McGee Takes Over For the Late Pete Fornatale

6-12-2012

WFUV-FM in New York announced yesterday that Don McGee (pictured) will become the permanent host of the award-winning program Mixed Bag, which airs every Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m. Radio icon Pete Fornatale started the program nearly 30 years ago and hosted it until his death in April. McGee has been the primary guest host for Mixed Bag.

McGee said, ?I know how important Mixed Bag is to so many people. I?m grateful to WFUV for this opportunity, and I thank the show?s many loyal listeners who?ve wished me well. Of course, I?ll always be grateful to Pete Fornatale, to whom I owe so much.?
McGee began his association with Pete Fornatale in 1987 as a producer of Saturday Morning Sixties, another program hosted by Fornatale at WNEW-FM, and was later an associate producer of Mixed Bag. A graduate of the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, he is the president of McGee Productions, a media production company.

Soon after its debut as a Sunday morning program on WNEW-FM in December, 1982, Mixed Bag became the launching pad for a new generation of singer-songwriters, including Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, and Christine Lavin. Known for his penetrating interviews with artists such as Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen, Fornatale (pictured right) received the Armstrong Award for Excellence in Musical Programming in 1983 and an AFTRA Media and Entertainment Excellence Award in Broadcasting earlier this year. In January, 2000, Fornatale brought Mixed Bag to WFUV (where he worked as a Fordham University undergraduate in the 1960s) in the Saturday 4 to 8 p.m. time slot.

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Katz Up McGee To VP/Political Sales

September 14, 2012: Patrick McGee takes the title of VP/political sales and strategy at Katz Media Group, with a mission of directing Katz's efforts to bring more political advertising dollars to radio during the 2012 election year.

"Radio is one of the most powerful political marketing tools available in terms of delivering an emotional connection to voters and immediacy to respond," Katz Radio Group President Mark Gray said. "With Katz's vast footprint and powerful multiplatform assets, we can offer customers unparalleled targeting of states, stations and potential voters nationwide. We look forward to this election year, and I'm confident that Patrick's leadership and expertise will greatly benefit our customers in navigating solutions to meet their campaign needs."

McGee said, "The 2012 election year presents the best-case scenario for political advertising, and we're looking forward to reaching new records. I think we'll see, in 2012 and beyond, the life cycle of political advertising has expanded rapidly, and it's truy become a recession-proof category. We're woking hard to generate more dollars for radio and to take home a larger portion of the overall media spend."

Katz is also offering a site for campaign managers, www.katzpolitical.com, designed as a single spot for ad planning and buying, with information on Katz's assets, political advertising regulations, and more.

Clear Channel Radio Sales President Jeff Howard said, "The coming election year presents an excellent opportunity for radio to truly showcase its strengths as the one of most effective mediums to reach engaged consumers. Radio offers the intimacy, high targetability, and short execution time political strategists need to persuasively communicate to voters. We anticipate greater spending in 2012 and overall an exciting political season as the primary races ramp up and campaigning gets underway."

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