Michael Hemphill

We are thrilled to announce our next big thing to feature the great work that nonprofit organizations do in our communities!

Thanks to our friends at Wheeler Media and WFIR News Talk Radio, on October 2 at 4:00 p.m. we launch our new weekly radio show: Buzz4Good!

On Buzz4Good! we talk all things nonprofit … the people they serve and the good they do. And we talk to creative marketing professionals who provide tips and tools to help nonprofits attract more donors, volunteers and clients to their cause.

Buzz4Good! is hosted by BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill and American Advertising Federation of Roanoke president Carrie Cousins, who has appeared on two episodes of the TV show BUZZ helping nonprofits with their digital marketing needs.

Speaking of TV shows, a video version of each episode of Buzz4Good! will be simulcast on Blue Ridge PBS’ streaming channels. The episodes will also be available on demand on our YouTube channel and on Apple Podcast.

In our debut show of Buzz4Good! …

• We preview upcoming fundraising events hosted by nonprofits, like Center in the Square’s Blue Ridge Nightmares and Children’s Assistive Technology Service’s Hallowheels.
• Michael talks to Roanoke Arts & Cultural Coordinator Douglas Jackson about the region’s arts organizations.
• Carrie reflects on the website woes of Southwest Virginia Ballet in Episode 1 of BUZZ and shares tips to make your nonprofit’s website more effective and engaging.
• United Way of the Roanoke Valley executive director Abby Hamilton introduces us to “The Tale of Two Cities” and the unjust disparities that exist for people living in different ZIP codes not even five miles apart.
• Carrie offers her “No Budget Marketing Tip of the Week.”
• And more!

Are you a nonprofit with an event that we could help promote? Or a marketing problem we could help fix? Email us and we’ll share on an upcoming episode.

Are you a business that would like to be featured on our show and enjoy the “buzz” you’d get for supporting the life-enhancing work that nonprofits do for our communities? Check out our sponsorship guide to see how you can get more buzz by supporting BUZZ.

Tune in to WFIR this Saturday, October 2, at 4:00 p.m. to hear our first episode of Buzz4Good!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 27, 2021 (Roanoke, Va.) – BUZZ – the inspiring television show featuring Virginia nonprofits and the marketing pros who donate their talents to help these life-giving organizations – is celebrating its debut anniversary with a special event Aug. 3 at the Grandin Theatre.

At the anniversary celebration, BUZZ will preview its 13th episode – a special two-part show featuring the Christiansburg Institute, with Spectrum Media Solutions providing the pro bono marketing “buzz.” The event starts at 6:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. 

“In our first season, even in spite of the pandemic, we were able to share the stories of some incredible organizations doing vital work in our communities,” says BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill, “and provide them with marketing resources to attract more donors, volunteers and clients to their cause. We are grateful to these nonprofit leaders, our sponsors, and the marketing professionals who joined our Hive and helped launch the show.”

BUZZ is a program of the American Advertising Federation of Roanoke (AAF Roanoke), whose membership of marketing professionals provides the pro bono resources to the nonprofits featured in the show.

On Aug. 5, 2020, BUZZ first aired on Blue Ridge PBS with an episode on Southwest Virginia Ballet receiving a new logo and website from AAF Roanoke president Carrie Cousins and other marketing resources from Wordsprint and Press Press Merch. In addition, the show provided SVB with an introduction to Blue Ridge PBS that paved the way for SVB’s first-ever television broadcast of The Nutcracker – the company’s biggest fundraiser of the year – in a year when it couldn’t stage a live production due to Covid-19.

Other organizations featured in the first season of BUZZ include Healing Strides of Virginia, RAM House, Mill Mountain Zoo, Eastmont Community Foundation, Feeding Southwest Virginia, Blue Ridge Women’s Center, Virginia811, and Giles County Department of Social Services. BUZZ airs Wednesdays at 7 p.m. on Blue Ridge PBS and also now on VPM public television in Richmond, Charlottesville and Harrisonburg.

The newest BUZZ is a two-part episode featuring the Christiansburg Institute, which airs Aug. 4 and Aug. 11 at 7 p.m. on Blue Ridge PBS. 

For 100 years, the Christiansburg Institute stood as one of the finest schools for Black Americans in Virginia. Founded in 1866 just a year after the Civil War put an end to slavery, Christiansburg Institute became a testament to African-American self-preservation, educating thousands of students on its 185-acre campus. Education giants such as Booker T. Washington served as superintendent. 

But in 1966 school integration finally took hold in Virginia and Christiansburg Institute’s legacy was quite literally whitewashed away. Its academic buildings were shuttered. Its students scattered to previously whites-only schools. Its land was subdivided and sold off. Today all that’s left is one abandoned building on four acres.

But there’s a group of passionate people dedicated to preserving its history, and creating a catalyst for community conversations, racial justice and change. Spectrum Media Solutions in Roanoke is helping Christiansburg Institute better tell its story through a new website.

Woods Rogers Attorneys at Law, the Community Foundation of the New River Valley, and Partners in Financial Planning are sponsors of this episode. BUZZ is also sponsored in part by the Virginia Film Office.

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Contact:
Michael Hemphill | Creator of Buzz
www.buzz4good.com | michael@buzz4good.com | 540.556.2879