Year Inducted:
Category / Categories:
2010 Inductee
Brian Meyer’s interest in journalism dates back to the fifth grade at Buffalo Public School #56 when he was named managing editor of the class newspaper. A year later, he founded his own neighborhood newspaper. The Elmwood Courier survived for nearly three years and distributed several thousand copies over that period.
As a young teenager, Meyer also became a correspondent for weekly newspapers operated by Rocket Publications founder David Gallagher.
Meyer became involved in the newspaper at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, serving as editor of The Student Prints in his junior and senior years. When he was accepted at Marquette University’s College of Journalism, the challenging job market spurred Meyer to diversify his interests. While still pursuing his studies in print journalism, he became involved in the campus radio station. He was named news director in his sophomore year, and became the station’s general manager in his final two years at Marquette.
While Meyer never took a single radio or television course, he realized that he loved the immediacy of broadcasting. He was offered his full-time job while he was still a senior at Marquette. Meyer became public affairs director of WBCS radio in Milwaukee, hosting several weekly programs, anchoring newscasts and reporting on crime, government and school district issues.
Less than a year after he graduated from college, WBEN Radio News Director called Meyer and offered a reporting job in Buffalo. Meyer had served as a WBEN intern a few years earlier. Meyer returned to Buffalo in 1982, serving as a street reporter.
He continued to report on WBEN for more than 15 years, serving as managing editor in his final decade at the station. Meyer covered a wide range of local issues, including the reign of feisty Mayor Jimmy Griffin, hundreds of prominent court cases and economic development. He covered four presidential conventions, a presidential inauguration, the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in Florida, and the return of Terry Anderson to the United States. He also spent nearly a month in Los Angeles covering the first O.J. Simpson trial.
Meyer left WBEN in late 1997 to become a business reporter at The Buffalo News. A few years later, he became the newspaper’s city government reporter.
The award-winning journalist has taught communications courses at several colleges since the late 1980s. He currently teaches courses at Buffalo State College and Medaille College.
He is founder and president of Western New York Wares Inc., a publishing company that has produced more than 60 books that focus on various aspects of the Buffalo-Niagara region. He has authored or co-authored six of these books, including The World According to Griffin.
Meyer is a treasurer of the Greater Buffalo Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists College Scholarship Fund.
Audio Archives
Video Archives