Dave Magnum is one of four new inductees into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association (WBA) Hall of Fame for 2026. Following their announcement of their 2026 Living Broadcast Legends, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation has announced its four 2026 WBA Hall of Fame inductees.
Dave Magnum’s first time on the air was in 1976 at age 13 on WNNO in his hometown of Wisconsin Dells helping his church raise funds for Camp Wawbeek through a radio auction. At 15, WNNO hired him as a deejay. At 19, he was on WIBA-FM in Madison. Radio jobs then took him to Kansas and Texas. Dave met his future wife, Lynn, in 1987 when he became Program Director of a Michigan station where she worked in the office. In 1989, the newlyweds moved to Albuquerque, where Dave joined Drake-Chenault as a Regional Manager.
View Dave Magnum’s induction speech here.
The couple returned to Wisconsin in 1991 to build their first radio station from scratch, a Construction Permit licensed to Tomah they called WBOG to locally brand with the area’s cranberry bogs. In 1994, they consolidated two more stations. Their plan was to build an all-Wisconsin group with the goal of overlapping I-90/94 signals from La Crosse through Madison to Milwaukee. In 2002, at age 33, Lynn died of breast cancer. Her legacy lives on through their sons, Reid and Ty, plus Reid’s wife, Chelsey, who are taking Magnum Media into its second generation.
As of 2026, Magnum has owned 27 AM and FM stations, 25 FM translators, and three LP-TV stations. Dave credits the growth to talented and loyal coworkers. He has also served on the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Board of Directors and as a Rotarian.
The four 2026 Hall of Fame honorees – Magnum, Kelly Radandt, Jeff Tyler, and Steve Wexler – were celebrated the night of June 18 at the 2026 Summer Conference at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
