This inductee spent almost her entire career in radio and television. Her forte wasn’t in front of a camera or behind a microphone, but was, instead, in sales and promotion – the lifeblood of any broadcast venture. Her creative flair, her fondness of people and music, her determination and her love for Alabama makes her perfect for this honor. The ABA is proud to induct Sandra Fuller into the Alabama Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.

“She was such a modest person,” says Jenny Bohler, one of Fuller’s daughters and a music industry executive. “I think she would be shocked and surprised that anyone would even consider her for this. But she would also be very happy that her work, as a woman in this field in the early ‘60’s through the early ‘80’s, is being acknowledged.”

“Job opportunities for women – professional opportunities – in the ‘60’s seem to have been few and far between, maybe especially in radio,” Bohler continues. “She worked in broadcasting through the mid-‘80’s. That was her bread and butter. So, her opportunity to be able to step into that role and do it well really meant something.”

“We started adding some salespeople to our team, and they really had to be special, special human beings,” says Lanny West, then Y102 disc jockey and now COO of FEMco. “Sandra sold time by telling clients that they were going to become a partner with our lifestyle radio station.”

Fuller’s personality and people skills helped to make her an excellent sales executive.

“She enjoyed talking to people. She loved hanging out with people. She laughed a lot,” says Bohler. “She was very, very much a people person. So, she really enjoyed life and enjoyed being able to get out and work.”

Fuller not only shined as an excellent sales executive, but her involvement with promotions also helped to put WHHY on the map.

“Our team worked together on all sorts of ideas. We would have meetings and I would just kind of give the core idea of what the promotional thing was, and everybody participated;  adding ideas to it that would help them sell it. But Sandra was the most creative of the bunch.”

“You know, I could come up with the crazy ideas for promotions all day long, but if I didn’t have that sales force and I didn’t have Sandra as part of the whole process, our success would not have happened,” he continues. “And I think there was a lot of joy in that for her, being a part of creating promotions that she could sell.”

“One of her favorite things – and I actually found a photo of this – was a promotion for the Montgomery Zoo.  One of the guys from Wild Kingdom was brought in, and she got to escort him, pick him up at the airport and take him to all his promotional events. I’ve got some photos of her with their police escort!”

Another aspect of radio influenced Fuller’s love for her job.

“I think what made her stay in broadcast radio specifically was her love of music,” explains Bohler. “She loved music so much and it was an arena that she felt comfortable in because while she’s selling, the backdrop was music.

“She inspired me. At a very early age I knew I wanted to do something related to music.  Also, her work ethic. I saw how hard she worked. So, yeah, I would say those things, her love of music and of writing filtered down to me.”

Bohler says her mother was very proud of rising through the ranks of her career.

“I would say being able to move up from Opelika, a small market, to WHHY was something that made her very proud,” she says.  “And again, being a woman in that field and doing so well while raising three children.”

“She did really well in selling advertising and working in promotions” Bohler continues. “She excelled at it.”