Media mogul, producer and comedian Byron Allen will accept Los Angeles Press Club’s Impact Award for Influential Contributions to Culture and Society.
The ceremony will take place at the 15th annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards Gala on December 4, 2022, at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. This is a fundraiser for the Los Angeles Press Club, a 501c3 charitable organization.
“Byron Allen took an unusual path to media mogul, starting his career as a stand-up comedian and talk show host,” said Los Angeles Press Club President Lisa Richwine. “He has since built a company that has made an impact on many corners of the media realm — from TV to movies and streaming.”
Chairman and CEO Byron Allen founded Allen Media Group in 1993. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it has offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Charleston, SC. Allen Media Group owns 27 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations in 21 U.S. markets and twelve 24-hour HD television networks, including the Weather Channel, serving nearly 220 million subscribers.
“I am honored and grateful to be the recipient of the Los Angeles Press Club’s Impact Award,” Allen said. “As a member of the entertainment industry and as an Angeleno for over five decades, I am truly blessed to be included with my fellow entertainers and show business peers in receiving such a distinguished award.”
Allen’s interest in show business began during his childhood, when he would accompany his mother to NBC Studios in Burbank where she secured a network internship, a job as a tour guide, and later as a network publicist. Free to roam the NBC soundstages where his mother worked, Allen would sneak onto “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” set and sit behind Johnny Carson’s desk and play talk show host. After encouragement from Carson himself, Allen took it one step further, and at age 14, put together his first stand-up routine and began performing on amateur nights at comedy clubs throughout the Los Angeles area.
In 1979, at age 18, Allen made his national television debut on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” Allen holds the distinction of being the youngest standup comedian ever to have performed on the show.
The Los Angeles Press Club has a long and storied history as one of the oldest and most prestigious journalist organizations in the country, serving the Southland since 1913.
The club established the NAEJ Awards in 2008 to recognize and honor quality journalism in the fastest growing segment of the modern media revolution. It remains the sole acknowledgement of its kind in the nation and has become a much anticipated celebration for those covering the entertainment industry and its artists.
Ryan Seacrest, Jennifer Lee and Tanya Tucker will also be honored this evening.
About Los Angeles Press Club
The Los Angeles Press Club stands as an organization devoted to improving the spirit of journalism and journalists, raising the industry’s standards, strengthening its integrity and improving its reputation all for the benefit of the community at large. Serving the Southland since 1913, it is the only Southern California journalism group that speaks for all journalists working for daily and weekly newspapers, radio & TV, magazines, documentary films and online.
