[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 36 (Monday, February 24, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1101]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Tribute to Kent Cornish

  Madam President, I come to the floor to congratulate and pay tribute 
to a Kansan, Kent Cornish. He is retiring as the President of the 
Kansas Association of Broadcasters.
  He has spent the last 40 years in the broadcast business and the past 
12 at the KAB in his advocating on behalf of broadcasters across our 
State. His dedication to making certain that rural communities in 
Kansas have access to quality broadcasting programming is a testament 
to his commitment to rural America at large. I, in particular, find 
that very pleasing as we know how important broadcasting is--local 
broadcasting in particular--to the future and well-being of the 
citizens of Kansas and, particularly, to those who live in our smallest 
communities.
  Kent is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and 
effective advocates for broadcasting in our State and around the 
country. He has been a leading voice in Topeka and Washington, DC, and 
is someone whom I hold in high regard.
  Kent is a native of Topeka who dedicated his life to broadcasting at 
an early age. With dreams of becoming a sportscaster, Kent attended the 
University of Kansas, where he earned a degree in journalism. He later 
attended Washburn University School of Law.
  After joining his hometown station, WIBW, as an intern, Kent worked 
his way up through the ranks to become a news reporter, anchor, and, 
eventually, an assistant news director. He also spent time at WDAF in 
Kansas City and later returned to WIBW. He left the station in 1980 and 
turned his attention to sales. He served as executive director of the 
Kansas Manufactured Housing Institute, but he could not keep his 
passions in the background.
  He left that job to return to broadcasting. Four years after leaving 
WIBW, he rejoined the station at which he would ultimately be named 
program director and operations manager. He later took over as general 
manager of KTKA, in Topeka, and eventually moved to Wichita to manage 
two television stations. After having spent decades running broadcast 
stations that Kansans from all over our State have relied on for both 
local and national news, he became the president and executive director 
of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters in 2008.
  Kent has had a long and successful career. He has earned esteemed 
awards, including the Grover Cobb Award from the University of Kansas. 
He has also served in numerous leadership capacities, including as the 
former president of the National Alliance of State Broadcasters 
Associations and as the former chairman of the Greater Topeka Chamber 
of Commerce and of the Topeka Community Foundation.
  Kent has been a powerful voice in the Nation's Capital for critical 
Federal policy, all framed in the larger lens of improving communities' 
access--people's access--to quality broadcasting. Like the rest of us 
from rural States like Kansas, Kent knows how quickly these communities 
can be forgotten and has always been determined to ensure access to 
local information, news, and weather.
  I am proud to call Kent a friend, and I look forward to seeing where 
his life now takes him. We meet many people in the business that we are 
in here in the U.S. Senate and in politics in general. Kent is one of 
those whom you appreciate from the first day you become acquainted with 
him. He is straightforward and honest and tells it like it is. He is 
there to be supportive but is there to provide the necessary 
information for me and others to make the best decisions, not just on 
behalf of broadcasters but for those they serve in their communities.
  I add my voice to the well-deserved praise that he has received and 
will continue to receive. Congratulations and thank you to Kent for all 
his work.
  On behalf of Kansas broadcasters, you are highly regarded by them and 
their listeners. Your efforts have benefited Kansans and have improved 
our Nation. You will be missed at the Kansas Association of 
Broadcasters, but I have no doubt you will continue to make your 
community a better place.
  I look forward to many more years of friendship and working together 
on behalf of Kansans, and I thank you for your friendship and for all 
you have done to make our State a better place.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Boozman). The Senator from Arkansas.