2008 Hall of Fame will be held THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2008 at
The Fountains
502 East Carmel Drive
Carmel, IN

Broadcast Pioneers Website Click Here http://www.indianabrodcastpioneers.com

Indiana State Museum Click Here


1981 marked the establishment of the Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame which recognizes those individuals who have been directly or indirectly associated with broadcasting in the state of Indiana, and who have made a significant contribution to the industry.

Thanks to the generous contribution from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, the Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame and the broadcast exhibit in the Indiana State Museum was refurbished and updated in 2006. In recognition of this gift, the Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame is now The Richard M. Fairbanks Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame.

In addition to the innumerable individual accomplishments of the Pioneers, the Pioneers Foundation has collectively been successful in having established a permanent exhibit in the Indiana State Museum entitled, "Indiana Radio 1920-1950." The principle feature of the broadcast exhibition is the video interactive kiosk where Hall of Fame inductees are profiled. Each inductee's customized window allows for up to 150 words of bio information and any combination of pictures, audio or video up to four entries. The database is searchable by museum visitors and includes an eight minute narrated video of Indiana broadcast history. The Broadcast Pioneers update the individual entries each year as new honorees are added to the database. Eventually this data will be incorporated into the Museum's web site as an independent web page.

The Indiana broadcast display encompasses approximately 500 square feet of the "Global Indiana" component in the Museum's chronological exhibition "The Indiana Story." The full "Indiana Story" narrative travels from the Birth of Earth several billion years ago to the present and even into future projections. The entire permanent storyline is played out in approximately 40,000 square feet.

Forty historical artifacts are currently on exhibit in the broadcast history area including Indiana's first TV camera (used by WFBM-TV Indianapolis to broadcast the Indy "500" for the first time in 1948), the second model of color TV ever manufactured (by RCA in Bloomington in 1955) and personal memorabilia of Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Wally Nehrling, Jim Mathis, Ann Wagner-Harper, Gilbert Forbes, Jim Shelton and Marthabelle Geisler. Museum staff anticipate that the number of artifacts utilized will continue to grow as appropriate and as the overall exhibition continues to develop.

One final Indiana broadcast component, new to the presentation, is the presence of three over-sized period radio mock-ups that allow museum visitors to dial-up nearly an hour of radio clips from 1930 to 1960. Along with national radio personalities such as Jack Benny, Franklin Roosevelt, Louella Parsons and Walter Winchell; Indiana figures/shows like Hoosier Hop, Singin' Sam the Barbasol Man, Evangelist Billy Sunday, The Little Red Barn, clips from several "Indy 500" broadcasts featuring many Indiana Broadcast Pioneers, and a host of other Hoosier legends are featured.


The exhibit is a tribute to the many individuals who played a part in the story of Indiana Broadcasting.

Broadcast Hall of Fame Members
Mike Ahern
Charlie W. "Bouncin' Bill" Baker
Sue Bartlett
James Baskett
Marvin Bates
Jinsie Scott Bingham
Charles Blake
Joe Boland
Barbara Boyd
Charles Brockman
Amos Brown
Don Burton
Howard Caldwell
Eldon Campbell
Hoagy Carmichael
Tom Carnegie
Jerry Chapman
Reid Chapman
Bob Chase
Carolyn Churchman
D.O. Coe
Kenneth Coe
Sid Collins
Wayne Coy
Bill Crawford
Mary Jane Croft
Elmer Davis
John Dille, III
G. Christopher Duffy
Captain William Eddy
Frank Edwards
Joe Edwards
Leonard Ellis
John A. Englebrecht
Richard M. Fairbanks
Philo T. Farnsworth
Kay Field
Robert W. Flanders
H. Gilbert Forbes
Jerry Fordyce
George A. Foulkes
Bill Fowler
Harry "Singin' Sam" Frankel
Harry Frey
Bob Gamble
Wayland Fullington
Hilliard Gates
Will Geer
Marthabel Geisler
Jim Gerard
Lee Giles
Jay Gould
Gordon Graham
Bob Gregory
Charles Haines
William "Tom" Hamilton
Ann Wagner Harper
Phil Harris
John Hartnett
Fred Heckman
Don Hein
Hoosier Hotshots
Robert "Bob" Hoover
Helen Huber
Ink Spots
John Carl Jeffrey
Vern Kaspar
Durward Kirby
Brian Lamb
Paul Lennon
Forrest Lewis
Howard D. "Tommy" Longsworth
Don H. Martin, Sr.
Harry Martin
Edwin C. Metcalfe
G. Earl Metzger
C. Bruce McConnell
Robert McConnell
Jim Mathis
Don Menke
Dr. Clarence Morgan
Jack Morrow
Wally Nehrling
Dr. Norbert Neuss
Bazil O'Hagan
Daniel Park
Jane Pauley
Robert M. Petranoff
Prof. James R. Phillippe
Cole Porter
Rita Price-Simpson Madelyn Pugh-Davis
Henry Rosenthal
Kneale D. Ross
Chris Schenkel
Franklin D. Schurz
Frank Sharp
Herb Shriner
Robert Sievers
Jim Shelton
Gene Slaymaker
Red Skelton
Dave Smith
E. Berry Smith
Jeff Smulyan
Dean Spencer
Lester Spencer
Betty Chadwick Sullivan
Elmer G. Sulzer
Sarkes Tarzian
Lurene Tuttle
Carl Vandagrift
Harry Von Zell
Luke Walton
Darrell Wible
Martin Williams
Hilda C. Woehmeyer
Stan Wood
Richard Yoakam