Dennis Lyle

WCIL-AM/FM, Carbondale, IL would provide Dennis with his first paycheck as a radio announcer. His role at the Carbondale radio stations grew throughout his four undergraduate years at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, IL, eventually leading to additional post-graduate positions of sales, sales management, general management, and eventually, with his wife Paula as his sole business partner, purchased the stations.

The Lyle’s would sell their stations in the mid-90’s, with Dennis returning to his alma mater (BS ’75, MA ’00) as an adjunct professor while working on a Master’s degree in Telecommunications, achieved in 2000. Dennis was named the college’s Alumnus of the Year in 2011.

On track to become the Illinois Broadcasters Association Chairman of the Board in 1999, an opportunity for him to instead assume the role of President/CEO of the association was presented and accepted by Dennis, a position he holds to this day.  

A past president of NASBA (National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations,) Dennis currently serves as a Trustee on the boards of the Broadcasters Foundation of America, NABPAC, and the Museum of Broadcast Communications, and is a Regent of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois

The U.S. Department of Justice named Dennis its national “AMBER Alert Broadcast/Media Person of the Year” in 2010.  In 2012, Dennis became the first Illinois citizen to be nominated for (and later awarded) the Army National Guard’s “Medal of Merit.” In April of 2025, the Broadcasters Foundation of America awarded Dennis with its “Broadcast Leadership Award.”

Dennis and his wife Paula (Ritchey) Lyle are the proud parents of two sons (Kristopher and Matthew) and grandparents of 6 grandchildren.