April 2020
Sens. Peters, Stabenow among 74 Senators to Sign Letter Pushing for Local Media Relief
U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), Gary Peters (D-Mich), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a letter with 74 bipartisan cosigners, including Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), to the Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russell Vought on Thursday (4/23) to support radio and televisions broadcasters and…
Read MoreReps. Upton, Dingell Lead Bipartisan Push for Federal Ad Dollars for Local Media
On April 20, Congressman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) joined Congressman Marc Veasey (D-texas), and Congressman Bill Flores (R-Texas) led more than 240 bipartisan lawmakers in asking the Trump Administration to direct current federal government advertising funds to local news and media outlets. “The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting local communities across our…
Read MoreFCC Denies Application of Hoax Rule to Trump Press Conferences on COVID-19 – Looking at the First Amendment and the Commission’s Regulation of Political Speech
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Recently, FCC staff dismissed a request by the organization Free Press asking the FCC to investigate the broadcast of the President’s press conferences on the coronavirus and programs where commentators supported the President’s pronouncements. In addition to an investigation, the request asked that the FCC require that broadcasters “prominently…
Read MoreGrand Rapids Television Stations Unite During COVID-19
Four Grand Rapids Television stations, WOOD-TV, WWMT-TV, WXMI-TV and WZZM-TV have come together during the COVID-19 pandemic to let their viewers know that local television news provides critical up-to-the-minute news, health and safety information. On April 16, the four stations began airing a joint public service announcement in the first commercial break of their 6…
Read MoreMichigan Radio’s Stateside debuts in U.P. on WNMU, WGGL
Michigan Radio’s daily public radio talk program, Stateside, hosted by April Baer, can now be heard across the Upper Peninsula on WNMU-FM (Marquette), and WGGL-FM (Houghton). The addition of these two public radio stations makes Stateside available to the majority of listeners in the Upper Peninsula. With conversations about what matters in Michigan, Stateside covers…
Read MoreLong-time Michigan Programmer Darrin Arriens Passes from COVID-19 Complications in N.C.
Thirty-year broadcast veteran Darrin Arriens passed away Tuesday (4/21), following a lengthy battle with complications stemming from a COVID-19 infection, in North Carolina. Arriens was a well-known radio programmer in Michigan, having served as Program Director of WKLQ and WLAV in Grand Rapids, the latter when the station won the Marconi Award for Medium Market…
Read MoreRobin Seymour Dies at Age 94
Former Detroit radio and television host Robin Seymour has passed away. Seymour died April 17 at an assisted living facility in San Antonio, Texas, following a heart attack. Seymour, who started in radio as a child actor on the Detroit-based Lone Ranger Show, began working at WJBK-AM as a teen. He then headed to WKMH-AM,…
Read MoreFormer Traverse City Radio/Television Norm Jones Host Passes
Former Northern Michigan radio and television personality Norm Jones passed away April 16 at the age of 59. Jones, a Traverse City native, began his career in broadcasting as an active member of the radio club while in high school. Jones, using the air name “Scott Brandon,” worked in radio in Florida and at WCCW…
Read MoreRethinking Radio Website Design in the Age of Coronavirus
By: Seth Resler Jacobs Media Strategies At the beginning of this pandemic, radio stations focused on their on-air responses to the crisis. Online, stations largely addressed the crisis the way they did any other major promotion: create a webpage or two, stick some images in the slideshow on the homepage, and add a banner in…
Read MoreMAB Adds Captioning to Governor’s Press Conferences
In an effort to help Michigan’s Television Broadcasters streamline carriage while keeping expenses down, the MAB has leased a captioning unit and is providing live captioning of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 press conferences that are pool-fed by WLNS-TV (Lansing). Dynamic Captioning of Grand Rapids delivered a EEG HD-490 iCap Captioning unit late Wednesday Morning (4/15)…
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