“I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of years now, and I’m ready for a change,” said Fred Jacobs. “I appreciate all the opportunities I’ve had over the years, and the people, organizations, and companies we’ve worked for and collaborated with. From the early days of the company and the birth of the Classic Rock format to our focus on technology in the 2000s, it’s been quite a journey.”
Cumulus Media’s WLAV-FM (Grand Rapids) announced this week the debut of “Dave & Chuck the Freak” as its new morning show. The program originates at Beasley Media Group’s WRIF-FM (Detroit), has been on-the-air since 2001, starting at CIMX-FM (Windsor, Ontario) before moving to WRIF in 2013.
A few radio changes in our state that have seen some press this past week. The first one reported by WILX-TV (Lansing) that Macdonald Broadcasting’s WXLA-AM/W227DO (Lansing/Easy 93.3) flipped to its seasonal all-Christmas music presentation at midnight on November 1, making the station one of the first in the state to do so this year.
Courier began his television news career at KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas, where he spent three years covering stories across the Borderland. During his time there, he served as a morning reporter, traffic anchor and fill-in news anchor. He also produced and anchored the station’s midday newscast.
WNEM-TV (Saginaw) has announced the arrival of Caroline Klapp to its on-air team. Klapp joins from sister Gray Media station WNDU-TV in South Bend. She is anchoring at 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts alongside Chet Davis.
Osborn served as vice president and general manager of WXYZ-TV from 1972 to 1979. During his tenure, WXYZ-TV, then owned and operated by ABC, grew into the top-rated station in the Detroit market and became recognized as one of the nation’s powerhouse television stations.
With much of everyone’s focus on the outcome of the November 3 midterm elections, broadcasters cannot forget the regulatory dates and deadlines in November and early December. While the dates and deadlines in November tend to be lighter than in other months, many routine deadlines do fall in early December, and even the upcoming month does have dates worthy of note to all broadcasters.
Julie Koehn, President and CEO of Lenawee Broadcasting Company and Southeast Michigan Media, has been named the 2026 Legendary Radio Manager of the Year by the National Association of Broadcasters. Koehn received the honor Tuesday evening in New York City during the annual NAB Marconi Radio Awards.
The MAB is passing along the sad news that longtime Michigan broadcasting executive Matt Hanlon passed away unexpectedly this past Tuesday (10/20) from an apparent heart attack. He spent decades in radio management, sales and operations, overseeing major market clusters and helping develop regional programming networks. Hanlon was perhaps best known for his leadership at Citadel Broadcasting, where he served as Midwest Division President.
WKAR Public Media at Michigan State has launched the latest in the Curious About series of video shorts for educators and caregivers to share with teens. In Curious About Civics, WKAR youth hosts talk with experts to explore core tenets of the system of government that has served this country for more than 250 years.