By Nate West
News Assignment Editor
Lee Coppola, former dean of the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is making news again.
Coppola is a 2012 inductee of the Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.
“I found out in February,” Coppola said in an email. “As a member of the Buffalo Broadcasters Association, I was sent a ballot. That’s when I learned I was nominated.”
Coppola spent 16 years as a reporter for the Buffalo News. He then worked for four years as an investigative reporter for WKBW-TV (Channel 7) and five years as investigative reporter for WIVB-TV (Channel 4), in Buffalo.
“I was a bit surprised when I saw my name on the ballot,” Coppola said.
The induction ceremony takes place on Sept. 20 at WNED-TV (Channel 17) in Buffalo. The awards ceremony starts at 7 p.m.
Coppola will enter the hall of fame alongside longtime Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret, VH1 President Tom Calderone, retired television photographer Bill Cantwell and CNN’s Southeast Region Bureau Chief Mary Lynn Ryan. A posthumous award will be given to Mike Roszman, a WGR-AM traffic reporter.
Along with his former dean title, Coppola is also known for founding the Bob Koop Broadcast Journalism Laboratory, a lab dedicated in memory of the late WIVB-TV anchor.
“If my broadcasting career has any merit, I believe it is in the broadcast journalists that graduate from St. Bonaventure who honed their skills in the Bob Koop Broadcasting Laboratory,” Coppola said. “I’m as proud of the Koop Lab and the journalists it’s produced than any of my achievements as a television investigative reporter.”
