Journalism college to honor alumni, leaders

Six individuals will be honored during J Day activities April 12 and 13 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications. In addition, the college will join the Nebraska Broadcasters Association to present the Nebraska Broadcast Pioneer Award.

In an April 12 ceremony to induct students into the journalism honor society, Kappa Tau Alpha, the college will present the Outstanding Service Award for the Will Owen Jones chapter to Steve Chatelain, publisher of the Kearney Hub. A native of Auburn, Chatelain earned a bachelor's degree in news-editorial journalism in 1979 and worked as a part-time reporter for the Auburn News-Press and Nemaha County Herald until 1980. He was a sports editor and general manager of the Keith County News before becoming a copy editor at the Scottsbluff Star-Herald in 1983. He moved to the Kearney Hub in 1985. After four years at the Hub, Chatelain left to become the publisher at the Columbus Telegram. He returned to Kearney in 1993 as the Hub's publisher.

In an April 13 ceremony at the Wick Alumni Center, the college will present three Alumni Awards of Excellence: the Outstanding Advertising Award to August "Gus" Buenz of Naples, Fla., the Outstanding Broadcasting Award to David Graupner of Coppell, Texas, and the Outstanding News-editorial Award to Cheryl Butler of Washington, D.C. It will also present the Service to the Profession Award to David Beliles of Longboat Key, Fla., and the Nebraska Broadcast Pioneer Award to Gary Fries of Scottsdale, Ariz.

In 1962, Gus Buenz joined General Motors, where his career in public relations spanned a 42-year period. His first job was as a staff exhibit assistant for a GM science show designed for high school assemblies. Two years later Buenz worked as an exhibit staff assistant at the New York World's Fair. He joined the public relations unit in the Allison division in Indianapolis in 1965. During the next 29 years, Buenz worked in GM's public relations offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Lansing, Mich. He was named director of communications to GM's Fleet and Commercial Business in Detroit in 2001. Buenz was transferred to GM's Latin America, Africa, Middle East Region in Miramar, Fla., in March 2003. He retired in 2004 and resides in Naples, Fla. A native of Ogallala, Buenz graduated from the University of Nebraska School of Journalism in 1960.

David Graupner has worked in broadcast communications for more than 30 years. His career began on-air at KFOR-AM in Lincoln. He moved into programming management in Lincoln before joining Walter-Weeks Broadcasting in Florida as programming and operations manager of its Sarasota cluster. Graupner joined TM Communications in 1983 as a programming consultant and became vice president of programming before leaving to manage TMC's radio station in Reno, Nev. It was there that Graupner created "The Bull" brand for country radio that survives today in Reno and has been transplanted to other markets. He joined Midcontinent Media as its vice president and market manager for the Madison, Wis., properties Z-104 and WTSO in 1990. While there he acquired WMLI and arranged a merger with Point Communications, forming what is now Clear Channel's Madison cluster. In 1996, Graupner returned to TM, now TM Century, initially as executive vice president and president and chief executive officer. TM Century was acquired by Jones Media in 2006 and renamed Jones/TM, where Graupner continues as president. He graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism from UNL in 1979.

Cheryl Butler, who worked in newsrooms for 36 years before retiring in 2004, is a native of Omaha. Her most recent position was with the Washington Post, where she held various positions in copy editing and news editing/page design. Butler spent her last four years at the Post as director of recruiting and hiring for the newsroom. After graduating with a degree in news-editorial journalism from the University of Nebraska in 1968, she worked four years on the copy desk at the Lincoln Evening Journal. Butler left for the St. Paul (Minn.) Dispatch, where she was a copy editor, assistant news editor and layout editor from 1972 to 1981. Her interest in the development of young journalists, particularly in minority representation in the news business, led Butler to teach several summers in the editing program for minority journalists of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. She is a longtime member of the National Association of Black Journalists and she continues to serve on a committee that selects the Washington Post's Howard Simons graduate fellow each year.

David Beliles is chairman of The Observer Group. He and his wife, Ruth, and son-in-law Matt Walsh and daughter Lisa, and several other investors, bought the Longboat Key (Fla.) Observer, a free weekly, in 1995. The Observer Group has grown to five newspapers in the surrounding Sarasota and Bradenton, Fla., area and includes two weekly business journals in Tampa and St. Petersburg, Fla. Prior to purchasing The Observer Group, Beliles' 39-year career was with Stauffer Communications Inc., where he retired in 1993. He was editor-general manager of the York News-Times; editor-publisher of the Arkansas City (Kan.) Daily; and editor-publisher and assistant vice president of the Grand Island Independent. Beliles was elected president of the Nebraska Daily Newspaper Publishers twice; served as president of the Associated Press Editors and Publishers; is a former member of ANPA, ASNE, Inland Daily Press Association and a longtime member of Sigma Delta Chi (SPJ). He was active in state press association in Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Beliles was recognized by the Nebraska Press Association and named Master Editor-Publisher in 1992. He has won awards for column and editorial writing, including a first place award in community service from Ak-Sar-Ben. Beliles attended Columbia College in Chicago before and after service in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. While a student at Columbia, he worked part-time at ABC Television network Chicago and as a newsman and disc jockey at a small Chicago radio station.

Gary Fries began his career in Lincoln, where he worked as a part-time salesperson at Stuart Broadcasting's KFOR Radio while still in college. By the time he was 24, he landed his first management position at KRGI in Grand Island. During a career that has spanned nearly 44 years, Fries has held numerous executive positions including president of Unistar Radio Networks and Transtar Radio Networks, president and chief operating officer of Sunbelt Communications' radio division, and vice president of ITC Communications and Multimedia Broadcasting Inc. At the helm of the Radio Advertising Bureau since 1991, Fries raised the profile of radio and established the organization as a full-service resource center for advertisers, agencies, member stations, the press, and the financial community. Under his direction, membership doubled to more than 6,000 radio stations and 1,000 associate, network, representative firms and international organizations. Fries has been listed in Radio Ink Magazine's Top 40 Most Powerful People in Radio every year since 1996, and named Radio Executive of the Year in 1993. In 1994, he was roasted by the Bayliss Broadcast Foundation and inducted into the Nebraska Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. The Illinois Broadcasters Association also bestowed that same honor on him in 1999, and in 2000 he received the Arkansas Broadcasters Pinnacle Award. Fries graduated with a degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska in 1964.

CONTACT: Marilyn Hahn, Communication Specialist, Journalism and Mass Communications, (402) 472-0876