VCU news

By Tom Gresham

A retired professor, a newspaper editor, a broadcasting executive and a newspaper industry advocate make up the 20th class of inductees into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame.

Grady H. James, professor emeritus of broadcasting at Norfolk State University; Marvin L. Lake, public editor for The Virginian-Pilot; Herman L. Reavis, executive vice president at Mel Wheeler, Inc., and Ginger W. Stanley, executive director of the Virginia Press Association, will be honored on April 12 at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond in a ceremony hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Mass Communications.

Professionals with exceptional careers in journalism, public relations, advertising and other media fields are eligible for the Hall of Fame. Inductees must have ties to Virginia. This year's class will raise the accomplished ranks of the Hall of Fame to 102.

Judy VanSlyke Turk, Ph.D., chair of the selection committee and director of the VCU School of Mass Communications, praised the newest honorees.

"The selection committee feels it has identified four extremely qualified individuals to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year," Turk said. "They have all had distinguished careers in the communications field."

Grady H. James, Ph.D., taught for 40 years at Norfolk State before his retirement in 2000, earning plaudits for his many contributions to the school's mass communications program. During his tenure, he developed a highly regarded communications conference at NSU that attracted prominent journalists and executives, including David Brinkley, Carole Simpson and Greg Gumbel. James also worked as a TV and radio producer and created an award-winning public affairs TV program called "Norfolk State Highlights …"

MarvinL.Lake has written a weekly op-ed column, "Report to Readers," about journalism accuracy and fairness issues since 1999 for The Virginian-Pilot. During his career, he has also worked as the paper's newsroom recruitment director, Commentary editor, Portsmouth bureau chief and Norfolk city editor. In 1997, Lake developed and edited a newspaper series about Church Street, the one-time hub of black life in Hampton Roads. He conceived and narrated a subsequent, award-winning PBS documentary on the topic.

Herman L. Reavis has been involved in radio broadcasting since 1947, when he started answering phones at a small station in Galax at the age of 14. He became a popular radio personality in Roanoke in the early 1950s, before moving to radio management in 1956. In the 51 years since, Reavis has proven to be a programming pioneer, particularly in his work marshalling a transition from traditional "block radio" to a contemporary format. WSLQ-FM, one of the stations he oversees, has one of the most powerful signals in the United States.

Ginger W. Stanley has been the executive director of Virginia Press Association/Virginia Press Services, Inc., Virginia's newspaper trade association, since 1988. She manages a staff of 11 and serves as the VPA's chief lobbyist in the Virginia General Assembly. She spent 12 years in various posts at the Hanover Herald-Progress in Ashland, before joining the VPA in 1984 as the organization's advertising director, a newly created position that made her responsible for finding new sources of advertising for state newspapers.

A. Prescott Rowe, a 1994 Hall of Fame inductee, will emcee the induction ceremony. The evening begins with a reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner and the awards ceremony. Tickets are $125 each and can be reserved by calling (804) 827-3761. Proceeds benefit the Hall of Fame permanent exhibit and scholarship fund.