Nelson Sears

Inducted 2003

Nelson Sears' broadcast career began after he returned from World War II where he was wounded in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and then was shipped to the Pacific where he also saw action.  Fresh from the war he became enamored with the new broadcast medium called television.  After a brief stay in Chicago going to a tech school to learn about TV he returned home to the Susquehanna Valley when he heard a TV station was about to go on the air in Lancaster.  Full of self confidence - Nelson's hallmark trait - he convinced WGAL's founder Clare McCullough to hire him as one of the station's first employees and one of the people who actually signed the station on the air on March 18, 1949.

During his 50-plus year career at WGAL Nelson did it all--news anchor, weathercaster, camera operator, commercial announcer, talk show host, program manager, news director and special advisor to every general manager.  His accomplishments are too numerous to name, but include writing the station's first computer traffic program, successfully defending the license against a very serious challenge, envisioning and leading local programming efforts like PM magazine, 12:30 Live and many specials, most notably one on Hurricane Agnes, where he employed a singing group to perform the ballad of Agnes, music that Nelson wrote.  He was so impressed by their work he made arrangements for the unknown group to appear on the Mike Douglas Show where the world discovered the Oak Ridge Boys--thanks to Nelson Sears--which by the way they acknowledged at the Strand Capital in 1994 where they honored Nelson at the occasion of his retirement.

This man of all seasons has a real passion for life.  His interests include restoring antique cars (never misses a Hershey Auto Show), playing championship chess in national tournaments, serving on the board of trustees for Millersville University, writing books (he is the author of "I Keek a Touchdown,"-the life story of Garo Yepremian) and has recently produced a 30-minute documentary about Pennsylvania's Elk herd.

If all that is not enough, you also have to know that when the Ryman Auditorium, the former home of the Grand Ole' Opry, was scheduled to be demolished, Nelson made arrangements to purchase some of its famous stage flooring so he could make a violin--or better known in Nashville as a fiddle.  Like everything else he starts, Nelson completed this masterpiece and even had it played on that very stage just last year.  It seems after Nelson got a piece of the stage the city fathers decided not to tear it down for historical reasons and they then had to patch Nelson's hole.