2007 Hall of Fame

Each year, Broadcasting & Cable celebrates the power of television by honoring the best of the best. In a ceremony held Monday, October 22, at Cipriani 42nd Street in Manhattan, B&C welcomed 13 new inductees into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. The members of the 2007 class have brought electronic media to new heights through their drive, vision, leadership and all-around talent. Scroll down to learn more about this year's inductees, watch video of the event and browse our Hall of Fame photo galleries.

2007 Inductees

• Paul McTear
  Paul McTear, at this point in October, is in the midst of doing what he does best: building a television station. While the Raycom chief executive is also tackling bigger-picture issues like shaping Raycom's digital strategy, contemplating acquisitions, and figuring out how best to grab the lion's share of advertising revenue from the presidential hopefuls, McTear finds himself dabbling in the...
• Judy McGrath
  Rain fell from the inky skies over Manhattan just as Judy McGrath was racing for the Diplomat Hotel for the New Year's Eve Rock & Roll Ball. Anxious, she managed to get inside just as the doors were shutting on one of the biggest parties of the year. The year was 1982 and Bow Wow Wow was on stage, but even more impressive was the guest list, a Who's Who of the hottest stars in the...
• Phil Kent
  As the top executive of Turner Broadcasting, Phil Kent is leading the programming giant into a complicated future. With dozens of cable networks, a host of Websites and more than 9,000 employees worldwide under his purview, Kent says his goal is to make Turner a top player in every category, including television, online and future businesses. "Our strategy has been to evolve from singular...
• Bonnie Hammer
  One could learn a lesson from Bonnie Hammer-if you want to keep moving, keep pushing yourself. The USA/Sci Fi president has made it to the top of the cable industry through empathic leadership, creative vision and, most importantly, a personal drive to seek new challenges, especially if they're just a little out of reach. "Somebody saying, 'You can't do that' is what motivates me,"...
• Charles Gibson
  "Slow and steady wins the race" is an adage that wouldn't seem to hold much currency in the world of television news. For Charles Gibson, it's been the signature of an exceptional broadcasting career. After a 40-year climb, Gibson is on top. Long a familiar presence on ABC News as a correspondent, fill-in anchor and morning-news host, he has emerged as the network's name brand since...
• Harry Friedman
  As each weekday slopes into evening, and we return home from work and settle in with family, America's thoughts turn to Harry Friedman. Not the man directly, perhaps, but more than anybody else in television, Friedman-executive producer since 1999 of the two highest-rated series in syndication, the dinnertime staples Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy -has kept viewers entertained, challenged...
• Brian France
  It is one of the most thrilling sights in sports television: 43 stock cars bunched together, racing nearly 200 mph, climbing up the massive 31-degree banked turn at Daytona International Speedway and heading back down for another lap. The swift spectacle goes on every February in Nascar's signature race, the Daytona 500. Every once in a while-with the cars off the track, of course-Nascar...
• Rocco Commisso
  Rocco Commisso's story is an American classic. At the age of 12, he immigrated to this country with his family from Italy and became a success through determination, an entrepreneurial spirit and some breaks along the way. "I recognized the opportunities this country has given me," says Commisso, the outspoken founder and CEO of cable operator Mediacom. "Opportunities I would...
• Bill Cella
  Bill Cella's accomplishments in the media business-culminating in his current position as chairman/CEO of media buying powerhouse Magna Global Worldwide-were partly due to a pushy aunt. After graduating from college in 1973, a love of literature fueled the bearded English major's desire to pursue a career as a writer. But that wasn't very practical thinking in the middle of a recession. The...
• Mark Burnett
  Boldly moving from innovator to "survivor," he is the most original programmer in reality TV. Twenty-five years after working as a nanny and peddling T-shirts on California's Venice Beach when he first came to the United States from England, Mark Burnett is well aware of how lucky he is. Having now produced more than 600 hours of programming for broadcast television, the creative...
• Frank Bennack Jr.
  During a 23-year tenure as president and CEO of Hearst Corp., Frank Bennack Jr. helped transform a company best known for its roots in publishing into a force in the TV business. Under Bennack's watch, Hearst added significant holdings in local broadcast and cable, including stakes in Lifetime, A&E and ESPN, which are hallmarks of his career. "Part of Hearst's success has always been...