The latest class of Friends of Georgia Radio inductees include former V-103 host Carol Blackmon, V-103 head honcho Rick Caffey and former Star 94 general manager Mark Kanov.
The Friends of Georgia Radio is holding its second annual ceremony August 26 with host Ernie Johnson Jr. to honor several Georgia radio professionals. The group is an offshoot of what used to be the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. The creator of that group John Long declined to lend his group’s name to the new organization, but all previous members of the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame were automatically inducted into the Hall of Legends.
Blackmon, a Buffalo, New York, native, was part of the popular V-103 morning show with Mike Roberts in the 1990s. (Roberts was inducted into the original Georgia Radio Hall of Fame in 2013.)
For eight years, Blackmon and Roberts connected with fans via daily call-in polls, interactive games such as “Battle of the Sexes” and gobs of community support. She interviewed everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Samuel L. Jackson. “We stuck to a simple premise: educate, entertain and inform,” Roberts said in 2009.
Blackmon has since opened a media coaching service and for seven years hosted a midday show at Majic 107.5/97.5 and later became part of the “The Chubb Rock Show with SiMan Baby.” She has been a host with the Georgia Lottery for nearly 30 years. She was inducted .into the National Black Radio Hall of Fame in 2021.
Caffey, a Chicago native, has been market manager of the once dominant R&B station V-103 and news/talk 1380 AM since 1994 and later added 92.9, both when it was rock station Dave FM and now as sports talk station 92.9/The Game, as well as pop station Star 94. He has survived multiple corporate bosses including Infinity, CBS and now Audacy, and is currently the longest running general manager level radio executive.
“I am very humbled and honored to be included with such an outstanding class of radio professionals,” said Caffey in a text.
V-103 under his watch won the prestigious National Association of Broadcasters’ Marconi Award five times.
Caffey last year was also inducted into The Georgia Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Mark Kanov spent 40 years in the radio business, much of it as general manager of top 40 station Star 94 during its heyday in the 1990s and 2000s. He started as a sales executive at top 40 station 790/WQXI-AM in 1968, moving up the ranks until he became station manager of Star 94 in 1990, then general manager in 1994. He retired in 2008. “It is an honor,” he said.
The three others inducted this year: long-time radio consultant Alan Sneed, who ran 96rock for a time in the 1980s, veteran Cox Atlanta radio engineer Charles Kinney and Ken Woodfin, who used to own stations in Columbus and Macon.
IF YOU GO
Friends of Georgia Radio Gala and Induction Banquet, 6 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 26, $99 a seat, Olde Towne Special Events 4950 Olde Towne Parkway Marietta, www.eventbrite.com
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
