Harvey Nagler’s latest honor matters because it spotlights the kind of radio leadership that still shapes how news, weather, and audience service are delivered across stations. Radio Ink has named the former CBS News Radio general manager as its 2026 Lifetime Leadership Award recipient.
A six-decade career that reached across radio
Nagler’s career in radio spans six decades and began in 1966 as a reporter for WCTC-AM in New Brunswick, N.J. He went on to work at ABC Radio Networks from 1968 to 1979 in a range of roles before joining RKO Radio Networks as director of news operations. When that network became United Stations Radio Networks, he became vice president of news and sports and oversaw a news operation that grew to 500 affiliates.
WCBS and CBS News Radio became defining stops
In 1987, Nagler joined WCBS Newsradio 880 in New York as director of news and programming, a role he held for 10 years. During that period, the station achieved record ratings and collected national and local honors, and Nagler was credited with developing practices such as “traffic and weather together on the eights” and “guaranteed weather,” which were later adopted by stations across the country.
In 1998, he was named vice president of radio at CBS News. Under his leadership, CBS News Radio won the RTDNA’s Edward R. Murrow Overall Excellence Award for seven consecutive years. Nagler retired from CBS in January 2017.
Recognition from radio’s journalism community
Beyond CBS, Nagler served on the board of the Radio Television Digital News Association and received its John F. Hogan Distinguished Service Award and Barney Oldfield Award for outstanding contributions to the RTDNA Foundation. He also received the Radio Television Digital News Foundation’s First Amendment Service Award in 2010.
Radio Ink President and Publisher Deborah Parenti said Nagler’s career accomplishments and his caring nature made him a fitting Lifetime Leadership recipient. Nagler joins previous honorees Jeff Smulyan, Gordon Smith and Randy Michaels.
Radio Ink will feature Nagler in a special interview in its July issue alongside the annual 40 Most Powerful People in Radio list. He will be formally presented with the award at Forecast 2027 in New York City this November.
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