{"id":34561,"date":"2026-03-23T07:21:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?page_id=34561"},"modified":"2026-03-23T07:21:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:21:48","slug":"mike-gurspan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/mike-gurspan\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Gurspan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Even as a teenager, Mike Gurspan felt the need to make a difference. While others his age were doing what teenagers do, young Mike was in his bedroom writing congressmen and senators about issues that concerned him. He majored in broadcasting not because he wanted the spotlight, but because he knew it was a platform he could use to highlight community problems. For his dedication to his community and his genuine concern for all people, the Alabama Broadcasters Association is proud to induct Mike Gurspan to its Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven at that age he was an activist, \u201c says his sister Catherine Gurspan. \u201cHe was concerned about the Vietnam War and equal rights for African Americans. He got responses from the likes of Ted Kenedy and other prominent politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cConcerning college, my brother vacillated between majoring in broadcasting and getting a law degree,\u201d she continues. \u201cPolitics and justice were in his DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gurspan wisely choose a broadcasting career and worked awhile in Florida before moving to Alabama and WTVY.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden, he showed this natural talent to perform about things he cared about \u2013 which was really politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMike was a workhorse,\u201d says Reginald Jones, former anchor for WTVY and now retired. \u201cYou could always count on Mike to bring four or five stories to the table every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would drive endlessly to get to a story, and he sacrificed maybe his personal life because he was married to the job,\u201d says his sister.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike was a reporter, and he covered several counties west of Houston County where the station is located,\u201d says Jones.  \u201cOne of the things I remember was that he didn\u2019t just work in the counties that he covered, he actually decided to move and buy a house and live in one of those counties\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe immersed himself as much as he could into the local community, giving back wherever he could,\u201d  Jones continued, \u201c I think that may have been one of the reasons that he was aways so successful in getting stories because he was part of the people and he felt he was part of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went to visit him, we\u2019d go anywhere and people would act like they were best friends,\u201d laughs Gurspan\u2019s sister. \u201cHe was their neighbor \u2013 which sounds so clich\u00e9, but he literally was. He knew the people around him, and it didn\u2019t matter who you were; you were an important person to Mike.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was one to be respected,\u201d continues Jones. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t one who actually demanded it or commanded it, but his presence \u2026 by his example, he was what journalism is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

His sister believes Gurspan would have been very humbled about being inducted into the ABA\u2019s Hall of Fame. \u201cHe would have been honored and incredibly modest about it, and he would perhaps not have felt worthy of the recognition. He never wanted to be the main event.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe probably would not want us to make a whole lot of fuss about it because he was doing something that he genuinely enjoyed \u2026 doing something that he loved,\u201d says Jones. \u201cHe enjoyed being of service to his community. He wasn\u2019t looking for accolades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Catherine Gurspan knows her brother would have been embarrassed over the attention he\u2019d receive for being inducted into the Hall of Fame,  she also knows he would have been more than proud.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would have been the pinnacle for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even as a teenager, Mike Gurspan felt the need to make a difference. While others his age were doing what teenagers do, young Mike was in his bedroom writing congressmen and senators about issues that concerned him. He majored in broadcasting not because he wanted the spotlight, but because he knew it was a platform … Continue reading Mike Gurspan<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34561","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34563,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34561\/revisions\/34563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}