Ninth Annual WERS 88.9 FM Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Emerson College Honors Alumni

Boston, MA — 

On Saturday, June 3, Emerson College’s award–winning radio station WERS 88.9 FM will host its annual WERS Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The event honors Emerson alumni (many of whom worked at the station) who have contributed greatly to the broadcasting industry. The 2017 inductees are Debra Daigle, MA ’83, a 30-plus year public radio veteran and current associate director of media relations at Wellesley College; Dave Thomson ’69, longtime radio host and rock jock for many markets from New York to Sacramento; Linda Coombs ’77, a 30-plus year radio veteran and operations manager at CBS Radio News in New York; and Roger Lifeset ’67, an independent record promoter based in California.

For 67 years, WERS has served as a training ground for broadcasting students at Emerson. The station is the highest-rated student-run radio station in Boston, according to Nielsen Audio.

Past WERS Hall of Fame inductees include the late 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, Emerson College Board of Trustees co-vice chair and creator of America’s Funniest Home Videos; Jeff Greenhawt ’68, vice president and managing partner of Sunshine Wireless Company, Inc. and Emerson College Board of Trustees chair; Al Jaffe ’68, former vice president, talent negotiation and production recruitment at ESPN, and Emerson College Board of Trustees co-vice chair; Carolyn Kruse ’84, Country 102.5’s midday on-air personality; and Sonia Rincon ’01, CBS Radio New York, 1010 WINS reporter and anchor.

2017 WERS Hall of Fame Honorees

Debra Daigle, MA ’83, is associate director of media relations at Wellesley College. Prior to that, she was afternoon/evening general assignment reporter for WGBH 89.7 FM, where she previously hosted the public radio station’s All Things Considered broadcast. Earlier in her career, she covered Capitol Hill, the White House, and the Supreme Court for the Unistar Radio Network in Washington. Through the 1980s and ’90s, she worked as anchor/reporter for a number of Boston radio and TV stations, including WRKO, WBZ, and NECN/Charter TV3.

Dave Thomson ’69 began his career as a disc jockey while still a student at Emerson, with gigs at stations in Laconia, New Hampshire, and Denver, but his very first gig, at Emerson’s WECB, was working for station manager Emmy Award-winning producer Vin Di Bona ’66. Since 1973, Thomson has crisscrossed the nation, in markets such as New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Detroit, Washington, Baltimore, and Sacramento. Most recently, from 2012 to 2016, he could be heard on morning radio at SoftRock989 in Fresno, California, where he’s now launched a new career in real estate.

Linda Coombs ’77 is operations manager of CBS Radio News, where she’s worked for more than 30 years producing breaking news, coordinating special events, and staffing the copy and assignment desks. She got her first full-time news job as a local news reporter/anchor at WVOS in Monticello, New York. She worked for a station in Charlotte, North Carolina, until 1981, when she moved back to New York to work for RKO Radio Networks before heading to CBS Radio.

Roger Lifeset ’67 is founder and president of Peer Pressure Promotions, and over the past 40 years has promoted rock bands, heavy metal acts, New Age music, and now, smooth jazz. He started his career in radio, and then transitioned to doing Northeast regional promotions for a number of West Coast record labels. In 1976, he moved to Los Angeles to become national album director for United Artists.