Kids Programming Rocks WKAR Primetime
WKAR-TV and WKAR-DT (East Lansing) held a special on-air pledge during primetime that featured Kids Programming. The on-air membership campaign took place August 3-6 and offered viewers the opportunity to support this resource that isn't only good for the children, but ultimately good for the community as well.

Among the programs featured include: Curious George (Monday); Sesame Street (Tuesday); WordGirl (Wednesday); and Clifford the Big Red Dog (Thursday).

Michigan Radio Wins National Clarion Award
Michigan Radio (Ann Arbor) has won a national Clarion Award from The Association for Women in Communications for the documentary "Foreclosing on the American Dream". The documentary, which originally aired in July 2008, won a Clarion Award in the category of Best One Time Documentary.

"Foreclosing on the American Dream," which was narrated by Michigan Radio Morning Edition host Christina Shockley, took an in-depth look at the causes and effects surrounding Michigan's high foreclosure rate. Why has Michigan been hit so hard? What is this doing to our neighborhoods? What are the solutions? Michigan Radio's reporters and hosts explored these questions through in-depth reports and interviews. You can listen to the documentary here: http://www.michiganradio.org/foreclosing.

Since 1972, the Clarion Awards have honored excellence in more than 100 categories across all areas of communications, including advertising & marketing, magazines, newspapers, online media, photography, public relations, radio and television. This year's competition drew nearly 500 entries, and Michigan Radio was one of 97 winners that will be recognized at the 2009 AWC National Conference in Seattle, WA, on October 17. Winners in other radio categories included public radio programs "The Splendid Table" (heard on Michigan Radio 2-3 pm Sundays) and "The World" (heard on Michigan Radio 7-8 pm, weekdays).

CMU Public Broadcasting Concludes 2009 Straits of Mackinac Summer Music Cruise
CMU Public Broadcasting's final 2009 Music Cruise on the Straits of Mackinac included a sunset ride under the Mackinac Bridge, a live performance from "Song of the Lakes," with special guest, Norm Wheeler; and hearty hors d'oeuvres provided by Audie's of Mackinaw City. Tickets were $40 per person with proceeds supporting their mission to educate, entertain, and inspire Central and Northern Michigan residents with quality programming and outreach services.

WGVU Launches Programming On Two New Channels
Using the multi-casting capability of DTV, WGVU-TV/Grand Rapids has expanded its program offerings with two new channels: "MhZ Worldview" gives viewers a chance to see programming from across the world, primarily news programming, much of it not available elsewhere.

"WGVU Block Party" will feature nightly genre programming. Sundays will feature documentaries; Mondays focus on issues pertaining to health and environment and Tuesdays will be all comedy. Outdoors programming will dominate Wednesdays; arts and performances on Thursday; nature and science on Fridays and music on Saturdays. The new channels began airing on August 4.

2009 Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program Underway
Can you afford an FCC fine? Can you afford not to take advantage of a great savings opportunity to get your station fully FCC compliant and free from a routine FCC inspection for three years?

The MAB is currently conducting its 2009 Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP). The inspections are a no-risk way to check your station's FCC compliance. If you did not receive MAB's recent ABIP mailing, click here to find out more! Remaining dates on the 2009 ABIP tour:

Traverse City/Cadillac/Petoskey (NW) Inspections: sign up period has ended, but if you act now you can still be on the list for your inspection. Upper Peninsula: Sign up: August 17-28; inspections: September 7-11.

For additional information, contact MAB's Ann Cochrane at 1-800-YOUR-MAB or email at acochrane@michmab.com now.

Review Tower Light Outage Procedures
by Larry Estlack, Director of Technology, MAB

Prompted by a broadcaster's concern about what they found to be inconsistent in the reporting of tower light outages, I conducted an informal survey of Michigan Radio & TV chief engineers in late July. The initial comments from a broadcaster involved resistance on the part of the FAA’s call center to accept a report for an outage of a flashing beacon mounted on the side of a tall tower. As we know, there should be none. The failure of any flashing beacon is required to be reported to the FAA by current rules.
download pdf

WLEN/Adrian Hold 10th Annual Pie Auction for Relay For Life
On August 4, Lenawee Broadcasting's WLEN held its 10th annual pie auction to raise money for the American Cancer Society's Lenawee Relay for Life. The station offered nearly 100 pies to fill the sweet tooth of its listeners. A list of pies were announced at the top of each hour and bids were accepted from listeners throughout each hour.

Pies were baked by station employees as well as provided by station advertisers.

WOOD-TV/WOTV-TV Reaches Record Numbers
Via Free Park Party!
Grand Rapids television stations WOOD-TV and WOTV-TV has announced that 40,000 people came out to seven parks across West Michigan to enjoy free food, fun and entertainment with station personality Maranda. This summer Maranda and the Park Party crew were originally slated to travel to six locations but high unemployment numbers in Muskegon County prompted the station to add another location.

With tough economic times for West Michigan families, Park Party sponsors donated extra supplies for an extra day of free fun to one more community.

The Jonas Brothers give to 96.3 WDVD's Operation Backpack
On July 26, WDVD-FM/Detroit jock Jesse Addy met the Jonas Brothers backstage at their concert in Auburn Hills. Addy had the opportunity to talk to them about their new album and tour. During their interview, Addy informed them of the station's school supply drive, Operation Backpack. After the interview, the Jonas Brothers bought five boxes of school supplies and donated them to the 96.3 WDVD Operation Backpack Drive.

The station and WJBK-TV have joined forces to stuff two school buses full of school supplies for kids who come from low income families. Operation Backpack took place August 1-2 at The Roeper School on Woodward in West Bloomfield.

WCSX Announces Nicole's Chihuahua Challenge
WCSX-FM/Detroit "Deminski & Doyle" morning show on-air traffic personality Nicole Salem launched "Nicole Salem's Chihuahua Challenge" after hearing that more than 150 dead Chihuahuas were found in a Dearborn home and more than 100 others found alive were taken to the Dearborn Animal Shelter. Salem decided she wanted to do everything she could to help.

"They have a long waiting list, everybody wants to adopt them, but they can't go home to a family until they have had the proper medical care, which can be very costly," Salem, the proud owner of her own Chihuahua, Lacy, told Names & Faces. The challenge was launched to help bring attention to the Chihuahua situation and the financial burden facing the Dearborn Animal Shelter, where hundreds of other animals remain under its care.

Looking for an easy way to “beef” up your station’s EEO file? Registration is now open for the 2009 Broadcast Media Career & Networking Fairs and the 2009 Broadcasting Career Builder Conference (BCBC) through sponsorships or the Career Café Luncheon - both presented by the MAB Foundation. Participation in these programs allows stations the possibility to gain much needed EEO credits for your EEO file.

EEO audits are real…and MABF’s programs help Michigan stations stay prepared for those audits by offering EEO-friendly programs. Please take a moment to review the review the web site and consider participating in some way. All events will take place throughout the month of October.

Please consider joining us…Complete and return the registration forms or contact Julie with questions or for more information at sochay@michmab.com or 517-484-7444.

Special MAB Member Announcement!
Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS) is Now Available to MAB Members!

EMS has been helping businesses grow and save money for over 20 years! Now with the help of the MAB they are bringing these savings to you and your stations. From the standard credit and debit card processing to customized gift/loyalty cards to eCommerce solutions and beyond, no other company’s offerings come close to what EMS can do for you.

Stephanie Preidis, your personal EMS contact, will be calling you in the following days to discuss how EMS can save you money!

Want more information on EMS? Call 866-333-4877 or visit their web site at www.emscorporate.com/michmab

MAB Legal Hotlines Save Members TIME and MONEY!
Are you taking advantage of your MAB Legal Hotlines? One of the nation's leading communication attorneys, David Oxenford, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, can help you with your FCC and regulatory questions. It's FREE to you because MAB has a special arrangement and we pay for all members to get their questions answered.

Say your corporate office has an attorney and you use them for advice and counsel. That's great, but you can sound a lot smarter when you call them by getting to understand the issue better by speaking with David first.

Save your money, call the MAB FCC attorney first and cut down on those lengthy and EXPENSIVE calls to your attorney.

MAB also offers a free Michigan Legal Hotline for your FOIA, libel and Michigan questions with John Ronayne of Bernardi, Ronayne & Glusac, PC; and the Human Resource Law Hotline with Terry Kasiborski of Butzel Long.

You know you have questions and the price is right!

Reminder: BCS Monthly Training
Broadcast Compliance Services (BCS) assists MAB member stations in meeting EEO outreach requirements through its broad outreach program enabling broadcasters to post and list job openings with thousands of contacts nationwide.

As part of this service, BCS offers monthly conference call training on a weekly basis. Click here for participant information and a schedule as well as complete information on this MAB member service. For more information on other valuable MAB Member Services, visit the member services section of the MAB web site here.