When listing the top ten characteristics  of a good businessperson – as determined by Harvard University – kindness is not at the top of the list. In fact, it’s not on the list at all. The good people at Harvard never met Maudie Bedford. She was an extremely successful general manager of WVNA AM/FM radio for over two decades, and yet it’s her compassion, kindheartedness and generosity that people remember. For her dedication to broadcasting, her employees and her community, the ABA is honored to induct Maudie Bedford into the Hall of Fame.

“I’ve just heard many, many stories over the years of acts of kindness, and situations that she found out about and did whatever she could do to help someone that was struggling,” says her sister Jane Dill.  “I just think she had a very large heart and was very compassionate and had all this energy that she wanted to do what she could. I think that was one of her strongest skills – her people skills.”

“I worked closely with Maudie at WVNA in Tuscumbia in the early 80s. I interviewed for an announcer’s position with her, and we had the most wonderful meeting and conversation,” says Sherry St. John, mid-day announcer at WXFL.  “I had never met her before, and she greeted me with that amazing smile of hers, and I just felt so at ease immediately. And she hired me for that position and eventually made me operations manager because Maudie championed women in broadcasting – women in business and business in general.”

“She was very interested in Alabama Broadcasters Association and what they do,” Dill says. “And small business was one of her passions, too. She was the head of the Southern Development Council. They give loans to small businesses, so she was very active and wanted to make a difference.”

“I think Maudie’s legacy was promoting women in broadcasting,” says St. John. “Others might say it’s to promote business, and she did that, but to me she will forever be a shining example of community involvement and bringing out the best in our communities.”

Bedford had a way of seeing the best in people, too.

“She gave from her heart, says St. John. “If you don’t know, she was a cheerleader at Bradshaw where she graduated high school. And that was how I thought of Maudie all along – as a cheerleader for life. She cheered us all on as part of the broadcasting community and the community in general. That was Maudie’s calling.”

Although her uplifting personality was genuine, St. John said it paid off in business, too.

“She had a sixth sense about some things. She had a way of bringing you over to her side of thinking about a particular project with the greatest of ease. It was that 1,000,000-watt smile of hers and her enthusiasm.”

 “When it came to her business, she was tireless,” St. John continues. “She would work well into the night. She would come in early. She would help the staff anyway she could pulling together interviews and politicians from the area. And it was just amazing to sit and watch her work. It was so effortless.”

“She was on the board of Alabama’s Children’s Hospital … she was on numerous boards and very involved in a lot of different projects,” says Dill. “After she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she worked tirelessly at helping other women who were dealing with that. She helped raise funds and she had her own organization that bought wigs and things like that for cancer patients going through what she did.”

“But I think the radio was her first love. Then all these other things came along also.”

“Maudie was beautiful and she didn’t know it,” smiled St. John. “ She didn’t act like she thought she was beautiful, but she was thoroughly beautiful, from the outside, of course, but also from her soul.”