John Oates and the NFL Named to National Association of Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame
Written by djfrosty on April 9, 2025
Two new members were inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Hall of Fame on Tuesday (April 8): BMI singer/songwriter John Oates (in radio) and the National Football League, or NFL (in TV). The inductions were the highlight of a dinner at Encore in Las Vegas that was jointly presented by BMI and the NAB.
The event marked the end of BMI’s run hosting the dinner, with plans for NAB to continue the Hall of Fame tradition moving forward.
Oates, who first signed with BMI in 1972, was inducted into the NAB Radio Hall of Fame for his contributions to American radio, chiefly as the co-founder of Daryl Hall & John Oates, one of the most successful duos in music history. Hall & Oates amassed 16 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — including seven that Oates co-wrote — including “Sara Smile,” “She’s Gone,” “You Make My Dreams,” “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),” “Maneater,” “Adult Education” and “Out of Touch.”
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Oates had previously received the BMI Icon Award and the BMI Troubadour Award. He has also received 10 BMI Pop Awards and 30 BMI Million-Air Awards for his songs’ repeated airplay. In addition, as a member of Hall & Oates, he received five Grammy nominations and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
In accepting the award, Oates thanked the NAB for the honor and talked about the importance of radio in his life, sharing that the music played on the stations he listened to growing up was “indelibly printed on my soul, my mind, and it’s the music that made me. I owe everything to radio.” He then performed six songs: the Hall & Oates hits “Out of Touch” and “She’s Gone;” three solo songs, including “A Ways Away,” from an album slated for release later this year; and a rendition of the 1954 Ray Charles classic, “I Got a Woman.”
The NFL was inducted into the NAB Television Hall of Fame for its pioneering influence on sports broadcasting, from its early days to its role as a cultural powerhouse today. Since the first televised NFL game in 1939, the league has consistently broken barriers in the broadcasting world.
Rich Eisen, NFL Network broadcaster and host of The Rich Eisen Show, accepted the award on behalf of the NFL, acknowledging the league’s far-reaching impact on sports broadcasting and TV culture. A video produced by NFL Films was shown, highlighting the NFL’s journey in TV history, leading into Eisen’s acceptance speech and a video message from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
On BMI’s last time hosting what has become a highlight of the NAB Show, BMI CEO/president Mike O’Neill said, “In celebration of 75 amazing years, I can think of no better time or way to preserve the tradition of this evening than for BMI to hand it over to our incredible partners from the start, the NAB. We believe that the broadcasting industry and the creative community will always enrich one another, and BMI is honored to facilitate that vital relationship long into the future.”