February 3, 2016

For immediate release

Grayling-based radio network introduces new Sports Director

GRAYLING, Michigan – Former award-winning Detroit sports writer and broadcaster Keith Gave is joining the Blarney Stone Broadcasting radio network, President Sheryl Coyne has announced.

Gave is widely known through Michigan and in National Hockey League circles for his coverage of the Detroit Red Wings for 15 seasons, starting in the mid-1980s and including the great Stanley Cup teams in 1997-98. He also had his own weekly hockey show before moving to the morning-drive slot with WDFN AM-1130 in Detroit’s pioneering sports-talk radio days in 1994.

Gave covered all the other major sports teams in Detroit, including the Detroit Tigers’ World Series championship team in 1984, the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons teams in the late 1980s, the University of Michigan’s undefeated national championship football team in 1997 and much more, including the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. He has also worked in Chicago with The Associated Press and Dallas with the Morning News. Gave was honored by The Associated Press for a series of stories he wrote about young Soviet players leaving Russia to play for the Red Wings. His editors in Dallas nominated his work for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary in 1999.

“We’re thrilled that Keith Gave, with his vast experience covering sports over more than three decades, is joining our growing team,” said Sheryl Coyne, Blarney Stone Broadcasting president. She explained that Gave will not only write columns for the company’s ever-expanding website (https://www.q100michigan.com/) but will join various show hosts to talk sports on the network’s two stations. He starts in February.

Gave has lived in Roscommon since 2001, when he left sports writing to teach journalism and English at Kirtland Community College and, from 2008-2014, at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor. He was the adviser to award-winning student newspapers at both colleges while free-lancing for a number of publications, including the Detroit Free Press and, for the past year, for FOX Sports Detroit.

Besides his work for Blarney Stone, Gave is working on a book as well as a documentary film about the Detroit Red Wings’ famed Russian Five Both should be out in 2016.

“After listening to their revamped stations over the last three years and witnessing their dedication and commitment to our northern community, I can’t begin to express how excited I am to join the Blarney team,” Gave said. “I look forward to not only providing some unique insight into the Red Wings as they strive to make the playoffs for a 25^th straight season, but writing about all the major sports teams fans here follow.

“And more than anything, I’m eager to add my voice to the coverage of one of the greatest sporting events I’ve ever witnessed – the AuSable River Canoe Marathon. I join all of Northern Michigan in my gratitude that Sheryl and Jerry Coyne remain committed to thorough and comprehensive coverage to that great race on their stations.”

PHOTO CAPTION:  Keith Gave pictured (third from left) with three of the Russian Five -- Igor Larionov, Slava Fetisov and Slava Kozlov -- taken in Moscow's Red Square in 1997 after they helped the Red Wings win their first Stanley Cup in 42 years. It was the first time the Cup had been to Russia.

For more information please contact Maureen Barkume, VP Operations at Blarney Stone Broadcasting, 989-348-6171 or cell 248-229-8476 or Maureen@blarneystonebroadcasting.com

Blarney Stone Broadcasting, co-owned by Sheryl and Jerry Coyne, operates: WQON (100.3 FM) Rock & Roll – 60,000 watts (Detroit Lions, University of Michigan Football and Basketball, Grayling Viking Football and Basketball); WGRY (101.1 FM) and WMQU AM 1230, YOUR Sports Talk Station (Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons). Blarney Stone Broadcasting assumed ownership of the three stations based in Grayling, MI on October 2, 2012. Blarney Stone Broadcasting is a community orientated media resource in Northern Michigan dedicated to providing local information, entertainment and promotions focused on the needs of the audience and the businesses that serve the audience. With over 28 years of experience in broadcast and marketing, Blarney Stone Broadcasting is committed to growing local business in Northern Michigan