Here's a press release worth quoting here…
NEW YORK, NY (Marketwire – June 29, 2007) — Pioneering radio innovator, satirist and performer Stan Freberg has won the New York Festivals (NYF) 2007 Radio Broadcasting Lifetime Achievement Award.
With an illustrious career, Freberg broke into show business as a teen after winning an audition at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio to do voice-over work and later went on to provide the voices of Walt Disney characters including the Beaver in "Lady and the Tramp." He came to prominence in radio broadcasting with "The Stan Freberg Show" on CBS Radio in 1957, meant as a summer stand-in for the long-running "Jack Benny Show." A visionary program, Freberg used his humor to comment on all aspects of American society of the 1950s. The series only ran for 15 episodes due to the rising prominence of television, a medium he soon entered. Credited as the first person to inject humor into TV spots, Freberg founded his own advertising firm, Freberg, Ltd.* (but not very), where he and his wife Hunter still work today. In the 1990s he produced a daily commentary show titled "Stan Freberg Here." In addition to the NYF Lifetime Achievement Award, Freberg has been honored many times throughout the years, culminating in a Grammy, numerous Emmys, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.
Nominated for the prestigious award by New York Festivals Honorary Radio Broadcasting Board of Distinguished Judges and Advisors alongside Freberg were Ray Cordeiro, Ira Glass, Charles Grodin, Paul Holmes, Don Imus and Dick Orkin. The selection of this year's winner was decided by the broadcasting industry at large through an online voting procedure. Previous recipients include Air America's Al Franken (2006) and "The Rest of the Story's" Paul Harvey Jr. (2006).
One could quibble a bit with the facts of that bio but so what? Nice to see that while Mr. Sahl was being honored on this coast, the other guy who pioneered funny records was getting some love back in New York. Wonder if Imus voted for him. Stan used to be kind of nappy-headed.