WERS Welcoming Three Entertainment Pioneers into Hall of Fame

Emerson’s award-winning radio station WERS 88.9 FM, will induct three alumni who have contributed greatly to the broadcasting industry into its Hall of Fame Saturday, June 4, during Alumni Weekend.

The 2016 inductees are Ted Cutler ’51, Boston arts philanthropist, music agent, and founder of Boston’s Outside the Box summer arts festival; Vin Di Bona ’66, Emmy Award-winning producer and creator of America’s Funniest Home Videos; and the late Evelyn Bergman Shatkin ’40, CBS radio host and producer, and public relations maven.

Cutler is well known for his contributions to the arts. While at Emerson, he worked as a musician and bandleader, becoming a pioneer in the music industry and forming his own cutting-edge orchestras that played the region’s biggest performance halls. He founded a music agency, booking acts and superstars like Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, and Sammy Davis Jr.

His initial philanthropic support was instrumental in launching a campaign that succeeded in moving WERS from its Back Bay location to its current Tremont Street home on campus. Most recently, he founded Outside the Box, Boston’s free summer arts festival. Cutler is also Trustee Emeritus at Emerson College.

Di Bona is executive producer of Vin Di Bona Productions. At Emerson, he studied television production. In 1989, he introduced America’s Funniest Home Videos. It is the longest-running entertainment program on the ABC schedule, and some of the show’s artifacts are on display in the Smithsonian American Heritage Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Peabody and Emmy Award-winning producer was honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. In 2010, he launched FishBowl Worldwide Media, which is currently in production on Insane Pools: Off the Deep End for Animal Planet. Di Bona is co-vice chair of Emerson’s Board of Trustees.

Shatkin will be posthumously inducted into the WERS Hall of Fame. She hosted a jazz program at WERS beginning in 1997. Following graduation, she continued working in radio, hosting a variety show on Boston’s CBS radio station. She also worked in theater sales and promoted numerous high-profile public relations campaigns during her long career. She was a committed and spirited Emerson alumna for 75 years, attending alumni events well into her 90s. Shatkin passed away this year, on April 2. She was 97 and lived in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Past Hall of Fame inductees include Jeff Greenhawt ’68, vice president and managing partner of Sunshine Wireless Company and chair of the Emerson Board of Trustees; Al Jaffe ’68, former vice president of talent negotiation and production recruitment at ESPN and co-vice chair of the Emerson Board of Trustees; Country 102.5’s midday on-air personality Carolyn Kruse ’84; WBZ Radio morning news anchor Joe Mathieu ’96; and CBS Radio New York, 1010 WINS reporter/anchor Sonia Rincon ’01.