Our final award to be given out at this year’s BNM Summit during the Premiere Networks awards ceremony is the brand new, Lifetime Achievement award. The recipient of this award will join John Catsimatidis, Julie Talbott, and Julia Ziegler as one of our four 2025 honorees.
The motivation for this award was to make sure on-air talent who have made a significant impact for a sustained period of time are recognized for their contributions. From radio to television to podcasting, audiences spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and even decades with some of our top talent. Those who inform, entertain, and challenge audiences for an extended period of time deserve to have their life’s work acknowledged in front of their peers, friends, and competitors.
With this year’s event taking place in the big apple, it just felt right to recognize a man who has poured his heart and soul on to the airwaves for thirty five years. His red beret and love, passion, and connection to New York City is impossible to ignore. His commitment to making it better is reflected in his pursuit to become the city’s next mayor. For his body of work and years of on-air impact, it is my pleasure to announce the inaugural recipient of the News Media Lifetime Achievement Award, Curtis Sliwa.
Curtis Sliwa‘s radio career began in 1990. He has been a mainstay on WABC for most of his career, adding a few stops at WNYC and AM 970 The Answer along the way. While working with longtime broadcast partner Ron Kuby on the “Curtis & Kuby” show, Sliwa enjoyed great success in both middays and mornings. He has worked locally most of his career, but did add national syndication in 2008-2009.
In addition to his radio work, Curtis created the “Magnificent 13” in 1977, a civilian group dedicated to combating violence and crime on the New York City Subway. The group was later renamed the Guardian Angels. Sliwa remains CEO of the nonprofit crime prevention organization. To learn more about Curtis and his quest to become New York City’s next mayor, click here.
The Premiere Networks awards ceremony takes place inside the Ailey Theater at the BNM Summit on Thursday September 4th between 11:30am-12:30pm. To attend the show, visit BNMSummit.com to get your tickets. All Summit ticket holders receive an invite to The Barrett Bash on Thursday September 4th in New York City. We hope to see you there!
Jason Barrett is the Founder and CEO of Barrett Media. The company launched in September 2015 and has provided consulting services to America’s top audio and video brands, while simultaneously covering the media industry at BarrettMedia.com, becoming a daily destination for media professionals. Prior to Barrett Media, Jason built and programmed 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He was also the first sports programmer for SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, which later became 97.5 The Fanatic. Barrett also led 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY, and worked on-air and behind the scenes at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years at ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT producing ‘The Dan Patrick Show’ and ‘GameNight’. JB can be reached on Twitter @SportsRadioPD or by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
