Former WBEN host and Program Director Kevin Keenan

WBEN-AM / WBEN

Former WBEN host and Program Director Kevin Keenan with WBBZ's Penny Wolfgang on the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame induction

Transcript

00:00I mean, I still look little, but it's better, right?

00:06Kevin, it's amazing how your career has changed so many ways

00:12and yet always involved with the community and with communications.

00:17It's been an interesting journey, and my life is all about the journey

00:23and about having gratitude for that journey.

00:26And there's so many people that helped me to get here,

00:30from my mom and dad, a couple of teachers that created the interest of being a lifelong learner,

00:36but people on radio along the way.

00:39I mean, there was a gentleman named Jack Gaeta from Cuba, New York,

00:43who worked at one of the radio stations in Olean.

00:45And when I was a sophomore in high school, I heard about the Catholic high school down in Olean.

00:50Archbishop Walsh had a radio show every Saturday morning on WMNS.

00:55So I wrote him a letter and said, could we do one for Olean high school?

01:00And he said yes.

01:02And we didn't have any experience.

01:03There were three of us.

01:04It was me, my cousin Tim, who I called this morning to tell him about this

01:08because he was there at the start, and then my best friend Kevin Kenyon.

01:12And we put together a radio show that we did sports, we did news, we had an interview.

01:18And Kevin Kenyon was a music guy, and so he would do a Golden Oldie every week

01:21and research the song that he played every week.

01:24So it started with one person saying yes back in 1974, and people kept saying yes.

01:32And my interest in broadcasting continued to grow, and my love for radio is still there today.

01:37I listen to the radio more than I watch TV.

01:42And it's just, I've been really, really blessed with this journey.

01:46And now you're using it in many ways to help other people through your communications company.

01:52We do.

01:52I mean, I consider myself now a storyteller.

01:57So I help my clients to tell their stories.

02:00And it could be Maid of the Mist, which is a longtime client of mine.

02:04I work for the town of Tonawanda, the town of Clarence,

02:08and those are important roles to help communicate to the public what's going on with their town government,

02:13with everything that those governments provide for their people.

02:17And I also do some work for some, I do pro bono work.

02:22It's important for me to give back.

02:24I do some work for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, for the Clarence Lions Club.

02:30I'm not doing it now, but I have off and on done work for a group of cloistered nuns

02:35that were in Buffalo on Dote Street, and then they've moved on.

02:39But that's probably one of the most interesting aspects that I've had

02:43from meeting people that have a totally different life

02:46and never come out from behind the walls of the cloister.

02:50But it just shows how involved you have been in the community

02:53and how everything comes full circle as far as all the different careers

02:59and all the different activities and groups.

03:01Well, you watch people, and I watch people.

03:03Larry Levitt, you were fond of Larry, and Larry was part of the group with Jim McLaughlin

03:09that brought me to Buffalo in 1984.

03:11And I watched how Larry treated people and how Larry gave back to the community.

03:17And he was so generous with his time and his talent and his treasure.

03:23And I've also been fortunate to work for some bishops when I was with the diocese

03:28who were very much the same.

03:30They talked about being here to serve as opposed to being served.

03:34So it is about looking at what's going on in your community

03:37and helping people to tell their story.

03:40That's part of what I do.

03:42Well, it's all part of why you are now presently going to be inducted

03:46into the Hall of Fame.

03:48Congratulations and thank you.

03:49Thank you, Judge.

03:50You're in there as well, so happy to be there with you.

03:54Thanks.

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