Your WBA Foundation has been hosting statewide political debates for more than 30 years and we are most proud to continue that tradition this year.
Teams of broadcasters are already gathering on a regular basis to begin planning for two debates. The first debate on Oct. 7 will be for U.S. Senate candidates and a second on Oct. 14 will be for gubernatorial candidates. We are grateful to have Jill Geisler moderating the debates again this year. Jill is a WBA Hall of Famer and the Bill Plante Chair in Leadership and Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago.
These debates are a huge collaborative project and, this year more than ever, the debates are involving broadcasters from around the state. Each debate will have two teams: The question team and data team. Each question team will have six members and will be responsible for asking the candidates questions. The three-person data teams will be responsible for sharing the work of both teams with the statewide audience using online tools. The audience will be able to see the research that went into each question.
A special thank you to our debate sponsors, the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (WAICU) and the Wisconsin Counties Association.
We’re tremendously proud of these debates and the hard-working local broadcasters who step up to make them happen. It’s a wonderful public service in these critical election years.
WBA Hall of Fame Show available soon
I recently recorded this year’s WBA Hall of Fame Show, which we will soon have available to you for airing, in time for the holidays. This year the show will feature this year’s inductees, Joyce Garbaciak, Howard Gloede, Chris Bernier, and Gene Purcell.
Thanks to the team at WMTV-TV in Madison which plays a big role in producing the show. Watch your inboxes for distribution details. We’ll send them out as soon as we have them.
Poynter provides election training in Wisconsin
Thank you Al Thompkins and Poynter for including Wisconsin in the locations for midterm election training! We had great turnout for the day-long session on the UW campus in Madison and even WBA Hall of Famer Tom Bolger was on hand. A special thank you as well to Katy Culver and UW-Madison’s Journalism School for supporting these important events!
Don’t miss the award-winning Broadcasters Clinic
The ever-so-fabulous Broadcasters Clinic is returning to its traditional time in October this year, coming to the Madison Marriott West Oct. 11-13, and it’s no surprise that we can continue to call it an award-winning event!
SBE recently, and once again, named the clinic the Best Educational Event. This is the second year in a row the Clinic has won the award. The hard-working Clinic Committee can be very proud of this amazing accomplishment.
As always, we look forward to welcoming engineers and vendors from more than 20 states to Madison this October!
Here’s wishing you and everyone on your teams a safe, beautiful, and relaxing fall. Don’t forget to take time to enjoy our gloriously stunning Wisconsin colors!
