The Michigan Press Association named WXYZ-TV a winner in the 50th annual Wade H. McCree Advancement of Justice Awards. A panel of four judges representing law and media chose WXYZ-TV’s “Improper conduct by a powerful probate judge” to be awarded one of the honors.
Beasley Media Group Detroit, in partnership with University of Michigan Athletics and Learfield’s Michigan Sports Properties, has announced a multi-year broadcast agreement that will make 94.7 WCSX-FM the new flagship radio home for the Michigan Wolverines. The partnership will officially kick off with the 2025 Michigan Football season.
On April 9, the staff at Sinclair’s WWMT-TV (Kalamazoo) came together to help two local West Michigan food banks: Loaves and Fishes in Kalamazoo and the South Michigan Food Bank in Battle Creek. Station staff volunteered at both food banks to bring awareness as part of the nationwide “Sinclair Day of Service.”
A proceeding before the Copyright Royalty Board to set the rates to be paid to SoundExchange for the public performance of music by a non-interactive commercial webcasting service for 2026-2030 started last year, and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025. SoundExchange and one of the major webcasting parties remaining in the case, the NAB, this week filed with the Copyright Royalty Board a proposed settlement of the current litigation over the royalty rates to be paid to performers and copyright holders.
Scripps Media has announced the promotion of Tim Kochenderfer to the role of station manager for WXYZ-TV and WMYD-TV (Detroit), effective April 14. As station manager he will help with day-to-day operations and also continue to lead news.
Last week, your MAB News Briefs highlighted three broadcast towers in northern Michigan that went down due to ice-build up during the severe weather that existed over several days. As we wrote, the 600-foot tower of MacDonald Garber Broadcasting’s WKHQ-FM (Charlevoix-Petoskey-Traverse City) was toppled.
In partnership with Gray Media’a WNEM-TV (Bay City/Saginaw), the Great Lakes Loons have entered into a broadcast agreement that will air 15 games during the 2025 season on WNEM TV-5 and WNEM+.
The NAB last week submitted a letter asking the FCC to quickly repeal the 39% cap on national ownership of television stations. This cap precludes the ownership by one company or individual of an attributable interest in television stations capable of reaching more than 39% of the television households in the United States. The rule has been in place since 2004.
Houston, We’ve Got a Problem: Radio isn’t dying—it’s facing a revenue challenge. As digital platforms expand their reach, many broadcasters have responded by gutting what makes radio special. This short-sighted strategy is like treating a broken arm with aspirin—addressing symptoms while ignoring the underlying fracture.
Severe weather this past Sunday (3/30) across Michigan took dozens of broadcasters throughout the state, bringing down power lines and affecting broadcasters without backup power. In two instances, ice build up brought down two broadcast towers in the northern part of the lower peninsula.