By: wzeiders
Denise Nakano (KYW Newsradio) and Jessica Kartalija (CBS Philadelphia) will be honored as Broadcasters of the Year; Keith Blaisdell (abc27-WHTM) and Chris Shovlin (RMU) inducted into Broadcast Hall of Fame; among 90+ Excellence in Broadcasting Award winners.
HARRISBURG, PA – On April 25 and 26, The Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters will present its 2024 Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting at the Harrisburg Hilton in downtown Harrisburg. More than 90 award winners will be recognized and receive their physical award statue. Broadcaster of the Year honors will be presented to Denise Nakano of KYW Newsradio and Jessica Kartalija of CBS Philadelphia. The 2024 PAB Hall of Fame inductees are Keith Blaisdell of abc27-WHTM and Chris Shovlin of Robert Morris University.
“This annual event gives us an opportunity to recognize the outstanding talent of our member stations from all across the Commonwealth,” said Joe Conti, President of the PAB. “Our Hall of Fame and Broadcasters of the Year represent some of the finest in our industry. And this year we will offer a series of Thursday seminars to give broadcasters and industry talent a chance to learn more about sales, artificial intelligence and multigenerational approaches.”
The annual event recognizes and celebrates Pennsylvania broadcasters’ hard work. PAB Awards are presented in various categories for broadcast radio and television stations. This year, 465 entries were received across 20 different categories, and they were judged by the Alaska Association of Broadcasters.
The PAB will present 99 awards to 48 different stations and broadcast groups at the annual luncheon. WVIA, KDKA, KYW, WPSU and WQSU led among total award winners. A complete list of 2024 award winners can be found here.
PAB will induct Keith Blaisdell into the TV Hall of Fame and Chris Shovlin into the Radio Hall of Fame. The Radio Broadcaster of the Year is Denise Nakano and the Television Broadcaster of the Year is Jessica Kartalija. There will also be the Excellence in Broadcasting Awards and the Broadcast Now high school program awards.
Broadcaster of the Year Bios:
About Denise Nakano
Denise Nakano is the midday anchor for KYW Newsradio, 103.9 FM and 1060 AM in Philadelphia. She joined KYW Newsradio in the Summer of 2020 from NBC10, where she anchored and reported for 17-years. Nakano has covered some of the region’s biggest stories, including the deadly Market Street collapse, the Amtrak train derailment and Superstorm Sandy.
Nakano has been recognized with numerous awards including the City and State PA 2023, the 2023 Impact Award from the Pan Asian Association of Greater Philadelphia, the recipient of the 2023 PA Power 100 Award, a national Edward R. Murrow Award for best documentary and recognized with eight national and regional Emmy Awards for breaking news, investigative reporting and for her coverage of the local heroin epidemic. She was also honored by the city of Philadelphia with a proclamation recognizing her reporting on the heroin crisis in Philadelphia.
Nakano is an active member of and previous National Board Representative of the Asian American Journalists Association.
About Jessica Kartalija
Jessica Kartalija anchors the 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 p.m. newscasts at CBS News Philadelphia.
Kartalija joined the CBS Philadelphia team in the fall of 2018, coming from CBS Baltimore, where she anchored the 5 pm news. Prior to Baltimore, she worked in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Yuma, Arizona. She teaches Journalism and Public Speaking courses at Villanova University, and is on the advisory board of Horizons Greater Philadelphia, a camp for children with cancer. She has also worked with the Special Olympics, The House of Ruth Maryland, The Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) at Kennedy Krieger Institute, and was on the Board of Trustees at the Irvine Nature Center. She currently teaches journalism at Villanova.
She graduated from The Pennsylvania State University, majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Spanish. She has a master’s degree in Communications from The Johns Hopkins University.
Hall of Fame Bios:
About Keith Blaisdell
Keith Blaisdell is the Chief Engineer for abc27-WHTM Television in Harrisburg. He is the recipient of more than 40 awards from the Associated Press, PAB, National Press Photographers Association, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Keystone Media Awards.
Blaisdell is an engineering/production leader and was instrumental in the development and implementation of new high definition (HD) technology and live capabilities in PA broadcasting. Recently, Blaisdell developed a new studio and full facility for WHTM and a studio for Pennsylvania religious broadcaster Lighthouse TV. In 2022, Keith led the development of a closed captioning solution that allowed John Fetterman to debate Mehmet Oz statewide for the US Senate in one of the highest rated local TV programs in recent Pennsylvania history.
Prior to his work on the tech side of broadcasting, Blaisdell was a video editor, photojournalist, chief photojournalist, news operations manager, assistant news director and ultimately news director at WHTM TV abc27 Harrisburg. He is a Messiah University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication.
About Chris Shovlin
Chris Shovlin has served for over 37 seasons as the play-by-play “Voice” of the Robert Morris University Colonials Basketball Team, calling more than 1,100 NCAA Division-I games. Shovlin also hosts RMU’s talk shows on various platforms, including ESPN+. Chris is the only sportscaster to have won three Pittsburgh March of Dimes Achievement In Radio (A.I.R) Awards for Best Sports Play-By-Play in three different sports: football, basketball and soccer.
Shovlin has been a news and sports anchor, show host, and DJ at numerous stations, including: WISH 99.7 FM and 1320 WJAS-AM, WBGN-TV, WBVP-AM, WWKS-FM, WBZY-AM, WKST-AM simulcasts, WMBA-AM, among others. Shoviln also served as the Vice President and General Manager at WBVP-AM and WWKS-FM, while also serving in a variety of on-air roles. He previously served as the TV and radio “voice” of both the Pittsburgh Passion (women’s professional football) and Pittsburgh Riverhounds (professional soccer), as well as filling in on play-by-play for Pitt Panthers Basketball broadcasts. He has broadcast nearly every RMU Football game since that sport’s inception in 1994.
Outside of his duties as the “Voice of the Colonials” at RMU, Shovlin is the Chief Executive Officer of Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center and spokesperson for the Organizing Committee of the Midland Innovation + Technology Charter School. He serves on the Executive Committee of the WPIAL Hall of Fame.
Shovlin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Drama from Westminster College.
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About the PAB:
The Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters endeavors to promote collaboration between radio and television broadcast station owners, managers and staff across the Commonwealth. We assist our member stations in serving their communities, audiences and advertisers through FCC licensed free, over-the-air broadcast program operations.
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