I just received a phone call from Steve Schram, Director of Broadcasting for Michigan Radio. On the phone also was Rick Fitzgerald, from the University of Michigan Office of Public Affairs.
It was clear that Mr. Schram did not want to discuss Michigan Radio’s previous actions, and I decided not to push this.
The main point is that they are now willing “to consider” an ad from us. I told him the likely content of such an ad — basically, what we requested before — and he agreed “to consider it.”
I said that I would submit this before the end of the day, and he said that he would respond quickly. I asked that this be by the end of the week, at the latest, and he agreed.
I suspect that all the phone calls and emails that the station has been receiving from throughout Michigan and all over the US is the reason that management has finally been forced to do the correct thing.
While it would be satisfying to push the station to admit the inaccuracy of their public email — particularly since we have considerable evidence on this — I feel there is no need to so.
The bottom line is extremely exciting: we have shown that when people join together and speak up, it is possible to get results.
Thank you to everyone who helped on this!
I’ll keep you posted as events continue to unfold.