Tom Kay

Inducted 2011

Tom Kay has been a driving force in Minnesota broadcasting since he began his career over summer vacations in college going on-the-air at WCMP in Pine City. After Tom graduated from St. John’s, he pursued an MBA at St. Cloud State University, where he began working nights at WJON. Upon graduating, he was hired full time. Here Tom mentored several young talents that would later go on to larger markets. He left WJON in 1979 to work as a record promoter for Doug Lee Midwest Promotion, a promotion company Tom would eventually buy and morph into Main Street Marketing & Promotion. This is also the year he became the coordinator for the Conclave, an annual regional radio programming meeting he helped create a few years prior. While Main Street is credited with helping the careers of many artists like Amy Grant, U2, Melissa Etheridge, Sting and Norah Jones, nothing matched the edification of bringing radio people together under the banner of the Conclave, of which he became Executive Director in 2006. Tom’s foresight and dedication to the broadcasting industry have made possible this unique event that has taught nearly 20,000 broadcasters and has given more than one million dollars in scholarships to students aspiring to enter the industry.