Karl Smith isn’t bashful asking for help. Especially from his fellow BG News and journalism alumni.
“One of our primary goals is engage more alumni with our students,” says Smith, the new full-time manager of BG Falcon Media. “Our students can benefit from a larger engagement with alumni across the spectrum. The handful of times we’ve had alumni here on campus engaging with students, it’s been very positive.”
In August 2022, Smith took over administrative staff leadership of BG Falcon Media, the umbrella organization that includes The BG News and several other student media outlets. He succeeds Bob Bortel, who supervised the editorial and business operations of The BG News and then Falcon Media for nearly four decades. Bortel retired in November 2020.
A 1987 BGSU journalism graduate, Smith had been the interim director working parttime since February 2021. As a BGSU undergraduate, he was sports editor of The BG News, 1987 editor of The Key yearbook, and also an on-air personality for WFAL Radio. He earned an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from Eastern University.
Smith’s professional experience ranges from 25 years in management roles at newspapers and online news publications to leadership roles in development, marketing and content management at several other organizations. He also has served as an adjunct instructor at Rutgers University, Monmouth University, Carin University, the University of Valley Forge, and currently at BGSU.
The BG News is the digital anchor of BG Falcon Media, which also includes the student-run BG 24 TV News, WBGU-FM, Falcon Radio, Falcon Media Sports Network, and BGFalconMedia.com. The BG News currently publishes weekly in a tabloid format from August through May (see related story).
Smith has created a new organizational structure that further emphasizes the digital-first, multi-platform approach that was adopted when Falcon Media launched in spring 2016. A student executive content director oversees the distribution of content across all media, “emphasizing one message over several platforms,” he says. “We’re trying to eliminate the silos between delivery mechanisms. We’re trying to become platform agnostic.”
Smith has seen an uptick in student interest in BGSU’s student media operations. And, as journalism enrollment has decreased, increased student interest has come from other areas of campus. Of the 50 students who expressed interest in volunteering or interning for Falcon Media this upcoming spring semester, nearly a third were not School of Media and Communication majors. One such student from Africa with an interest in Afro Beats and soccer is now hosting an Afro Beats show on student radio and working on the BGSU soccer broadcasts.
“One of our social media interns this semester is a dietetics major,” Smith says. “Now, we’re reaching out to VCT (Visual Communication Technology) majors, sports management majors, business majors. That’s pretty exciting that students from across all areas of campus are getting involved.”
Smith points to Duane Pohlman as an example of the impact one alumni can have on Falcon Media. Pohlman, a 1987 BGSU broadcast journalism alum and award-winning investigative reporter for WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, funded the relaunch of BGSU’s student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalism (SPJ) last year. He also worked with two students on an investigative project focusing on substandard off-campus student housing in Bowling Green that was a finalist for a 2022 SPJ Region 4 Mark of Excellence Award.
“That wouldn’t have happened if Duane didn’t mentor and project manage the students,” Smith says. “That’s the type of capacity where our alumni can help — with writing projects, in coaching and critiquing students’ work. We have a lot of student sports broadcasters and we have a lot of alumni in that field. Alums could listen to some of their tapes and provide feedback. That’s the kind of help we can use. I believe there is real opportunity there.”
Alumni interested in becoming involved with BG Falcon Media can contact Smith directly at skarl@bgsu.edu or 215-932-1917.