The Radio Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 runs the gamut from the executive at the helm of America’s largest radio company to a Chicagoland radio legend, with the Museum of Broadcast Communications announcing eight inductees today.
Six were selected by a voting panel of more than 950 industry professionals, with ballots overseen by Miller Kaplan’s Andrew Rosen. Two executive inductees were chosen by the Radio Hall of Fame Nominating Committee.
Bob Pittman, who co-founded MTV in 1981 and held senior roles at AOL Time Warner before taking the helm at Clear Channel Communications, leads the executive inductees. Under his leadership, the company rebranded as iHeartMedia and expanded aggressively into podcasting.
On the executive side, alongside Pittman, is Dennis Green. Green spent 22 years at Westwood One, rising to SVP of Affiliate Sales and Broadcast Operations. He later co-launched Key Networks in 2019, and currently serves as COO of both Key Networks and Sun & Fun Media, as well as Co-Chair of the Radio Hall of Fame.
WFAN morning co-host Boomer Esiason, a fixture in New York sports radio for more than a decade, is among the on-air inductees. The former NFL quarterback and two-time Pro Bowl selection made a Super Bowl appearance with the Cincinnati Bengals before transitioning to sports media. Shotgun Tom Kelly, who built his reputation as a Top 40 jock in Los Angeles before landing on SiriusXM’s 60s on 6, is also included.
Helen Little, the most-listened-to non-syndicated radio personality in the country as midday host at iHeartMedia’s WLTW in New York, rounds out the New York contingent. Earlier in her career she served as Director of Urban Programming and OM of WUSL Power 99 in Philadelphia, and later as President of Ruffnation Records and Urban Marketing Director at Warner Music Group. Comedian and actor Rickey Smiley, whose morning show is syndicated through Urban One/Reach Media across more than 60 markets, is also inducted.
The two on-air veterans rounding out the class are Charlie Van Dyke, who was working major-market radio at Dallas’s KLIF by age 19, went on to program KHJ Los Angeles, and spent the 1980s as the primary fill-in for Casey Kasem on American Top 40, and Fred Winston, who began as an afternoon DJ at WLS Chicago in 1971 and spent the next several decades as one of the city’s most recognized voices.
Radio Hall of Fame Co-Chair Kraig Kitchin said each inductee “has performed at the highest levels for a sustained period of time” to make the industry more impactful to listeners and advertisers. The induction ceremony is set for October 8 in Chicago, with tickets on sale now through the Radio Hall of Fame website.
