Johnjay & Rich: Hall Of Famers!
• Look at these two mugs-made-for-radio and tell me they don’t belong in some kind of hall of fame… The Arizona Broadcasters Association (ABA) announced the names of outstanding broadcasters to be honored with entry into the Arizona Broadcasters Hall of Fame. The 2018 inductees, who were chosen based on their outstanding contributions to broadcast journalism, are: Art Brooks, JD Freeman, Donna Rossi and two guys who call themselves Johnjay and Rich. No, seriously.
Brooks is the longtime President and CEO of the Arizona Broadcasters Association. Freeman’s 41-year broadcasting career includes Market Manager stints in Phoenix, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ms. Rossi is an Emmy-winning local TV reporter.
Johnjay Van Es (left) and Rich Berra (right) first teamed up at KRQQ/Tucson in 2001 and moved their show to KZZP/Phoenix in 2006. The guys entered the possibly lucrative world of syndication with Premiere Networks in 2014. RAMP caught up with our pal Rich Berra, who told us, “Johnjay and I are shocked that anybody would listen to what we pass off as entertainment on a daily basis and consider us for any actual broadcasting achievements. However, neither of us have a tremendous amount of sports trophies on account of… well… look at us… so we are honored, humbled, and will proudly wear our sashes to all iHeartMedia events and Don Anthony‘s Boot Camp. We get trophies and sashes, right?”
This year’s inductees will be honored at the ABA Hall of Fame luncheon on October 11 at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale. Past inductee Pat McMahon will be your Master of Ceremonies. Proceeds from the luncheon support important ABA programs including AZ AMBER Alert, broadcast scholarships at ASU, NAU and UA, along with the Summer High School Broadcast Institute at ASU.
