Dick Enberg CMU Alumni Commitment Award

William S. Thompson, ’78, works tirelessly to coordinate and promote CMU’s alumni radio takeover – an event that has become a popular Homecoming feature for alumni and community members alike.

Bill works as the audio news editor for Michigan Radio Network in Lansing, where he has spent decades covering the state Capitol and facilitating the network’s overall newsgathering.

He is an active member of the Broadcast and Cinematic Arts Alumni Advisory Board, and he served three years as vice-chairman. He has served as a guest lecturer in the broadcast and cinematic arts department. He was the founder of the BCA Constituent Alumni Chapter.

Bill’s enthusiasm for CMU and broadcast and cinematic arts is evident in everything he does – including his signature event, the radio takeover.

Bill recruits legions of alumni and community volunteers to take over CMU’s student radio station during Homecoming. The event has become so popular and complex that takeover planning is now a year-long task.

One of his nominators wrote: “Bill is a very modest individual who always takes great pains to put others in the spotlight and assign credit to them, even when it more appropriately belongs to him. It would be wonderful to finally and publicly recognize his vast and continuing.