(SOUTH ORANGE, NJ) -- WSOU 89.5 FM, Seton Hall University’s legendary radio station, will welcome two new inductees into the station’s Hall of Fame on April 5, 2019: Joe Garifo ’72 and Matt DeVoti ’84. In addition, Clayton Collier ’16 will be presented with the WSOU Distinguished Young Alumnus Award. The honorees will be inducted at ceremonies held in the atrium of Seton Hall University’s Jubilee Hall at 7:00pm.
The WSOU Hall of Fame and Young Alum Award honors distinguished alumni who have made significant contributions to their professions and recognizes their involvement with Seton Hall University’s radio station. Inductees are chosen based on their professional accomplishments, WSOU student career activities, service to WSOU and Seton Hall University after graduation, support of current students, personal examples of servant leadership and involvement with alumni activities.
“This year, our inductees are highly reflective of the WSOU experience and the type of alumni we produce,” said Mark Maben, the station’s general manager. “Matt’s career spans virtually even facet of broadcasting – DJ, promotions, sales, marketing, management, voiceover talent, and more. Joe’s record as a news director, public affairs officer, and educator is exemplary, and Clayton’s rising star demonstrates that WSOU remains at the forefront of training students for 21st century media careers.”
WSOU began broadcasting on April 14, 1948 when Father Thomas J. Gilhooly turned on the station’s transmitter and began an experiential-learning and pre-professional development program that has taught generations of broadcasters, music industry professionals, and corporate communicators. Many well-known radio and TV personalities got their first on-air experience at the station including ESPN’s Bob Ley, Bob Picozzi and John Brickley, WINS reporter Glenn Schuck, NYC traffic reporters Christina Lang, Kelly Dillon, Joe Nolan, and Christina Stoffo, NJ 101.5’s Jen Ursillo, former N.Y. State Broadcasters Association president & CEO Joseph A. Reilly, Baltimore Orioles play-by-play announcer Jim Hunter, SiriusXM senior director of music programming Jeff Regan, and Cara Hahn, Assistant Program Director for New York’s Z100 and Lite FM, among others. Thousands of other students cut their teeth at WSOU before moving on to careers in public relations, A&R, music recording and production, communications, sports marketing, education, and dozens of other professions.
The 2019 inductees into the WSOU Hall of Fame join a distinguished roster of station alumni. The current members of the Hall of Fame, in order of induction, are: Bill Rock ’69. Jim Malespina ’71, Bob Ley ’76, Monsignor Thomas Gillhooly ’33, Thomas Parnham, Steve Nenno ‘50, Pat Parson ’60, Reverend James Pindar ’50, Robert Wussler ’57, Glenn Schuck ’85, Robert Windrem ’68, Bernie Wagenblast ’78, Bob Picozzi ’72, Matt Loughlin ‘79, Pete Tauriello ’76, Richard Koziol, Professor Stanley Kosakowski, Bishop John O'Hara ’67 and Frank Garrity ’82.
WSOU is the student-run radio station of Seton Hall University. Celebrated for its loud rock format and coverage of Seton Hall athletics, WSOU’s signal reaches all five boroughs of New York City and much of northern and central New Jersey, and is available on iHeartRadio. WSOU was the 2016 winner of the National Broadcasters Association’s Marconi Award for Noncommercial Station of the Year. WSOU is part of the College of Communication and the Arts at Seton Hall University.
The 2019 WSOU Hall of Fame Inductees & Distinguished Young Alumnus Honoree Biographies
Hall of Fame Inductees
Through a storied career Matt DeVoti ‘84 has had experiences that he could never have imagined at the time of his graduation from Seton Hall University. From asking Paul McCartney to play at his wedding (he said no), to singing “You’re So Vein” with Carly Simon over dinner in NYC, to waiting with two contest winners at Linden Airport for a “July 4th City Tour on the Pizza Hut Blimp,” only to discover it had just crashed on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Matt’s years in the business have been filled with surprises. Matt has often credited his training at WSOU as an air personality and Operations Director, coupled with an internship at WPLJ (then “New York’s Best Rock”), for the launch of an exciting career. His resume features on-camera work and being the voice of ESPN Classic & National TV commercials. He also earned top ratings as an Adult Contemporary Radio programmer & air personality at WOBM-FM in the 1980s. Matt’s on-air history also includes other formats such as syndicated Smooth Jazz with SW Networks and rock radio in New York at both WNEW-FM and WAXQ throughout the 1990s, where his mid-day show at Q104.3 had the largest rock radio audience in the country. Matt has also enjoyed management positions in production, marketing and sales at WNEW-FM (CBS Radio), WDHA/WMTR (Greater Media), 1010 WINS (CBS Radio), and now Altice Media. In 2012 Matt was named Sales Manager of the Year at the National Association of Broadcasters radio convention in Dallas. In 2008, Matt joined the WSOU Advisory Board, and since 2013 has directed the WSOU Endowed Student Scholarship Fund. Matt said “It just felt right returning to my roots and helping current students continue the WSOU legacy in their own way.” Matt is currently the Sales Manager at Altice Media’s News 12 New Jersey & Central New Jersey Optimum Systems and resides in North Caldwell, N.J.
Joe Garifo ’72, Adjunct Professor at Seton Hall’s College of Communication and the Arts for more than 20 years, has worked for WRDI-WRDR-FM in Hammonton, N.J., WMTR, Morristown, N.J. and WDHA-FM, Dover N.J. as a news writer, reporter, sports director, and news director. He was honored by the New Jersey Association of Counties for Outstanding News Reporting by a Broadcast Journalist. Joe was the public information director for Morris County, N.J., for 24 years and played an instrumental role in reconstituting the Morris County Tourism Bureau, serving as the Visitor’s Center’s first president. At Seton Hall, Joe also worked at WSOU as a DJ and newscaster. He was on the student board of directors as a junior and senior, serving as Director of Announcing and Assistant Program Director as a junior and Program Director during his senior year. As the Assistant Program Director, he oversaw the station’s first morning program, called “In the Morning,” which consisted of news, weather, traffic and folk and soft rock. He served on the original WSOU Student Scholarship Committee and is a member of the Anniversary Dinner Committee and the Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He currently resides in West Orange, N.J.
Distinguished Young Alumnus Honoree
Clayton Collier ‘16 is a sports anchor/reporter for ABC Local 24 and CW30 in Memphis, Tenn., where he covers the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and Div. I football and basketball with the Memphis Tigers. Clayton also co-hosts Sonic High School Sports Blast, a weekly 30-minute preps sports program on CW30. Prior to Memphis, Clayton was a weekend sports anchor at KFYR-TV in Bismarck, N.D., covering everything from high school sports to the North Dakota State Bison to the rodeo. As the Sports Director for WSOU 89.5 FM, he provided play-by-play commentary for Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games, including the Pirates’ 2016 BIG EAST Championship win over Villanova.
