Indiana RadioWatch: October 2, 2017
From the Indiana Broadcasters Association:
The Indiana Broadcasters Association will bring the Hoosier broadcasting industry together for a day of learning and celebration on Friday, November 3 at the 502 East Event Centre in Carmel. Admission to the event is $40, which includes the awards luncheon. Registration for the annual Indiana Broadcasters Conference is now open at www.IBAConference.com.
The Friday, November 3 event includes informational and entertaining sessions, including with Mark Levy of Revenue Development Resources, IBA FCC Attorney David Oxenford, Fred Jacobs and Seth Resler of Jacobs Media Strategies, Speed Marriott of P1 Learning, Kevin Robinson of Robinson Media and more.
Part of the Indiana Broadcasters Conference is a program specifically for engineers assembled by the Indianapolis-based Society of Broadcast Engineers.
At lunch, the IBA will honor the "Best in Broadcasting" over the past year during the 30th annual Spectrum Awards and induct the newest class into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Richard M. Fairbanks Hall of Fame: Sportscaster Joe McConnell, TV reporter Jack Rinehart, radio personality Ken Speck, and TV videographer Steve Starnes.
Northeast
While Char Binkley was Executive Director of Taylor University Broadcasting's Contemporary Christian/WBCL (90.3fm, Fort Wayne), she started "Mid Morning. Talk Worth Talking About." Lynne Ford produced the show. After Ms. Binkley retired in 2011, Lynne Ford began hosting the show. Last Friday, after 33 years with WBCL, Lynne Ford hosted last "Mid Morning" program and retired from the WBCL Radio Network, which includes 5 stations and 4 translators. The "Mid Morning" show also retired; there won't be another host. The WBCL website has more on Lynne's retirement (including a video from Char Binkley).
Starting today, middays will be hosted by McKalia and Ken. McKalia joins the WBCL family from mornings at WFCJ-FM in the Dayton, Ohio market. Finally, this is the first time in WBCL's history that they have live and local broadcasters from 6am until 6pm.
Central
An IRW reader e-mailed us about the sign on of King Forward's WSDI-LD (Channel 30), with the following subchannels:
.1: AccuWeather
.2: Decades
.3: Tuff TV
.4-.6: Unknown.
.7: Jewelry TV (JTV)
Nexstar's CW affiliate/WISH-TV (Channel 8, Indianapolis) adds Stephanie Zepelin as an investigative reporter. Ms. Zepelin last worked as an investigative reporter in Las Vegas at KTNV-TV.
LeSEA Broadcasting's WHMB-TV (Channel 40, Indianapolis) moves World Harvest TV to their .3 subchannel and adds Light TV to their .2 subchannel.
John Widmann ("Nick Sommers") passed away last week at age 59. Nick (along with another famous Indiana voice actor, the late Billy Moore) built much of the success of Tour Design, which began as a division of Sunshine Promotions in downtown Indianapolis and now thrives in Fishers, as one of the world’s top production houses for concert and live events promotions. Nick’s voice graced a myriad of concert and monster truck ads over nearly the past four decades (Paul McCartney, AC/DC, Poison, Richard Marx, et al.) He began his broadcasting career as a teenager in Ocala, Florida, and worked for major stations in Jacksonville, Denver and Phoenix. In 1996, he established Nick Sommers Productions and moved to Florida. The organization handled the radio and TV for WWF/WWE, Celine Dion, Feld Entertainment, Barry Manilow, Disney, Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Baily Circus, Cher, Champions on Ice, and The Commodores, among others. Arrangements are pending.
Westcentral
DTV America's WUDZ-LD (Channel 28, Terre Haute) adds "Movies!" to their .7 subchannel.
Where Are They Now? Former WTHI-FM DJ Mandi Michaels will begin hosting afternoons at KBKB in Burlington, Iowa, along with an airshift at sister KGRS. Ms. Michaels did on-air work in Fort Wayne, New Castle and Richmond, among other stops.
That's all for this issue. Thank you for your continued support.
Blaine Thompson
Indiana RadioWatch
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