SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — WSOU 89.5 FM, Seton Hall University’s student-run radio station, is welcoming three new inductees into the legendary station’s Hall of Fame: sportscaster Matt Loughlin ’79, traffic reporter Pete Tauriello ’76 and engineer Richard Koziol. In addition, George Roskos ’09 will be presented with the station’s Distinguished Young Alumnus Award. The honorees will be inducted on Saturday, April 8, at ceremonies held in the fourth-floor atrium of Seton Hall University’s Jubilee Hall at 7 p.m.
The WSOU Hall of Fame honors distinguished alumni who have made significant contributions to their professions and recognizes their involvement with Seton Hall University’s student-run radio station. Inductees are chosen based on their professional accomplishments, WSOU student career activities, service to WSOU and Seton Hall University after graduation, support of current students, personal examples of servant leadership and involvement with alumni activities.
“This year’s WSOU Hall of Fame class has a wonderful New York and New Jersey flavor to it,” Mark Maben, the station’s general manager, said in a press release. “Pete and Matt are iconic voices in our market, Richard was a well-known engineer behind the scenes for decades and George represents the entrepreneurial spirit of a new generation of individuals passionate about audio, radio and music.”
As part of the College of Communication and the Arts at Seton Hall, WSOU is more than a student organization. For decades, the station has operated as a hands-on experiential learning lab focused on pre-professional development.
“That philosophy is one of the reasons WSOU has produced literally thousands of station alumni who go on to media, news, sports, music and entertainment industry careers,” Maben said.
Loughlin is currently the radio play-by-play announcer for the New Jersey Devils, a position he has held for more than a decade. His distinguished sports broadcasting career includes work for the Madison Square Garden Network, FOX Sports Net New York, Suburban Cablevision and WCTC. He has been a pre-game, post-game and in-game host/reporter for both the New York Mets and New Jersey Devils. Loughlin has covered five Stanley Cup championships and one World Series and has earned numerous broadcasting and sports reporting awards. During his time at WSOU, Loughlin served in several leadership positions, including sports director. He regularly critiques the work of current students and is a guest speaker at station and university workshops and classes.
A month after graduating from Seton Hall University in 1976, Tauriello found himself hosting morning drive on WADB in Point Pleasant, and took the station to number one in that time slot within a year. Shortly thereafter he served as program director for WBRW and WERA. A successful host and programmer, Tauriello is probably best known for being the authoritative voice of traffic on New York’s 1010 WINS for more than three decades. In addition to his work with 1010 WINS, he is a traffic reporter for other stations through iHeartMedia’s Total Traffic and Weather Network. As program director for Metro Networks, Tauriello created the 1010 WINS traffic format, developing an on-air sound that changed the way traffic was reported not only in New York, but across the nation. A popular DJ during his days at WSOU, Tauriello has continued to be involved with the station through the WSOU Mentoring Program. He is a church cantor and ensemble singer at several area Catholic parishes and is a Ham Radio emergency preparedness volunteer.
Radio stations cannot broadcast without working equipment and for decades Richard Koziol kept many New York and New Jersey radio stations operating at peak engineering performance. A talented broadcast engineer from his days at WSOU, he served as the station’s director of engineering while a student, Koziol began his professional career in 1967 as a production engineer at WRFM in New York. He rose through the ranks to become WRFM’s assistant chief engineer and then was chief engineer for WNCN. Koziol founded two impactful companies, Northeast Communications Concepts and AF Systems Inc. He designed broadcast facilities and provided engineering services for numerous commercial and noncommercial radio stations, as well as audio systems in public and private institutions, such as the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. Koziol also developed biomedical devices integrating wireless transmission and video for people with walking disabilities. He gave his free time to the Boy Scouts of America and the Radio Reading Project, and was an active parishioner at Our Lady of the Magnificat Roman Catholic Church in Kinnelon. Koziol helped launch the careers of a number of WSOU alumni. His Hall of Fame award is being given posthumously.
Roskos is the second individual to earn the WSOU Distinguished Young Alumnus/a Award. The award was created in 2016 to recognize the accomplishments of recent graduates. Roskos, a former WSOU station manager, is co-owner of Architekt Music in Butler, a music education facility, live venue and recording studio that he co-founded almost immediately after graduating from Seton Hall. His primary focus is on the artist management side of his business. Roskos is the manager for several bands, including 2016 Grammy-nominee SEVENDUST. Before coming to Seton Hall and WSOU, Roskos worked for a coal mining company in Pennsylvania, shoveling coal into wheelbarrows and handling other responsibilities that taught him the value of hard work and nurtured his entrepreneurial spirit. His community service efforts include providing a free recording space to charities, local schools and church groups.
The 2017 inductees into the WSOU Hall of Fame join a distinguished roster of station alumni. The current members of the Hall of Fame, in order of induction, are: Bill Rock ’69, Jim Malespina ’71, Bob Ley ’76, Monsignor Thomas Gillhooly ’33, Thomas Parnham, Steve Nenno ‘50, Pat Parson ’60, Rev. James Pindar ’50, Robert Wussler ’57, Glenn Schuck ’85, Robert Windrem ’68, Bernie Wagenblast ’78 and Bob Picozzi ’72.
For more information on the WSOU Hall of Fame induction ceremony or to register to attend, visit www.shu.edu/go/wsouhof.
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