2006 Hall of Fame Inductees
Bill Armstrong
Bill Armstrong was born in Fremont, Nebraska on March 16,1937. He attended Tulane University and the University of Minnesota. He has received honorary degrees from 5 Universities.
Since holding his first radio job in Fremont, Nebraska, Armstrong has maintained a lifelong interest in broadcasting. He owned KOSI-AM & FM in Denver, and was President of television stations in Idaho and Wyoming. He also served as President of the Colorado Springs
Sun newspaper. Armstrong bought KOSI-AM in 1959 and added the FM side in 1968. He owned both stations until 1981 when he sold the FM to Westinghouse’s Group W, then about one year later sold the AM station to Group W.
Armstrong served 28 years in public office, starting with the Colorado House of Representatives from 1963 to1965. When Colorado was awarded a 5th congressional district, he won the position and served as the U.S. Representative from Colorado fro 1972 to 1978. In 1978, he ran for U. S. Senate where he served 12 years. He was a member of the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Budget Committee. For 6 years, he served as Chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.
While in the Senate, Armstrong led a four-year effort to gain live, gavel-to-gavel radio and TV coverage of the Senate proceeding so America can monitor their elected representatives as they conducted the national business.
On August 15, 2006, he was named President of Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colorado. He died in 2016.
Lee Fondren
Lee Fondren is a nationally known leader in the advertising industry…award-winning broadcast executive…prominent civic and community leader.
A native Texan, Lee was a young on-air performer, entertainer and continuity writer at KGNC in Amarillo, Texas.
In Albuquerque, Lee worked at KGGM. His combined sales and program duties included hosting a “man on the street” interview show, chatting on-air celebrities, including singer Kate Smith and Johnny, the famed Philip Morris cigarette bell boy.
It was in Denver where Lee found his long-time radio home at 560 on the dial…KLZ Radio. He arrived in and was there from 1941 until 1970, with a three year stint out for army service in the Pacific.
Lee compiled an outstanding record of achievement in broadcasting during his 29 years at KLZ Radio. He rose quickly to sales and management positions including promotion manager, national sales manager, director of sales and stations manager for both KLZ-AM and FM.
In the broadcast industry, Lee’s leadership was recognized locally and nationally. Key positions included: president of the Advertising Club of Denver, Chairman of the national council of Alpha Delta Sigma, (national advertising fraternity), chairman of the Radio Code board of the National Association of Broadcasters, and chairman of CBS Radio network affiliates.
He was Chairman of both the Advertising Federation of America and the Advertising Association of the West and a key figure in their merger as the American Advertising Federation, the voice of advertising in the USA. He was also honored as the AAF Advertising Man of the Year.
Bob MacLauchlin
Dr. Robert MacLauchlin grew up in Massachusetts on Cape Cod. In 1948, his high school principal told him he was not college material and should not go to college. At the same time, his Junior Achievement Broadcast company sold stock and declared a 100 percent dividend, an event that made the 1948 edition of Saturday Evening Post with his picture at the microphone.
He attended the University of Massachusetts and was elected to the Men’s Judiciary and was chief announcer of the University’s FM Station.
In 1955 he volunteered for the military, becoming and Army combat infantry Medic. After the Army, he earned two Masters Degrees, one in Radio-Television. At the University of Maine where he built a Broadcast program, that encompassed a new FM station and a program for University of Maine sports broadcasts and TV remotes. He was the first director of programming for the Maine Educational TV.
In 1969, MacLauchlin came to Colorado State University, where he built new, rigorous Liberal Arts oriented undergraduate programs in radio, television ands cable TV. He received numerous awards for his teaching curriculum and programs.
This includes the nationally recognized High School Broadcasting Institute and CSU Broadcast Day event which brought state, regional, national And international recognition from broadcast, cable and political leaders to the CSU campus. This included two FCC commissioners, a network president, an NAB president and former President Gerald R. Ford.
A surprise 1997 retirement part at CSU was highlighted by testimonials from former students including KCNC-TV’s Larry Green and former Channel 4 educational specialist Karen Layton who were in attendance. The evening included many more former students, broadcasters and colleagues.
Bob Palmer
Bob Palmer is a 4th generation Coloradoan. He attended West High School for two years, then moved to Lafayette where he graduated from Lafayette High. After marrying, but before graduating from College, he served four years in the U.S. Navy.
He then returned to the University of Colorado and finished his degree in Journalism. While at CU, the News Director at KOA radio called the CU Journalism Dean and asked for an older student who could work part time as a copy writer. Bob got the job. He worked both at KOA radio and TV where he learned to shoot and edit film, announced on radio and did some reporter stand-ups on TV.
When he graduated from CU in 1960, he took a full time job at KOA. His first big story as a full time reporter was the Coors kidnapping in 1960. From 1961-63, he hosted an in depth documentary called SCOPE. In 1963, he became the Channel 4 anchor. In 1968, KOA-TV was sold, Palmer approached Hugh Terry at Channel 7 to join Starr Yelland and Warren Chandler. He anchored the Cannel 7 news for nearly 14 years.
By that time, Roger Ogden had joined Channel 4. Palmer called Ogden and returned to Channel 4 in 1982 to anchor evening newscasts. He retired from the 10 PM News after a 29 consecutive year run on Denver television on November 25, 1992.
Palmer gave back to the University of Colorado by funding the Bob Palmer Scholarship in Journalism, one the of largest scholarships at the CU Journalism school.