The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association
Foundation contribution to broadcasting in Wisconsin
encompasses a strategic, long term vision for enhancing,
promoting and supporting the broadcast industry by
encouraging the preservation of broadcast history,
participating in public affairs activities in the State
of Wisconsin and providing educational opportunities for
professional broadcasters and those who seek future
careers in the broadcast industry.
CURRENT HEADLINES
Utnehmer Joins Legacy Club
Roger
Utnehmer, longtime WBA activist and owner of
Nicolet Broadcast with a cluster of four FM
radio stations in Sturgeon Bay, has joined the
WBA Foundation Legacy Club, making a bequest to
the Foundation in a revision of his will.
Legal Counsel was commissioned to develop sample
codicils that can be used to amend current
wills. Initial solicitations were made to
veteran Wisconsin broadcasters in 1998.
The long anticipated opening of the Wisconsin
Museum of Broadcasting’s new Sports Gallery was
the happening of March 22! The Sports Gallery
opened online at
www.wisconsinbroadcastingmuseum.org with the
Greatest Broadcast Moments in Wisconsin Sports
History featuring 35 clips from the actual
broadcasts by the announcers that called the
games. The Grand Opening 4-day weekend saw an
increase of about 700% in visits over the
previous month AND the average time spent in
Museum during those four days was 9 minutes,
more than four times above expectations for
similar web site visits.
Among the Wisconsin broadcasters featured in the
Sports Gallery are Hall of Famers Earl
Gillespie, Ted Moore, Jim Irwin, Bob Uecker and
Eddie Doucette. The teams and games featured are
from the Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers
in baseball, Green Bay Packers and University of
Wisconsin in football, Milwaukee Bucks and
University of Wisconsin’s Men’s Basketball and
University of Wisconsin Mens’ and Women’s
hockey.
“Sportscasters who call the action and bring the
excitement into homes throughout Wisconsin have
earned a special and distinctive place in the
fabric of our lives,” said John Laabs, president
and CEO of the Wisconsin Broadcasters
Association Foundation and Curator of the
museum. “We are so pleased to devote this new
exhibit entirely to the games and announcers who
have helped make Wisconsin teams famous.” The
Great Moments exhibit has been designed to
accommodate a great deal of expansion and
efforts are being made for the few instances of
missing Great Moments from the teams currently
featured. Plans are also being made to add great
moments from Marquette University basketball,
the Professional Golf Association and NASCAR, as
well as Wisconsin’s Division III football and
basketball teams from Platteville, Whitewater
and Stevens Point.
The Great Broadcast Moments in Wisconsin
SportsHistory was produced by David McCann,
producer for WIBA and WTSO radio in Madison,
with John Laabs acting as Executive Producer.
The videos clips were provided courtesy of Major
League Baseball, The Green Bay Packers, The
University of Wisconsin and a number of
Wisconsin television stations from their
reporting of the events at the time of their
occurrence.
Four WBA Foundation scholarship awards were
presented on March 3 at the 2012 WBA Student
Seminar. This year’s winners were: Eric Zizich,
Jason Schmidtke, Mason Meulemans and Samantha
Wallschlaeger.
Jason Schmidtke, UW-Eau Claire, received the
$2,000 Morgan Murphy Scholarship; Eric Zizich,
UW-Parkside, was named the WBA Foundation
Scholar and received a $2,000 Scholarship;
Samantha Wallschlaeger, UW-Oshkosh, received the
$1,000 Results Broadcasting Scholarship; and
Mason Meulemans, UW-Stevens Point, received the
$1,000 Howard Gernetzke Scholarship.
The WBA Foundation awards the scholarships
annually. One of the awards is funded by
donations to the Foundation from WBA member
stations; the Morgan Murphy Scholarship is
endowed by WISC-TV, Madison, in honor of the
late Morgan
Murphy, who founded the Superior Evening
Telegram, owner of WISCTV. The Howard Gernetzke
Scholarship, which was presented for the first
time in 1998, is endowed by friends and
relatives of Howard Gernetzke, who was a
longtime Wausau and Milwaukee radio & television
personality. The Results Broadcasting
Scholarship was presented for the first time in
2005 having been endowed by Bruce Grassman,
President of Results Broadcasting.
To be eligible for a Foundation Scholarship,
students must be studying in a broadcast-related
curriculum at a 4-year college or 2-year
technical school, have completed approximately
one-half of their degree requirements, and have
either graduated from a Wisconsin High School or
be attending a Wisconsin college or university.
Recipients of all scholarships are selected
through a competition judged by the WBA
Education Committee and the WBA Foundation Board
of Directors. Judging is based on credentials,
academic achievements and recommendations.
History Project Produces 4 New Hall of Fame
Videos
The Foundation’s History Project, aimed at
producing videos for all members of the Hall of
Fame, has produced four more commemorative
videos honoring the careers of four past
inductees.
Included in the four new 2012 videos were:
Ben
Hovel, Hall of Fame Class of 1989, pioneer
radio broadcaster with WIBA, Madison, and of
WSAU, Wausau, WHBL, Sheboygan, and later Sales
Manager and General Manager for WKOW-TV.
Madison. He was the third President of the
Wisconsin Broadcasters Association in 1955-56.
Henry
Lippold, Hall of Fame Class of 2002,
legendary broadcast journalism educator at the
University of Illinois for 13 years and the
University of Wisconsin for 35 years who sent
hundreds of students on to successful careers in
broadcasting.
Joe
Loughlin, Hall of Fame Class of 1999,
45-year broadcaster who started as a news
reporter/anchor and anchored the nation’s first
1-hour newscast in Tampa in 1963. His fifteen
year career in Wisconsin included 13 years as
General Manager of WVTV-TV in Milwaukee. He
later was GMN at KWGN-TV, Denver and WGN-TV,
Chicago. He was President of the WBA in 1979.
Tony
Moe, Hall of Fame Class of 1991, 38-year
broadcaster with early service at WHO radio, Des
Moines, WCCO radio, Minneapolis, KNXT-TV, Los
Angeles and the CBS TV Network. From 1960-72, he
was co-owner and General Manager of WKOW radio
in Madison and the then Wisconsin TV Network:
WKOW-TV, Madison, WAOW-TV, Wausau, WXOW-TV, La
Crosse and WQOW-TV, Eau Claire. From 1972-84 he
was Executive Director of then Wisconsin
Educational Communications Board and general
manger of the Wisconsin Public Radio & TV.
The Hall of Fame video project has produced 24
videos over the past 4 years reducing the
backlog of videos (for those inducted prior to
2004) to 54. These videos are being produced
with pro bono production assistance from TV
stations around the State and post-production
assistance from WBA Television and members, with
WISN-TV, Milwaukee, WKOW-TV, Madison, WHA-TV,
Madison, WISC-TV, Madison and WSAW-TV, Wausau,
contributing such post-production assistance to
date. All of the commemorative videos can be
viewed in the WBA Hall of Fame Gallery at
Wisconsin Museum of Broadcasting,
www.wisconsinbroadcastingmuseum.org.
Foundation Board Updates Long Range Plan &
Elects 2012 Officers
The WBA Foundation Board of Directors, at its
annual meeting in January, updated its Long
Range Plan after 6 months of discussions and
deliberations. In adopting the first update to
the Plan since 2006, the Board reaffirmed its
commitment to its four main priorities: Fund
Raising, Education, Public Affairs and Historic
Preservation. The prime emphasis of the Plan is
for an increased and expanded fund raising
effort aimed in short term at raising $100,000
annually and in the long term $250,000 annually.
Work on the fund raising plank in the Plan began
with the appointment of a new Fund Raising Group
which had its first meeting in mid-March. The
Plan also calls for building on the Foundation
Debate Series with broaden platforms for
delivery and then exploring new initiatives and
options in the Public Affairs arena; in the
Education area, the Plan calls for instituting a
high school careers outreach program, exploring
the possibility with Wisconsin higher
educational institution of holding an Education
Summit to determine the state of broadcast
education in the State and exploring the
development of new in depth educational programs
modeled after the Walker Management Institute;
and in the Historic Preservation area,
continuing the Hall of Fame Video Project aimed
to producing commemorative videos for all
members of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of
Fame, developing a marketing plan to support the
Museum and opening a new Sports Gallery in the
Museum (which occurred on March 22).
The Board also chose its Officers for 2012,
re-electing its current Officers: David Sanks,
Chairman, Laurin Jorstad, Vice Chairman, Dick
Record, Secretary, Tom Walker, Treasurer and
John Laabs, Assistant Secretary-Treasurer.
Educational Support Grant Applications Due
April 20
The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association
Foundation Educational Support Grant Program is
now accepting applications for 2009 grants with
a deadline of Friday, April 20.
The Educational Support Grant Program was
created in 2000 to award up to $10,000 annually
to assist non-profit college and technical
school broadcast education programs in acquiring
equipment, hardware, software, and/or other
teaching materials that are necessary to conduct
broadcast education programs and promote careers
in broadcasting.
The program has generated such good responses in
the quality of applications, that in the first
12 years, the Foundation Board actually approved
over $121,000 in grants. For 2011, the WBA
Foundation Board approved six grants to
Wisconsin universities totaling $10,130.
Staff
& Leadership
Roger
Utnehmer, longtime WBA activist and owner of
Nicolet Broadcast with a cluster of four FM
radio stations in Sturgeon Bay, has joined the
WBA Foundation Legacy Club, making a bequest to
the Foundation in a revision of his will.
Ben
Hovel, Hall of Fame Class of 1989, pioneer
radio broadcaster with WIBA, Madison, and of
WSAU, Wausau, WHBL, Sheboygan, and later Sales
Manager and General Manager for WKOW-TV.
Madison. He was the third President of the
Wisconsin Broadcasters Association in 1955-56.
Henry
Lippold, Hall of Fame Class of 2002,
legendary broadcast journalism educator at the
University of Illinois for 13 years and the
University of Wisconsin for 35 years who sent
hundreds of students on to successful careers in
broadcasting.
Joe
Loughlin, Hall of Fame Class of 1999,
45-year broadcaster who started as a news
reporter/anchor and anchored the nation’s first
1-hour newscast in Tampa in 1963. His fifteen
year career in Wisconsin included 13 years as
General Manager of WVTV-TV in Milwaukee. He
later was GMN at KWGN-TV, Denver and WGN-TV,
Chicago. He was President of the WBA in 1979.
Tony
Moe, Hall of Fame Class of 1991, 38-year
broadcaster with early service at WHO radio, Des
Moines, WCCO radio, Minneapolis, KNXT-TV, Los
Angeles and the CBS TV Network. From 1960-72, he
was co-owner and General Manager of WKOW radio
in Madison and the then Wisconsin TV Network:
WKOW-TV, Madison, WAOW-TV, Wausau, WXOW-TV, La
Crosse and WQOW-TV, Eau Claire. From 1972-84 he
was Executive Director of then Wisconsin
Educational Communications Board and general
manger of the Wisconsin Public Radio & TV.