LANSING, Mich. – Out of the 521 registered radio stations in the state, awards were handed out to 44 of them at the 2016 Michigan Association of Broadcasters “Broadcast Excellence Awards” held at the Lansing Center on Wednesday. ESPN 100.9-FM (WLUN) received five awards for their work during the 2016 calendar year.
Categorized in Commercial Radio Market 2, the station took home two first-place finishes in the “Commercial” and “Sports” categories. Themed for Halloween, the Seafood Spooktaculor commercial for Lalonde’s Market was recognized, along with the Loons Championship Lookback series that aired on the station after the Great Lakes Loons won their first Midwest League Championship in franchise history in September 2016.
The local sports leader received multiple second-place awards in the “Commercial,” “Marketing Materials & Promos” and “New Media” categories. Service Master’s carpet cleaning commercial provided a sweep of the category for WLUN, while the promotion of ESPN Radio’s NFL Game of the Week and the Twitter video preview of the station’s Saginaw Valley League Football Game of the Week rounded out the awards of the evening.
This is the second, consecutive year that WLUN has taken home hardware from the MAB Broadcast Excellence Awards, receiving two merit, or second place, designations at the 2015 event.
WLUN tied for the second-most awards received in their radio market with WKZO-AM/FM from Kalamazoo. WOOD-AM/FM based in Grand Rapids led with seven total awards including six best, or first place, designations. WOOD was also named the station of the year for the market size.
The entire staff at ESPN 100.9-FM each contributed to the award-winning year for the station in 2016: Jay Arons (Sales), Matt DeVries (Marketing/Communication), Robin Gover (Business/Traffic), Jerry O’Donnell (Production/Operations), Brad Tunney (Content/Play-by-Play), Chris Vosters (Programming/Play-by-Play).
ESPN 100.9-FM (WLUN, Pinconning) is a 24-hour all-sports station owned by the non-profit Michigan Baseball Foundation. It is the flagship station of Great Lakes Loons baseball and carries a weekday lineup of Mike & Mike, The Dan LeBatard Show, Russillo & Kanell and The Huge Show with Bill Simonson. ESPN 100.9-FM also carries Saginaw Valley League football and basketball, Michigan State football and basketball, Central Michigan football, Northwood men’s and women’s basketball, along with the MLB, NBA and NFL.
