The MAB learned late last week that former WEMU-FM (Ypsilanti) News and Program Director Clark Smith passed away April 7 at the age of 74. Originally hired as News Director in May of 1983, Smith was named Program Director in 2007 and filled both positions until David Fair was named News Director in August of 2012.
McKibbin Media’s WKHM-FM/K105.3 FM (Jackson) has announced the official debut of its newly rebranded morning show, “The Morning Gas” with J-Rod and Micki, “delivering a fresh, high-octane start to the day for listeners across the region.”
Longtime Northern Michigan radio and television personality Vic McCarty has passed away. He died April 6 at Munson Hospice House in Traverse City. He had been battling stage 4 metastatic cancer.
After twelve years on the air together, Ron Jolly and Colleen Wares are retiring together. Their last broadcast will be this Friday (4/10) from 7-10 am. The Ron Jolly Show, which debuted on WTCM in November of 1994, is the longest-running morning radio show in northern Michigan. The show features a blend of local and national news, guest interviews, commentary and listener feedback.
Madison, Wisconsin-based Civic Media, which expanded its ownership into Michigan with the purchase of stations formerly owned by Jerry Hackman’s J&J Broadcasting, has announced a format flip at its WMPL-AM/W297CD in Hancock, flipping the signals from talk and sports to oldies under the moniker “Yooper 107.3.”
Audacy announced that veteran media executive Debbie Kenyon has been named Regional President for its Central US markets, representing some of the biggest names in local audio. Kenyon, currently Senior Vice President and Market Manager of Audacy Detroit, will assume broader responsibilities. During more than 25 years leading the Detroit market.
Graham Media Group has appointed Stephanie Slagle Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer and General Manager of WDIV-TV (Detroit). Slagle, who has served as the company’s vice president and chief revenue officer, expands her leadership to include full oversight of one of the country’s most respected local television stations.
WQHH-FM (Dewitt/Lansing) Program Director Brion O’Brion has been selected for the National Black Radio Hall of Fame. O’Brion says getting that news brought him right back to where it all started, as a teenager learning radio hands on in Norfolk, Virginia, under his mentor Rick Partey. O’Brion was nominated in the “Talented Brothers of Radio Award” along with two others.
Buck Matthews, who for years was a household name in West Michigan as a WOOD TV (Grand Rapids) weatherman and show host passed away this past Monday (3/30). He was 97.Matthews joined WOOD-TV in 1961 and remained on air for more than two decades.
Fifty-year Detroit Radio legend Doug Podell who, in February, retired while at iHeart’s WLLZ-FM, decided to incorporate a reunion of some of the well-remembered personalities who were a part of Detroit’s first “underground” progressive rock and roll FM station, 99.5 WABX (now country WYCD).