Actor Gary Sandy, whose portrayal of WKRP In Cincinnati program director Andy Travis inspired a generation to pursue radio careers, will be honored with an "influencer award" at Radio Ink magazine's Radio Masters Sales Summit next month at the Cincinnati Airport Marriott.
From 1978 to 1982, Sandy was "living on the air in Cincinnati" as program director of WKRP-AM, a fictional struggling Cincinnati radio station depicted in a half-hour CBS situation comedy series.
"We are especially excited and proud to present this award to Gary Sandy. His portrayal of the much beloved Andy Travis brought to life a character who inspired many to join the radio profession," said Deborah Parenti, president and publisher of Radio Ink, a broadcasting trade magazine owned by Steamline Publishing in Boynton Beach, Fla.
During the Sept. 13-14 gathering, Radio Ink will present the 2023 Radio Wayne Awards, named in honor of Wayne Cornils, a veteran of radio sales, marketing and management who worked as a broadcaster and for the Radio Advertising Bureau.
For the first time since the inaugural 1992 awards, a Radio Wayne Influencer Award has been created to present to Sandy, who will attend the conference at the Marriott near the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Sandy, 77, was born in Dayton, Ohio. After graduating from Kettering Fairmont High School in 1964, he attended Wilmington College and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts school in New York. He decided to become a performer after doing a Bob Newhart comedy monologue as a seventh-grader for a school assembly, heexplained in a WKRP podcast last year.
After WKRP was canceled in 1982, Sandy split his time between TV shows, movies and his first love, theater.
Sandy, who has a home in Northern Kentucky, starred on Broadwayin The Pirates of Penzance, Chicago, The Music Man and Will Rogers Follies, and appeared in many regional theater productions, including at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati and Sweet Bird of Youth at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. He also performed in stage productions of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Barnum, Sleuth, Bye Bye Birdie, The Goodbye Girl, Romeo and Juliet and I Do, I Do.
His television creditsinclude The Young and The Restless, Another World, As the World Turns, The Shell Game, Unlikely Angel, Hallmark Channel's a Place Called Home, CHiPs, Starsky and Hutch, L.A. Law, Murder She Wrote, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Martial Law and Barnaby Jones.
"His ongoing career in both stage and screen roles beyond that memorable show have only continued to provide inspiration and admiration through his multi-faceted talents,” Parenti said in the Radio Ink announcement.
Radio Wayne Awards will honor "the very best sellers and managers who tirelessly champion the benefits of radio every day," according to Radio Ink. Categories include market/general manager of the year; sales manager of the year; digital sales manager of the year; and the "streetfighter of the year."
