Memorial’s Auditorium Named For Broadcast Executives Beasley, Curtis

Posted on March 22, 2006

It’s appropriate that the ceiling in Memorial Hall’s auditorium is Carolina blue – and not just because the venue stands at the heart of the campus.

The auditorium now bears the names of two men whose Carolina ties run deep.

Memorial Hall’s Beasley-Curtis Auditorium honors broadcast media executives George G. Beasley of Naples, Fla., and Don Curtis ’63 of Raleigh, who each gave $500,000 to the Memorial Hall renovation campaign. Plaques engraved with their names were installed at the auditorium March 16.

While Beasley, who grew up outside Mount Airy, spent only one summer at UNC and earned degrees at Appalachian State University, two of his children attended Carolina, and he has a granddaughter now enrolled at UNC. Beasley said Carolina’s contribution to his children’s success inspired his gift to Memorial Hall.

“The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will always hold a special place in my heart,” Beasley said. “As a parent of alumni, and as a native of the great state of North Carolina, it’s truly my honor and privilege to share this financial gift with UNC.

“Current trends show that institutions of higher learning are overburdened with increased enrollment and the escalating costs associated with properly educating these students. It’s becoming increasingly important that individuals and corporations step to the plate and become donors to our public universities.”

Curtis, a native of Bessemer City, said coming from his small hometown to see events in Memorial Hall as a student in the early 1960s gave him an appreciation for entertainment and culture. Helping Memorial do the same for future students made his gift a good fit, he said.

“The experiences of Memorial Hall last a lifetime and introduce you to a whole new world,” Curtis said. “Memorial Hall is as much Carolina as the Old Well and the Bell Tower.”

Along with a Carolina blue ceiling, the Beasley-Curtis Auditorium features refurbished chandeliers and ornate fixtures. They’re among the many renovations to Memorial Hall, which reopened last fall following a three-year makeover. The hall is the home of the Carolina Performing Arts Series and hosts other campus events. The reopening was featured in the November/December 2005 issue of the Carolina Alumni Review, available online to Carolina Alumni members.

The $18 million renovation project included $10 million from the Higher Education Bond Referendum approved by N.C. voters and $800,000 from the N.C. General Assembly, which approved advance-planning funds. Private donations totaled $5.1 million; remaining funds came from university sources.

Along with their major gifts to the campaign, Beasley and Curtis share a background as major figures in the broadcast media.

Beasley oversees 41 radio stations as chairman and chief executive officer of Beasley Broadcast Group Inc. These include large-market stations in Philadelphia, Miami, Boston and Las Vegas, as well as stations in Fort Myers, Fla., Augusta, Ga., Fayetteville and the coastal Carolina area.

Curtis heads Raleigh-based Curtis Media Group, which operates North Carolina’s largest network of radio stations, including flagships WPTF-AM and WQDR-FM. More than 1 million North Carolina citizens listen to one or more of the chain’s stations each week.

The two men’s honors include membership in the N.C. Association of Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame, based at UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Both also have received the association’s Distinguished Service Award.

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