Louie Manno, Dan Dubonnet named to Vermont broadcasters Hall of Fame

Veteran morning radio personality Louie Manno and longtime Hall Communications VP and General Manager Dan Dubonnet have been selected for induction this year into the Vermont Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Manno, aka ‘Manno in the Morning,’ helped usher in a new era of personality-driven local radio in Vermont when he was hired away from WTIC-FM in Hartford and began hosting the morning show on WQCR-FM (now WOKO-FM) in 1985. Considered one of the most creative air personalities in the region, Manno later was a morning talk show host and co-owner of WKDR-AM in Burlington. He has won numerous awards and was an active volunteer for Toys for Kids of Vermont.
Dubonnet began his radio career as a disc jockey in Connecticut and was named Program Director for Burlington’s WQCR-FM and WJOY-AM in 1985. Hall Communications named him General Manager in 1989. Under his leadership, the group expanded to five stations, adding WKOL-FM, WBTZ-FM and WIZN-FM. Active in community events, his stations have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity, notably Camp Ta-Kum-Ta and the Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care. Dubonnet also served multiple terms as VAB President.
Jeff Shapiro, owner of Great Eastern Radio, has been named the VAB Broadcaster of the Year. Late last year, he purchased five Vermont radio stations from Nassau Broadcasting in a bankruptcy proceeding. He has helped those stations prosper, and is a strong proponent of local broadcasting and community involvement.
This year’s Distinguished Service Awards will be presented to Ross Sneyd of Plainfield and Brian Collamore of Rutland.
Sneyd was a panelist on VPT’s ‘Vermont This Week’ for more than 20 years and was a news reporter for VPR for six years before leaving broadcast journalism to join National Life in Montpelier earlier this year. His keen insights into state government and politics will be missed by VPT viewers and VPR listeners.
Collamore has been in the Rutland radio market for more than 40 years, starting as a disc jockey at WHWB AM and FM. He joined WSYB-AM in 1974 and has been on the air since, at WSYB, WZRT-FM and WDVT-FM, all part of the Catamount Radio Group. He has co-hosted the daily ‘Proctor Gas Morning Show’ since 1995. His sales career started in 1978 and he was named Catamount’s General Sales Manager in 2006.
Jenny Day, news reporter at FOX44/ABC22, is this year’s recipient of the Alan Noyes Community Service Award. In 2012 Day took to the airwaves with a number of stories about cancer, including one about her own screening. Although cancer claimed both of her parents’ lives, she was shocked when test results revealed she had melanoma. She brought cameras into her doctor’s office to report on her own surgery. Her story triggered a station-wide campaign with the American Cancer Society to raise awareness about cancer prevention and early detection.
Judy Anderson of WJJR-FM in Rutland will also receive a VAB Community Service Award for her work in raising money and awareness in the fight against cancer. Judy lost her husband to cancer in 2011, and she became Co-Chair for publicity for the annual Relay for Life of Rutland County. Described by a fellow walk-a-thon volunteer as a ‘relentless’ organizer, Anderson helped the event raise a record $200,000, putting into the top ten such events in New England.
The VAB’s third Community Service Award this year goes to Morrisville’s WLVB-FM. In 2000, WLVB’s Roland Lajoie was approached by local businessman Chris Potter to start a campaign to collect frozen turkeys for needy families who would otherwise go without on Thanksgiving. The first year, 250 turkeys were collected. Potter died of cancer the next year, so the station renamed the campaign in his honor. Last year, the WLVB Chris’ Challenge Turkey Drive collected 1,344 turkeys and $2000 cash for five local food shelf operators. Over the years, more than 11,000 turkeys have been donated.
The awards will be presented at the annual VAB Hall of Fame Banquet on December 7 at the Hilton Burlington. For more information, please visit the VAB at www.vab.org.