The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) has elected three industry professionals to its Board of Directors.
One heads iHeartMedia’s spoken word network superserving African American consumers, and he’s being joined by the Associate Professor in the Radio-TV-Film Department at The University of Texas at Austin, and by the longtime President of Katz Television Group.
As such, the LABF board now includes Tony Coles, President of Multi-Cultural Business and Development and President of BIN: Black Information Network.
Coles has a long history in radio programming and management, and has served as Metro Markets Group Division President, leading markets including Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, St. Louis, and New Orleans; and as Executive Vice President of Programming for the company’s Western US markets from 2016-2020. During his 20 years at iHeartMedia, he has held several leadership roles, including Senior Vice President of Programming for Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest, as well as Operations Manager of the Chicago region.
Coles currently serves as the Vice Chair on the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America board of directors, as well as serving on the board for the National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation, and the Radio Advertising Bureau.
Also new to the LABF board is Dr. Caroline Frick, the UT Austin faculty member who also serves as the founder and Executive Director of the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, an organization devoted to the discovery and preservation of media related to the state.
Prior to her work in Texas, Dr. Frick worked in film preservation at Warner Bros., the Library of Congress, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Dr. Frick also programmed films for the American Movie Classics cable channel in New York and served for four years as the President of the Board for the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA).
Lastly, Leo MacCourtney, the Katz Television Group head, is taking a LABF board seat. His career in media advertising began at WERE Radio in Cleveland. In 1981, MacCourtney left radio to join Blair Television as an account executive. He was promoted to President/CEO of Blair Television in 1998, a position he held for nine years. In 2007, Leo joined Katz Television Group as Vice President of Business Development. He became President of Eagle Television Sales in 2008. In March of 2012, Leo was appointed to his current role as President of the Katz Television Group.
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Tony, Caroline, and Leo to the LABF Board of Directors,” said LABF co-chairs Heidi Raphael, the Beasley Media Group Chief Communications Officer, and Jack Goodman, a former NAB general counsel and longtime DC-based Communications attorney. “Their valuable insight and experience will help in our mission to preserve, protect and promote radio and television broadcasting’s incredible history.”
Executive Committee members elected to additional two-year terms include Heather Birks, Harry Jessell, Kathy Kirby, Jim Morley, Heidi Raphael, and Joyce Tudryn. In addition, Dennis Wharton was approved to join the Committee.
The following LABF board members were elected to serve new three-year terms: Pierre Bouvard, Gary Chapman, Mary Collins, Mike Conway, Dave “Chachi” Denes, Erica Farber, Harry Jessell, David Kennedy, Dr. Judy Kuriansky, Brian Philips, Heidi Raphael and Julie Talbott.
Other current LABF board members include Heather Birks, Sally Brown, Michael Carter, Mary Collins, April Carty-Sipp, Chandra Clark, John Dille, Jack Goodman, Richard Liebner, Jim Morley, Ginny Hubbard, Deborah Parenti, Larry Patrick, Walter Podrazik, Patricia Smullin, Jeff Smulyan, Dan Spears, John Taylor, Joyce Tudryn, and Dennis Wharton.
