Jerry Rose of the Christian network TLN Media to be inducted into the Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame April 19
Jerry Rose, executive producer, producer, and television host who has won over 30 Emmy Awards in 61 years of broadcasting, is one of four 2024 Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame inductees who will be honored at the banquet on April 19 at Villa Olivia in Bartlett.
Rose, a former Aurora and Naperville resident, will be receiving the honor along with Elgin Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Isabella Lippi and WGN broadcaster Tom Skilling. Dick Cavett band leader Bobby Rosengarden is being awarded posthumously.
The event, which is open to the public, includes dinner and entertainment. For more information, visit FoxVallleyArtsHallofFame.org.
Jerry Rose began in Dallas as an on-air personality, hosting radio and television shows around Texas. In 1972, he became manager of CBN-TV’s Christian station in Dallas. Several years later he took on his greatest challenge — as general manager of a new Christian TV station, but this time in the not so welcoming environs of Chicago. It was an audacious vision. Chicago was not a Bible Belt city like Dallas. Even other evangelical Christian groups resisted the idea. Pat Robertson said, “The one place in the world I would not try to build a Christian television station would be Chicago. I don’t think it’s possible.”
“The first couple of years … it was just a struggle to stay alive,” says Rose. But with steadfast commitment — and Rose’s insight into how new technology would transform broadcasting — when the station was sold, it was arguably the nation’s most successful Christian TV station. That single Chicago station became Total Living Network Media (TLN), now a global broadcast and digital communications company.
TLN studios was located in a massive 65,000-square-foot broadcast studio in Aurora, Illinois, where Rose and his family resided for many years. The studio is now located in Naperville, where the family also lived.
Rose won four television Emmys as executive producer and was the executive producer on three feature films: “THr3e,” “Quigly” and “Hangman’s Curse.” He is a member of the National Religious Broadcaster Hall of Fame, and served as their president for three years. He won the Silver Circle Award from The Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Toast Master Award from the Chicago Toastmasters. Rose has also wrote several books.
Jerry Rose was president of TLN Media and Total Living International for 48 years, having started with the company as general manager of WCFC-TV in 1975. He retired in November 2023 and is now board chairman emeritus of TLN Media.
The Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame recognizes artists associated with the Fox Valley by birth, education, residence or service who have achieved international or national acclaim. Candidates should have completed 20 years in their professional field and received recognition for excellence. The honor is for living artists or can be awarded posthumously. For more information, visit FoxValleyArtsHallofFame.org.