In their 27 years as WGRR-FM's Married with Microphones morning show hosts, Chris O'Brien and Janeen Coyle have often celebrated winning the local radio ratings.
But an award from their peers across the country — the National Association of Broadcasters' Marconi Award for best large-market radio personality of the year — left them nearly speechless.
"Chris and I are both humbled and excited," Coyle said Thursday, the morning after the awards were presented at the 2022 NAB show in New York City.
"Winning the Marconi is as special as being able to work in the best radio market in the USA — Cincinnati!"
"What can I say? It's a remarkable honor," O'Brien tells me. "To be recognized in this way by the NAB is like acquiring the Holy Grail. Our listeners have been so great to us over our 27 years together on WGRR."
O'Brien came to Cincinnati in 1974 for WKRQ-FM, and was part of Randy Michaels' popular Q102 team, which included Pat Barry, Jim Fox and Mark Sebastian. Coyle joined Q102 in the early 1980s. They married in 1985, but didn't work together until co-hosting mornings on WGRR (103.5) in 1995.
The Mason couple was competing with finalists from stations in Baltimore, Orlando, Indianapolis and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Dan Patrick, a 1974 Mason High School graduate whose syndicated show airs on Fox Sports WSAI-AM, won the Marconi Award for network/syndicated personality of the year. He also won the category in 2018.
See a list of the winners here.
Four area stations were named as finalists for the awards in July: WKRQ-FM, large market station of the year; WLW-AM, news/talk station of the year, WUBE-FM, country station of the year, and Dayton's WHKO-FM, country station of the year, and its Nancy Wilson and Woody team nominated for medium market personality of the year.
Here’s a list of the 2022 finalists.
