Shawn Turner has been named general manager of WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University, effective December 1, 2022. In addition to his role as general manager, Turner is a professor of practice in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at MSU and a national security communication analyst for CNN.
It’s year number nine for “Treasures for Troops” collecting items on behalf of Blue Star Mothers Chapter #188 of Ionia, Montcalm, and Kent Counties, and WION (Ionia) is proud of the results!
On November 18, Audacy’s WOMC-FM (Detroit) held its 5th annual “Turn Up the Miracles Radiothon” and raised more than $502,000 for Beaumont Children’s, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.
Pending FCC approval, a newly-formed broadcast entity will come to Michigan. On November 28, applications were filed with the FCC to transfer stations in Hancock and Ironwood as well as a stand-alone FM in Ontonagon.
This past Wednesday (11/30), Michigan Radio Executive Director & General Manager Steve Schram officially retired from the University of Michigan’s radio broadcast operations, taking a break from a 47-year radio career, the last 17 years spent at the public radio station.
On November 18, Latitude Media’s WCZY-FM (My 1043), WMMI-AM/FM and MyMichiganPodcasts.com (Mt. Pleasant) held the annual “Fill a Mayflower” event. This year’s effort collected over 15,000 non-perishable food items (that filled the truck and then some), and more, including personal care items for the Care store in town, plus over $7,000 in cash.
After 40 years in radio, and the past 17 years with Cumulus Media’s WQKL-FM (Ann Arbor), “Morning Mayor” Martin Bandyke has announced that he will be retiring on December 22nd. Bandyke made the announcement via MLive.
On Giving Tuesday (11/29), Graham Media’s WDIV-TV (Detroit) held its annual telethon to benefit THAW, The Heat & Warmth Fund. THAW, established in 1985, has distributed over $250 million in assistance to more than 280,000 Michigan households since.
Twitter is a mess. Since Elon Musk purchased the social network, the company has seen mass firings, a failed blue-check initiative, draconian ultimatums, a mass exodus of the remaining employees, and the unbanning of rule violators. Musk, who embodies the hustle-and-grind culture that was so in vogue prior to our pandemic recalibrations, has lost much of his shine during the ordeal.
Until recently, to many in the industry, HD radio seemed to be an afterthought – maybe useful in feeding analog translators, but otherwise not very accessible to the public. But there is now more and more interest in HD radio given the increased inclusion of receivers for this digital service as standard equipment in a majority of new cars.