Michigan State University’s student-run radio station WDBM-FM (Impact 89FM) has been recognized for its work with national awards in the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Competition and the Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts.
The Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, announced the winners of a statewide contest encouraging high school students to create public service announcements that discourage tobacco use through vaping at the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Michigan Student Broadcast Awards Luncheon & Career Fair, held March 18 in Lansing.
Every year at about this time, with April Fools’ Day right around the corner, we need to play our role as attorneys and ruin any fun that you may be planning by repeating our reminder that broadcasters need to be careful with any on-air pranks, jokes or other on-air bits prepared especially for the day. While a little fun is OK, remember that the FCC has a rule against on-air hoaxes, and there can be liability issues with false alerts that are run on a station.
MAB FCC Washington Counsel David Oxenford reports that the FCC last week released its first EEO audit notice for 2024. The FCC’s Public Notice, audit letter, and the list of stations selected for audit is available here. The stations selected appear at the end of the release and your MAB notes 13 Michigan call letters associated with this audit.
Marc Ryan has been named network pregame, postgame and weekday fill-in host of Audacy’s WXYT-FM (97.1 The Ticket) in Detroit, beginning April 1. He joins the station after his run at co-owned WORD-AM (The Fan Upstate) in Greenville, SC where he hosted “Offsides with Marc Ryan,” the station’s afternoon show.
The Sanilac Broadcasting Family (Sandusky) is mourning the loss of one of its most popular and familiar voices. Paul Osentoski, who has worked with the company since 1980, passed away on March 12, 2024 at the age of 70.
Beasley Media Group has announced that WDMK-FM’s (Detroit) Annual Radiothon on the PRAISE NETWORK raised a total of $74,798 to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The event took place on March 7, live from the station studios in the Motor City.
Nexstar’s WOOD-TV (Grand Rapids) has announced a new team to lead the station’s 7 p.m. newscast. News 8 at 7 p.m. will now be anchored by Brittany Flowers and meteorologist Blake Harms. The duo brings several years of experience and great chemistry to this time slot.
Each year, as the NCAA basketball tournaments get underway, my colleague Mitch Stabbe highlights the trademark issues that can arise from uses of the well-known words and phrases associated with the games in advertising, promotions, and other media coverage.
Western Michigan University’s student-run radio station, 89.1 WIDR-FM (Kalamazoo), won awards for Best Radio Drama and Best Faculty Advisor at the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) Conference in earlier this month. WIDR’s nominated material competed with over 3,000 entries from 100 schools at the annual conference, which brings together college and high school media groups from across the globe.