NY Broadcasters To Induct 3 Into Hall Of Fame

The board of directors of the New York State Broadcasters Association, Inc. has selected three broadcasters for induction into the NYSBA Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place during our New York Broadcast Leadership and Hall of Fame Luncheon during the NAB/Show New York on Thursday, Oct. 19, at the Javits Center in New York City.

David Donovan, NYSBA president, said: “We are honored to induct Sandy Beach, Janet Lomax and Art McFarland into the NYSBA Hall of Fame. They represent the best in our profession. They serve as the ‘gold standard’ for those entering broadcasting. Throughout their careers they have demonstrated a commitment to serve their local communities. It is our privilege to have them enter the NYSBA Hall of Fame.”

The three:

Janet Lomax was an award-winning news anchor at WHEC Rochester, retiring after serving the community for 36 years as a broadcast journalist. Janet received her start a week after her college graduation, at WAVE in her hometown of Louisville, Ky. Lomax was hired as a reporter-photographer at WAVE and was quickly given additional duties as host/producer of Urban Insight, a weekly public affairs program. She worked at WAVE for four-and-a-half years before beginning her career at WHEC in 1980, as a reporter. Lomax quickly moved to co-anchor the main evening newscasts on Sept. 20, 1982. Janet was the first African American woman to anchor a main, weeknight newscast in Rochester, N.Y.

Over the years, Lomax has covered a variety of stories from national political conventions and the NYC visit by Pope John Paul II to a number of one-on-one interviews with prominent newsmakers including America’s First Lady Michelle Obama. In addition to her anchor duties, she reported on the arts, written and co-produced numerous half-hour specials and was responsible for Best Seat in the House which focused on the local arts scene. 

Art McFarland’s career spans 31 years in New York City. When he retired, he was the longest tenured reporter at WABC. McFarland was the station’s lead education reporter. He covered stories ranging from the latest innovations in educational technology, to successful teaching techniques, to unfortunate acts of misconduct by the small minority of misguided educators. McFarland was first in reporting the story of an overzealous city teacher who used packaging tape to discipline and restrain grade-school students. He had unlimited access at a Brooklyn school, where the principal was forced to suspend outside recess due to gunfire in the neighborhood. 

As an investigative reporter, Art’s series of exclusive reports helped expose corruption and child prostitution among residents of New York City’s welfare hotel system. Another series exposed a lack of fencing around Amtrak rail lines in upper Manhattan, which posed a danger to children who used the tracks as their playground. Art reported from South Africa on the political climate and the 1st anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s election to the presidency.

His versatility as an anchor made him a legend. McFarland was part of WABC’s early-morning newscast for many years. He originally was a co-anchor, while also presenting the daily weather forecast. When WABC revamped Eyewitness News This Morning, McFarland became the newscast’s sports reporter and stayed in that position for several more years.

After his retirement from WABC, Art began his second career as a highly successful actor. He was selected to play the title role of W.E.B. Du Bois in the critically acclaimed play The Most Dangerous Man in America. 

He attended Tuskegee University and the University of Michigan where he studied history, speech and drama.

Sandy Beach was a fixture in Buffalo radio for 35 years. Currently the top morning personality on WBEN-AM, Beach is one of the most recognized names in Buffalo radio history. A renowned WKBW Radio voice, Sandy has worked in Buffalo, Hartford, Dallas, San Francisco, and Milwaukee as an on-air talent. Beach has made a career of straddling the line of the conservative tastes of Buffalo, and has never let office or city hall politics get in the way of a good show. It’s that desire for great radio that has allowed Sandy to remain on top for decades. He was also program director for NBC and Capital Cities/ABC.

Beach is a three-time nominee for Billboard Magazine Personality of the Year. In May of 2003, he was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a DJ in 2013.”

The New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame is located at the S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. The Hall of Fame website may be found at http://hof.nysbroadcasters.org/

To attend the luncheon, please register on the NAB Show/NY website at https://www.nabshowny.com/register-plan/registration-packages