Wisconsin
Honorees
2018
Kent Aschenbrenner
Kent has been a TV and radio broadcast professional for 41 years. Based at WTMJ in his hometown of Milwaukee, he currently oversees Scripps spectrum repack at 17 stations and nine low power displaced stations. As the Senior Director of Engineering for Scripps Media, he’s also been responsible for Scripps’ radio assets in eight markets. Kent earned his A.A.S. in Electronic Communications from Milwaukee Area Technical College, and a B.S. in Business & Management Systems from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. He serves on the NAB TV Technology Committee, is a senior member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers and chairs the Wisconsin Broadcast Association Broadcasters Clinic Engineering Committee. He is proud of his FCC First Class Radio-Telephone license. A licensed pilot, he volunteers with the Civil Air Patrol and is a former squadron commander.
John Ivan Lazarevic
Born in Chicago, John graduated from Northern Illinois University, where he received a B.A. in Journalism. Upon graduation, John went to work for WREX-TV, Rockford for four years, becoming Chief Photographer after one year. From there, John moved to Milwaukee in 1984 as a photographer at WISN-TV. In 2000, John was promoted to Director of Photography for WISN-TV, where his duties included quality control of edited and aired material, photo equipment maintenance and photographer evaluations.
Mickie Leach
Mickie has been a photojournalist at WITI-FOX6 for 30 years. He is the primary photographer in the sports department. Prior to that, he worked for three years as a photojournalist at WFMY-2, the CBS affiliate in Greensboro, N.C., and worked for one year as a photojournalist at WSET-13, the ABC affiliate in Lynchburg, VA. Mickie was born and raised on the West Coast, but he has embraced Wisconsin as home. He earned a B.A. at Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA, with a television production major. He has been honored to have received Chicago/Midwest Emmy® Awards, and awards from the National Press Photographers Association, Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, and the Milwaukee Press Club.
Hank Stoddard
Hank grew up in in Brandon, Manitoba, and listened on radio every Saturday night to Foster Hewitt broadcasting Toronto Maple Leafs games. A dedicated sports fan, he became a reporter for the Brandon Sun daily newspaper at the age of 21 and next was hired by WCKX in Brandon to anchor the television sportscast. He had no previous television experience but a vast knowledge of sports. He turned out to be a natural. Hank moved up to become the sports director at WTMJ-TV. Hank always loved his job and was passionate about reporting honestly and intelligently. He wrote all of his own copy and was never interested in just being a “talking head” in the industry. Hank anchored the popular Bowling with the Champs program from the 1970s until its 40th year, 1995. Hank also hosted the "Beat the Pro" golf contest for WTMJ. He was inducted into the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame and the Greater Milwaukee Bowling Association Hall of Fame.
Jay Wilson
Jay Wilson began his broadcasting career in 1977 at WFHR Radio in his hometown of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Jay graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in broadcast journalism in 1980 and became the weekend sportscaster at WKOW-TV in Madison. He later spent three years at WISN-TV in Milwaukee before returning to WKOW as sports director from 1987 to 2006. He became sports director at WISC-TV in Madison in 2008. He also appears on Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Wisconsin. Jay was inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2008 for his longtime association in covering high school sports.