A news associate at Seehafer Broadcasting in Manitowoc with a passion for his local community is being named the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Young Professional of the Year.
Ryan Brahmstadt was the highest ranked of the five young broadcasting professionals recognized this year for making a significant impact on their stations and communities. The group was selected from a group of nominees ranked by a subcommittee of the WBA Board of Directors.
Brahmstadt is a retired Army specialist who served in Afghanistan. He came to a career in broadcasting through a veterans’ internship. He is a champion for the military and veterans’ rights, and he brings that passion and spirit to his work.
Brahmstadt was the driving force behind his station wining a first place WBA Award for a live event titled “Remember the Fallen,” an in-person and live streaming reading of each individual name of all fallen service members who died in Afghanistan. He organized the community event in 2021. He also earned a first place WBA Award in 2021for interviewing his former interpreter from his time in Afghanistan about the plight of the Afghan people and their desire to “Have An Opportunity to Live.”
Brahmstadt has also taken his professional life online winning the Best Online Personality on 2022 from the WBA. He has been connected to more than 20 place WBA awards over his time with Seehafer Broadcasting.
Brahmstadt is described by his coworkers as dependable and accountable as well as coachable. He is a team player that can also lead, which he demonstrates by mentoring college and high school interns to encourage their interest and growth in the broadcasting industry. He has a passion for hyperlocal news and content and writes an average of 50 stories a week for Seehafer News.
He also donates his time, talents, and energy to veteran projects and associations.
Brahmstadt wrote, “Young professionals are the future of the industry. The veterans of the industry teach the young professionals, who are then tasked with finding ways to take broadcasting into the future.”
He encourages young broadcasters to be themselves and that while you have audience, you don’t have fans. “Yes, some of your audience may legitimately be fans of your work, but once you view them as fans, you have put yourself on a pedestal. In my opinion, remaining humble is a key part of being able to get better in any line of work.”
Seehafer Vice President, Terry Stevenson, who nominated Brahmstadt, wrote, “Ryan personifies what it means to love your local community, to have passion and a driving force, and he brings all of that to his work in broadcasting.”
The four other 2024 honorees are Keith Heisler from Radio Plus in Fond du Lac, Briggs LeSavage from KBJR-TV in Duluth/Superior, Salam Fatayer from Radio Milwaukee, and Shannon Hoyt from WQOW-TV in Eau Claire.
All four were recognized in earlier issues of the WBA newsletter.
Brahmstadt will be recognized at the 2024 WBA Summer Conference, June 19-20 at Hotel Retlaw in Fond du Lac.
If you’d like to nominate a young professional for this recognition, you can do that here:
https://www.wi-broadcasters.org/yp-nominations
