(L-R) BMI Foundation Executive Vice President David F. Bills, 2016 scholarship winner Mikaela Mummert, BMI VP of Industry Relations and BMI Founders Award Director Dan Spears and Conclave Board Chair Lori Lewis. Photo by Wiley Spears.
The BMI Foundation has announced the winner of its inaugural BMI Founders Award for Radio Broadcasting scholarship competition: Mikaela Mummert, a junior at Graham, Pa.’s Messiah College, where she studies broadcast and media production.
Mummert is a radio station manager for the college station, WVMM(FM), where she helps to train student DJs, works with record promoters and plans music for campus events. She is also the host of “MC Country.”
The scholarship commemorates the industry leaders who founded BMI in 1939 with an “open-door policy supporting songwriters, composers, and publishers of all genres of music,” according to the press release. Winners are chosen based on original essays and academic record and who the panel believes will be “future innovators of broadcast radio” in the tradition of BMI’s founders.
The winning essay was entitled “Streaming Services and Social Media: Advancements Helping the Radio Industry.” According to the release, Mummert’s essay covered “the ways in which digital streaming, mobile phone apps, and social media platforms have enabled modern radio to develop increased engagement with a broader audience of listeners and artists alike.”
The $5,000 award was presented by Broadcast Music Inc.’s Vice President of Industry Relations and scholarship Director Dan Spears, along with BMI Foundation EVP David F. Bills, at the 41st annual Conclave Learning Conference on July 14, in Minneapolis.
“I just want to say a huge thank you to the BMI Foundation for this award, it means the world to me with my ever-growing passion for radio,” Mummert said. “Whenever I think about my future opportunities in radio, I can’t contain my excitement. I can’t wait to see how I will eventually fit into the radio industry!”
