Ken Beno is dedicated to sharing his passion for broadcasting with high school and college students in the state and beyond. His career has enriched the broadcasting industry in Wisconsin and forged a path to state, regional and national broadcasting careers for many of his students. As chair of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Education Committee since 2001, Beno established innovative student outreach ranging from high school presentations, to a Radio Marketing Professional certification through the Radio Advertising Bureau for college students, to an annual student seminar. In 2002, he founded the WBA Student Awards for Excellence competition, which has since seen a four-fold increase in entries.
Beno, an Illinois native, began his radio career at WINI Radio in Murphysboro, Illinois. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and received his master’s degree from Eastern Illinois University. He taught broadcasting at Lake Land College in Illinois for many years and founded the college radio station. He also became the first station manager of WEIU-TV in Charleston, Illinois. Beno joined the WBA in 1991 and has been instrumental in developing the future of broadcasting ever since.
As one of Ken Beno’s former students, I can say that he is an excellent teacher and worthy of Hall of Fame induction. It’s always a pleasure to see worthy people being recognized.
Well deserved and a class act.
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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.
