| Federal and Regulatory Update |
MAB, Members Meet Delegates during Congressional Recess
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MAB thanks Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-10) for her leadership during the transition to digital television. (Top, Left to Right) Chris Monk (Citadel Broadcasting), Debbie Kenyon (CBS Radio, Detroit), Con. Miller (R-10), Karole White (MAB), George Benko (Sanilac Broadcasting), and Chuck Stokes (WXYZ-TV Detroit). |
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Honoring Congressman Bart Stupak (D-1) for his leadership during the digital television transition are (Front Row, Left to Right) Trish MacDonald-Garber (MacDonald-Garber Broadcasting), Cher Allen (WBKB-TV), Con. Stupak (D-1), Karole White (MAB), Del Reynolds (Northern Star Broadcasting), (Back Row) Rick Stone (WJML-AM, WJNL-AM), Charlie Ferguson (WKLT-FM), Bill Kring (Heritage Broadcasting), and Dave Jessup (MAB). |
 MAB, along with members, recently met with two of Michigan's congressional delegates with more meetings scheduled later this month. The meetings are set to inform our representatives in Washington on issues important to our industry. As broadcasters, we are very fortunate to have our delegation so well-represented in the groups that oversee the regulation of our industry. Moreover, we are privileged to have members that are well-versed and sympathetic to the challenges facing the broadcast industry today.
MAB recently met with both Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-10) and Congressman Bart Stupak (D-1) with constituent members in their respective districts.
The meetings were a great success, as a litany of topics was covered and both representatives indicated their support and interest on each issue. From opposing the Performance Tax to the reauthorization of the Satellite Home Viewer Act, MAB and its members utilized this unique opportunity to outline the policy goal and objectives of Michigan's Broadcasters. Additionally, the MAB presented certificates of appreciation to both delegates for their leadership and support in the transition to digital television.
MAB is dedicated to bringing members and their elected officials together in an effort to maintain a lasting and fruitful relationship between the broadcast industry and those who are in charge of overseeing it from a regulatory standpoint.
The effort to secure additional meetings is on-going. With all the issues that have the potential to affect our industry, MAB has made it a priority to provide members an audience with congressional delegates during the August recess.
 The Cost of Not Being a Member
By Julie Koehn, WLEN-FM (Adrian) and Michigan Representative to NAB
The broadcast industry has seen some turbulent times over the last 5 years or so, more turbulent than any that I’ve seen in my 25 years in broadcasting. The DTV transition, performance tax issues, SHVERA, changes in Congress, the White House and the FCC. For all of these reasons and many more, the cost of not being a member of the NAB -- Your National Broadcast Association -- is now greater than ever.
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 FCC’s OTARD Rules – Limiting Zoning and Land Use Restrictions on Outdoor TV Antennas
By David Oxenford, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Following the digital transition, issues with the reception of some television stations have highlighted the need for the use of outdoor antennas to receive the digital signal. Last week, in three FCC decisions, the Commission made clear that its Over-the-Air Reception Device rules (the "OTARD rules") prohibit most zoning and other land-use restrictions, both governmental and private, on the use of such antennas. These rules were adopted as a result of Congressional actions, and prohibit many restrictions on the installation and use of antennas used to receive television and other video signals either on private property owned by the user of the antenna or on property leased by the user. Stations should become familiar with these rules, and let their viewers know of the rules, so that they can use them if they have problems installing antennas to receive the new digital signals over the air.
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Senate Panel Opens Debate on Performance Tax
The debate over whether broadcast radio stations should pay royalties to music artists continued as the Senate Judiciary Committee became the latest congressional panel to consider the issue.
Steve Newberry, joint board chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) addressed the committee, arguing that any additional royalty payment to artists would financially ruin many struggling broadcasters.
 “I have been a part of the radio industry for over 30 years,” Newberry stated. “I have never seen the economic pain the radio industry is currently experiencing. As challenging as radio’s current economic landscape is, it will deteriorate even further if a performance fee were to be enacted. Local free radio is the unique developer, exposer, promoter and great populizer of new and old music, to multiple new and old generations of listeners.”
Sheila E, a songwriter and artist, spoke on behalf of the musicFIRST coalition, and spoke in support of the legislation, arguing the bill would help up-and-coming artists who might not otherwise succeed in the music business. Others speaking in support of the legislation, contended that the legislation would even the playing field, establishing a fair and uniform standard of royalty payments for all forms of radio.
Members of the committee who were supportive of the legislation expressed their desire to see the two sides of the issue strike a compromise on royalty payments.
While no action was taken, Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) stated that he intends to move the bill. The House Judiciary Committee passed its version of the bill several months ago, but has yet to see any action on the House floor.
As HCR 49, the anti-performance tax resolution in the House, has reached 245 co-sponsors, the MAB has turned its focus on securing Senators Levin and Stabenow’s support for SCR 14.
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| PLAN AHEAD - Budgeting for 2010 |
Plan Ahead for 2010 and SAVE with your MAB Membership
 Did you know that your MAB membership helps to offset the cost of many of our member programs? MAB invests in these program to serve you, our member, for the lowest cost possible. .
To assist you in budgeting for the coming year, below are the member costs for MAB programs in 2010, as well as the savings your membership provides.
Broadcast Excellence Awards
BEA Entry $35 per entry (a savings of $20 off the actual cost)
 Awards Banquet $35 per person (a savings of $105 off the actual cost)
Great Lakes Broadcasting Conference & Expo
Full Conference (early registration) $149 per person (a savings of $125 off the actual cost)
Full Conference (late registration) $179 per person (a savings of $95 off the actual cost)
Lansing Center Parking $5 per day, per entry
Radisson Hotel-standard room $118 (plus 13% room tax and 6% sales tax)
Lexington Hotel-standard room $104 (plus 6% room tax and 6% sales tax)
Chairman’s Banquet & Lifetime Achievement/Hall of Fame Awards (summer event)
 Banquet/Awards (early registration) $60 per person (a savings of $129 off actual cost)
Banquet/Awards (late registration) $100 per person (a savings of $89 off actual cost)
MABF Golf Scramble
Entry Fee $150 per person
Political Broadcasting Webcast
Registration per person/logon FREE for members (a savings of $200 off the actual cost)
Summer Sales Seminar & Webcast
Registration per person/logon FREE for members (a savings of $400 off the actual cost)
PLUS! EEO-Friendly Programs to Build UP Your EEO File
Career and Networking Fairs $250 per booth
Internship Program $600 per intern
Station Scholarship Program $1,250 per scholarship
Student Conference Sponsorships $250 - $800
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| Summer Sales Seminar and Webcast |
Sales Seminar with Sean Luce Sparks Enthusiasm
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Studio audience looks on as MAB CEO Karole White introduces Sean Luce |
Sean Luce |
Sean gets the crowd energized! |
Sean Luce of Luce Performance Group visited the Lansing area on Wednesday, August 12 to present The Perfect Storm: Maximizing Your “Air Force” and “Ground Force” Sales. The presentation was offered both in-person at Michigan State University and online. 30 members attended and served as the “studio audience” for the 25 stations viewing online.
As usual in Sean’s seminars, the audience was involved in case studies and real world examples. Attendees were engaged and left with concrete ideas and techniques that will help them sell more today.
If you missed out on Sean’s seminar, you may still sign up for access to the archived on-demand webcast by contacting Jennifer at Preslar@michmab.com.
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MAB Monthly Poll:
How often do you check Facebook?
Click here to answer |
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| Chairman's Article |
 By Tom Mogush, Chairman, Michigan Association of Broadcasters and President/Owner, WMQT-FM/WZAM-AM, Marquette
How do you want to feel? Rested? Renewed? Refreshed? Give yourself a break. No blackberry, no text messages, no phone calls, for 2 hours. Take a nap, take a walk, and get away for 2 hours on one workday. The world will move along at its own frantic pace and you can jump back into the fire after you have taken a personal holiday. You just may find the answers to your challenges crystallize when you get away even for a short time.
Enjoy the last few days of summer and be ready for the busy routines of Fall to come. |
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| Industry Articles & Editorials |
 When The Going Gets Tough in Broadcasting…
By Michael Guld, The Guld Resource Group
You’ve heard all the headlines … “global bailouts, , auto sales down, the escalating credit crunch, housing sales down and the possibility of an extended recession.” Not exactly the kind of news that makes a media rep want to jump out of bed in the morning, is it? So what do you do? You could just roll over and go back to sleep; however, when you wake up the problem will still be there.
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 Be Local (and not kill format!)
By Gary Berkowitz, Berkowitz Consulting Group
Being local and a part of the community has always been a key to radio success. Here’s a list of ways you can be local and keep your format intact. Maybe you’re doing some or all of them. Either way, please consider which would work best for you.
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 The DTV Conversion has Finally Ended, or Has it?
By Trey Fabacher, WWJ-TV/WKBD-TV (Detroit)
For many broadcasters, DTV conversion has been a process that has occupied our business lives for several years now. February 17 was the end-all day for conversion, but then the delay occurred for most of us. The new date, June 12, has finally come and gone and all full-power broadcasters in the state of Michigan have now converted to digital television. The conversion is finally over. . . or is it?
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Open Mic
By Peter Tanz, CRMC/CDMC, Midwest Communications Inc.
I'm old. Or should I say I've been in the broadcasting business a few years. I’ve been a broadcaster long enough to know how to slip cue a record. I can tell the difference between blue carts and gray carts. I even still have my slide ruler thingy to calculate an optimum effective schedule. This historical knowledge doesn't help me much today. Recently I received a memo informing me I'm no longer in the broadcasting business. I'm in the content distribution business.
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 Minimum Wage Requirements Explained
By Terry Kasiborski, Butzel Long
It has been well publicized that the federal minimum wage rate increased effective July 24, 2009 from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. That may affect MAB members with employees outside Michigan. However, since July 1, 2008, the minimum wage rate prescribed by Michigan law has been $7.40 per hour. Therefore, except in the case of exempt employees, broadcasters with employees in Michigan have been and will continue to be required to abide by the Michigan minimum wage rate which is more favorable to employees.
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Terry Kasiborski manages the MAB Human Resource and Employment Legal Hotline:
313-225-7064.
Thank You...
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| In The News |
 Bangura to be President/General Manager at WMYD
Granite Broadcasting announced that David T. Bangura will be the new president/general manager of WMYD-TV (Detroit). Bangura replaces Sarah Norat-Phillips who is leaving the company to pursue new challenges and personal goals. Bangura is being promoted from WMYD's director of sales. Norat-Phillips has been president/GM of WMYD since May 1998, a position she was promoted to only 10 months after joining as station manager in 1997, when WMYD operated as a WB affiliate under the call letters WDWB.
 Murphy Joins 'Mojo in the Morning' Show
WKQI-FM’s (Detroit) ‘Mojo in the Morning” announced the addition of Shannon Murphy to the Detroit morning show. Murphy, 26, of Grosse Isle became a full-time member of the show starting Aug. 10. Murphy, who has a journalism degree from Butler University in Indianapolis, said she had planned to work in print journalism or television until she had a chance encounter several years back that shifted her career path toward radio.
 Hope College sports are moving to WYVN-FM
Hope College announced that its football and basketball games will be heard on WYVN-FM (Holland) beginning this fall. They had been on WHTC-AM (Holland) since the 1950s. Both stations are owned by Midwest Communications, Inc.
“After several decades of broadcasting Hope football and men’s and women’s basketball on WHTC, we feel the time is right to move the broadcasts to our FM station 92.7 The Van,” said Kevin Oswald, general sales manager for WYVN and WHTC. “This move will give our broadcasts a larger coverage area which will be beneficial to Hope College and its fan base and to the advertisers who support Hope sports on the radio and online.”
 WZZM-TV Names New News & Information Director
WZZM-TV (Grand Rapids), announced that Stanton Tang has been promoted to News & Information Director of WZZM-TV and wzzm13.com. Tang has been executive producer at WZZM 13 since December 2005 and interim news director for the past two months. He has held news management positions at KLAS in Las Vegas and news producing positions at KCRA in Sacramento and KPNX in Phoenix.
Tang graduated from Arizona State University with bachelor degrees in broadcast station management and advertising. Tang replaces Tim Geraghty, who was promoted to Vice President/Information Director at KXTV, the Gannett owned ABC station in Sacramento.
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(L-R) WILX-TV (Lansing) news anchor Jason Colthorpe and Kelly Ripa. |
(L-R) WWMT-TV (Kalamazoo) news anchor Jeff Varner and Kelly Ripa. |
Michigan Anchors Selected to Co-Host
'Live with Regis and Kelly' For a Day
Two Michigan anchors were selected from among more than 500 applicants to co-host “Live with Regis and Kelly” for one day. The men sat opposite Kelly Ripa for one broadcast.
WILX-TV’s (Lansing) Jason Colthorp co-hosted on Thursday, August 6 with guest, actor Jeremy Piven and WWMT-TV’s (Kalamazoo) Jeff Varner co-hosted on Friday, August 7, with guest stars Susan Lucci and "American Idol" winner David Cook. The two Michigan broadcasters entered the “From Local to Live Co-Host for a Day Search” contest and were selected among a pool of 20 semi-finalists who were pared down to just five women and five men.
See video of Jason Colthrope and Jeff Varner's appearances on "Live with Regis and Kelly" here. Photo credit: © Disney-ABC Domestic Television
 James A. Murray Named President of AT&T Michigan
AT&T recently announced that James A. Murray has been named president of AT&T Michigan. In his role, Murray will be responsible for regulatory, legislative, and external affairs, as well as community and industry relations throughout the state of Michigan. He will work closely with community leaders, legislators and other policy makers along with business leaders and customers to help meet the company's objective of connecting people with technology everywhere they live and work across the state.
Murray had served as vice-president of government relations for AT&T Michigan since 2005. Murray's experience prior to joining AT&T included 14 years working in legislative offices including serving as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Michigan Speaker of the House. He also has experience running various statewide and local campaigns.
Murray will be located in offices in Detroit and Lansing, Michigan. He had been serving as interim president since June when former AT&T Michigan President Gail Torreano took a position at AT&T Headquarters in Dallas. Murray is a graduate of Central Michigan University. He has two sons, Jack and Joshua, and resides in Okemos, Michigan.
 Weintraub Named Assistant Program Director at WTKA/Ann Arbor
Ira Weintraub has been named assistant program director for Ann Arbor Radio sports-talk station WTKA. In addition, he will be co-hosting and producing the "Michigan Insider with Sam Webb" morning show. Weintraub received his degree from the journalism school at the University of Maryland in May 2005. His sports radio background comes from work at WTEM in Washington, D.C. His experience also includes work as a sports columnist and beat reporter. He joined Ann Arbor Radio earlier this year in a part-time roll.
MCA-I Media Festival Call For Entries
Media Communications Association-International (MCA-I) invites media communications professionals to enter the MCA-I Media Festival to compete for Golden, Silver and Bronze Reel Awards. The MCA-I Media Festival celebrates excellence in media communications. For more information, click here.
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| Legislative Update |
 MAB Backs Securing Advertising to Boost State Tourism
Michigan's tourism industry is holding its own in an economic downturn that's forcing many travelers to cut back on discretionary spending.
Michigan’s tourism industry is showing signs of growth in the last two quarters according to Comerica Bank's Michigan Tourism Index. The index rose three points, to 91, in the second quarter of 2009. This comes on the heels of a one point gain in the first quarter of this year, and shows that the tourism industry is outperforming other sectors of the state’s economy this year.
Experts are saying this growth is due in large part to the tourism advertising campaign launched by Travel Michigan. While it is still unclear whether the boost is a result of in-state or out-of-state vacationers, one thing is clear; advertising remains a significant catalyst for travel promotion.
The news comes at a time when the state legislature is debating funding levels for next fiscal year’s tourism advertising budgets. A package of bills that would spare the state’s Pure Michigan ads from the budget axe moved out of the House Committee on Tourism, Outdoor Recreation and Natural Resources recently.
The Michigan Promotion Fund Package (HB 5017, HB 5018, HB 5088 and HB 5089) would create a five-year, $2.50-per-day tax on car rentals in order to create a permanent funding system to pay for the state's Pure Michigan ads.
Without the package, funding for Pure Michigan would be cut by at least 80 percent. If revenue estimates are correct, the newly created fund would keep funding balances at or above current levels. The legislation would allow for increases based on fee collections up to $40 million annually.
Specifically, House Bills 5017 and 5018 create the "Michigan Promotion Assessment Act", a $2.50-per-day tax on rental cars. House Bill 5088 and 5089 dedicate four cents of the state's six-cent sales tax from new collections generated by tourism growth. The Pure Michigan bills were reported by unanimous vote, but have yet to see action on the House floor.
Armed with this new data, MAB will push for the passage of the package with continued emphasis on the importance to utilize local broadcast media to promote in-state travel.
Get the latest legal updates by reading the MAB Legislative & Legal Monitor!
The MAB Legislative & Legal Monitor is published as necessary with the latest information important to broadcasters. Not receiving the monitor? Please email Dave Jessup at jessup@michmab.com to sign up TODAY!
Past issues are available in the Members Only section of the MAB website. Click here to view the latest Legislative & Legal Monitors. |
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Michigan Association of Broadcasters
819 N. Washington Ave
Lansing, MI 48906
Phone: (517) 484-7444
Fax: (517) 484-5810
Toll Free: (800) 968-7622
Web site: www.michmab.com
E-mail: mab@michmab.com |
MAB Board of Directors and Officers
Chairman - Tom Mogush
Vice-Chairman/Chairman Elect - Mike King
Secretary/Treasurer - Duane Alverson
Imm. Past Chairman - Diane Kniowski
At-Large - Trey Fabacher
President/CEO - Karole L. White
Al Blinke · Ed Christian · Alan Frank · Tim Feagan
Paul Grzebik · Debbie Kenyon · Julie Koehn · Bill Kring
James Lutton · Gayle Olson · Bob Peters · Ken Radant
Jill Saarela · Bob Sliva · Rob Striker · Chris Warren
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Michigan Counsel
John J. Ronayne III
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Washington, DC Counsel
David Oxenford |
Michigan Lobbyists
Kelley Cawthorne PLLC
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Michigan Association of Public Broadcasters
819 N. Washington Ave
Lansing, MI 48906
Phone: (517) 484-7449
Fax: (517) 484-5810 |
MAPB Executive Officers
President - Steve Schram
Vice-President - Eric Smith
Treasurer - Michael Walenta
Secretary - Rick Schudiske
Executive Director - Karole L. White
Board Coordinator - Ann Cochrane
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The Michigan Broadcaster
Editor-Karole L. White
Communications Mgr-Julie Sochay
Newsletter/Web/IT Mgr-Dan Kelley
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