Gold & Silver Circle inductees honored at event in Cleveland


CLEVELAND – The NATAS Central Great Lakes chapter’s Gold & Silver Circle committee is proud to welcome four longtime members and current Silver Circle inductees into the chapter’s prestigious Gold Circle.

Gold Circle honorees Leon Bibb, Harry Boomer, Bob Hammer and Carl Monday were officially inducted at a special Gold & Silver Circle luncheon event July 24th at the Lakeside Event Center in Cleveland, along with this year’s class of Silver Circle inductees which includes Linda Jackson, Chuck Lofton, Lisa Lowry and Joe Pagonakis.

Leon Bibb began his television career at WTOL in Toledo in 1971, and also worked in Columbus before returning to his native Cleveland to join the team at WKYC, where he would eventually serve as evening news anchor.

From 1995 to 2017, he anchored various newscasts at WEWS, before returning to WKYC in 2018 as a senior reporter and commentator.

Harry Boomer‘s broadcasting career also began in 1971, with the bulk of that time being spent (since the early 90’s) at Cleveland’s WOIO/WUAB, where he still works as a general assignment reporter and as host and executive producer of 43 Focus.

The chapter surprised Boomer with the news during our recent monthly webinar focused on “Covering Our Communities: The Importance of Inclusion & Diversity” as part of the ‘Centered on Excellence’ webinar series.

The board of governors also recognized executive director Bob Hammer‘s accomplishments, announcing his invitation to the Gold Circle this year.

With over 50 years in the television and entertainment business as an executive producer, commercial producer, writer and director, Hammer is a former chapter president, our longtime awards administrator and currently serves as our chapter’s Executive Director. He began his television career in 1966 at KAKE in Wichita, Kansas.

Currently serving as our chapter’s regional vice president, Carl Monday has also worked 50 years at various television and radio stations in the Cleveland market, serving as an award-winning investigative reporter after starting out on the air on WJAN-TV in Canton while still a junior in college.

Over the years, Monday has won some 50 regional Emmy® awards for his work with WJW’s “I-Team” and other investigative reporting teams across the city.