30 | JULY 7 • 2022 

W

hile attending North 
Farmington High School, 
Michael Holzman got 
involved with TV-10. The school district’s 
student-run television channel, which 
broadcasts news, sports and entertainment 
programs, was something Holzman always 
enjoyed working with.
However, the current news producer 
didn’t always have his eyes set on media. 
At first, he wanted to become an engineer. 
“I tried pursuing a degree in mechanical 
engineering when I started college, but 
that quickly wasn’t working out,” Holzman, 
32, explains.
Instead, he turned to his other love: 
the news industry. “I decided that I really 
enjoyed my time at TV-10 in high school,” 
he recalls, “so why not try to pursue a 
career in this?”
Graduating from the University of 
Michigan-Dearborn in 2014, and with a 
year at Specs Howard School of Media 
Arts in Southfield, Holzman began to 
work on breaking into the news industry.
He first worked as a freelance produc-
tion assistant and videographer for sev-
eral years with a number of independent 
shows, such as State Champs Sports Network 
and From Glory Days.
In 2018, Holzman got his first big 
break and was hired by WILX News 10 
in Lansing as a news producer, where he 
worked for two years. Since moving to 
Lansing, Holzman has enjoyed making it 
his home, currently living downtown near 
Jackson Field.

BRINGING THE NEWS 
CYCLE TO LIFE
As of 2021, he has worked at FOX 47, also 
as a news producer. Working an evening 

shift, Holzman generally comes in around 
3 p.m. and immediately begins pulling sto-
ries for the nighttime show.
“I coordinate with the reporters to see 
what they’re working on,” he says of his 
job, “and how likely something they’re 
working on is going to turn and go on the 
air that night.”
In addition to coordinating stories, 
Holzman also works on editing stories 
that come from outside and writing 
scripts for news anchors to read on-air. 
As a jack-of-all-trades, working as a news 
producer can be extremely busy, but he 
enjoys the challenge.
“Sometimes it can be a grind to get 
everything done and put it all together, 
especially if it’s a slow news day,” Holzman 
explains. “But when I see the finished 
product on the air at 10 o’clock, and when 
it’s all nice and buttoned up … It just feels 
rewarding, to see that whole project go out 
on the air and be watched by people all 
around mid-Michigan.”

The work, however, can often be a lot. 
“There are not a whole lot of other people 
I can delegate tasks to,” Holzman says. “I 
usually just buckle down and roll up my 
sleeves and work on it. No matter how 
stressed I am, usually it all works out in 
the end.”
News producers like Holzman are essen-
tial to making the news cycle possible.
“We’re the backbone of the show 
because we’re putting together all the dif-
ferent elements — like the nuts and bolts 
— behind the scenes that go into a TV 
show,” he explains. “Without us, it would 
be all up to the anchor to produce, edit, 
put graphics and do everything else on top 
of having to anchor the show itself.”

A SIMPLE KEY TO SUCCESS
What he enjoys about working at FOX 47, 

Mid-Michigan 
News Producer

Persistence is key to breaking into 
the news industry, says FOX 47 producer 
Michael Holzman.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Michael Holtzman with 
former Red Wing Darren 
McCarty on From Glory Days

Michael 
Holtzman

NEXT DOR
VOICE OF THE NEW 
JEWISH GENERATION

