CLASS OF 2011
A Nebraska radio legend, Gary Sadlemyer has spent all but three years of his long radio career at KFAB. His work on Nebraska football broadcasts on the Nebraska Sports Network from 1980-1995 made his name and voice familiar to Husker fans across the country. He courageously and successfully hosted the first live talk show in the long history of the 50,000-watt heritage radio station when it switched to a news-talk format. For years Gary was the ringmaster of KFAB’s popular Good Morning Show and served as Program Director for the station during some of that time.
A native of Eagle Bend, Minnesota, Gary’s imagination was captured by radio at an early age, listening to local small-town stations and the more distant Twin Cities signals. His on-air style was heavily influenced by the legendary personalities of WCCO in Minneapolis.
After an academic and football adventure at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, he attended Brown Institute in Minneapolis and landed his first radio job in 1973 at KRGI in Grand Island, Nebraska. Gary did mornings there for three years before getting the call from Lyell Bremser and Ken Headrick at KFAB.
He has been immortalized by the Omaha Press Club with their “Face On The Barroom Floor” honor and holds forth as the emcee of the OPC’s annual Press Club Show.
Reflecting on his long tenure at the station, with all the ownership changes and general managers, Gary says that “time sure flies when you’re havin’ fun. I’ve seen so many changes in our industry during these many years and I”m proud to see KFAB continues to be a market leader in Omaha.”
