By: wzeiders

Broadcaster of the Year: Radio – John Wilsbach

John Wilsbach started in broadcasting at the age of 13 at the Middletown Area School District FM radio station WMSS in 1978. Wilsbach joined the PA Army National Guard after graduation and attended Harrisburg Area Community College, while starting his radio career at WOYK 1350AM in York. After a 3 year stint with WSBA, he found work with Radio Pennsylvania Sports
and WINK 104 in Harrisburg doing sports. During this time, he was also the Assistant GM of WMSS for the school district and became the play-by-play voice of the Harrisburg Heat pro indoor soccer team in 1991.

In 1992, he took the reins as General Manager of WMSS and the full-time Traffic Announcer duties at WINK 104 in 1995. Today, he is heard on 8 radio stations
throughout Central PA during morning and afternoon drive. He continues to announce the Heat on radio, TV, internet and SiriusXM. He has aired over 600 Heat games, over 1000 Middletown football and basketball games. He’s also been the Voice of Lebanon Valley College football and basketball for the past 20 years. He was also the voice of the Philadelphia Kixx MISL team during their 2007 championship and also the regular fill-in for the Hershey Bears during the 2006 Championship Season.

Wilsbach still finds time to DJ a popular All-Oldies 50’s & 60’s show every Saturday on WMSS. He was inducted into the Capital Area Chapter of the PA Sports Hall of Fame in 2022 and the Harrisburg Heat Hall of Fame in 2023.

 

 

Broadcaster of the Year: Television – Alex Holley

Alex Holley joined the FOX 29 News team in the summer of 2014 as co-host of “Good Day Philadelphia.” Her signature segment, “Alex Around Town,” highlights popular and undiscovered places and events happening in the viewing area.

Alex moved to Philly from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where she was a reporter and fill-in anchor for WMBF-TV’s morning news programs. Prior to that, she worked as an anchor, reporter, and producer at KOMU-TV in Columbia, Missouri. Alex anchored the innovative multi-source news website, Newsy.com, and is featured in the digital journalism display in the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

Since moving to Philadelphia, her work has garnered many awards, including a 2015 Emmy Award nomination for coverage of Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia. Philadelphia Magazine’s 2016 “Best of Philly” issue described her as ‘smart, funny and sassy’ in naming her “Best TV Personality,” an honor also bestowed on her in 2016 by the nation’s oldest society of professional journalists, The Philadelphia Pen & Pencil Club. That same year she was identified by NV (New Vision in Business) magazine as one of its “Movers & Shakers.”

A proud graduate of the University of Missouri, Alex carried a double minor in Sociology and Spanish. She was voted Mizzou’s Homecoming Queen and honored as a Mizzou39 member. She created a community service program for students called “SWIPES Make a Difference,” which continues to help college students donate unused meal plans to those in need in local communities. A third-generation member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Omega Omega Chapter, Alex is very popular in the local non-profit community where she continues the spirit of service to volunteer with many charitable organizations in the viewing area. She is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

One of her favorite hobbies is travel. Alex has explored more than twelve different countries, and is proficient in Spanish, having studied at the Universidad de Salamanca at age 13. She believes this global exposure helps add a versatile dimension to her work, as she uses her knowledge of different places to enhance the perspectives of her stories.

 

 

TV Hall Of Fame – Bernie Prazenica

Bernie Prazenica served as President and General Manager of WPVI-TV/6abc in Philadelphia from 2002 – 2026. The station is part of the Walt Disney Company in the country’s 5th largest television market. WPVI-TV is nationally recognized as one of the preeminent stations in news, local programming, and community involvement, with a ratings dominance that spans over four decades. WPVI-TV completed construction of a state of the art, 110,000 sq. ft, all digital facility, next to its previous home on City and Monument Avenues in 2009.

Prazenica also oversaw 6abc.com and its mobile applications, two digital channels, and 6abc Philadelphia – the stations 24/7 stream. The station’s website, apps, and stream are all among the market’s most popular.

Bernie’s career in television spans 45+ years and a number of stations and markets. WPTT-TV in Pittsburgh was the first stop as an Account Executive. Richmond, Virginia’s WXEX-TV quickly followed, then back to his college town of Philadelphia to begin a long stand with WPVI-TV and ABC.

After WPVI-TV’s owner, Capital Cities Communications, acquired the ABC Television Network, Prazenica joined ABC National TV Sales, representing all the ABC Owned Stations in the Mid-Atlantic region. Management of the Philadelphia office soon followed.

Bernie was promoted to WPVI-TV’s Director of Sales in 1994, and in 2002 accepted the position of President and General Manager at ABC’s owned station in Raleigh, North Carolina. In Raleigh, Bernie guided WTVD in construction of the market’s first street level studio, started a 10PM News, and brought a new commitment to local programming.

When Bernie returned to Philadelphia, he continued a long tradition of WPVI-TV community involvement. He served on many boards including, The Pennsylvania Visitors and Convention Bureau, Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters, City Avenue Special Services District, The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Corporate Council.

He still serves with Temple University’s Klein College Board of Advisors, Castleman’s Disease Collaborative Network Board of Advisors, and the Police Athletic League, where he also served time as Chairman.

Bernie is a proud recipient of the Lew Klein Alumni in the Media Award in 2009 and Temple University’s Gallery of Success recognition from the Klein School of Media and Communications. Bernie was named to the Philly Ad Club’s Hall of Fame in 2019 and awarded the Philadelphia Police Athletic League’s prestigious PAL Award in 2020.

Bernie is a proud cum laude graduate of Temple University with a B.A. in Communications, Radio-TV-Film. He lives in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania with his wife, Patty, and has two children, Caitlin and Michael, and three grandchildren, Amelia, David, and Alan.

 

 

Radio Hall of Fame – Jim Loftus

Jim Loftus began his career in radio as an on-air personality in Northeastern PA in 1977. He is the retired CEO of Times-Shamrock Communications, based in Scranton. They own radio stations in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Baltimore, and Milwaukee, and Shamrock Outdoor in NEPA.

Prior to that he was the COO of 7 Mountains Media, operating over 150 radio signals in 14 markets across PA and NY.

In 2015 he became the President and CEO at WBEB- B101/Philadelphia. Jim spent over 10 years as a Vice-President with CBS Radio in Philadelphia, serving as the General Manager of WOGL, WYSP, and as Director of Sales for their six station cluster and CBS Philly.com. For nine years he was Chief Operating Officer of Times-Shamrock Communications.

Earlier in his career Jim was the VP/GM for Susquehanna Radio’s five stations in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and the Director of Sales at Power 99 FM/ WUSL and Famous 56/WFIL in Philadelphia.

Jim is a former board member of the PAB, and a board member at St. Mary’s Villa Senior Care Campus in Elmhurst, PA. He taught communications at Temple University for 16 years. In 2016, he was inducted into the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneer’s Hall of Fame.

Jim is a 1981 graduate of Marywood College with a degree in Communication Arts. He and his wife Renee have an adult daughter, Riley, and reside at Moosic Lakes in NEPA.