Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart
ATLANTA — For the second time in three years, Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart won top honors Thursday in the National Association of Broadcasters’ Marconi Awards.
The immensely popular morning team on Hubbard Radio hot adult-contemporary WTMX FM 101.9 was named Major Market Personalities of the Year. Both were on hand to receive their industry’s highest honor at the culminating dinner of the NAB Radio Show at the Marriott Marquis Atlanta.
It was a repeat of the duo’s first win in 2013.
“We’ve been doing this for 19 years now, and you’d have thought by now they would have kicked us out the door,” Ferguson joked in his brief acceptance. “But fortunately, maybe this buys us another year. So we’ll see.”
Said Hart: “I seriously wake up every day still feeling blessed that we get to do this for a living. Growing up in Chicago and listening to WLS, all I wanted to do was play records and maybe be a DJ. So this is just beyond. You don’t even know how much we appreciate it.”
In a night dominated by awards for Hubbard Radio stations across the country, the company’s classic hits WDRV FM 97.1 also was honored as Rock Station of the Year.
John Gallagher, vice president and market manager of Hubbard Radio Chicago, credited Greg Solk, senior vice president of programming for Hubbard Radio, as the mastermind behind The Drive 14 years ago, adding: “We’ve been live and local 24/7 with our personalities on the air, which is a great testament not only to the radio station but to Hubbard Broadcasting.”
Also present among the Hubbard Radio contingent from Chicago were Solk, Drew Horowitz, president and chief operating officer of Hubbard Radio, and Mary Ellen Kachinske, program director of The Mix.
Steve Harvey, whose morning show for Premiere Radio Networks airs on iHeart Media urban adult-contemporary WVAZ FM 102.7, again won for Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year.
Named for inventor Guglielmo Marconi, the awards were established in 1989 and recognize stations and individuals for excellence and performance in 20 categories.