December 2020
MORE Act Passes House – But Don’t Rush to Run Marijuana Ads on Your Broadcast Station
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Last week, there was much written in the press about the MORE Act passing in the House of Representatives, taking actions to decriminalize marijuana under federal law. This would include removing marijuana from Schedule I, which is the list of drugs whose use for almost all purposes is prohibited in the United…
Read MoreDick Haefner Retires After 51 Years in Detroit Radio
WJR-AM (Detroit) News Director Dick Haefner has announced his retirement after a remarkable 51-year career in radio news. Haefner, an award-winning newscaster, reporter, and news director, has been WJR News Director since 1989, and his tenure is unmatched by any other Detroit broadcast news director He is one of the most recognizable news voices in…
Read MoreATSC 3.0 On-Air in Detroit
On December 7, television viewers in the Detroit market started getting a taste of the future as five local TV stations band together to launch NEXTGEN TV (ATSC 3.0) in Detroit. The broadcast advance also signals the beginning of another project – the launch of the “Motown 3.0 Open Test Track” for merging automotive applications…
Read MoreBeenish Ahmed, Nisa Kahn, Erin Allen Join Michigan Radio Journalism Team
On Tuesday (12/7), Michigan Radio announced the hiring of three new members to its journalism staff. Beenish Ahmed has been hired as a new Detroit based reporter for the station. Since 2016, she has been a freelance journalist and also a reporter for WNYC Public Radio in New York. Her stories have appeared on NPR…
Read MoreWEMU Celebrates 55 Years!
December 8 marked 55 years since Eastern Michigan University’s WEMU-FM first went on the air. WEMU began broadcasting at a frequency of 88.1 FM in 1965 from the Quirk Building on Eastern Michigan University’s campus. In 1976, the station moved to King Hall, and in February 1977, WEMU began to feature a primarily jazz format.…
Read MoreTigers, Red Wings Reup with Entercom’s WXYT
Entercom’s WXYT-FM (Detroit) has announced that they will continue as flagship for Detroit Tigers baseball and Detroit Red Wings hockey under a multiyear contract extension with team owner Illitch Holdings, Inc. The deal includes marketing and promotional opportunities on the rest of the Entercom Detroit cluster. “The Tigers and Red Wings are two of the…
Read MoreWAKV-AM Otsego Sale Announced
Although as of this writing there has been no application filed with the FCC, industry press reports that Jim Higg’s Vintage Radio Enterprises is selling Oldies/Standards 980 WAKV-AM (Otsego) along with the construction permit for FM translator W255DF (Otsego) to Eric Mills and Scott Pastoor’s Quincy-Richard LLC. The buyers own WYGR-AM (Wyoming/Grand Rapids) and its…
Read MoreWGHN, WMPA Wrap Up Annual Coat Drive
WGHN-AM/FM and WMPA-FM (Grand Haven), in conjunction with Pantenga’s Cleaners just wrapped up their annual coat drive. As of press time, 759 coats have been dry-cleaned with another 400 to 500 coats waiting to be processed. After dry cleaning, all coats are being presented to the non-profit Love in Action for distribution. The stations set…
Read More6th Annual Mildred Gaddis ‘Bed in a Bag’ Radiothon A Huge Success
Beasley Media Group Detroit has announced that WDMK-FM (Detroit) Weekend On Air Host Mildred Gaddis teamed up with McDonald’s, UAW and The EMG Foundation to present the 2020 Drive-Thru Bed in a Bag Radiothon to raise over $40,000 to provide sleeping bags for the homeless. The two-hour event was held at the McDonalds located at…
Read MoreCongress Ads Voice to Call for More Diversity in Media Ownership
Congressional lawmakers are using some of their lame duck session to address concerns about media ownership. The U.S. House passed, by a voice vote Wednesday (12/9), a resolution that said more needs to be done to improve media ownership diversity, according to a report in InsideRadio. “The survival of small, independent, and diverse media outlets…
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