Thursday, January 22, 2015

Tony Leodora Hits Awards Trifecta in Orlando; Wins Honors for Television, Radio and Writing

(PHILADELPHIA, Pa.) - The annual PGA Merchandise Show is often a time of celebration in the golf industry ... and nobody was celebrating more than Tony Leodora, host of the Traveling Golfer television show. He was called into the winner's circle three times to receive national awards.

Leodora, who founded the Traveling Golfer with a small network of outlets two years ago this week, has helped the distribution grow ten-fold in a short period of time. Now, continued growth will be fueled after winning a first-place award excellence in golf television that was presented at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.

Traveling Golfer won the prestigious Media Award from the International Network of Golf for producing the best golf television segment in 2014. The segment was a feature on "Annie's Revenge," the hauntingly inspired golf tournament in Jamaica that harkens to its historical roots. The feature was part of an eye-catching show about golf in the Montego Bay region in Jamaica. It was produced and directed by Jamie McWilliams, who has been with Traveling Golfer from the beginning.

The Traveling Golfer can be seen throughout the Mid-Atlantic region as part of the Inside Golf show on Comcast SportsNet; as part of the Press Box show on Ch. 4 in Myrtle Beach, around the world as part of The Golf Director Network and on a network of 16 golf websites. It also can be seen anytime on the host site, www.travelinggolfervideo.com.

In the Golf Radio category, GolfTalk Live received an Outstanding Achievement Award for best radio segment. It was the seventh year in a row that GolfTalk Live received a national award. Three times - 2008, 2010 and 2011 - it was named No. 1 Radio Show in America. In the other four years it received the Outstanding Achievement Award, which goes to the runner-up.

The segment was co-hosted by Eddie Caiazzo and contained an intriguing interview with golf course architect Tom Fazio.

GolfTalk Live airs 52 weeks a year from 7 to 8 a.m. each Saturday on flagship station WNTP 990-AM in Philadelphia, as well as from 3 to 4 p.m. on WOND 1400-AM in South Jersey. It also can be heard live on www.wntp.com, as well as any time after the show airs, by going to the website, www.golftalklive.net.

Finally, Leodora added another national award to his long list of writing honors over the years. He captured an Outstanding Achievement Award in the Golf Business Writing category for an in-depth analysis in GolfStyles Magazine, titled, "Surviving and Thriving - How 3 Courses Stayed Ahead of the Economy."

"The year 2014 was a great one for us, and these awards provide a fitting climax to the success," commented Leodora. "We have a great team of people working on both the television and radio shows. And staying power of the magazine proves there is still a place for print journalism. I owe a large debt of gratitude to a lot of people who made all of this happen."

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