prior to the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Chamber concerts. Larry has been long involved with arts and cultural organizations in the region.
For many people, a career in broadcasting is a series of moves from one station to another, but Larry has remained at one station for three decades focusing on making WDPR-FM the best it can be.
Donna Hall
Donna Hall served as General Manager, Vice President and General Manager of WHIO Radio. During her radio tenure in Dayton, she partnered with the Children’s Miracle Network to launch the “Cares for Kids Radiothon.” Over the 22 years of the radiothon, listeners have donated more than 4-million dollars to the Dayton Children’s Hospital.
Hall was one of the first General Managers with Cox Media to switch the station to wall-to-wall news coverage when the United States came under attack on September 11, 2001.
Hall worked tirelessly to maintain Cox’s relationship with the University of Dayton to remain the “Home of the Dayton Flyers.”
Now living in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is VP/Market Manager for Cox Media Group Atlanta, Donna says she still considers Dayton her home.
Barbara Kerr
In the 1970s, after years of struggle. women began to make strides in broadcast news. Barbara Kerr was one of those early pioneers.
After joining WHAG-TV in Hagerstown, Maryland as an anchor and reporter, she was promoted to News Director. She then joined WYTV in Youngstown as their weeknight prime anchor, one of the few women in the country (and perhaps the only woman at the time) to be the solo weeknight anchor for a U.S network television affiliate.
Embracing the opportunity to work in a larger television market, she joined WDTN as a general assignment reporter whose beats included education and Montgomery County government. She and Charlie Daydrove the TV2 News van to Cape Canaveral to cover the launch of the space shuttle Columbia–including some of the first live satellite reports for WDTN.
Another first for Barbara was traveling to West Point to cover the return of the hostages from Tehran after 444 days in captivity. Her persistence as a journalist led to her being called upon with a question for Steven Lauterbach of Dayton during the hostages nationally televised news conference.
Her on-air poise and intelligence led her to be tapped as weekend co-anchor with Randall Carlisle and later Art Brown.
Barbara was truly loved by the community, working at WDTN and later WKEF-TV Channel 22. She became a tireless ambassador for the Arts in the Miami Valley, appearing at numerous events with her co-anchor, Art Brown. In 1979, Barbara received an Emmy nomination for her coverage of other news outlets in Dayton, which was not an easy assignment. In 1983, the Dayton chapter of American Women in TV and Radio honored her with the Achiever of the Year Award.
Darlene "Dee" Moorman
A graduate of the last class of Dayton’s iconic Julienne High School, Darlene “Dee” Moorman has become an icon in Dayton news videography.
Dee started part-time at WHIO-TV in 1974, certainly never realizing she’d retire from the station 42 years later. He first five years had her working in the studio, running camera, adjusting lighting, re-arranging the set, etc.
She finally convinced News Director, Jack Hurley, to hire her as a photographer/videographer in 1980. At the time, Dee was one of only two women photographers who were among the last to use film cameras. Not six months later, Dee filed a water rescue in which a man nearly drowned. Someone else won an award using her video and as she trudged back up the hill, she thought “my career has peaked” believing she’d never again shoot such compelling video.
But as Dee graduated to a 3/4 inch recorder deck on her shoulder, despite the weight of the camera, Dee’s awards were numerous: Best of Show, 1st Place Ohio SPJ Award 2015, Best Team Entry ONPA 1985 and again in 1985, Best Team Entry. Dee proved she could more than do the job when she operated live trucks, not only shooting video, but editing video and repeatedly turning out quality work.
Almost becoming the news she covered, Dee survived a helicopter crash in which News Chopper 7 lost its rear rotor and slammed to the ground.
Dee covered every presidential candidate from 1980 through 2012, missing only the 2016 candidates because neither came to Dayton.
With forty-two years of quality news video and editing for WHIO-TV, Dee Moorman is truly a pioneer.
Terry Lafferty
Terry is a native Daytonian whose interest in broadcasting started in elementary school when a teacher had classmates read a couple of sentences into a tape recorder. Although intrigued by hearing his voice, Terry was fascinated with the electronics and by high school thought he might go into broadcast engineering.
While at Chaminade High School in the early 60s, Terry came across an article on how to build an FM wireless microphone. He built it and it worked. Not content with just a microphone, Terry put together a make-shift mixer to feed the little transmitter and occasionally broadcast to friends in the neighborhood. He even called the station WDTN-FM (at the time Channel 2 was still WLW-D). Was Terry to become an announcer or an engineer? Only time would tell.
But it was in Piqua where Terry would get his first break, when the owner had Terry audition by reading discarded AP wire copy. That owner was Oscar Baker, father of Newscenter 7s Steve Baker. Oscar was so impressed with Terry’s talent that he hired him for the Sunday afternoon and evening shift.
While a student at the University of Dayton, Terry also worked at the university’s WVUD-FM and several evenings each week served as a camera operator and announcer at WKEF-TV.
As a graduating senior at the University of Dayton, Terry won the James O. Shouse Award from AVCO Broadcasting Corporation, named for a pioneering broadcasting executive at AVCO. It was awarded for over eight years to outstanding seniors for academic and co-curricular achievements in the broadcasting arts.
After graduation, Terry worked at WKEF-TV as a Master Control Operator and for an additional $35.00 a week, announcing duties. Terry was also the first director of the children’s program “Clubhouse 22” with Malcolm McCloud.
Terry eventually got a job at WING Radio. It was always his dream to work at the radio station he listened to as a teenager. And Terry had the honor of hosting a weekly requests show for members of the military and their families.
In 1970, Terry joined the WING News department, which at the time was Dayton’ largest all radio news organization. Terry and Kathy O’Connor Bow became WING’s first airborne traffic reporters with their “Skywatch” trafic reports.
But WING would not be the only place for Terry, he was lured to WHIO radio in 1980 to work for Winston Hoehner. During his time at WHIO, Terry was the first news anchor at WHKO in 1989 when WHIO-FM changed to modern country. Terry also became an experienced video editor for Newscenter 7.
In 2004, Terry took his anchoring duties to WLW in Cincinnati. Known as “The Nation’s Station” in the 30s, that moniker was true again during Terry’s tenure as WLW was simulcast on XM Satellite Radio. But the commute became too much and Terry decided to retire at 47 years in the business.
But in December of 2012, the new owner of Piqua’s WPTW invited alumni of the station to celebrate its 65th anniversary and somehow was talked into coming back. Thanks to the internet, Terry can provide newscasts for the Piqua station from the comfort of his home studio.
During all those years in broadcasting, Terry has served the community well with “Habitat for Humanity,” and and is a reader for Goodwill Easter Seals Radio Reading Service for the visually impaired. He is also a volunteer audio technician for his church choir and webmaster for a couple of local non-profit organizations.
Thanks to his desire, perseverance and hard work, Terry joins a select few who have been in broadcasting for over 50 years.
Jim Manley
As a young man in Toledo, Jim would tape a transistor radio to his head while riding his bike and dream of a job like the guys at CKLW.
That dream became a reality when he got his first job at the age of 14 at WPOS in Holland, Ohio. Jim had mentioned to his dad that he wanted to check out the radio station whose call letters stood for We Proclaim Our Savior. Jim walked in and Pastor Sheppler knew him, so he let him take out the trash. Jim then discovered AP and UPI wire copy and was forever hooked.
Jim deejayed at the Dixie Electric Company all over the state, including Dayton from 1975 to 1983, the height of the disco era. He gained valuable experience working with the public and honed his skills experimenting with music and presentation.
During the Dixie years, Jim worked with people like Bill Gerling, George Janky, Chuck Browning, Tom Carroll, Bob Clark and Mike McConnell. While at the Dixie, he also jumped back into radio at WBZI in Xenia in 1982. He used the name ‘Jim Williams’ as his brother Bill had passed away and he used his brother’s formal name as a remembrance.
In 1983, Jim went to work at WTUE and in 1984, Don Schwartz asked him to change back to Jim Manley so he could be teamed up with Bill Stanley and Major Dick Hale as “Manley, Stanley and Hale” on WONE.
Jim emceed numerous charitable events while on WONE, including Easter Seals and radiothons which he co-hosted with David G. McFarland.
In 1987, Jim joined WHIO radio working with the very popular Lou Emm where he interviewed people like Bob Hope, 60 Minutes producer, Don Hewitt and even Paul McCartney before he was a Sir.
In 1989, having had success at WONE with a country format, Jim was asked if he would be interested in taking market dominate WHIO-FM to a country music station as WHKO. He flipped the switch on the new music format known as K-99-point-1 FM. The station was not an immediate hit, but the decision was a good one as the station celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2019 as one of the nation’s top country stations.
In 1999, Jim was recruited to become the in-house agency for Fricker’s USA, where he was in charge of a major advertising budget. His radio background played a large role in his success at Fricker’s Restaurants as he was able to connect with each individual restaurant with the communities they serve. Each one assisted in raising money for charitable events in the community.
In 2016, Jim briefly made a return to radio at WCLI 101.5 Hank FM where he hosted “Manley in the Morning.” Jim loved the people and the chance to learn the new systems and create memories. But most days turned into 17 to 20 hours as he was still working a full-time job at Fricker’s. With family life being so important to him, Jim returned to his normal work day at Fricker’s
Jim’s success in both roles, broadcasting and marketing all came about when a young boy in Toledo, Ohio taped a transistor radio to his head while riding a bicycle and dreamed of a job in broadcasting.
Letitia Perry
Letitia Perry is a Dayton native who has become one of the best known and well-loved news personalities to every grace the Miami Valley airwaves. She spent most of her school ears in Dayton Public Schools, graduating the Meadowdale High School where she “fell in love” with broadcasting at the school’s KMHS radio.
Letitia went on to Central Michigan University, where she earned her Bachelors Degree in Communication with a focus on Journalism. Before graduating, she was hired at CU Public Broadcasting Center where she did radio and TV news — and got her tuition paid!
It was here that Letitia was introduced to NPR and hosted local segments of both “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” She wrote contributing stories for both segments that aired nationally. Her proudest national story was one about “Glory Foods,” featuring interviews with Willie Williams. He was the first African American to own a food brand in major grocery stores nationwide. Now the “Glory” food brand is a nationally known food brand among African American holiday meals (Glory Greens, Chick Peas, etc.)
From Michigan, Letitia tok a job at WCBE-FM public radio, licensed to the Columbus Board of Education. She worked as a radio producer. Her biggest story was the Lucasville Prison riots of 1993.
Letitia returned home to Dayton in 1995, accepting the News Director position at Hawes-Sauders Broadcast Properties, WROU and WRNB-FM. She later took on more responsibility when promoted to News/Community Affairs Director.
In that position, Letitia hosted many community events, among them fundraisers, concerts, plays and the first major Dayton Dragons job fair at the Crowne Plaza Hotel downtown.
The later proved to be fortuitous because Channel 7 saw Letitia there and asked her to consider making the leap to TV. She did —Letitia started as a general assignment reporter for WHIO in April 2001 and later co-anchored the 11 p.m. news with Jim Baldridge and then James Brown. In 2012, Letitia moved to NewsCenter 7;s Daybreak Edition and in 2015 added the ratings juggernaut noon newscast to become the first woman to anchor WHIO’s News at Noon.
Letitia has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Dayton Skyscrapers, RTNDA Radio Television News Directors Association and ARME Association of Marketing Executives. She is much sought after as an emcee and speaker and gives generously of her time to numerous community events and organizations.
Beyond that, Letitia is respected and loved by her coworkers for her positive attitude and lovely demeanor. She is a team player and considerate of others — always willing to go the extra mile.
Byron Stirsman
Byron Stirsman’s name might not be familiar to Miami Valley TV viewers, but his outstanding work has graced their screens for over 37 years.
Byron is among the few who has won more awards than any single person on or off the air in the Dayton market. His work as a videographer, editor and producer has arguably established him as the standard bearer, not only at WHIO-TV, but among his peers in the region.
Byron came to WHIO-TV from Evansville, Indiana, in the fall of 1979. He quickly established himself as a hardworking news videographer with an eye for quality videos, an ear for meaningful natural sound and an unmatched ability to work with any reporter to get the best results possible.
Byron has shot everything from breaking news, daily news to high school football. But his skills are best suited for special reports. In recent years, most of the special reports on WHIO-TV have been shot, edited and produced by Byron.
Byron has traveled overseas several times working with former Anchor/Reporter Jim Baldridge and producer, Don Mills. He shot assignments in Central America, the United States space shuttle and the former embassy in Ho Chin Min City. He also took challenging assignments like putting down his camera to ride an elephant in Thailand. But that was minor to the challenging shot he took over the city of Dayton in the Channel 7 News chopper hanging out the door of the aircraft to get his best shots of the city’s skyline.
But it was Bryon’s spot news coverage that won him first place with the National News Photographers Association. This would be the first of many awards recognizing Byron for his talent.
With Anchor/Reporter James Brown, Byron shot and helped produce two quality “Making a Difference” segments every month spotlighting people in the community who truly made a difference, but sought no recognition.
Byron has truly made an impact in the Dayton community with his quality news videos.
Art Brown (Posthumously)
Art Brown’s first job in broadcasting was at a radio station in his hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana. He was just 16 years old. After serving in the Marines, Art returned to Terre Haute and hosted a 15 minute radio show.
Art worked a a number of radio and TV stations during his broadcasting career. Art was a reporter/anchor in Lima, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and San Francisco, California, where he famous lines in the Clint Eastwood movie “Magnum Force,” will always be remembered.
Art took pride in his work as a journalist. In fact, once while visiting a journalism class at San Francisco State University, Art and his co-anchor at the time, told the class that we are more than just readers, we have long experience as journalists and the awards to prove it. When we read, we give credibility to the newscast.
Art came to WDTN in Dayton in 1974 to anchor the 11 p.m. news. He also anchored the TV2 newscast at noon with his co-anchor, Barbara Kerr.
Art’s versatility also included other phases of television at TV2, such as “Table for 2” which featured dining and cooking tips and most notably his “2 Country Reports.”
Art witnessed profound changes in broadcasting during his career. His earliest stories were on film. Later they were on videotape. Those working in the TV2 Newsroom remember the night Art did the first live satellite report for WDTN from the U.S. State Department in Washington DC.
Loved by everyone in the community, when his passed away, Journal Herald columnist, Bob Batt, quoted Art Brown saying “Of all the things I’ve done in this business, and I’ve done lots of different things, “2 Country Reports” is my favorite because it gave me a chance to meet people face to face on their own turf.” Brown said “This is what this business is all about.”
Ricky Boyd (Posthumously)
Ricky Boyd was truly a community servant. Wherever there was a need, Ricky Boyd was usually there. But that was his nature. For 40 years, Ricky worked in numerous capacities educating the public about health. He was the first African American Director of the Montgomery County Health Department. He served on the Dayton Public School board for two terms.
But his best work came through many years of educating the public about good health through his TV show called “2 Your Health” on the City of Dayton’s Government Access Channel and through a program that was broadcast on WDAO radio called “Medicine Chest.”
Ricky’s community involvement cannot be overlooked. It was Ricky who petitioned and was responsible for the name change of the West Dayton Health Center to Dr. Charles R. Drew Health Center and chaired the committee to amend West Third Street to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
Ricky created the first home visiting program for pregnant women, making sure they received prenatal care and created over 16 number-one health programs targeted to the African American community. A main stay at Mary Scott’s Nursing home, Ricky didn’t stop there. He coordinated the Upward Bound program affiliated with Wright State University.
But it was Ricky’s innovative use of the airwaves at WDAO and the City of Dayton’s Government Access Channel for many years to get his message across about the importance of having good health and that made him a pioneer in this area.
2019 Community Service Award Debbie and Dennis Lieberman
Debbie Lieberman
After graduating from the University of Dayton School of Law, Debbie Lieberman worked in real estate and with the Legal Aid Society of Dayton.
Lieberman joined the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office as director of real estate. She served in that position for ten years before becoming the Chief Deputy Auditor in 2001. Lieberman served on the first City of Clayton Council and was re-elected in 2001. She was elected to the Montgomery County Commission in 2004 and is currently in her fourth term. Lieberman co-chairs withi U.S. Judge Walter Rice, the Montgomery County Reentry Council.
Lieberman is a member of the Dayton Regional STEM Education assets. She serves on The Downtown Dayton Partnership Board. Lieberman co-chaired the Culture Connects 20/20 Committee and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance.
Dennis Lieberman
An experienced and well-respected attorney, Dennis Lieberman practices law in the area of criminal defesne and civil litigation. He has tried a substantial amount of cases in both state and federal courts.
Outside the courthouse, he is just as active in his community. During the 2012 election, he campaigned tirelessly to keep early voting in Ohio to make sure every vote is counted. In addition to his work on the board of elections, Lieberman was also Montgomery County Democratic Party chair for 13 years and a candidate for the Ohio Democratic Party chair.
Today, Lieberman is a member of the City of Clayton Council. He currently serves his community by educating the next generation of lawyers teaching litigation skills as an Adjunct Professor at his alma mater, the University of Dayton School of Law.
Lieberman has volunteered to assist high school mock trial teams and has served on a number of local charitable boards.