The Arizona Broadcasting Future and Awards Lunch previews new broadcasting trends, the state of our industry and ABA focus areas to help protect business. We also honor a select few worthy broadcasters in two categories, the Arizona Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Arizona Newcomer Award.

Due to COVID-19, our 2020 and 2021 lunches will be combined into a celebration we hope to host in early 2022.

Hall of Fame inductees for 2021 include: 

MARK CURTIS

Mark has been a recognizable face on Phoenix TV since 1980 when he joined 12News (KPNX-TV) as a sports reporter. After leaving Arizona in 1987 to grow his career, he came back to 12News in 1995 as Chief Sports Anchor before moving to Evening News Anchor in 2004. Mark has covered just about every big story in Arizona over the last two decades and has a passion for the political world in Arizona. He’s won more than a dozen high profile awards during his career that range from Emmys to Murrows and is now one of Arizona’s longest serving news anchors in state history.

SUSAN KARIS

Susan has spent 30+ years in Arizona radio, perhaps most prominently as Executive Vice President of Operations for Western Major Markets at Clear Channel Radio and now as VP of Sales at Hubbard Radio Phoenix. Susan has been named to the list of the “50 Most Influential Women in Radio” and was also the first radio-industry executive inducted into ASU’s Walter Cronkite School Alumni Hall of Fame. Susan is an avid community supporter, involved with several organizations throughout her career and currently serves on the Endowment Board of Trustees at the Walter Cronkite School in Phoenix.

SCOTT VAUGHAN

Scott started his broadcasting career while in college at the University of Arizona. He got part-time jobs at Tucson’s KGUN-TV and KUAT-TV, as well as summer work at Phoenix’s KTVK-TV, and received a $100 scholarship from the ABA to help him invest in the business. After college, he went to work in sales at KGUN, growing through the ranks to General Manager in 1978. He was elected ABA Board Chair, joined the ABC affiliate board and NAB board and eventually left the GM chair to become the Director of Network Television Development for the Tucson-based Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Hall of Fame inductees for 2020 include: 

JIM CROSS

Jim is one of the biggest names in Arizona news. He has spent 40 years in broadcasting, with 25 of them right here in Arizona. His Arizona career in broadcasting began at KAAA radio in Kingman where he spent five years as a reporter before moving to Phoenix to join KTAR news. Jim has spent the last 20 years at the all-news station as a reporter, historian and lead storyteller for Arizona’s biggest events.  Known for his iconic voice, Jim’s community passion has always been working with firefighters to make sure their stories are told.

LARRY DANIELS

Larry is a Phoenix radio pioneer. He spent nearly 30 years helping to create Phoenix country radio powerhouse station KNIX. Under his leadership, the station garnered seven CMA Station of the Year Awards, five ACM Station of the Year Awards, two Billboard Magazine Awards, and three Marconi Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting. During his tenure, Larry was also an active community partner, serving as a board member at the American Cancer Society, East Valley Child Crisis Center, Police and Fire Toy Drive, Great Arizona Bike Ride and Country Music Association in Nashville. In 2007, he was inducted into the Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

JEANNE-MARIE CONDO

Jeanne-Marie is an innovator behind some of America’s largest radio networks.  She started her Arizona broadcasting career in media sales before helping to launch Arizona-based startup Skyview Networks in the 1990s. Over the course of 25 years, she built a local radio syndication brand that now partners with nearly every major sports brand and has 100% coverage across the country. As the syndicator for national brands like ABC Audio and CBS Audio, she also led the sales strategy to keep both brands dominant in music, news and sports. Jeanne-Marie is now the Executive VP and General Manager of Skyview Networks, overseeing a team of 100. In Arizona, Skyview programming airs on 50 stations. Across America, that number is 9,000!