Switching Lanes: From the Race Track to the Car Wash, Cheryl Fritze Broadcasts in Mid-Michigan
Written by Doug Goodnough
Cheryl Fritze, ’82, started her 40-year career at the finish line. Actually, to be more precise, it began at the winner’s circle of Michigan International Speedway.
While completing a real estate class in Jackson, Michigan, to help with the family business, Fritze was approached by a man during a lunch break.
“He walked up to me, introduced himself, and said, ‘Would I want to go to the race track?’” she said. “I thought it was the best come-on line ever.”
However, it was a job offer. The man was Wayne Blackmon, the general manager of WIBM, a radio station in the Jackson area. He wanted Fritze to be a “trophy girl” at the speedway, helping to award trophies to race winners at Roger Penske-owned MIS as a radio station representative.
She accepted. The summers during her college years were spent traveling the country in that role, and also working at WIBM as a disc jockey during the night shift.
“It probably was one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had,” Fritze said of her disc jockey duties. “Management went home at 5, and I had the place from 7 (p.m.) to midnight.”
She was eventually asked to host live broadcasts during the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on WLNS, a Lansing-area television station. Although she had no formal training in broadcasting, Fritze said she felt comfortable in front of the camera.
“For some reason, it just never bothered me,” Fritze said. “I have other fears. But being in front of a camera just isn’t one of them. Anytime I am in front of a camera, I feel like I’m just talking to friends.”
In fact, station owner Hal Gross kept offering her a full-time job at the end of each summer, but Fritze declined because she wanted to finish her communications degree at Hillsdale.
That all changed when she graduated in the spring of 1982. Gross again offered her a job, and she finally accepted, beginning as a radio anchor at WJIM. She was on the job for a few months when Gross approached her again. This time, he wanted her to become a television news anchor for WLNS, a CBS news affiliate.
“My motto in life has always been, ‘Say yes,’” Fritze said. “When opportunities present themselves, say yes, then figure out how to do it.”
Fritze said she learned on the job and eventually figured things out. She spent three years anchoring the news at WLNS before she left her career to raise a family.
A few years later, she returned to television, again when someone sought her out for a unique assignment.
“A gal in the sales department at the TV station wanted to try to do live commercials,” Fritze said. “They had never been done around the state, and she thought I could do those.”
The first one was to open a new car wash in the East Lansing area. Although it was raining that day, the spots still aired.
“We were going to do it live anyway,” she said. “They had so many cars show up for this car wash–in the rain–that the East Lansing Police had to come out to direct traffic.”
She said this career niche served her well for nearly 30 years as she was raising her family, and it eventually led her to “other things.”
In 2014, she returned to WLNS as an assignment editor, and in 2018, she accepted a job as the director of News Operations for Michigan News Source, an online media company owned by nationally syndicated talk show host Steve Gruber and his wife, Ivey. Fritze is still broadcasting, recording newscasts each evening that are sent to approximately 30 radio stations in Michigan. During the day, she runs the newsroom for MNS, and takes her responsibility of being an objective news outlet seriously.
“We’re not going to slant things,” she said. “Every now and then my writers try to throw (an opinion) in there. And I say, ‘No, we have to either source that, or we have to pull it out, because we’re not going to say that.’”
Fritze has also coordinated media for the Ingham County Circuit Court for several years and finds the courtroom fascinating.
“To me, the drama of a courtroom is the only real drama left in life,” she said. “When I retire some day, I’ll be the lady sitting in a courtroom watching murder trials.”
Fritze also joined the Hillsdale College Women Commissioners a couple of years ago, and she said her connection to the College remains strong. She and her husband, Bob Bildner, ’78, live in Okemos, Michigan.
“Hillsdale set me up for success,” said Fritze, who transferred to Hillsdale from Central Michigan University after her freshman year. “I think you learn confidence in a place where you are valued. I think a Hillsdale College education was important when I was there, and it is so much more important now with what is going on in the world.”
In fact, Hillsdale College alumnus Austin Gergens, ’21, serves as Capital News Reporter for MNS, while current student Lauren Smyth, ’25, is an intern working for Fritze.
She said having a 40-year career where she has never had to interview for a job has been enjoyable.
“It’s highly unusual,” Fritze said. “And being able to switch lanes and do different things has truly been a blessing. I appreciate every moment of it.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in November 2023