DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
KITV President and General Manager Mike Rosenberg, in the master control room at KITV, has been involved with the Muscular Dystrophy Association for many years.
Shepherding the
MDA telethonNationally and locally,
the president of KITV
is devoted to fighting muscular dystrophy
KITV President and General Manager Mike Rosenberg is at it again.
"It" is his second or third term as a vice president with the national Muscular Dystrophy Association. The tenure is not clear because he and MDA go back a long way over multiple levels of involvement.
Rosenberg's name appears on the MDA Web site alongside other broadcasters, business folk from corporate sponsors and celebrities such as NBA legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
"The vast majority are those with a history of helping MDA in different ways," Rosenberg said.
"We're an advisory board. We get materials on a monthly basis and are invited to comment." Meetings, when they occur, are primarily by teleconference in deference to the schedules of dozens of far-flung vice presidents.
Rosenberg's history with MDA goes back to at least 1986 when he joined KHON-TV as station manager and sales manager. In 1995 the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon followed Rosenberg to KITV.
"I just think they're a great organization," he said. The station prepares stories about local MDA patients for broadcast during the Labor Day telethon to reflect the need the organization serves. "When we do the local packages, the local stories, it's so heart rending that you look at it going, 'I'm going to do anything in my power (to help),'" Rosenberg said.
Notwithstanding the national appointment, Rosenberg sees his biggest contribution to MDA as "shepherding the telethon each year. I don't necessarily roll up my sleeves and work on it, but I think everybody at the station understands we care about these people and I think we give them a great show each year."
MDA raised more than $350,000 in Hawaii last year, according to District Director Audrey Taniguchi. "It wouldn't happen without Mike Rosenberg and (KITV Program Director) John Wray," she said.
MDA national Director for Public Information Bob Mackle has known Rosenberg for at least 13 years of Rosenberg's 17-year link with the organization.
"You don't find a lot of people who are willing to do this on a year-after-year basis. It's a sacrifice on the part of the people at the station and you don't get much out of it except for the gratitude of a lot of people who need help," Mackle said.
It is increasingly difficult for the organization to hold on to the 200 stations that air the telethon due to increasing pressure not to pre-empt network programming and pressure on general managers to get away from telethon-type programming, he said.
"Having somebody at a TV station who in this day and age with millions of channels and multiple program levels, to have somebody at a local TV station who will remain loyal to doing something for the public good is extremely impressive."
Rosenberg also volunteers with other organizations.
He is the chairman of artistic planning for Manoa Valley Theatre, where he reads scripts for six months of the year and pays for season tickets.
Rosenberg is chairman of the Better Business Bureau Foundation, the mission of which is to raise funds so the BBB can provide services its regular revenues don't cover. He was BBB chairman from 1996 to 1998.
He also has served as vice chairman of the Hawaii International Film Festival and as a vice chairman of marketing for Aloha United Way.
