1963 — Jerry Lee and David L. Kurtz launch a brand new station with a "Beautiful Music" format. Within five months, 101 FM becomes the #1 rated FM station in Philadelphia.
 

1978 — Developed the concept of The Broadcast Minority Fund, responsible for $100 million in loans to provide minority ownership of broadcast properties.

 

1979 — President of the Broadcast Pioneers (predecessor organization of the Broadcast Foundation).
 

1982 — Created the Broadcast Industry Council to Improve American Productivity, which spearheaded a national campaign for Productivity featuring Howard K. Smith (ABC Evening News anchor) as its spokesperson.
 

1987 — Received the President's Private Sector Initiative Award from President Ronald Reagan on behalf of The Broadcast Productivity Council.
 

1987 — Chairman of the Committee on Local Radio Audience Measurement (COLRAM).
 

1988 — Spearheaded a national study into the future of Beautiful Music which resulted in 95% of all Beautiful Music Stations changing format within two years.

​

1990 — Appointed to the committee to help establish free broadcasting in Eastern European countries.
 

1995 — Initiates major learning program for the Philadelphia School System, designed to greatly reduce the number of Seventh Graders who are held back each year. The program uses customized interactive multimedia to improve each student's weak areas.
 

1997 — Jerry named "Broadcaster of the Year" by "Radio Ink" magazine at the RAB conference in Atlanta, February 1997.
 

1997 — Jerry given the Broadcast Foundation's American Broadcast Pioneer Award for a history of distinguished contribution to the industry.
 

1997 — Jerry named "Person of the Year" by the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia and inducted into the Pioneers' "Hall of Fame."
 

1997 — Invited to serve as Head of the Advisory Board of the University of Maryland's School of Criminology's "Preventing Crime" program.
 

1997 — Funds a study to determine the cost effectiveness of technology in the learning process. Grant is used to research why Union City went from one of the worst to one of the best performing school districts in New Jersey.
 

1997 — Jerry receives the "Great Friends to Kids" Philanthropy Award from the Please Touch Museum of Philadelphia.
 

1997 — Named to the National Advisory Board of the Salvation Army.
 

2000 — Establishes the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. The Center will be the foremost organization dedicated to researching the root causes of crime.
 

2001 — Elected to the Hall of Fame by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.
 

2001 — Head of the Research Committee for the Radio Advertising Lab.
 

2001 — Member of the Board of Trustees of The Campbell Collaboration. The mission of the Campbell Collaboration is to provide decision makers around the world with sound evidence in implementing and evaluating policies in the areas of education, crime prevention and social services.
 

2003 — Named to the Board of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
 

2003 — Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology.
 

2003 — Named to the Board of Advisors of the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy.
 

2003 — Recipient of the National Caring Award and inducted into the Hall of Fame for Caring Americans by the Caring Institute, Washington, DC.
 

2004 — Inducted into the "Broadcasting and Cable" Hall of Fame.
 

2004 — U. S. Senate confirmed Jerry's appointment by President George W. Bush to serve a 4-year term on the National Board for Education Sciences.
 

2004 — Named to the Board of the American Research Foundation.
 

2006 — Recipient of the 2006 Malcolm Beville Award for Research.
 

2006 — Funded the creation of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology. The 1,000,000 SEK prize honors the Criminologist who has done the most to advance crime and justice in the world. The Prize is given out each June in the same venue as the Nobel Prize by a member of the Royal Family of Sweden.

2007 — Recipient of the 2007 National Radio Award.
 

2008 — Dedicated the Jerry Lee Centre of Experimental Criminology at the University of Cambridge, UK.
 

2008 — Appointed by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden to his Royal Order of Knights in recognition of his role in establishing the Stockholm Prize in Criminology.
 

2008 — Named a "Giant of Broadcasting" by the Library of American Broadcasting.
 

2010 — Received the Medal of Victory Award from the Wellness Community of Philadelphia for supporting their work with cancer patients.
 

2011 — Recipient of Radio Ink's "Lifetime Achievement Award."

2017 — Awarded the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters Gold Medal Award.