The late John W. Jacobs, Jr., founder and former board chairman of Jacobs Media Corp. (parent company of WDUN-AM, WDUN-FM, 1240 ESPN Radio, and AccessWDUN), is being honored by the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.
The Elmo Ellis Spirit Award will be presented at the Hall of Fame's Induction Awards ceremony in Marietta Oct. 21. The award is named for the late, longtime General Manager of WSB radio in Atlanta.
Born in Gainesville, Jacobs served in the U.S. Army during World War II, surviving the Battle of the Bulge and receiving the Silver Star. After the war, he earned his journalism degree at the University of Missouri. Returning home, he began his radio career in 1949 when he founded WDUN-AM and began operating the second FM station in Georgia. He eventually acquired WGGA, the city's oldest radio station (now operated as 1240 ESPN Radio), and served as chairman in the family-run business, Jacobs Media.
Jacobs died Nov. 23, 2011, just four days shy of his 89th birthday.
(Some of the information in this story came from the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame Website.)
