This year’s Media Hall of Fame inductees honor alumni who spent their careers working in newspapers, television, public relations and higher education. Many of these names are well-known to those in the Michigan broadcasting community.
The MAB was sad to learn that last Friday (8/2), Cadillac and Farmington Hills-based NEWSnet and sister network SportsNews Highlights discontinued operations, affecting 80 employees. Crain’s Detroit reported that owner Bridge News LLC said the networks were shut down permanently.
Bingham Farms-based Media research and consulting firm Jacobs Media announced (8/6) the creation of Jacobs D.R. – a package of consulting services that provides a comprehensive program of ground-level services to help broadcasters grow digital revenue.
On July 25, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that was first announced by the FCC Chairwoman three months ago, proposing to require that the use of artificial intelligence in political advertising be disclosed when it airs on broadcast stations, local cable systems, or satellite radio or TV. This proposal has been controversial, even before the details were released, with many (including the Chair of the Federal Election Commission and some in Congress) questioning whether the FCC had the authority to adopt rules in this area.
Audacy has announced the addition of Tim Pamplin as a news reporter and the promotion of Darrylin Horne to a full-time reporter on WWJ-AM (Detroit/Newsradio 950). Pamplin joins the station after 30 years at crosstown WDIV-TV, where he was better known as Nightcam, a fan favorite since 1999.
WCMU Public Media has announced that WCML-FM and TV have returned to the air in northeast Michigan, just over five months after the station’s transmitter site west of Alpena was destroyed by a fire.
Lillie Broadcasting’s WZMQ-TV (Marquette) has announced that Sarah Blakely will be moving into a special correspondent role for the station following her decision to leave the anchor desk. Blakely has served as anchor and executive producer at since the launch of the station’s live, local news from downtown Marquette nearly two years ago.
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. and Paramount Global NNOUNCED earlier this week that two CBS/Paramount-owned independent stations will become affiliates of The CW Network on September 1. This includes WKBD-TV (Detroit) along with WBFS-TV (Miami).
There are still many dates to which broadcasters should be paying attention this August. One that most commercial broadcasters should be anticipating is the FCC’s order that will set the amount of their Annual Regulatory Fees, which will be paid sometime in September before the October 1 start of the federal government’s new fiscal year.
CBS Television Stations has announced a management restructure and a new hire at its WWJ-TV (Detroit). Jennifer Lyons, President and General Manager at the company’s WBBM-TV (Chicago) will take on an expanded role by becoming regional GM for both WBBM and WWJ-TV.