Local radio legend Bill Wippel of Normandy Park has been tapped to receive the Susan Hutchinson Bosch Award from the Western Washington chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Wippel will receive the honor at the Western Washington Excellence in Journalism awards banquet on Saturday, June 2, at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue.

As news director at KIRO radio in Seattle in the late 1970s, Wippel hired both talk show host Dave Ross and reporter Tim Haeck

Wippel has been active in radio journalism since 1950. He has worked at stations in Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Pullman, Yakima, Ellensburg, Lewiston, Idaho, Minneapolis, Minn., and Green Bay, Wisc.

He remains active in the non-profit world, currently serving as executive director for Tape Ministries NW, a lending library for the blind and disabled in 48 states and Canada.

Wippel also broadcasts for the blind on Evergreen Radio Reading Service, a part of the Washington Talking Books and Braille Library.

In addition, he's done public relations and outreach work for the Union Gospel Mission, the Compass Center and New Hope Child and Family Agency.