Wisconsin Broadcasters Association

In the News

WBA Foundation To Sponsor Two Debates in 2010!

It has been the tradition of your WBA Foundation to sponsor debates in major statewide elections. This year there is both a campaign for Governor and one for the U.S. Senate. The WBA Foundation will sponsor debates in each of the races. The Governor’s Debate will be Friday, September 24 from 7 to 8 p.m and the U.S. Senate Debate will be Friday, October 8 from 8 to 9 p.m.

The debate on September 24 will be produced at WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee. The debate on October 8 will be produced at WMVS-TV in Milwaukee. These are signature events for your Foundation/Association. It helps us put our best public affairs foot forward in the eyes of the political establishment with which we often work. We want it to be as successful as possible with as many live broadcasts - radio and TV - as possible. In the past 20 years we hosted 13 debates in Senate and Governor’s races and we have had as many as 22 commercial and 7 public TV and 58 radio stations carry the debates live. A small number of others, due to conflicts, have carried them on a delayed basis.

As most of you are aware (regardless of if you’re in Radio or TV), there has been a significant amount of information swirling around regarding NAB’s “Potential Terms Under Consideration” in the Performance Tax discussion. Your WBA held a heavily attended conference call on August 12 which was open to all Wisconsin Radio broadcasters. The call featured John David, Executive Vice President Radio, and Kelly Cole, Government Relations, from NAB, as well as Scott Flick from our DC Counsel, ShawPittman. The goal of the call was to provide Educational information to our members regarding the “Potential Terms”. We...

Where did the summer go? School starts for most next week. The air is a little cooler and Fall is around the corner. The Packers and Badgers are hard at work preparing for a successful season. It is also that time of year when voters will take to the polls and decide which politicians will represent us at the local, state, and federal levels. Much is at stake this political season. The battle lines are drawn and the Democratic process is in full swing. We will hear many promises and a fair amount of “mud slinging”. From all indications,...