Ben Laird was one of the founders and the first President of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association in 1951. He began his fifty year broadcasting career as a sports announcer at WHBY, Appleton. Headed the Green Bay Broadcasting Company that included radio stations WDUZ AM/FM, Green Bay, WDUX AM/FM, Waupaca and stations in Menominee, Michigan and Aberdeen, South Dakota.
Ben Laird passed away in September, 1981.
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The Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame was created in 1989 to honor those broadcasters who have devoted their careers to broadcasting and its development in Wisconsin, to recognize their outstanding service to broadcasting, their communities, and their state, over at least a fifteen-year career in the industry, at least ten of which were served in Wisconsin.The first twelve members of the Hall of Fame were inducted during the 1989 WBA Summer Conference. Inductees are chosen each year from among nominations by WBA members. Broadcasters who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame include managers, personalities, engineers, reporters and those broadcasting pioneers who were at once all of the above.
In October, 1989, Alfred C. Sykes, then Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, came to Wisconsin to formally dedicate a Hall of Fame display, including plaques honoring the inductees, at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library in Madison. In 2010, due to remodeling of the SHSW facility, the display was removed. The Hall of Fame exhibit was relocated to the Hilton Milwaukee City Center in 2015 and enhanced with a touchscreen display featuring all inductee commemorative videos.
$5,000 Level
Gray Television Midwest Communications Mid-West Family Broadcasting Dick Record Wisconsin Stations of Quincy Media
$3,500 Level
Hearst WITI-TV, Milwaukee
$2,500 Level
Morgan Murphy Media
$2,000 Level
Armada Media CBS58 Milwaukee Koser Radio Group Scripps/WTMJ-TV Terry and Sandy Shockley WTMJ & ESPN Milwaukee/Good Karma Brands
$1,000 Level
Bliss Communications Magnum Communications Woodward Communications
$500 Level
Bill Hurwitz
