In 1952, while still in high school, he began his broadcasting career as a sports announcer in his hometown of Marshfield, Wisconsin at WDLB radio. He also served stints at WPFP radio in Park Falls and WIGM radio in Medford. He purchased his first radio station KRBI, St. Peter, Minnesota in 1960 and in 1970 purchased WOMT, Manitowoc and soon after added WQTC-FM and then expanded to Wausau, purchasing WXCO-AM in 1973 and building WYCO-FM in 1985. Over the years he has also owned radio station in Beloit and Janesville, Wisconsin, Rochester, Minnesota and Winter Haven, Florida. He served on the WBA Board of Directors for 12 years and in 1991 was Chairman of the Board of the Association. He also represented Wisconsin and Iowa on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters for 4 years.
Don Seehafer passed away on January 21, 2020.
I have always considered it an Honor for Me to know and appreciate Don Seehafer who helped keep Manitowoc and Wisconsin on The Map with Especially WOMT Radio and Others. Every Time I visit my Relatives’ Gravesites In Evergreen Cemetery, I always look for Mr. Francis M. Kadow ‘s Gravestone and think of November 8th, 1926 when he initially broadcasted from above The World’s Only Mikado Theater !
Congratulations Don. This is an honor that is well deserved.
Congratulations!!! Don.
Here’s to you Mr. Don Seehafer! You are the best and the most dedicated radio person that I know. Thanks for making WOMT all that it can be.
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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
