‘Bob & Sheri’ finally won radio’s highest honor. Then things got awkward.
Somewhere in New York City on Tuesday night, a roomful of radio industry professionals applauded as the winner of one of broadcasting’s most prestigious awards was announced.
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The honoree was “Bob & Sheri,” the longtime Charlotte-based radio duo of Bob Lacey and Sheri Lynch.
And then … nothing.
Nobody walked toward the stage. Nobody stood up to acknowledge the applause. Nobody appeared to accept the Marconi Award for Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year.
Lynch said she heard secondhand that finally, after an awkward silence, some random guy who apparently had no idea who Bob or Sheri even were wandered up to collect the trophy. After nearly three decades of making listeners laugh — and with the show now approaching the end of an era — it might have been the perfect way for them to finally win radio’s equivalent of an Oscar.
“It was the most ‘Bob & Sheri’ thing that could ever happen,” Lynch told The Charlotte Observer by phone on Thursday morning, still laughing about it.
Lynch said she didn’t have the slightest expectation of winning.
‘Bob & Sheri’ had been nominated for a Marconi at least 10 times over the years, she said. They’d lost every time, sometimes to household names like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Ryan Seacrest (who was among the four other nominees the pair defeated this year).
Lynch had grown so accustomed to losing that she said she hadn’t bothered telling people about this year’s nomination. So, asked whether they’d considered the idea of designating someone to accept on their behalf?
“Oh my God! The arrogance of that,” she said. “That’d be like me saying, ‘Babe, while I’m at the grocery store, can you go just in case I win the Heisman?’”
In fact, she said she didn’t even know the National Association of Broadcasters awards ceremony was happening Tuesday night. Instead, Lynch was home in her pajamas, getting ready for bed, when her producer texted to say they’d won. She assumed he was confused. Then Lacey called from California, where he’s currently living, having retired in 2025.
“Congratulations!” he said.
“Oh, thank you,” Lynch replied, thinking he was referring to a Signal Award that one of her podcasts, “True Weird Stuff,” had won earlier that day.
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“No, no, no,” Lacey insisted. “I know about that. The Marconi.”
Then he sent her a screenshot of an announcement listing the winners, confirming the impossible. She said they laughed until they were practically sick.
For all the absurdity, though, the award carries considerable weight — even if the timing is bittersweet.
Lacey’s last show on the air was on Jan. 31, 2025, and Lynch is winding down the syndicated radio show, with plans to continue in podcasting. Some affiliate stations are staying through the end of the year; others are signing off earlier. So for Lynch, the award feels like recognition of something larger than any single broadcast: a partnership that succeeded for decades, then reinvented itself as an independent broadcasting operation and, eventually, a digital one.
She does wish she’d been there Tuesday night, if only for the chance to thank the people who took a gamble on her early in her career. At the same time, she said, the ridiculousness of how the whole thing went down is entirely appropriate.
“We have the lives of cartoon people,” Lynch said. “We’re cartoons … and all of these adventures, and the ability to laugh at yourself is not only something that keeps you sane, but it is the lubricant of life.”
As for the actual influence the win will have on Lynch’s life?
Well, in addition to a new centerpiece trophy for the display area for her awards at home, two more things of note:
One, Lacey — who joked to her privately this week that if he’d known retirement was all it took to win, he’d have retired sooner — will make his first appearance since retirement in a special bonus segment appended to Friday’s “Bob & Sheri” podcast, so the two can relive the hilarity for listeners.
And two…
“I was so planning to be pissed off until my literal death over never winning the Marconi,” she said. But “now I have to have a new grudge.”
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