Dr. James Dobson and the Colorado Springs-based media ministry Focus on the Family will be inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame’s Class of 2008 after besting fellow nominees Howard Stern, Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Bob Costas in national online balloting.
The ministry’s “Focus on the Family” broadcast, aired by more than 3,000 North American stations and in 27 languages in 160 countries, is the first religious program to receive the honor, a venture of the Chicago-based Museum of Broadcast Communications since 1992.
Dobson joins past inductees such as Orson Welles, Jack Benny, Walter Winchell, Dick Clark, Bing Cosby, Paul Harvey and Rush Limbaugh.
Dobson declined to comment on beating out Stern and others, but he issued a statement saying he was pleased by the recognition for “a symphony performed by more than 10,000 people over the past 32 years.”
The induction ceremony is set for Nov. 8.
Dobson was chosen in the “national active” category, requiring a national broadcast contribution of 10 years.
Other 2008 inductees, the first class chosen through online voting, are Art Bell, host of paranormal-themed Coast to Coast AM; the late Jess Cain, longtime Boston talk-show host; Howie Carr, outspoken northeastern conservative commentator; the late Dick Whittinghill, a popular Los Angeles disc jockey; the late Bob Collins, or “Uncle Bobby,” host of a highly rated Chicago morning show; Michael “Mickey” Luckoff, president of top San Francisco radio station KGO-AM; and Charlie Tuna, a Los Angeles fixture since 1967.
