On January 19, The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) hosted a virtual town hall to brief NAB members on advocacy and business issues as Congress begins its 118th Session and the House of Representatives switches party control. NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt was joined by senior executives and public policy experts to offer updates on the association’s work, priorities and initiatives.
PitchFest ‘23 gives broadcasters and agency representatives the opportunity to network and make connections. We had success last year and heard everyone’s feedback. The MAB will hold two events this year, one on February 9, 2023 and the second in late July. The MAB will provide a half day of virtual interactions between MAB member stations and ad agencies.
The Michigan Association of Broadcasters and the lobbying firm of Kelley Cawthorne are partnering to offer Michigan journalists the opportunity to get political expert insight in advance of the upcoming State of the State address.
Townsquare Media has announced the debut of a new radio station in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek market. WBXX-FM (Marshall/Battle Creek) has been teamed up with translator W273AR (Paw Paw/Kalamazoo) to become “WBXX 102.5/104.9 The Block, Southwest Michigan’s #1 for R&B.”
“When Paul informed us he was retiring I tried to talk him out of it,” said WDIV Vice President and General Manager Bob Ellis. “We hoped he’d stay forever. But it became clear quickly 40 years was a nice round number, and the time was right to relax more, spend more time up north and play more golf.”
After conducting an extensive search, Michigan Radio is pleased to announce that Rebecca Kruth has been named as the station’s new All Things Considered host. Rebecca replaces Christina Shockley, who left Michigan Radio in June to help coach public radio hosts and reporters across the country.
Gray Television’s WLUC-TV (Marquette) has announced that it is adding staff and will soon add more local news on weekends. The station has announced plans to launch a live newscast at 6:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturdays and Sundays beginning February 18.
WKAR-AM/FM (East Lansing) is one of 33 stations across the nation and the only one in the state of Michigan to offer the new NPR+ podcast bundle. Planet Money, NPR Politics Podcast, Code Switch, and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! are just a few of the podcasts that supporters of the NPR+ bundle will be able to enjo
Northern Michigan University’s WNMU-FM (Marquette) is inviting students from the region in grades 5-8 and 9-12 to enter National Public Radio’s Student Podcast Challenge to compete for a chance to have their work featured on NPR. The contest is open now and closes April 28.
As part of this new partnership, Michigan Radio will produce stories based on Documenters reporting or share their reporting across the station’s digital and social media platforms. Michigan Radio will also provide an editor to help edit the work that Documenters are producing, and support in the recruitment of new Documenters in Detroit.