“I don’t do what I do for the awards, but I certainly appreciate them,” WJR’s Paul W. Smith tells Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon and Spartans Athletic Director Mark Hollis on MSU Today. “And after going into the National Radio Hall of Fame a couple years ago in Chicago, it is truly an honor to now be recognized by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters.”
President Simon tells Paul that she’s excited about the start of a new school year. “It’s wonderful to see the talent that will shape the future,” she says. “We’re good enough for the proudest, and open to the poorest. Our students can leave here and compete with students from anyplace in the world.”
“It’s astonishing and heartwarming to see the great city of Detroit coming back in such a strong and important way,” Smith says in reflecting his cautious optimism on the Motor City’s continuing renaissance.
When queried by Smith, who can’t help doing some of the interviewing even when he’s being interviewed, Simon offers an update on the FRIB project and Hollis offers an update on Breslin Center renovations.
“My overriding concern as a leader in higher education is that college athletics continues to be a value back to the institutions,” says Hollis. “We all have to do our due diligence to ensure that it’s in the right place and taken in the right way.”
Simon adds that there are a lot of things that MSU and U of M are doing together that are making a difference for the state.
“If people just put a game in perspective, they know it doesn’t define our institutions.”
Smith says the Simon/Hollis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEl1PITyXZQ">MSU Today Show is appreciated by WJR listeners.
“I don’t know of any other show like it in all of these United States where you get the president and athletic director of this prestigious university together doing a show.”
MSU Today airs Sunday afternoons at 4:00 on AM 870.