Honoring Terry Havel

Charmaine and I were in Sturgeon Bay, WI Thursday for an exciting event with the Wisconsin Broadcast Association Hall of Fame. Here's the scoop from the Racine Journal Times:

After more than 30 years as the founder and guiding voice of WBSD in Burlington,
Terry Havel is signing off at the end of the school year.WBSD (89.1 FM), is
Burlington High School’s radio station. Havel, one of the newest members of the
Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame, is leaving the school at the
end of the month for Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.He will be
program director of Southeastern’s student radio station — KLSU — and is one of
four WBA Hall of Fame inductees this year.

Willie Davis, Jonathan Little and Mike McCormick are the others. Havel, 65, came to Wisconsin in 1965 from his hometown of Barrington, Ill. He taught speech and drama at what was then Salem Central High School (now Westosha Central) in western Kenosha County. He moved to Burlington in 1970. At BHS he also taught speech and drama. It was about two years later that broadcasting came to the school.“We started doing a 45-minute prerecorded program for broadcast in the lunchroom,” Havel said.“We went on a split shift — the upper classmen in the morning and lower classmen in the afternoon. We were asked to pipe in music. That lasted about two years and that was how student radio began in Burlington.”

WBSD-FM whose tagline is "Great Rock, Real Variety, 89 BSD" is a 300 Watt radio
station transmitting from the former Burlington High School (now Karcher Middle
School) with studios located in the new Burlington High School in Burlington,
Wisconsin.

The station broadcasts a "AAA" format and is on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week. WBSD also carries live play-by-play broadcasts of Burlington High School sporting events. It is owned by the Burlington School District from which its call sign is derived.

WBSD recently celebrated its 32nd anniversary under the direction of Terry Havel.
Havel was the founder of the station which was originally broadcast from a small
storage room in the former Burlington High School and limited to closed circut
within the school. Today, WBSD has a broadcast radius of approximately 25 miles
and can be heard worldwide via the internet.

Burlington High School has a number of Broadcasting classes that encourage students to study to gain the knowledge necessary to earn their FCC license and their first chance of being on
the air. These classes, along with skills gained through training at the radio station, allows students to develop the abilities necessary to become responsible for the day to day operations of WBSD.

I'm happy to say that I was one of several people who submitted letters to the WBA to induct Terry. Here's what I wrote:

To members of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association,

33 years ago, Terry Havel, as advisor, helped the radio club at Burlington High School plan a year of fund-raising and lobbying to make an educational FM station become a reality. Holding a part-time professional radio gig of his own, Terry also mentored us in the skills needed to make WBSD-fm a viable resource for the community. In the classroom as educator, Terry Havel taught broadcasting basics so the on-air product would be credible. Through the long after school and weekend hours, endless fund-raising dances with horrible local cover bands, and teen angst, Terry Havel was our friend. He never talked down to us, but encouraged us to do our best, and to his credit and honor, WBSD-fm continues as a model educational radio program today.

My own personal career path in radio was launched in those small studios cobbled out of extra janitor closets, and I can say with all honesty that I’d be doing something else today if it were not for Terry Havel (and it would probably be a job that’s not nearly as fun and exciting as broadcasting!)

Youth is the future of any vocation, and no one has nurtured it in broadcasting as much as Terry Havel.

No one is more deserving of induction into the WBA Foundation Hall of Fame, than advisor, mentor, educator, and my friend, Terry Havel.

Terry's program has turned out some prominent alumni:

Shad Brannen -- President of WIN TV, previously worked at WZEE 104.1 FM - Madison, WKTI 94.5 FM - Milwaukee, and WRKR 107.7 FM - Racine.

Dave Dickinson (AKA John Perry) -- Program Director for WIIL 95.1 FM - Kenosha.

Ted Ehlen -- Station Manager WZRK 1550 AM - Lake Geneva and on-air at WLKG 96.1 FM - Lake Geneva.

Duco Hasert -- On- air at WIIL 95.1 FM - Kenosha.

Erik Hellum -- General Manager KMVP 860 AM, KPKX 98.7 FM, KTAR 620 AM & 92.3 FM - Phoenix, AZ.

Brian Ingwell -- President of On The Go Audio, Milwaukee and Sound Engineer for Shank Hall in Milwaukee.

Kelly Kahl -- Senior Executive Vice President of Programming Operations, CBS Television, Los Angeles, CA.

Jeff Kerkman -- President of Adfiniti Advertising, Holmen, WI.

Tom Kief -- Morning Show Host, WIIL 95.1 FM - Kenosha.

Aaron Klug (AKA Aaron Roberts) -- Program Director WIOT 104.7FM - Toledo, OH.

Jim "Lips" LaBelle -- Afternoon Host, WKTI 94.5 FM - Milwaukee.

Jeremy Kuzniar (AKA Jerry Kaye) -- Production Director WMMM 105.5 FM - Madison.

Kelly McCahill -- Network Station Operations Manager for Relevant Radio, Milwaukee.

Ken Neuman -- Former Program Director WLUM 102.1 FM - Milwaukee.
Chris Weis -- TV Sales, Viacom

Congratulations Terry Havel! I wouldn't be where I am today without you.