Michigan Production Alliance through its dedicated and passionate members produced this PSA for film industry/film community members in Michigan. The Governor supports this and appears as do many other people, celebs and crew, musicians and caterers.

The MPA advocates seeking projects that will fit Michigan, developing scripts, financing and training and adding commercials back into the incentives as they were originally intended to be. Check out their new website, iliveinmichigan.com, which highlights the success stories of the budding film industry.

Specs Howard School is embracing the new projects coming to the area by offering training for students that want to be part of the film industry. Updates include additions to the curriculum in our Radio, Video & Film program and the new On Location Film Workshops. Specs Howard is one of the leading film training facilities in the state. We're excited to be part of something that is changing the future of our state.

I recently celebrated my 37th year at the Specs Howard School, so I’ve experienced my share of numerous benchmarks over the years. There was the first time I discovered one of my students was the daughter of a student I’d had years ago. Then there was the time that a grad just HAD to show me pictures of their GRANDCHILD!

The most recent episode is perhaps the most humbling for more reason than one. I attend the annual Associated Press Broadcasters Awards Banquet every year because many grads usually win awards. This year was no exception.

Pat Sweeting of WWJ radio was honored for her LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT as a newsperson and she was my student! Again, in case you didn’t catch that the first time (I know, I had to keep pinching myself), she won a lifetime achievement award and she was MY STUDENT!

I didn't know whether to say "OW" or "WOW!"

Seriously, I am delighted for Pat. She richly deserves this award -- even if it does remind me that I'm OLD. Yeesh!

Of course, I’m happy to report that many of our other grads received AP awards too. Also from WWJ were Bob Mundie, Bill Stevens (who won 2), Gary Lundy and Tony Ortiz. Corey Adkins and his wife Stephanie (from Channels 9 & 10 in Traverse City/Cadillac) won 5 awards for videography. Shelley Irwin of WGVU-TV & Radio (Grand Rapids), Amy Miller of WDET (Detroit) and John Hall of WSGW Radio (Saginaw) won awards. And finally, Jon King, Jessica Matthews and Lindsay Smith won “Station of the Year” with 15 awards between them for WHMI (Howell). I was a proud uncle.
 
GRAD ROUND-UP

Rich Rockwell checked in to let me know in the short four months since graduating, he and fellow grad April Hawker are doing mornings together on an Internet Station called Crush Radio in Hot Springs Arkansas.

Ivy Prosper let us know that she works for a talent agency called Film/Comm Talent their head booker in St. Catharines, Ontario and was just hired to host a pilot TV show called, "Sun Shop."  She was hired before she even met the producers on the strength of her demo reel.  I wish her the very best.

I ran into recent grad Laura Sutherland at a recent visit to WRIF and was pleased to discover that she's been hired to be Trudi Daniels’ news producer. Very cool.

I heard from grad Theron Dahlerup who has a similar position at 97.1 "The Ticket," except that he produces the entire morning show for Bill McCallister and Jay Towers.

Finally, the latest news from two of my favorite grads, Todd & Tommy Brunswick of The Skeleton Factory Films.  Their latest film, "Born of Earth," starring Daniel Baldwin, is now available on “Comcast On Demand.”  In further news, The Skeleton Factory will be holding “Fright Nights” all summer starting June 24th at the Emagine Theatre in Canton. They'll have contests and events all summer leading up to their horror convention, MOTOR CITY NIGHTMARES, which will be held at the Novi Sheraton in October.

Stay tuned...I'll have details!

Until next time.  
Your Great-Great (eep) Uncle Kernen

Greetings specs students, alumni, and friends. As I mentioned in my last post, the Specs Howard Street team is out and about in metro Detroit, collaborating with 89X and 101 WRIF to produce original web videos. Well the time has come for you to see all of their work, along with some classic Specs Howard spots online. Check out our new streaming video channel, Specs Howard TV! Its updated weekly with new shows, so be sure to bookmark it

Specs students helped out at the 22nd Annual Dick Purton Radiothon for the Salvation Army. The event raised over $2.2 million for the Bed and Bread program, which provides food, shelter and services to people in need. Amanda Wilton, event manager, couldn't speak more highly of the Specs interns that worked the event:

"Thank you so much for all your hard work in coordinating the students to help us with the Dick Purtan Radiothon.  I have to say that they all were a true joy to work with."

On behalf of me and the Specs staff, I want to say thank you for everyone that donated the time and effort towards the event. Check out the video above to see Fox 2's coverage of the successful fundraiser.

As you know, Specs grads are everywhere and doing great things. I was excited to hear that one of our favorite grads, Billy Green (Billy the Kid), checked in with the great news that he's the newest addition to one of Americas legendary radio stations, WHTZ - Z-100 in the nations largest market...New York City!  Z-100 is the home of equally legendary air talent, Scott Shannon.  Pretty fast company.  Billy has been in Dallas for the last 8 years and to this day remains the only grad to have had his picture featured on thousands of Pepsi Cola cans that were distributed all over Texas!  Way to go Billy!

Other successes in radio includes WHMI's big win for General Excellence award for news coverage in 2008. Specs grad Jon King received recognition for Best Spot News in providing live, “as-it-happened” coverage of the June 8th tornado that moved across Livingston County. Jessica Mathews was honored for Best Hard News with her reports about a disturbing trend by drug dealers to targeting children. Radio journalism in action! Great job!

Back at Specs we have something to celebrate of our own. Steve Julin, Director of Curriculum Development and long time Video Editing instructor, was named Educator of the Year by the Digital Arts, Film & Television (D.A.F.T.) folks.  He will receive the award at the annual Michigan Youth Arts Festival in early May.  Steve has been involved with the school for 17 years and has been responsible for many of the progressive ideas, techniques and equipment acquisitions that have kept the school in the forefront the industries and students that we serve. Congratulations Steve...you've earned it!

MEET THE STREET TEAM: Pictured left to right: Greg "Dzuku" Gogava, Uncle "The Leaping Gnome" Kernen, Josh "Poki" Hill and "Brother" John Hoover.

Sometimes it takes your Uncle Kernen a while to catch on to things. First it was email and then it was iPods, only to be followed by MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. For an old guy, I try to stay on top of things. I even have this blog, which has turned out to be a pretty fantastic way to keep you all informed of all things Specs Howard for the past year or more.

However, I’m afraid that only recently have I become aware of this little group of Specs Howard employees and interns that call themselves the Specs Howard Street Team.

Apparently, some time in January of this year, we here at Specs Howard decided to get with the program and do what radio has been doing for years, and that is get out and meet people face-to-face the old-fashioned way at traditional social networking events such as the boat show, the car show, club shows, and so on. What a concept!

But in keeping with today's world, the street team is not only trailing after 89x and 101 WRIF at various weekly events, they’re capturing all the fun on video, which the radio stations are uploading for their listeners to watch on their websites. At WRIF, the show is called “Out in the D,” and at 89x it’s the “Insignificant Video Poll.”

Heading up the Specs Howard Street Team are Josh Hill, Greg Gogava and John Hoover. Josh manages the interns and crew while Greg and John take turns producing, directing, and editing the videos. Currently, Nathaniel Kiplinger is the lead host for 89X and Gasper Rubino is lead host for WRIF. The team also currently includes interns Doris Westfield, John Anderson, Sabrina Moore and Nadia Mortada. (Current students take note: Whether your interest is in radio or television, the street team may be for you. Submit your resume to Katie Peters for consideration.)

I’m told they’ll be covering events such as the upcoming WRIF Rock Girl contest (the winner will be receiving an 8-month scholarship to Specs), the Ann Arbor Film Festival, various events happening here at the school, and more! I’m told they may even be taking "The Leaping Gnome" on tour with them. No one can say I don’t get out much!

Look for us at TNT’s Bar & Grill in Clinton Township every Thursday and with the WRIF crew on Saturdays. This week, we’re heading out to Autorama. Vroom! Vroom! Next week, it’s New York, New York!

2009 MAB Foundation College Broadcast Awards

I’m proud to say that almost every year Specs Howard is well represented on the state-level for excellence in broadcasting. This year is no exception. This year's winners are:

Radio
Jason Bahleda
Tony Moore
Andrea Daniels
Robert Laurence

Video
Amy Carter
Ricky Williams
Jeff Ritthaler
James Clements


Additional Award Winners

Last, but certainly not least, sincere congratulations to Cassandra “Cassie” Tluczek for winning a generous scholarship from the MAB Foundation. We have the opportunity each year to select a student that the faculty is allowed to vote on as the outstanding student in our Radio & Television program. Cassie was the winner by a large margin and will receive her award at the Great Lakes Broadcasting Conference and Expo in Grand Rapids on March 11th.

I also wanted to mention this year’s winner of the Suburban Newspapers of America Editorial Award, Peg McNichols. It may seem strange we'd be recognizing a newspaper award winner, but long before she was a writer, she was a producer for several radio talk shows, and she's a grad. We love her! Way to go Peg.

Heard from Roger Beatty about his morning show moving to a new station.  This is significant to me because Rog graduated 29 years ago!!!!! He and Dean have been in Houston for 12 years at KKRW and in June will go across the street to KHTC (K-Hits 107.)  One of many things I love about this job is that many grads like Roger have stayed in touch for all this time.  This is a great deal for both Dean & Rog as they have a contract through 2016!  Since he can't start until June (non-compete), I'm looking forward to a visit when he visits his family this Spring.

Speaking of spring, it's time to enjoy this weather so 'til next time--
uk

Thought I'd acknowledge some recent alumni that have checked in with me. It's always a treat to hear from our grads.

- Vivian Shallal checks in letting us know she started her own company, Freelance Video Services and says "I've been working in this industry for the past 16 years and Freelancing for the last 10  years....I love it".
- Mindy Pauris says hey from Lima Ohio's WLIO-TV where she's a weekend
anchor and producer.
- Leesa Phillips lets us know that she is hosting a local TV show called "The Corner" where she interviews local business people, artists and anyone else doing good for the community.
- Holly Frick tells us she's left Columbus Ohio TV for Florida TV where she continues to both Produce & Direct local news shows for WESH-TV.
- Julie Tache, from way back in 1992, informs us that she is a freelance NFL reporter for Fox Radio, the NFL Network and WFAN Radio in New York...you go girl!
- Just in case you think no men have ever graduated...Jarrod Stoddard let's us know that he started at WILX-TV Ch. 10 in Lansing as a part-time PA, and was made full-time where he put in the next couple of years before being promoted to Director of their newscasts. Jarrod says, "I went to Specs right out of High School, and now, I'm only 21 years old and directing local newscasts in a medium market...so if you're at Specs right now, soak up everything they  teach you because it helps you in so many ways". Thanks Jarrod for sharing your experience.

If you've contact me on Facebook or MySpace, don't be discouraged. I'm still sorting through all the messages I'm getting from there!

I also want to give a hearty congratulations to our very own Heather Kozlakowski in scoring a SPEAKING PART in the upcoming feature "Betty Anne Waters," starring Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell and Minnie Driver. The film is directed by Tony Goldwyn and  is being shot in the Ann Arbor area as we speak. Way to go Heather!

Pictured to the left is the recently completed Rhonda Hart House named for a wonderful grad who passed away in 2007.  Rhonda may be the sweetest, most generous person who ever graduated and had a large and very loyal audience for the years she was a morning air talent at WMUZ-FM.  The house is intended to be a shelter for women battling drug and alcohol addiction and dedicated to Rhonda who battled substance abuse for many years.  She was a dear friend for more that 20 years, and I still miss her terribly. I wish the Rhonda Hart House success.

As usual, if you'd like to drop me a line, friend me on MySpace & Facebook!

Its 2009, and this year is quite a landmark for the Specs family. Lots of anniversaries to celebrate this month.

The first one is our very own. Yes, January 14th was the 39th Anniversary of the Specs Howard School! It's been a long strange wonderful trip & we get better every year.  Coincidently, it was also our Chairman of the Board, Jon Liebman's birthday. Many happy returns boss!

Our congrats on the 20th Anniversary of RMS Productions in Birmingham and it's President, grad Randy Stephenson.  RMS is responsible for many of the best known musical signatures in town like "Take a Ride in a Ford", the Bo Ric jingle and the Greek-Town Casino signature music.  Before opening RMS, Randy was on-talent & Production Director for many radio stations in the Flint/Detroit area. All the best for the next 20 Randy!

We are also fired up and very proud of 2 grads who are celebrating 25 yrs with two fine Traverse City radio stations.  Both serve as Program Directors and host popular shows on their respective stations. Terri Ray hosts the area's most popular Rock
Mid-Day show and has been referred to as "The First Lady of Radio in Northern Michigan by Northern Express Weekly.  Her success is particularly interesting since her first Program Director told her she'd never make it in radio!  Many of the most successful people in the business have been told the same thing...so don't take it seriously if it happens to you.

Across town at the #1 Country Station, Jack O'Malley is also celebrating 25 yrs. in Northwest Michigan. Jack has been waking folks up on WTCM for lots of years and has served as Operations/Program Director for well over 15 yrs.  In addition, he does a weekly television feature for Channels 9 & 10.  We're very proud of both of them.

In addition to anniversaries, we want to congratulate our grads who won Golden Cassette Awards from the Media Communications Assocation -International.

- Darryl Bartlett: 3 awards
- Gail Costello: 2 awards
- Dan Jablonski: 2 awards

What a great start to 2009. Keep checking back for more updates throughout the year. Also, don't forget to friend me on MySpace & Facebook! I love catching up with grads and talking with students. Let me know what's up with you.

As 2008 winds down, its a great time to reflect on all the good this year has brought us. Sure, economically times are tough, but I have still have a lot to be thankful for.

This year, Governor Granholm signed film incentive package that brought Hollywood to Michigan. Having many grads working in the film industry, Specs Howard School has been making strides to become deeply involved in the creation of the infrastructure needed to support it. I had the distinct pleasure of visiting our grads that run The
Skeleton Factory who released their 9th feature film last month.  Todd and Tommy Brunswick, along with Mike and Susan Kudreiko just wrapped their second feature starring Daniel Baldwin.  It's called "Born of Earth" and follows "Little Red Devil" which was released earlier this year.  You can see the trailer on MySpace and clicking on Skeleton Factory.  Todd & Tommy have been making features for many  years because they've figured out not only how to make 'em, but the much harder part....how to make money doing it! It was also great to know that most of the folks working for them are also grads.

In other news, we want to send our sincere congrats to Specs Howard Hall of Fame inductee, Alex Tear, on his promotion to Operations Manager of Clear Channel's 5 station group in Pittsburgh PA.  His boss, John Rohm said, "Alex has distinguished himself throughout his career as a programmer who is solidly grounded in the fundamentals and also adapts to new philosophies.  His vision, leadership and strong grasp of new technologies make him uniquely suited to his new position".  We couldn't agree more!

We also want congratulate grad Paul LaVigne on being named to Hewlett-Packard’s Business Advisory Council.  He is one of only a dozen owners of digital companies selected nationwide to participate in this council.  He owns Digital Services Inc. in Grand Rapids.

I'd like to send my best wishes to all the grads that will be starting their new positions in (or around) the new year:

- For all of you sports fans, Dan Watkins (RTV 6-06) is the new assistant producer for Jay Towers and Bill McAllister Mornings on 97.1 FM The Ticket.

- Jen Crawford [Donnelly] starts the new year with a new position at NCR 90.5 FM in Gaylord, MI. Jen will be in charge of imaging/production and assisting the PD with music.

- Brad Weimer’s (RTV-01-02) career has led him through ESPN, Fox Sports, and now Comcast. Brad is a producer in the new HD studio of Comcast SportsNet Bay Area in San Francisco.

- Melissa Noack (RTV-14-07) is a copywriter at CHUM Group Ltd, writing for stations such as 89X, 93.9 FM, and AM 800.

I’d like to take this chance to wish all members of the Specs Howard family a happy holiday season. I’d like to thank several of you that have contact me via MySpace, Facebook, and email to update me on what’s going on in their lives. Have a safe and happy holiday and a great new year! See you in 2009!

Halloween is upon us and the chill is in the air. This year we're proud to have two Specs Howard grads awarded as "The Best of Detroit" in Metro Times.

My first congratulation goes out Mac Kelly! His show, Wolfman Mac's Nightmare Sinema,  has been awarded the "Best Local TV Show Other than News" in the Metro TimesPeople's Choice poll. Wolfman Mac has been working hard on his show that is a mix of classic 'B' horror and sci-fi movies, with comedic sketches. You can catch Nightmare Sinema every week on WMYD TV, Detroit's My TV20!

If you're already a Wolfman Mac fan and into haunted houses, you'll have to check out the mass wedding ceremony he's conducting in front the Erebus Haunted Attraction in Pontiac.

On a less spooky note, I want to extend a congratulations to Craig Fahle . In the same Metro Times People's Choice Poll, he won for winning "Best Local Radio Talk Show" for his WDET-FM show, Detroit Today.

Metro Times said, “As both guests and listeners, we find Craig strikes a judicious balance between letting guests have their say, and asking probing questions...without taking himself too seriously.”

I am delighted to hear from Zak Foster (RTV-13-07) that after searching TVJobs.com, he was hired as a News Cameraman at KPVI-TV, NBC Channel 6 in Idaho Falls, Idaho.  He shoots, edits and has recently been certified to operate their "Live Truck".  Thanks so much Zak for staying in touch.

As always, if you're doing anything cool, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me a line in the comments or on MySpace or Facebook.

Also, remember to add Specs Howard School as your friend on MySpace!

Happy Halloween!