Engster among new Manship School HOF inductees

LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication announced today it will induct three alumni journalists into its Hall of Fame, including local radio host and president/general manager of the Louisiana Radio Network Jim Engster. Joining Engster will be Lou Major, former publisher of the Bogalusa Daily News and retired president of Wick Communications; and the late Elayn Hunt Eicher, a noted corrections reform advocate. Engster has held several positions on the Baton Rouge media landscape since his graduation from LSU in 1981. He currently hosts The Jim Engster Show, a daily public affairs and news show on public radio station WRKF-FM. Engster has also served as a political analyst for WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge for the past 10 years. In 2005, he reported from Israel for WAFB, and was the only local reporter to cover the Israeli pullout of Gaza. Major began working with The Bogalusa Daily News and its parent organization, Wick Communications, after graduating from LSU in 1951. After receiving her bachelor’s in journalism in 1945, Hunt began working as a police and court reporter for the Baton Rouge State Times. In 1950, she received her bachelor’s degree in law from the LSU School of Law, and in 1972 Gov. Edwin Edwards appointed her director of the Louisiana Corrections Department. She died in 1976. A ceremony honoring the inductees will be held at Juban’s restaurant, beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 19. Tickets are $50 and can be reserved by calling Sara Courtney at 578-2418 or emailing her at scourtney@lsu.edu. Seating is limited to 150, and reservations must be made by Monday, April 16.