Who: Dave Van Dyke, Kirk Harnack, Nick Langan, Surprise speaker, Mike Starling & Amanda Tilghman, Josh Lynch, Steve Floyd, Dave Kolesar, and Karl Kuhn
What: MEDIA FORWARD
When: November 10, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Where: Kent County High School - Register Here
Address: 25301 Lamb’s Meadow Road
Worton, MD 21678 United States
Sponsors: Televisa Univision , Sherwood insights , and Sinclair Media

DC / Baltimore chapters student-oriented media business outreach event!

Analysis of successful regional production and broadcast organizations: From either a financial or community connection valuation. Media entertainment/news creation is still a growing and changing field even amid industry shifts. We’ll hear local leaders’ success stories and their wise management and leadership strategies.

MEDIA FORWARD presents an opportunity for industry partners to connect with a targeted group of students already interested in and receiving related secondary education instruction. The aim is to lead ambitious prospects into the future of their industry for pathways to success. Students of WKHS and influential event participants are valuable leads for sponsors.

Please join us for this meeting synchronized with the Kent County High School academic day at the student-operated radio station with both in-person and remote zoom options. Specify if in person for safety security list and so we supply enough food for lunch. The event is free of charge and membership not required: Merely an interest in our industry and a chance to meet and advise the future leaders of the information age: Hosted by WKHS alumni Fred Willard and Dave VanDyke. The ZOOM channel opens at 9:00 am and the program runs from 9:15 am-2:25 pm, with a short lunch break.

Register Here:

Students enrolled in the WKHS broadcast program will acquire business and operation achievement insight from representatives of accomplished regional facilities that are effective and influential in their respective markets--economically and from a stewardship basis.

“Broadcasting is a license to print money.” This adage was recited decades ago to an earlier generation. With today’s widespread media consolidation, centralization, downsizing, AI automation, diversification, and generic programming; popularity and revenue are not as they were for many classic mainstream outlets. But there are success stories nonetheless, and much of broadcasting is not only surviving but thriving—not only in the traditional sense--but by expanding into related cross platform, online, and file-based technologies.

WKHS is a student-operated Baltimore DMA class B1 FM station operating from Maryland’s upper eastern shore. It covers Baltimore and parts of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey with a power output of 17,500 watts. WKHS students will present the 90.5 FM formula for community connection and fiscal duty.

This Media Forward symposium includes presentations from executives of the nation’s highest billing station--WTOP news, music centered WHFS/The GAMUT in Washington DC, nationally recognized musicology frontrunner WXPN Philadelphia (channel share with WKHS), Draper Media—the resolute Delmarva media blowtorch that includes WBOC TV, Virginia Tech’s college student run WUVT, the innovative community positioned mid-shore NPR affiliated WHCP radio, and multiple station owner and operator Kirk Harnack—active in national SBE and his own weekly radio technology and business podcast. Nick Langan from Radio World will add some spice to the mix.

We’ll conclude with a capstone stage show from SMPTE fellow Karl Kuhn and his Sherwood Insights training and mentorship enterprise, aimed at visions for success in the media industry.

WKHS students will assist in running this symposium, and a few of the Tuesday presenters will have opportunities to interview live on air the day prior (Monday, November 9^th) on the 90.5 FM broadcast, to preview and tease their presentations and give students valuable practice in their trade.

Students meet leaders of the media industry, and they meet potential future employees: A cohort of dedicated and well-trained youngsters already running a high-powered broadcast station with two or more years’ experience in mass media operation already under their belts.

Mid-day lunch will be provided courtesy of the generosity of Televisa Univision, Sherwood Insights, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. Many thanks to these folks for supporting media education, this event, and the future of our industry.

Kent County High School is in Worton, Maryland (upper eastern shore), a few miles northwest of Chestertown. WKHS has been an integral part of the school’s vocational technical program since 1974. Many have benefited from the accelerated head start this unique program offers, with more than a handful still gainfully employed in the industry more than 50 years later.

WKHS has integrated the industry standard Society of Broadcast Engineers Professional Certification program into its coveted training curriculum. Read more here: https://issuu.com/futurepublishing/docs/rwm1285.digital_rw1285_jan_1_2025?fr=sYmQ3YzgwNjQxNTg

The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) is a non-profit professional organization for individuals working in broadcast and multimedia technology that provides educational resources, mentorship programs, and industry publications to help members keep pace with rapidly evolving audio, video, and radiofrequency (RF) technologies.

SMPTE (the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) is a global society of media professionals, technologists and engineers working together to drive the industry toward technical brilliance; actively working as one global organization to inspire, educate, and move the media tech industry forward.

SBE Chapter 37 would like to thank Sublight Engineering PLLC and Vertical Technology Services for their generous sponsorship of the technical costs to keep the chapter running for 2026.