Tom Dollenmayer has joined the staff of 88.5 WFDD, the public radio station licensed to Wake Forest University, as Station Manager. He began his duties on April 2 and will oversee all aspects of WFDD’s daily operations.

Dollenmayer comes to WFDD from WUSF Public Media, licensed to the University of South Florida.

He began his broadcast career as a part-time volunteer board operator at WLPJ in New Port Richey, Florida, in the fall of 1988. Dollenmayer served as Radio Operations Manager at WUSF and rose to the position of Station Manager over two radio stations and a TV station in five years.

In addition, he has worked with NPR Labs in Washington, D.C., to test and implement new technologies to interconnect public radio stations and deliver new HD radio services. He has been featured in Radio World, Radio Magazine, and a special report at the National Association of Broadcasters for his work on subscription-based over-the-air HD Radio technology.  Dollenmayer will officially begin his duties on Monday, April 2nd, and will oversee all aspects of WFDD’s daily operations.

• Congratulations to Denise Franklin, general manager at WFDD,  whose proposal entitled “NCME American Graduate Community Engagement Grant” has been funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Center for Media Engagement.
• Congratulations to Susan Fahrbach, Reynolds professor of developmental neuroscience, whose proposal entitled “Role of nuclear receptors in neural plasticity” has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

WFDD, the Piedmont Triad’s NPR affiliate, which is licensed to Wake Forest, will host a Community Conversation on the topic of the high school drop-out rate at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, in Winston-Salem State’s Dillard Auditorium. The event, “The High School Drop-out Rate: What Does It Mean?” is the third Community Conversation produced by WFDD (88.5) and is presented in partnership with Winston-Salem State and with support from American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen.

There is no charge to attend the event and reservations can be made online at wfdd.org. Continue reading »

Congratulations to Denise Franklin of WFDD, whose proposal entitled “NCME American Graduate Community Engagement Grant” has been funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Center for Media Engagement.

Denise Franklin

WFDD won a second-place award from Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI) for an episode of Voices & Viewpoints that featured Wake Forest English lecturer Mary Martin Niepold, the founder of the Nyanya Project. Continue reading »

Several Wake Forest staff members, professors and students are putting their dancing shoes on — and their pride on the line — to raise money for the Bethesda Center for the Homeless.

Fifteen teams of local “celebrities” paired with dance instructors or student dancers are competing in the second annual Take the Lead dance competition, a local version of the popular television show “Dancing with the Stars.”

Organizers hope to raise about $150,000 to support the Bethesda Center, the largest shelter for homeless men and women in Forsyth County. Fans can vote for their favorite dancers online at http://www.taketheleadws.com/dancers.html; each vote costs $10. Teams will show off what they hope to be the winning moves during a finale at the Benton Convention Center on April 7, hosted by Denise Franklin, general manger of 88.5 WFDD. Continue reading »

LeShea Agnew received five awards recently from the The Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas. She is a reporter for 88.5 WFDD. She received first and second place awards for feature stories for “Kenny” and “Elkin,” respectively. She also received a first place award for consumer/economic issues for her report “Answer the Call” and a first place award in the health and medicine category for ”Young Chefs.”  Her piece on same-sex domestic violence received a second place award for investigative reporting.

Jeff Tiberii received four awards recently from The Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas. He is a reporter/host and sports commentator on 88.5 WFDD. He won first and second place awards for his sports commentaries “Athletes & Mental Illness” and “Hype: When the Media Attacks,” respectively. He also received a first place award in spot news for his piece “Piedmont Twister” and a first place award in sports reporting for his coverage of the Winston-Salem Dash minor league baseball team’s new downtown ballpark.