Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony moving to L.A.

Two broadcasters with Chicago connections — Dick Orkin of “Chickenman” fame and Ira Glass of “This American Life” — will be among this year’s honorees in the National Radio Hall of Fame. But their induction won’t be in Chicago.

The 2014 induction ceremony will be held Nov. 9 in Los Angeles, marking its first time outside of Chicago since it began in 1992. The shrine to radio’s great personalities and programs is housed at the Museum of Broadcast Communications at 360 North State Street.

Dick Orkin

Dick Orkin

“The National Radio Hall of Fame is taking the show on the road this year,” Bruce DuMont, founder and president of the museum, said in a statement Thursday. “There are many Radio Hall of Famers living in southern California and several 2014 inductees, so it seems like a great time to try something different, and it will be good to do the show live once again.”

The black-tie event will be hosted by Delilah, the syndicated radio personality, and carried live in a two-hour broadcast produced and distributed by Premiere Networks. The venue in L.A. has not yet been selected.

Ira Glass

Ira Glass

DuMont said the move is no slight to Chicago. “That’s certainly not the intent,” he told me. “The Radio Hall of Fame is here, the leadership of the project is here, and the selection process is here. We’re not making any long-term commitments, and this doesn’t mean there’s never going to be another event here.”

Added DuMont: “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, but they have their [induction] ceremony in New York. We’re excited about it.”

Here are the 2014 inductees, chosen by the Radio Hall of Fame steering committee:

  • Dick Orkin, the creative genius behind “Chickenman” and other radio serials at Chicago’s WCFL in the 1960s and ’70s, who went on to establish Dick Orkin’s Radio Ranch, a leading advertising production company, in California.
  • “This American Life,” the groundbreaking public radio documentary series, created at Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5. Ira Glass continues as host and executive producer of the program, now based in New York.
  • Barry Farber, veteran New York talk show host, now heard on CRN Digital Talk Radio.
  • Jon Miller, National Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster and voice of the San Francisco Giants.
  • Charlie Brown and Irv Harrigan, (a.k.a. Jack Woods and Paul Menard), radio duo in Dallas, Cleveland, Houston and San Diego, who pioneered a new form of syndication to more than 40 affiliates across the country.
  • Agnes Moorehead (posthumous), famed radio actress and original ensemble member of Orson Welles’s The Mercury Theatre on the Air. She later became known for her TV sitcom role as Endora on “Bewitched.”
  • Stanley E. Hubbard (posthumous), radio pioneer and visionary, and patriarch of Minneapolis-based Hubbard Broadcasting.

In addition to the seven honorees, this year’s event also will salute women previously inducted in the Radio Hall of Fame: actors Eve Arden, Virginia Payne, Shirley Bell, Virginia Clark and Julie Stevens; comedians Gracie Allen and Jane Ace; writers/creators/stars Marian Jordan and Gertrude Berg; producer Lynne “Angel” Harvey; executive Cathy Hughes; journalists Ann Compton and Susan Stamberg; interviewer Terry Gross; singer Kate Smith; and hosts Wendy Williams, Yvonne Daniels, Terri Hemmert and Marian McPartland.