WLAV-FM Wins 2 Marconi Awards at NAB Radio Show
Citadel's WLAV-FM (Grand Rapids) received two prestigious Marconi Awards at the September NAB Radio Conference in Austin, Texas.

Tony Gates (left on photo), Afternoon Drive Personality on the station won an award for Medium Market Personality of the Year. Gates is a 23-year veteran of the station.

In addition, WLAV-FM itself received a Marconi for Medium Market Station of the Year. Program Director Rob Brandt (right on photo) accepted the award.

The NAB Marconi Awards annually recognizes radio's outstanding personalities and stations in 21 categories.

Gary Baxter Named VP/GM for Fox 47 WSYM-TV
Journal Broadcast Group Vice Chairman and CEO Doug Kiel has named Gary Baxter Vice President and General Manager of Lansing's WSYM-TV. Baxter has been General Sales Manager of the station for the past 11 years.

Baxter replaces Lyle Schulze who moved to Palm Springs, California in July to manage the company's KMIR-TV and KPSE-TV.

Prior to joining WSYM-TV, Baxter worked for eight years at WOOD-TV and WOTV in Grand Rapids. He also worked at WMTV in Madison, Wisconsin and is a graduate of University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Peter Connolly Director of Sales at Greater Media
Greater Media/Detroit has named Peter Connolly Director of Sales for WRIF-FM, WCSX-FM and WMGC-FM. He most recently served as EVP at Metro Network, overseeing the company's Midwest and Western market operations.

Connolly also has served as National Sales Manager, Local Sales Manager and General Sales Manager at WKQI-FM/Detroit and as VP/GM of the entire Clear Channel cluster in Detroit.

Connolly began his new position on October 6th.

WRIF-FM Appoints Mark Pennington as Program Director
More news from Greater Media as Detroit Director of Rock Programming Doug Podell hands over the role of Program Director to Mark Pennington.

Pennington has been with the station since 2000 and held the titles of Music Director as well as Assistant Program Director. In addition, Pennington has been programming WRIF-FM's HD side channel known as "Riff2".

Doug Podell continues his role on-air at WRIF-FM as well as serving as Program Director for sister station WCSX-FM.

Adam Rey Upped at Cumulus/Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor Radio-Cumulus Media announces that Adam Rey has been promoted to Production Director/Creative Services for the company's cluster of stations, effective immediately.

Rey began his career in radio at Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts in Southfield and obtained his first radio job at WHMI-FM in Howell. Rey joined Ann Arbor Radio in 2005.


Shannyn Caldwell Solo Host of WMUZ-FM's Morning Light
Shannyn Caldwell has taken the helm of WMUZ-FM/Detroit's "The Morning Light" program, airing Monday-through-Saturday 6 to 10am. Shannyn goes solo after the departure of co-host Jon Culbert.

A Michigan native, Shannyn began her on-air career at age 15 in her hometown of Iron Mountain. Later stops included WWJ-AM/Detroit, CIDR/Windsor, WKQI/Detroit, WOMC/Detroit and WMGC/Detroit. Shannyn was also Program Director at WKQL/Ann Arbor.

Fox 17 WXMI-TV Names Amorose New Sports Reporter
Tribune Broadcasting's WXMI-TV/Grand Rapids has hired Steve Amorose as a Sports Reporter/Anchor for its "Fox News at Ten" effective October 3, 2008. Prior to Grand Rapids, Steve was the Sports Director at KAWE-TV in Bemidji, Minnesota.

Steve is originally from the Detroit area, earned a Masters of Art degree at Central Michigan University's School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts, where he also worked as a Graduate Assistant for News Central 34, CMU's daily news station, and as a feature reporter for CMU Public Television.

James H. Quello Inducted Into Giants of Broadcasting
Michigan broadcasting legend and former FCC Chairman James H. Quello was inducted into the Giants of Broadcasting by The Library of American Broadcasting on September 25 at the Grand Hyatt, New York.

The honor was presented to Jim in recognition of his distinct career in broadcasting and public service.

The past 98 "Giants" include industry founders such as Guglielmo Marconi and David Sarnoff, as well as broadcasters like Edward Murrow and Walter Cronkite.

U.P. To Benefit From NOAA Grants
The Michigan State Police was recently awarded two Federal grants by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve emergency warning systems in five Upper Peninsula counties. Larry Estlack, MAB Director of Technology and State EAS Chairman, along with MAB's NCSA/Community Affairs Manager Denise Weston wrote the grant requests.

The awards, totalling nearly a half million dollars, will be used to install outdoor warning systems at selected state parks in those counties that will be tied to Michigan's EAS technology. The outdoor systems will warn campers and other park visitors of emergency information, including vital weather alerts. The emergency information will include an advisory to those affected to tune into local broadcast stations for further information.

The state parks receiving outdoor warning systems are Tahquamenon Falls and Muskallonge State Parks on the eastern side of Michigan's Upper Peninsula; and Porcupine Mountain State Park located on the Peninsula's west side. All the parks have limited or no access to NWS weather radio and non-existent or very spotty cellular telephone coverage.

EAS LP-1 and LP-2 broadcast stations, along with area emergency management, will be provided satellite-based EMnet equipment to relay emergency information, including messages from the National Weather Service, through the existing Emergency Alert System. The EMnet equipment greatly enhances ability to LP-1 and LP-2 stations to receive critical information without reliance on terrestrial links such as internet or telephone lines which may experience outages in extreme conditions. The equipment will be installed and provided to those broadcasters at no charge.

Agencies working with the MAB on the project include the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan State Police Emergency Management, Homeland Security Division. The warning system is scheduled to be in place by mid-2009.

CMU Accepting Applications For Lem Tucker Journalism Scholarship
Applications are now being accepted for Central Michigan University's 13th Lem Tucker Journalism Scholarship; a full, four-year scholarship totalling nearly $80,000. This includes full tuition and supplementary awards to cover room and board.

The scholarship is awarded annually to one high school journalist who demonstrates leadership, journalistic skills and a commitment to promoting minority excellence in the media and who plans to study print or electronic journalism at CMU.

Applications are due November 30.



Nominations Open for 2009 Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame
The Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame Committee is now seeking nominations for 2009 awardees. Nominees are judged on their contributions to Michigan journalism, courage, innovation, leadership and impact and influence on the industry. They may be living or deceased.

Nomination forms are available online here or from Jane Briggs-Bunting, chair, Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame Committee, Michigan State University, 305 Com Arts Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1212.

For more information, visit the Hall of Fame website at http://hof.jrn.msu.edu.

The Quello Center at MSU Presents "Nexgen TV"
On October 30 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., The Quello Center at Michigan State University will present a lecture titled "Nexgen TV", to be presented by Dr. Venu Vasudevan, Senior Director, Software Platforms Research, Motorola Labs. The move to all digital content and all-IP networks. This talk will address how the next generation of TV will handle these new demands from consumers, advertisers and media businesses. Click below to download a PDF flyer withd etails on this lecture.
download pdf

8 Action Steps You Can Take Today For Better TSL
by Gary Berkowitz, Berkowitz Broadcast Consulting

In today's environment, with disappearing marketing budgets, Time Spent Listening continues to be one of the most important ways to stabilize and increase ratings. Some of these tactics may seem obvious, but you would be surprised at how many stations do not pay enough attention to them.
download pdf

(L-R) Representative Bart Stupak (D-1st); Doug DeYoung, News Director, WPBN/WTOM-TV (Traverse City-Cheboygan); Ross Biederman, President, Midwestern Broadcasting; and Bill Kring, General Manager, WWTV/WWUP/WFUP/WFQX-TV along with (not pictured) MAB President/CEO Karole White and MAB Government Relations Manager Dave Jessup, October 14 in Petoskey.

Great strides have been made this fall in reaching out to members of Congress, informating them on issues important to Michigan’s broadcasters. As broadcasters, we are very fortunate to have our delegation so well-represented in the agencies that oversee the regulation of our industry. Moreover, we are privileged to have members who are well-versed and sympathetic to the challenges facing the broadcast industry today.

The Michigan Association of Broadcasters (MAB), in the past two weeks, has engaged two of the key members of Congress on the multitude of broadcast issues. MAB President and CEO Karole White, along with Government Relations Manager David Jessup have been able to connect both Congressmen Fred Upton (R-6th) and Bart Stupak (D-1st) with constituent members in their respective districts to discuss these important issues.

The meetings were a great success, as a litany of topics were covered and each Congressman indicated his support and interest on each issue. From opposing localism regulations to resisting calls to enactment of a “performance tax”, Congressmen Upton and Stupak were very supportive of local broadcaster positions and each gave members significant insight to what can be expected from Washington in the coming year. MAB and its members also utilized this unique opportunity to outline all the good work that they have done to prepare for the February Digital Television transition. Each was impressed with the great lengths Michigan’s broadcasters have gone to ensure a smooth transition.

MAB is dedicated to continue working to bring the members and their elected officials together in an effort to maintain a lasting and fruitful relationship between the broadcast industry and those who are in charge of overseeing it.

Budget for New EAS Endec in 2009
by Larry A. Estlack, MAB Director of Technology

In anticipation of a directive from FEMA for an upgrade in technology for the Emergency Alert System, it would be wise to budget for replacement of your present EAS ENDEC equipment sometime in 2009.

The final technical details and standards will not be announced until January or February 2009 by FEMA. All broadcast stations and cable systems will be required to have systems capable of receiving messages in CAP (common alerting protocol) no later than 180 days after the official announcement. Until the final version is set, it would probably be wise to hold off on purchases as there undoubtedly will be several products to choose from, some better suited to your particular needs than others.

Common Alerting Protocol is a computer language that is being adopted by all federal agencies involved in public warning including the National Weather Service, U.S. Geological Survey and other divisions of FEMA. The language provides for much greater detail in creation of warning information, interfacing this information with other systems as well as the ability to provide warnings in multiple languages.

The adoption of CAP will continue the evolution of EAS from an analog “through the air” path to a IP based data delivery system using the internet and satellite connectivity to stations, cable systems and eventually many other warning providers.