Beasley dedicates media complex

With one station in 1961, George Beasley built a 43-station radio company that is publicly traded today.

But the Naples-based entrepreneur hasn't forgotten his roots. He returned Aug. 22 to his alma mater at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., to dedicate the George G. Beasley Media Complex.

The new media complex measures 18,000 square feet and it includes radio and television stations, classrooms, labs and faculty offices. It also houses the student-run radio station.

Beasley, the founder, chairman and CEO of Beasley Broadcast Group, earned a bachelor's degree in business education in 1958 and a master's degree in educational administration in 1960 at Appalachian State.

“I not only envision Appalachian being one of the top schools in communications in North Carolina, I think that over the next few years it will become the premier school of broadcast communications in the Southeast and maybe one of the top five in America,” Beasley told a crowd at the ribbon cutting.