Comments filed by Bruce and Susan Goldsen, owners of Jackson Radio Works, Inc., licensee of WKHM AM/FM and WIBM, Jackson, Michigan
As the licensee of two AM and one FM station in Jackson, Michigan, I would like to comment on the many ways that our stations serve the interests of the listeners of our community.
We employ three full-time and one part-time people who concentrate on news and public affairs programming for our stations. Our news/talk station, WKHM, airs over thirty hours a week of local programming addressing a myriad of important issues. Several of these hours are dedicated to taking calls from listeners. Daily, they provide us with their assessment of what is of vital interest to them. We regularly feature local political figures, who are either interviewed by staff or fielding phone calls from listeners.
Our news department meets regularly with area legislators and community leaders to determine issues they deem important to their constituents (our listeners). From these meetings, we develop news and public affairs programming to address those issues. We also cover regular meetings of local school boards and town councils.
Our station website is devoted to updated local news and sports, reflecting stories covered on-the-air by our news department.
During election cycles, we provide frequent forums to candidates. In the 2004 general election, we aired debates between candidates for two state representative races. In the 2004 primary, we aired a debate featuring seven Republican Congressional candidates from Michigan’s 7th district. We also provided hours of airtime to promote all of the local candidates and races of interest to Jackson County voters.
We sincerely believe that an educated electorate is important to our democracy. More than any other medium, local radio, with its ability to provide an interactive forum, gives that electorate a unique ability to engage in an ongoing exchange of ideas and opinions.
Of course, the hallmark of local radio serving its local listeners is in the daily promotion offered to the many charities serving needs of the community. In Jackson County, WKHM (AM), WKHM-FM and WIBM donate hundreds of hours of airtime each year to raise money and awareness for many organizations. We do not simply air public service announcements for these groups; in most cases, we give them a commitment of manpower at their events – as emcee’s, announcers and general volunteers. In addition, our stations sponsor community job fairs and health and lifestyle expo’s on a regular basis.
Here are just a sample of the groups and events with which we are involved:
• Provide announcing and event support, as well as over 100 public service announcements for March of Dimes WalkAmerica • Provide 24-hour announcing, financial sponsorship, fund-raising auction, live pre- event and on-site interviews, and 225 public service announcements for American Cancer Society Relay for Life • Provide 250 public service announcements, live interviews, financial contribution and sound-system with three race announcers for 7 hours of annual Junior Achievement’s Mini Grand Prix, plus JA classroom volunteering, regular public service announcements, volunteers and financial support for Celebrity Wait fund- raiser • Provide 150 announcements and announcing and sound-system for Juvenile Diabetes Walk to Cure • Raise several thousand dollars during annual on-air auction to provide food items for Salvation Army • Donate over 100 announcements, pick-up location for annual Marine Corps Toys for Tots holiday gift drive • Provide 100 announcements and financial contribution to American Red Cross bird house fund-raiser and Gus Macker basketball tournament fund-raiser • Donate announcer for DisAbility Connections annual dinner fund-raiser • Provided $1,500 sponsorship for “On the Air: Michigan Broadcast History” exhibit at Jackson’s Ella Sharp Museum, plus three months of regular public service announcements to drive traffic to the exhibit • Staff representation on board of United Way of Jackson County, donate 300 announcements to support annual campaign, broadcast live from campaign events • Staff representation on board of Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce, sponsorship of Economic Club luncheons and JAXPO consumer/business expo, broadcast monthly one-hour “Good Morning Greater Jackson” program live on WKHM
We are but three of the thousands of stations across the United States that share this commitment to our communities. We do these things not because we must, but because insures that our communities will continue to look to us as their primary source for local news, entertainment and information.