Harry Haasch

Harry “Hap” Haasch is a community media leader associated with Public Media Network in Kalamazoo, Michigan and the ACM Central States region. He received the ACM’s Sue Miller Buske Leadership Award in 2004, recognizing sustained commitment to the field and leadership across the organizational networks that help community media professionals share knowledge, strengthen local stations, and advocate for PEG access.

Hap served as Executive Director of Public Media Network and was active in Central States regional leadership. His work came during a period when community media depended on practitioners willing to do the conference, committee, documentation, and peer relationship work that keeps a field coherent beyond any one station.

His record reflects the infrastructure side of community media: the patient work of connecting people, preserving institutional memory, and helping local access centers navigate change together. In regions like Central States, that kind of leadership helped make community media more durable, more connected, and better able to respond to policy and technology shifts.