On February 4, Midwest Communications closed on its acquisition of WQXC-FM (Allegan) and WZUU-FM (Mattawan) from Forum Communications. The deal, filed in September was approved by the FCC in December.
In an application filed January 31, Grand Rapids-based Mitten News, LLC, owned by John Yob is donating WWMN-AM (Petoskey) to non-profit West Central Michigan Media Ministries.
When in January I offered my predictions as to the issues that the new FCC would be considering this year, payola and musical artists complaining of being coerced to play for free at radio station concerts or other events was not on the bingo card. That changed early this past week
Al Allen, a Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame honoree who worked in broadcast news in Detroit for over 50 years, passed away this past Tuesday (2/4) at the age of 79. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, his family moved to Detroit and he started reporting at Mumford High School for the student in-house broadcast, “Spotlight on Mumford.”
This week, Krol Communications Inc. has announced announces that it has appointed Roy Moore as Program Director for its WRSR-FM (Flint/103.9 The Fox). This marks a return to Krol Communications by Moore, after having taken a pause from radio to pursue other opportunities.
Scripps Media’s WXYZ-TV/WMYD-TV (Detroit) has announced the kickoff of the 2025 “If You Give A Child A Book” campaign. Employees at the stations along with the Scripps Howard Foundation, have made it their mission to get high-quality books to the children in their community.
Nexstar Media’s WXSP-TV (Grand Rapids) has announced that it will air three Laker basketball doubleheaders this month, starting this Saturday, February 8, with the games against Ferris State.
Last week, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced the American Music Fairness Act (see their Press Release for more details), with a companion bill to follow in the House. If adopted, this legislation would impose a new music royalty on over-the-air radio stations.
Cumulus Media has announced that it has appointed Cody Welling as Regional Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus Flint/Saginaw, MI. This marks a return to Cumulus Media for Welling, who was previously Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus Media’s five stations in Shreveport and Bossier City, LA
Posting on social media, the organization notes, “A proud Michigander, Jamie has a deep love for nearly every corner of the state. Her passion for storytelling began in Sault Ste. Marie and led her to a broadcasting career at WNMU at Northern Michigan University. After graduating, she moved to Cadillac and spent 17 years as a news producer in local television.”