PRESS RELEASES


WAAM Talk 1600 Ratings Double;  Lou Dobbs Added Afternoons,  All Shows Now On The Web 24/7

ANN ARBOR – (March 2, 2009) – WAAM Talk 1600, Ann Arbor’s official newstalk station, announced major gains in listenership as reported by Arbitron.  The most recent survey shows that WAAM Talk 1600 now reaches 15,500  people per week just in Washtenaw county alone, literally twice as many as the previous ratings period.  It is now estimated that WAAM’s top tier newstalk programming reaches over 40,000 people in the Greater Ann Arbor Area.

In afternoon changes to WAAM Talk 1600’s lineup, “Mr. Independent” Lou Dobbs brings the fastest growing talk show in the country live to WAAM weekdays from 2pm-4pm.  Lou’s financial reports will continue on WAAM 3 times each weekday.  Glenn Beck’s exciting talk show moves to Noon-2pm weekdays to replace “The Radio Factor” with Bill O’Reilly, who will continue his daily show feature which will now be heard on WAAM.  Unchanged is “On The Edge” with Thayrone, our outspoken hometown favorite, talking news and politics every weekday from 4pm-6pm.  It’s live, local and exclusively on WAAM Talk 1600.

Finally, listeners can take WAAM Talk 1600 wherever they go—in the home, in the office, on their iPhone or iPod—anywhere listeners go, WAAM goes!   WAAM Talk 1600 is now streaming  LIVE 24/7 at waamannarbor.com!
WAAM Talk 1600 is the local news, talk and information station of record for Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan.  The station is independently owned by Ann Arbor First Ventures, LP and is operated under an agreement with Mighty Media Group, LP.  The current lineup includes local news and talk, Fox News 24/7, and top national shows such as Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage and Dennis Miller.  More information is available on the website at waamannarbor.com.

ANN ARBORITE LINDA HUGHES NAMED GENERAL MANAGER AT WAAM TALK 1600

ANN ARBOR - (October 23, 2008) - WAAM announced that  Linda Hughes, talk radio aficionado and lifelong resident of the Ann Arbor area, has been appointed General Manager of the station.  Linda joined WAAM in 2004 and has excelled at a variety of roles including account executive, producer, show host and program director.  Linda is married to "Thayrone," the host of WAAM's daily live and local talk show "On The Edge with Thayrone."

"The current program lineup, the dedication of the great team at WAAM and the support of our advertising partners all combine to make WAAM Talk 1600 the best local choice for news, talk and information," Linda commented.

"With the appointment of Linda as General Manager, WAAM Talk 1600 is now completely locally operated," said Ronald Unkefer, CEO of Mighty Media Group, LP.  "I've worked closely with Linda over the past year and she has demonstrated a passion for great radio and has a proven desire to super serve local listeners and advertisers."

WAAM Talk 1600 is the local news, talk and information station of record for Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan.  The station is independently owned by Ann Arbor First Ventures, LP and is operated under an agreement with Mighty Media Group, LP.  The current stations lineup includes local news and talk, Fox News 24/7, and top national shows such as Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Bill Bennett, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage.  More information is available on the website at waamannarbor.com.

Contact:  Linda Hughes 734.971.1600 X12



LISTENERS VOTE, NEW SHOWS DEBUT ON WAAM TALK 1600

Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs and Dennis Miller talk shows added weekdays, plus new features from Jay Leno and David Letterman

ANN ARBOR - (September 15, 2008) - WAAM Talk 1600, Ann Arbor's news, talk and information station serving Southeast Michigan, announced major additions to its line up on top-rated national talk shows.  Rising star Glenn Beck, already one of the top 3 most popular talk shows in the country, now can be heard on WAAM form 2PM to 4PM immediately following Bill O'Reilly.  Dennis Miller brings his unique blend of intelligence and humor to his commentary and interview show evenings from 9PM to 11PM following Michael Savage.  Finally, Lou Dobbs, "Mr. Independent" sets straight Democrats and Republicans alike from 11 PM to 1 AM nightly.

New features from Jay Leno and David Letterman have also been added to WAAM's popular morning and afternoon drive time shows.  Highlights from Jay Leno's latest monologue will air in the 7 AM hour of Bill Bennett's Morning Show.  David Letterman's daily "Top Ten" list can now be heard in the 5PM hour of WAAM's live and local call-in talk show "Thayrone On THE Edge".

WAAM Talk 1600 recently conducted an extensive survey of listeners and advertisers and all changes were heavily influenced by this feedback.

"Local listeners were very vocal about what programs they did and did not like and we are thrilled to be able to respond by bringing several of the country's biggest and best shows to our area", said Ronald Unkefer, CEO of Mighty Media Group, LP operator of WAAM Talk 1600.  "Listeners also told us they would like even more local features and community involvement, and that's exactly what we're committed to do over the course of the upcoming year.  Our goal is to super serve local listeners and local advertisers by becoming one of the best local market news talk stations in the country."

WAAM Talk 1600 is the local news, talk and information station of record for Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan.  The station is independently owned by Ann Arbor First Ventures, LP and is operated under an agreement with Mighty Media Group, LP.  The current stations lineup includes local news and talk, Fox News 24/7, and top national shows such as Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Bill Bennett and Michael Savage.  More information is available on the website at waamannarbor.com.

Contact:  Linda Hughes 734.971.1600 X12



TWO NEW WEEKDAY CALL-IN SHOWS TO DEBUT ON WAAM TALK 1600

National Political Veteran Bill Bennett Pairs with Ann Arbor’s Dan Martin Mornings; Area Favorite Thayrone is Back Live and Local Afternoons.

ANN ARBOR – (January 18, 2007) – Ann Arbor First Ventures LP, the new owner of WAAM Talk 1600, announced two new listener interactive shows in the important morning and afternoon drive times as the first step of several planned improvements to the popular station.

Weekday mornings from 6 am to 9 am “Bill Bennett’s Morning In America” gives listeners the day’s first look at the latest scoop and then opens the phone lines so listeners can go one-on-one with headline- making guests.  This national show will be carried live and will be paired up with WAAM News and Community Affairs Director Dan Martin covering local news, sports, traffic and weather.  Dr. Bennett holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Texas and a law degree from Harvard.  He was Secretary of Education under President Reagan (1985-1988), was President Bush’s ‘drug czar’ (1989-1990), and has written New York Times best sellers.  In addition to hosting his radio show, Dr. Bennett also writes for leading newspapers and magazines and makes frequent appearances on CNN.

Weekday afternoons from 4 pm to 6 pm, WAAM is pleased to announce the return of local favorite Thayrone with his popular and controversial live and local talk show “On The Edge”.  This program with Thayrone is rant, rave, opinion, listener call-in compelling radio at its best.  “On The Edge” offers a strong conservative message in a hip and indisputably interesting way only Thayrone can deliver.

Thayrone was born in Detroit and has lived in the Ann Arbor area since 1966.  He has hosted shows on public and commercial radio since 1984 and his band The Witch Doctors regularly performs throughout the region.  Thayrone’s “Bone Conduction Music Show” appears exclusively on WAAM Sundays 7 pm - 11 pm and he also nationally syndicates a similar show on the radio and streams it on the web.

“The new energy at WAAM is converging with the economic and political turmoil in the country to make it an exciting time to be WAAM listeners and advertisers,” said David Drolshagen, General Manager of the station.  “Ratings for WAAM have surged 66% over the last 6 months, as reported recently by Arbitron, in large part due to our world class line-up of talk show hosts.  These two new live shows can only add to this momentum.”

Ronald Unkefer, the CEO of Ann Arbor First Ventures LP, also announced today that new marketing, a new website and more program improvements for the station will be rolled out over the next 90 days.  “Our goal is for WAAM to be recognized as one of the best middle market radio stations in America.  As part of this plan, we intend to increase local features and double the number of local weekend shows such as Joe Gagnon’s popular Saturday morning ‘Appliance Doctor’ show,” Unkefer commented.  “As the news, talk and information station for Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan, we can offer local businesses and experts from our community the opportunity to partner with us to produce weekend shows that highlight their trade or passion in an informative and entertaining way,” Unkefer continued.  “Listeners are invited to check out the new shows and other changes and then let us know how we can further improve the station to benefit our community.”  Unkefer promised that the new website www.waamannarbor.com will be open for business and listener feedback in a few weeks.

WAAM Talk 1600 is licensed to Ann Arbor and has been on the air since 1948.  The current lineup includes Fox News 24/7, local news and talk, and top national shows such as Bill O’Reilly, Laura Ingram, Dr. Laura and Michael Savage.  Ann Arbor First Ventures LP was formed to purchase WAAM and operates it under an agreement with Mighty Media Group LP.  Ronald Unkefer is CEO of both companies and has owned and operated over two dozen radio stations over the past 16 years.  His first station was the now legendary KSFO in San Francisco which he converted to a talk format in 1993.

Contact:    Linda Hughes 734.971.1600 X12