During his acceptance speech, Blaha said, “I’ll start my 50th year broadcasting Detroit Pistons basketball this fall,” Blaha said. “It has been an awesome ride, describing the excitement that the Pistons have brought to the game, the great state of Michigan, and the entire basketball world.“
“Meet the People” will feature round-table discussions with community leaders, influencers and elected officials, addressing the issues that matter most to area residents. The station also announced that they will air the first annual “WHMI Cares” Radiothon, to benefit the Livingston County United Way, Salvation Army, Gleaners Community Food Bank and Lacasa Center to assist those in need in their community.
According to press reports, Sinclair Broadcast Group, headed by President/CEO Christopher Ripley, has filed applications to formally acquire stations it has been operating under shared services agreements. These include three television stations and their associated digital subchannels here in Michigan.
The Federal Trade Commission last week announced that it was dropping its appeal of a court decision which put on hold an FTC order adopted during the Biden administration which banned noncompete agreements in all industries across the country (see our note here). This ban was a concern to many in the broadcast industry as it would allow station employees, including on-air talent, managerial employees, and others with access to sensitive competitive information to freely move from station to station within a broadcast market.
Connoisseur Media (formerly Alpha Media) in Saginaw has announced that Tracy Walker has been named the General Sales Manager of WSGW AM/FM, WTLZ, WCEN and WGER. Walker has served as an Account Executive for the company since 2020 and because of her outstanding efforts she has earned this position.
Michigan Public News Director Vincent Duffy has announced that Zena Issa has been selected as part of its 2025 cohort of the New Voices Radio program from The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR). This is the first New Voices cohort dedicated solely to public radio professionals. Zena Issa is Michigan Public’s new Criminal Justice reporter, joining the team after previously working as a newsroom intern and Statewide production assistant.
Imlay City-based group owner Smile FM has filed an application to assign the CP for WWRW-FM (Big Rapids) to Mentor Partners, Inc. in a cash/swap deal. Mentor, headed by Jeff Scarpelli will pay cash as well as assign the license and assets of translator W256CC (Big Rapids) to Smile FM in exchange for the FM station construction permit.
Michigan Design Center is helping WXYZ-TV (Detroit) and the Scripps Howard Fund’s If You Give a Child a Book campaign. On Friday, September 12, the center will open its doors to timeless stories at the Designing the Classics decorating event. Donations raised at the event will help provide free books to students across metro Detroit, giving them a chance to build libraries at home and help their love for reading grow.
Last Friday (8/29), the FCC released its Order adopting the regulatory fees to be paid by broadcasters and other regulated entities at some point before the October 1 start of the federal government’s new fiscal year. The Commission slightly increased fees for TV stations by 1.2% from last year (from $0.006598 to $0.006674 per population served) after the FCC refined its fee estimates made earlier this year to account for exempt stations. Fees for radio stations, however, generally decreased slightly from last year.
Art Vuolo, Jr. has shared news of the passing of one-time CKLW air talent Gary Burbank Burbank died early Thursday (8/28) at the age of 84. Born Billy Purser in west Tennessee, he worked at numerous radio stations which included: WMPS (Memphis), WNOE (New Orleans), WAKY and WHAS (Louisville) and CKLW in Windsor/Detroit. He is best known for his years at “The Big One” WLW-AM in Cincinnati.