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Media Mechanics is made up of media veterans Paul Marszalek, Ben Manilla, and Mike Henry. We came together formally in 2004 to form Media Mechanics, combining more than 80 years worth of professional experience in content creation.
While each of us has our specialties, combined we offer full-service strategic consulting and multiplatform production.
We enthusiastically collaborate with clients of all shapes and sizes from around the world. We also own and incubate in-house projects, such as TheBluesMobile.com, which serve as laboratories that directly benefit you.
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Paul Marszalek
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Mike Henry
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J. Ben Manilla
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Mike Henry
As CEO of Paragon Media Strategies, Mike is a strategic advisor to many of the most successful radio stations, groups, and networks in the world. Clients include CBS Radio in the U.S. and Rogers Media-Radio in Canada, and many other long-time research and consulting clients. Mike has helped create 10 new radio formats over the past 20 years, including “Alternative,” “Triple A,” “Modern AC,” “Progressive,” Canada’s only “All News” format, “Jack FM,” and most recently “New York’s Rock Experience” on WRXP-FM New York City. Mike is a recognized radio industry expert and has been interviewed by the The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, London Telegraph, Los Angeles Times, NPR, ABC TV, MTV, and many other national and international media outlets.
J. Ben Manilla
J. Ben Manilla is President of Ben Manilla Productions, Inc. (BMP), a recognized leader in programming for commercial and public radio stations. Established in 1991, BMP's clients have included all the major radio networks in the U.S. (ABC, CBS, Westwood One, etc.) and a host of international broadcasters (BBC, CBC, Radio Tokyo, etc.). BMP's commercial radio programs include The House of Blues Radio Hour with Dan Aykroyd and Drew Carey's Hi Fi Club. BMP also developed several public radio series including "The Blues hosted by Keb' Mo'", "Philosophy Talk" with Stanford University, and the award winning "The Sounds of American Culture" with the Library of Congress. Ben teaches radio journalism and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Paul Marszalek
Paul Marszalek is the Managing Partner of Media Mechanics. During his more than 25 years in radio and television, Paul has held positions such as Vice President of Music Programming for VH1 (MTV Networks), as well as senior programming and management positions at KFOG/San Francisco and WXRT/Chicago, among others. Paul leads the Media Mechanics team with clients such as Starbucks Entertainment/XM Satellite Radio, The Sierra Club, The Classical Public Radio Network, WFUV/New York, KUSC/Los Angeles, JazzFM/Toronto, WERS/Boston, KPRI/San Diego, Oregon Public Broadcasting, KUT/Austin, WXPK/White Plains, KLRR/Bend, and others. Additionally, he is a contractor with the bi-partisan United States Broadcasting Board of Governors, assisting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with numerous projects in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, former Soviet states, and the Middle East.
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As a morning show host at WMAD/Madison, Wisconsin, Paul made front-page news fronting the song parody trio “Sven and the Stoughtonaires” (it’s a cheesehead thing). This, combined with his air-work at WXRT, sadly combined to make him “the most famous person” at his 20th high school reunion.
During his WLIR/New York days, Ben hosted an episode of his long-running cable TV show “New Music First” in drag, apparently looking like a Dynasty-era Linda Evans. Mike and Paul would like your help in recovering these tapes. Even a photo would be huge.
Mike’s ancestor Andrew Pickens was a Revolutionary War general and the subject of the Mel Gibson movie “The Patriot.” Regrettably, Pickens was also responsible for driving Native Americans from the southeast to Oklahoma in “The Trail of Tears.” The Pickens clan wasn’t finished, as both his son and nephew were both governors of South Carolina, the latter being responsible for firing the first shot of the Civil War at Fort Sumpter.
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