Washington – Oct 7, 2009 – The NAB has announced that former NAB Joint Board Chairman Donald Thurston, a radio broadcaster with Berkshire Broadcasting in North Adams, MA, died Tuesday, Oct. 6. He was NAB joint board chairman from 1977-1979.

Mr. Thurston also served two terms as chairman of the BMI Board of Directors in the mid-1990s. He was a member of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Veteran observers of NAB will recall that Don Thurston was a candidate in a hotly-contested race to replace Vince Wasilewski as president of NAB in 1982. The election was decided by four votes, and won by Eddie Fritts.