The number of student staffers grew from seven that June to 220, to 30 community volunteers and a 300-student waiting list, in 2009. In a 2009 video the university created to celebrate WRHU’s 50th anniversary, Avery recounted the station’s growth in the years since 1994, the year he became general manager. “It's because of the work that Bruce and others did over the years.” “It has always had a reputation of churning out some of the best young journalists in this area and in fact in the country,” Scheld said. Tim Scheld, chair of the Radio Television Digital News Association and former news director for WCBS, said WRHU had a stellar reputation in the industry. “He stitched together a fabric of students over the course of generations, some of whom have become friends, many of whom have become colleagues in our business,” said Santucci, of Garden City. Part of his legacy is the community he fostered through his nearly three decades at WRHU, said John Santucci, an executive editorial producer at ABC News who graduated in 2011. “He’s just been responsible for molding the lives of so many.” “Bruce changed the lives of probably thousands of students,” said Heather Cohen, vice president for programs on the executive committee of Hofstra University’s Alumni Organization. His former students described him as a father figure who was instrumental in guiding them through not only career choices but life milestones. The cause was prostate cancer, his wife Veronica Dillon said.Īvery, who retired last August from heading WRHU for 28 years, helped build up the college radio station that went on to win a plethora of awards from the National Association of Broadcasters, including the Marconi award four times in the past eight years, as well as prizes from the New York State Broadcasters Association and the Press Club of Long Island. His trademark was giving on-air birthday greetings to viewers who turned 100 years old by putting their faces on Smucker's jelly jars and delivering weather updates in zany costumes.Bruce Avery, a longtime general manager of Hofstra University’s WRHU-88.7 FM and former meteorologist at News 12 Long Island, died Saturday at his Ridge home at age 69.

Scott began his 65-year career at NBC as an entry-level page at an affiliate station in Washington, D.C., and rose to become the weather forecaster on the network's flagship morning show for more than three decades. “He played such an outsized role in my life and was as warm and loving and generous off-camera as he was on,” Katie Couric tweeted. There will never be anyone quite like him.”

'Willard was a man of his times, the ultimate broadcaster. “He was truly my second dad and am where I am today because of his generous spirit,” Roker wrote on Instagram. An NBC Universal spokeswoman confirmed the news. His successor on the morning news show, Al Roker, announced that Scott died peacefully Saturday morning surrounded by family. NEW YORK – Willard Scott, the beloved weatherman who charmed viewers of NBC's “Today” show with his self-deprecating humor and cheerful personality, has died.

Weatherman dies