Yanks broadcaster Waldman, New Canaan’s Russo picked for Radio Hall of Fame
NEW YORK — Yankees radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman, MLB Network and Sirius XM Radio host Chris Russo and rock disk jockey Carol Miller were selected Monday for induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.
Radio hosts Broadway Bill Lee and Lon Helton, radio personality Ellen K and radio executives Jeff Smulyan and Marv Dyson also will be inducted in a ceremony in Chicago on Nov. 1.
The eight were chosen in secret voting by more than 600 industry professionals and the Hall’s nominating committee.
Waldman, 75, is in her 36th season covering or broadcasting the Yankees, her 18th as a radio color commentator. She was the first woman to become a fulltime MLB broadcaster.
“Suzyn has informed and entertained Yankees fans with precision and care for 36 years,” the Yankees said in a statement. “This accomplishment is the deserved result of decades of hard work and dedication to her craft, and we would be remiss to not laud her professionalism and resolve while staring down countless obstacles as a pioneering woman in her field.”
Russo, 62 and nicknamed “Mad Dog,” was hired by New York’s WFAN in 1988 and gained notoriety as cohost of “Mike and the Mad Dog” with Mike Francesa from 1989-2008. Russo, a resident of New Canaan has been with Sirius XM since 2008 and the MLB Network since 2014.
Miller, who listed her age in an email as “over 49,“worked at WNEW-FM in 1973, then briefly for WQIVFM before gaining wide attention at WPLJ-FM from 1975-83. She returned to WNEW-FM in 1984 for 17 years, then worked at WXRK (K-ROCK) and began at Sirius XM, where she still works. She also has been at WAXQ-FM since 2004 and has a nationally syndicated show “Carol Miller’s Get the Led Out”
for United Stations Radio Networks.
Ellen K, 59, was born Ellen J. Thoe and broadcast at KIIS-FM from 1990-2015 before switching to KOST. She has a nationally syndicated “Ellen K Weekend Show” on iHeartMedia stations.
Smulyan, 75, is founder and CEO of Emmis Communications. He was controlling owner of Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners from 1989-92.