4-1-13
Zimmer Broadcasting, the parent company of Cookeville Communications in Cookeville, Tennessee, says Jessica Zimmer has been promoted from Assistant GM to GM. She will now oversee the four Cookeville stations, The Country Giant (WGSQ), KISS FM (WKSW), NewsTalk 1400 The Hub (WHUB), and Fox Sports Radio The Eagle (WPTN/W291CA).
1-6-2012
It's just another day at the office for the Zimmer Radio Group when it comes to providing award-winning community service. The Zimmer family has always been about using radio as a tool to serve local communities. So it's really no surprise that the company has been recognized by Congress. Missouri Congressman Billy Long presented The Zimmer Radio Group with a copy of the Congressional Record from December 16th, when he cited Zimmer Radio's work following the May 22nd tornado.
NewsTalk KZRG and Zimmer Radio provided live 24 hour coverage for over a week following the deadly tornado in Missouri. Long said, "It was just excruciating to drive down over here from Springfield and hear people call crying, panicked, looking for family members, didn't know which end was up, didn't know if their folks were alive, in a hospital, where they might be. So it just meant a whole lot."
ZRG Operations Manager Chad Elliot tells Radio Ink, "It?s an honor to be recognized for our efforts on May 22nd. Zimmer Radio broadcast around the clock one hour prior to the tornado striking Joplin and continued for 9 days with disaster and relief information. We are fortunate to work for a great broadcaster James Zimmer who provides us with the tools and staff to succeed! We have a culture of community in our company and it shined brightly that night! If you talk with any of our associates they?ll you we were just doing our job."
KZRG listener Patricia Katopol posted "Absolutely well deserved. I listened online for days and was very impressed with the quality of programming - and the obvious concern and care that the broadcasters had for their fellow citizens - during the crisis."
Congratulate Elliot and the ZRG team chade@zrgmail.com
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Zimmer Radio Group Operations Manager Char Elliot checks in with Radio Ink about a heartwarming story in Joplin. "I wanted to tell you about our Christmas miracle here at KZRG, it?s been a difficult and trying year for all of us in Joplin to say the least! We have about 5,000 less residents in our community since the tornado, a large chuck of our community destroyed and rebuilding is slow and now we?re in the winter months." That startling statement did not prevent ZRG from helping kids around the holidays.
News Talk KZRG for the last several years has teamed up with a local church (Ignite) and The Missouri Division of Family Services for the Christmas of Hope. Last year, according to Elliot, it was a struggle to help 200 kids. The kids are mostly forgotten this time of year. "We wanted to help but really didn't know what to expect. We just hoped to help at least 200 kids. We launched our campaign earlier this month and by the end of the first week we reached 200 kids. We just decided to keep going. We just finished the campaign and we able to help all the kids on the list this year. We are very thankful and blessed.
Reach out to congratulate Elliot and the Zimmer Radio Group for the great community work they are doing at chade@zrgmail.com
Is your station doing something special to help the community? Tell us all about it. Send details (and photos) to edryan@radioink.com
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Zimmer Radio Group Operations Manager Char Elliot checks in with Radio Ink about a heartwarming story in Joplin. "I wanted to tell you about our Christmas miracle here at KZRG, it?s been a difficult and trying year for all of us in Joplin to say the least! We have about 5,000 less residents in our community since the tornado, a large chuck of our community destroyed and rebuilding is slow and now we?re in the winter months." That startling statement did not prevent ZRG from helping kids around the holidays.
News Talk KZRG for the last several years has teamed up with a local church (Ignite) and The Missouri Division of Family Services for the Christmas of Hope. Last year, according to Elliot, it was a struggle to help 200 kids. The kids are mostly forgotten this time of year. "We wanted to help but really didn't know what to expect. We just hoped to help at least 200 kids. We launched our campaign earlier this month and by the end of the first week we reached 200 kids. We just decided to keep going. We just finished the campaign and we able to help all the kids on the list this year. We are very thankful and blessed.
Reach out to congratulate Elliot and the Zimmer Radio Group for the great community work they are doing at chade@zrgmail.com
Is your station doing something special to help the community? Tell us all about it. Send details (and photos) to edryan@radioink.com
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Zimmer Radio CEO John Zimmer told Radio Ink last night "it's an honor to receive this award for the fourth time. I am so proud of our team. At Zimmer we have a strong culture for developing client ad campaigns and message development as evidenced by our dedicated Zimmer Creative Services Department. We train our writers, producers, and account managers on helping our clients get the best return on their advertising investments in the marketplace. In creative service training we follow much of what is printed in Radio Ink through the Roy Williams columns. At Zimmer, we find that Roy Williams is very aligned with our thinking when it comes to Creative. ?
Listen to the Zimmer Winning Spot HERE
Zimmer gave additional kudos to his team, ?congratulations to Zimmer Creative Services Bonnie Tapper, producer and KC Riedl, account manager on winning the Mercury Award for America?s Best Radio Commercial award produced by a Radio Station! This makes the fourth time that Zimmer has won the coveted Mercury Award. At Zimmer we are committed to Broadcast Excellence on all fronts. We are extremely passionate about getting our clients the best results possible and have found that when our clients possess a great Marketing Bridge and have a compelling campaign on air with the proper frequency that great things happen for them. Like we tell our clients, ?What works in Advertising is What YOU Say TIMES How Many Times You Say It."
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We spoke to Zimmer Radio Group Chad Elliot last night whow gave us an update on how the Zimmer family is doing. President Obma visited Joplin Sunday to give the residents in that tiny community some hope that the feds will be around to help for years. The sign you are looking at in this picture is actually Joplin High School, which was totally destroyed by the twister. The kids carved the "H" and "E" into the sign. The school parking lot actually hosted a Memorial Day service yesterday. Elliot tells us he is living with his wife's grandmother. "We're thankful to have a place to live." Elliot also says 7 other Zimmer families are still looking for a place to stay. Part of the problem is that available properties are limited.
The Associated Press is reporting that FEMA is considering bringing in trailers much like New Orleans after Hurricance Katrina if enough homes are not available. FEMA's first option for housing the thousands of displaced is to find them existing rental housing within a 55-mile radius of Joplin, because isn't much housing left in in the city of nearly 50,000 residents that was left badly damaged by the May 22 tornado, spokeswoman Susie Stonner told The Associated Press. Nearly a third of the city was damaged by the violent storm.
Stonner told the AP that despite the distance, putting people in permanent housing is preferable to trailers ? especially in an area prone to tornadoes and severe weather. "Wouldn't you prefer to be in a stable building over a mobile home?" she asked. Stonner also noted that getting things like water, sewer lines and developing pads for trailers would take substantial time. Temporary housing will be made available for up to 18 months. Some people along the Gulf Coast still live in FEMA trailers nearly six years after Hurricane Katrina.
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The latest to congratulate the Zimmer team on a job well done is The Los Angelas Times. In a piece entitled "Joplin Radio Stations Become Lifeline for Tornado-Stricken Residents" the paper highlights how broadcasters are turning into unofficial public information officers as callers ask for information on loved ones or make offers of assistance. And the paper points out that in the age of tweets and likes and blogs and texts, the good old fashioned transmitter, tower and telephone are the glue holding the tiny town of Joplin together. "In a town where Internet and mobile connections have become scarcities after an Old Testament-style disaster crippled new media, Zimmer Radio's untouched towers have made its six stations essential listening."
Read the entire article HERE
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The latest report we have from Zimmer Radio CEO James Zimmer is that the 7 people he employs who lost homes to a tornado have been accommodated for the next two weeks. Several staff members will be living out of an RV that was donated, by the way, by Clear Channel in Springfield, Missouri. We asked Zimmer if there was anything the rest of the industry can do to help his team out, and there is. Our hats are off to Zimmer's Joplin, Missouri team as they continue to serve their community. Some are doing it without a home to return to.
Here is the message from Zimmer: "If any of our fellow brethren want to donate specifically to our "homeless" staff members they can send donations to our stations in Joplin. Thank you, and I will keep you posted with any new developments."
Chad Elliot, OM,
Zimmer Radio, Inc.
2702 East 32nd Street
Joplin, MO 64804
Radio Ink has also restarted our Tornado Relief Fund at PayPal so we can transfer any donated funds over to the station quickly if you would like to donate online today. Here is the link if you have a PayPal account:
Check out Eric's Blog on the subject
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The tornado that tore through the town of Joplin Missouri has made a very dramatic impact on one of radio's family members. As we've been telling you about since early yesterday the Zimmer radio group has been delivering news and information non-stop to the community since it was clear the killer twister was headed their way. Late last night we reached Zimmer CEO Jim Zimmer who says he cannot put everything into words yet because it's too raw. "Seven people from the staff and their families are homeless. We?re trying secure housing for them and a couple of RV?s at the station to accommodate our on-air personnel and families. Storms are still brewing coming our way. Please pray for Joplin."
Zimmer says words cannot describe what his staff has and is doing on and off-air. "It is indescribable for me. When the tornado hit Joplin yesterday I was out of the state with my family. It was the one year anniversary of the death of my oldest son. Around 4pm I started getting the phone calls from Joplin. The programming staff, always diligent, had seen the storm cell brewing in Kansas just west of Joplin and started crashing the station to go wall-to-wall with severe weather coverage about an hour before it hit Joplin. They have been on the air ever since. It is a truly remarkable team from programming to sales to local management. Too many stories convey right now. Most will probably be forgotten or never heard outside of Joplin. All I will tell you is that a better team you will never find than the working for Zimmer Radio in Joplin, MO."
(5/24/2011 3:50:11 PM)
its James Zimmer not Jim
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