The Outstanding Achievement in Media Awards recognize the lifetime achievements of distinguished individuals in the categories of radio, television, agency/allied fields, as well as in outdoor, magazine, newspaper, and internet. The awards not only recognize the winners for their significant contributions within the market, but they also celebrate their lives as outstanding overall individuals.
The MAP Board congratulates all of this year’s winners and would like to thank our members sincerely for the heartfelt nominations.
Let’s meet this year’s winners!
Mary Dee Dudley in 1948 broke racial and gender barriers by becoming the nation’s first African American female disk jockey. She launched her daily 15 minute show “Movin’ Around” on station WHOD in Homestead, Pa. Within six months her show was expanded from 15 minutes to an hour, and two years later to two hours. On her show Mary played the latest records by African American artists, introduced local talent, and interviewed national celebrities like Sarah Vaughan, Cab Calloway, and Jackie Robinson. She attracted national attention when Ebony magazine spotlighted her show. In August 1951, her show moved to “Studio Dee” at the corner of Herron and Center avenues in the Pittsburgh Hill district. Mary broadcast behind a large storefront window as young fans looked in and requested songs. Around 1954 her show was expanded to four hours, and “Studio Dee” moved to the Courier building. Mary left WHOD in 1956 to work in Baltimore. She worked for eight years on station WHAT in Philadelphia where she hosted a Monday through Saturday gospel music show called “Songs of Faith”.
Born Mary Goode, Mary Dee was a native of Homestead, Pa, and the daughter of William Goode, a steel worker who sent Mary and 4 of her 5 siblings to college. She graduated from Homestead High School and attended Howard University. After completing studies at Pittsburgh’s St. Mann Radio School she applied for a DJ job at the about to be launched new radio station WHOD in Homestead. The station owner Ferree said she could have a show if she found her own sponsor. She quickly found one. On Aug. 1, 1948, when WHOD went on the air for the first time, “Mary Dee” broadcast her first 15 minute show to become the nation’s first African American female disk jockey with a daily show. She broadcast on WHOD from 1948 to 1956. WHOD changed its call letters to WAMO in 1956.
When her show was expanded to two hours, she first brought in her brother, Malvin “Mal” Goode, to run a daily Pittsburgh Courier news segment. The Courier was then a prominent national black newspaper with local editions in major cities across the country. Mal covered police beatings, Jim Crow segregation, poor housing and prejudiced politicians. Later Mal became the first African American network news correspondent at any of the (then) three major networks, hired by American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television. She added Toki Schalk Johnson and Hazel Garland, also Courier reporters, to cover community and women’s issues. Mary Dee pioneered the basic African American radio format with music, news and community affairs.
Since Ann McFadden retired as vice president, creative director of Blattner Brunner (now Brunner), she has continued to add to her over 40 years of experience in creating advertising with work for Alcoa, Boyden, Isaly’s, Common Plea and Brunner as Creative Director Emeritus of Brunner.
Ann is an internationally renowned talent who led creative teams at a number of well-known agencies.
Prior to joining Blattner Brunner Inc. as vice president, creative director in 1990, Ann served as vice president and associate creative director at Della Femina, McNamee WCRS/Pittsburgh. She supervised creative development for such clients as Nestle’ Enterprises, Stouffer Foods, PPG Industries, Alcoa and Pittsburgh Brewing. Ann is personally responsible for the professionally acclaimed concepts and writing for Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine, Stouffer’s Pizza and Taster’s Choice Coffee.
She was a vice president, associate creative director at Ketchum Advertising in both Pittsburgh and San Francisco, working on accounts that included Heinz, Pittsburgh Paints, Rubbermaid, Hunt-Wesson Inc., and Bank of America. At Ted Bates, New York, and McCann Erickson, Australia, Ann was copywriter on a number of international accounts including Warner Lambert Inc., Bristol-Myers, and Yardley of London and Coca-Cola, Australia.
Ann has been honored with many national and international awards, including CLIO, Andy, British AD&D, International Film Festival, Mobius, as well as local, district and national American Advertising Federation Awards (Addy’s). The AAF District 2, Crystal Prism Award, Silver Medal Award and the BMA President’s Award. She also was inducted into the Pittsburgh Advertising Federation Hall of Fame.
A native of the outback of Australia, Ann is a graduate of the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. She is a member of the marketing committee of the Cultural Trust, the Pittsburgh Irish Classical Theatre, and the March of Dimes. President Emeritus/Lt. Governor of the American Advertising Federation-Pittsburgh Chapter, and presently Special Assistant to the Governor of AAF District 2. Ann is married with one son. She shares her family’s passion for Ice Hockey.
A native of Pittsburgh, Mary Beth Beggy grew up in Mt. Lebanon, graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School and went to the University of Dayton, OH. In the summer, she interned with KDKA-TV in the Public Relations Department under Carolyn McClair. She graduated from Dayton in 1989 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and the dream of owning her own PR Firm.
In 1990, the Spectrum Group hired her for a two-week job to help co-ordinate the launch party for KBL Sports at the Pittsburgh Sports Garden. Four years later, she moved on, and found her true calling in radio sales. Hired by B94 in 1994, Mary Beth worked her way up through the ranks from Account Executive to General Sales Manager under many ownership changes from EZ Communications to ARS to CBS. In 2004, Mary Beth was hired by Clear Channel as Sales Manager for WDVE.
While at Clear Channel, Mary Beth’s passion for all music, creative promotions and sales lead her to become the Sales Manager for WXDX in 2005, and then, the General Sales Manager of WKST in 2006. In 2007 she also became the General Sales Manager of WWSW. Today she is the GSM of WKST (96.1 Kiss) and WWSW (3WS) and anything else they need her to do including taking out the trash, washing the station vehicles, but they just won’t let her near the studios or a microphone.
Mary Beth has been honored twice by The Media Association of Pittsburgh as “Best Sales Manager” in 2007 and 2010. Recently she was voted the best aunt ever by Jack and Quinn Beggy.
Throughout her career, Mary Beth has worked with and raised money and awareness for dozens of charities including; Make-A-Wish Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis, Salvation Army, Susan G Komen, The Young Women’s Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation, and The Alzheimer’s Association, to name a few. Mary Beth is currently the Board President of the Cancer Caring Foundation in Bloomfield, PA.
A cancer survivor, she currently lives in Mt. Lebanon PA with her snail, Gary.
Michael Hills – Vice President / General Manager, Comcast Spotlight – has been in the television advertising industry since 1989. He has been with Comcast Spotlight since 2000 and initially served as General Sales Manager before moving into his current role as Vice President/General Manager in March of 2005. He is responsible for Comcast Spotlight’s Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Youngstown/Cleveland & Johnstown-Altoona-State College markets, employing approximately 110 people.
Prior to Comcast Spotlight, he served in broadcast television sales and sales management for 12 years at Sinclair Broadcast Group stations in Pittsburgh and in Sacramento. Michael received the first-ever Cable Advertising Sales Management Award at the Cable Television Advertising Bureau’s (CAB) annual conference in 2002. He also has been recognized as Best Sales Manager by the Media Association of Pittsburgh in 2002, 2003, 2004 and Best Overall Professional – Television in 2005.
Mr. Hills was instrumental in developing and launching the cable interconnect in Pittsburgh in 2000 and has been recognized for his yield management and inventory modeling. He is an innovator that has introduced ideas like automated workflow processes, master avail building systems and inside-outside sales team structures to increase efficiency and sales time on the streets. He pioneered by writing some of the first ad sales agreements in the country allowing on demand and online advertising sales for cable MSO partners. Plus he has helped lead Comcast Spotlight in launching interactive media products such as online ad networks, DMA wide and geo-targeted comcast.net advertising, Google Ad Words, Request For Information (RFI) and ad segmentation products like Adtag™ & Adcopy™ or geo targeted Verizon video homes.
Michael has been a presenter at the CAB, the Major Market Club and Comcast Spotlight’s President’s Club. He regularly speaks at small business and entrepreneur conferences, at local colleges and on panels about advertising. He is a familiar face at Pittsburgh advertising agencies, with Pittsburgh clients and inside national advertising agencies and rep firms.
Michael is a long term Board member and supporter of the Media Association of Pittsburgh. In 2007 he was President of MAP and helped lead the transition of that organization from the roots of the PRTC to the media resource that MAP is becoming today. He was also honored with the Art Stein Memorial Award in 2007 for service to the organization.
Mr. Hills earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from St. Vincent College in Greensburg. He and his wife Michele were married in 2002 and reside in the City of Pittsburgh.
Gene Collier has written sports, politics, and media criticism in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for more than 30 years and somehow managed to get away with it.
A native of Coaldale, a small, collapsed mining town between the ‘I’ and the ‘A’ in Pennsylvania, he took a journalism degree from Penn State in 1975, beginning his newspaper career in Pottstown that September. His first of many great career opportunities was covering the Phillies for the Philadelphia Journal, where he shrewdly criticized future Hall of Famers on a daily basis, and somehow got away with that, too.
Hired by the Post-Gazette in 1982, he was offered a job as sports columnist of the Pittsburgh Press two years later, a position he still describes as “the perfect crime.”
Save for a self-imposed six-year hiatus roaming the more serious topography of feature writing and political columns, he’s been a sports columnist ever since and has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, losing spectacularly both times.
In 2001, he co-authored with Rob Zellers a one-man play based on the life of Steelers founder Art Rooney. “The Chief,” starring Tom Atkins, subsequently enjoyed seven sold out runs at the O’Reilly Theatre and remains the most successful single play in the 35-year history of the Pittsburgh Public Theatre.
Since 1998, he has persisted against all well-intentioned advice at a moonlight career as a stand-up comic, most of it opening for Billy Gardell, now the star of the CBS hit sitcom “Mike and Molly.”
“Stand-up has come naturally to me,” he says, “it’s the comedy part that’s difficult.”
He is most proud of being consistently tolerated by his loving wife, Gerry, and his two wonderful sons, Sean and Andy.
He enjoys horse-back riding, para-sailing, and white-water rafting, just as long as he doesn’t have to do any of it.
Renee Previty has been in the advertising industry for over 14 years. She has been with RJW Media for the past four years as a Media Buyer/Planner and has recently delved in to the interactive world of planning and buying.
Prior to joining RJW Media in 2007, Renee spent one year as Senior Media Planner at Blattner Brunner and five years as Senior Media Planner at Ten United. She began her career in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in 1997 at Zimmerman & Partners Advertising, then spent some time at Stern Advertising and the now-defunct Market Place Print.
Renee joined MAP in 1998 (then known as the Pittsburgh Radio & Television Club) and served on the board from 2004 through 2009. She was Vice President of Celebration for four years and served as President in 2010.
Renee earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from the University of Pittsburgh in 1996. She and her husband Jeremy were married in 2006, and reside in Economy Borough with their daughter Alexia and two dogs, Toby and Stella.
