| The KAB is thrilled to announce the recipients of this year’s Individual Awards! These outstanding professionals have demonstrated exceptional talent, dedication and passion in their fields. From excelling in broadcast sales to making a lasting impact in their communities and stations, and shining as rising stars, our winners truly represent the best of Kansas broadcasting. Join us in celebrating their remarkable achievements at the KAB Convention, October 6 in Manhattan. |
| Mike Oatman Award for Sales Excellence – Diane Cunningham Diane Cunningham’s career in broadcast sales began quite unexpectedly in the late spring of 1991 as a senior Marketing student at Pittsburg State University. Graduation was approaching and it was time to find a real job! An ad for a summer intern at KOAM-TV posted on the business school bulletin board presented an interesting opportunity. Thirty-four years later, she’s still at KOAM, serving as a Senior Marketing Consultant. Over the years she has mentored newcomers to the sales staff, provided leadership for sales initiatives and collaborated with clients of all sizes. Her professionalism, experience and positive attitude have been proven assets to both clients and coworkers. As a life-long, four-state area resident, she has been an active leader and volunteer in many Pittsburg community and school organizations. She and her husband Philip have been married 39 years and have two grown sons and three grandchildren. Sonny Slater Award for Service to Community – Melissa Brunner Melissa Brunner is News Director, host of Eye on Northeast Kansas and co-anchor of the 6 p.m. newscast for WIBW-TV, joining the station in May 1996. The native of Manitowoc, Wisconsin holds a degree in broadcast communication from Marquette University in Milwaukee. She began her career doing Lake Michigan fishing reports for a radio station in her hometown during college. Just before graduation, she landed a job at WFRV-TV in Green Bay as a newscast producer. A chance to be in front of the camera as a reporter brought Melissa to Topeka and WIBW-TV in May 1996. She has covered crime, the legislature and a host of other topics, including the weekly To Your Health feature. Her work has earned numerous awards from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, Kansas Associated Press and Kansas City Press Club. She also has earned two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. In addition, she has been recognized with two Heartland Regional Emmy nominations for her anchoring and reporting, and been part of newscasts that three times earned smaller market Best Newscast Emmys. In 2025, she was inducted into the Heartland Region’s Silver Circle. Melissa also is a key leader in WIBW’s Hear me. See me. mental health awareness initiative, which received the National Assoc. of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation’s Celebration of Service to America Award for small market television stations. Her community honors include the Greater Topeka Partnership’s Woman of Influence Award, YWCA Women of Excellence Community Outreach Award, the Salvation Army’s Others award, the local Women in Communication’s chapter Headliner Award, Valeo Behavioral Health Mental Health Warrior, and a Kansas Emergency Management Assoc. honorary lifetime membership. She also was Junior League Topeka’s 2021 Community Volunteer of the Year. Her alma mater, Marquette University, awarded her the James Tiedge Memorial Award, given to a communications alum who demonstrates commitment to community in their career. Melissa also is involved with several area organizations and events, including the Children’s Tumor Foundation, Helping Hands Humane Society, American Cancer Society, Capper Foundation, Valeo Behavioral Health, American Heart Association and the Race Against Breast Cancer. For many years, she and former co-anchor Ralph Hipp emceed local segments of the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s annual telethon. Melissa married WIBW-TV Chief Photographer Doug Brown in June of 2000. They live in Topeka with their many pets. In her spare time, she enjoys working outdoors, scrapbooking, running and searching for great antiques! Rising Star Radio Award – James Copeland James Copeland’s interest in broadcasting led him to start a radio station in the corner of his bedroom at age 14. While “KOPE” radio only covered about four in his hometown of Wichita, his interest would eventually lead him to one of the region’s largest stations covering four states.James started helping out at KCTU-TV in Wichita at age 16, producing a variety of live programming—from a daily magazine show to political forums—and eventually hosting his own summer variety show and morning program under the guidance of owners Ron and Sheryl Nutt. James attended Kansas State University where he majored in broadcast journalism and spent most of his time as program director at the student-run radio station, KSDB-FM. James picked up many additional skills on the technical side of broadcasting and became certified with the Society of Broadcast Engineers. During college, he also completed internships at KABI-AM (Abeline) and KMAN-AM (Manhattan), where he would eventually become a part-time employee. James took a break from full-time broadcasting to live full-time in a 1975 Winnebago that he and his parents restored to travel the country and visit radio stations representing 1010 WINS Anchor Lee Harris’ QGoLive remote broadcasting software. During this time, he also produced for Walter Sabo’s nationally-syndicated radio show, Sterling on Sunday. The road eventually led to KLPZ-AM in Parker, Arizona, where James showed up for a day to visit and ended up staying to work. After a brief break from broadcasting, James joined KGGF-AM in Coffeyville, where he’s now operations manager. Today, he oversees everything from morning sign-on to nearly three hours of daily tradio, along with many of the station’s engineering tasks. He is also an extra class amateur radio operator and active in the Coffeyville Amateur Radio Club as well as St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Rising Star TV Award – Marleah Campbell Marleah Campbell is an Emmy-winning sports journalist who joined KCTV5 in 2022. A Lenexa, Kansas native who grew up watching Channel 5, Marleah started at KCTV5 as a multimedia journalist, rising to sports reporter and eventually sports director in Dec. 2024. She was Emmy-nominated in the Sports Feature category last year and won an Emmy in Team Coverage for KCTV5’s coverage of Super Bowl LIV. After playing Division I basketball at the University of Wyoming, she started her career at the CBS affiliate in Topeka, WIBW. There, she became the first woman to hold the title of sports director. Marleah received numerous honors from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters and enterprised a year-long weekly feature series “IX at 50: The Trailblazers of Women’s Sports in Kansas.” Outside of KCTV5, you can listen to Marleah’s Chiefs coverage on 101 The FOX, 94.9 KCMO and 107.3 The Vibe. |
info@kab.net
+1 785-235-1307
534 S Kansas Ave. Ste. 1105, Topeka, Kansas 66603
