For outstanding service to radio journalism in Tennessee, Earl Freudenberg ((( FREED -in-berg ))) is inducted into the 2019 class of the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame.
Earl is a longtime Chattanooga radio news director, who started in radio as a teen, and is nearing his fiftieth anniversary in local broadcasting.
When he was only 18 he began reporting the news on WDOD AM, Chattanooga's first radio station, and from 1971 to 1974, he was a broadcaster for American Forces Network Europe. He returned to WDOD in 1974, beginning a thirty-plus year run as news director and talk-show host, also serving as a television news director at WDEF Channel 12 for a period of time in the 1980s. Since 2005, he has delivered the news each morning on WDYN radio.
He is a walking encyclopedia of Chattanooga area news and history, and has been called the "go-to guy" for providing historical perspective of the city's government and important figures.
Earl has used the power of broadcasting wisely and generously. For many years, he has spent cold December Saturdays in the region's busiest shopping areas, doing live remotes to collect donations for the Forgotten Child Fund, a charity in which local fire and police personnel furnish Christmas presents for needy children. Earl is also among the riders on the "Santa Train," a caravan of volunteers who deliver the presents on Christmas Eve.
He has won many of the city's most prestigious public service awards, for his work on behalf of our public television station, of which he is a charter board member, and for his work with Bethel Bible Village, which provides homes for children whose parents are in prison. There is even a road named in his honor in his hometown of Red Bank.
He has also been active in veteran's recognition programs, including Chattanooga's Armed Forces Day Parade, which he emceed for more than 20 years.
Earl has been awarded a Freedoms Foundation Appreciation Award, was named the Tennessee Associated Press Broadcaster of Year, the Red Bank Chamber of Commerce Person of Year, and the Sertoma Club Service to Mankind Award.
Earl Freudenberg ((( FREED -in-berg ))) has distinguished himself by outstanding service to the profession of photojournalism, and has brought great honor to himself, his community and the State of Tennessee.
