The news had been percolating through channels for a week that veteran Detroit radio executive Steve Schram was being considered for Donovan Reynolds ' job as director of Michigan Public Media at the University of Michigan.

Finally on Wednesday, U-M made it official.

Schram was named interim director effective immediately, replacing Reynolds, who departed March 1. His hiring brings stability as U-M tries to move past the recent dust-up over fundraising irregularities at WUOM-FM.

"It's been a fun and quick courtship, but I'm just delighted," said Schram, after meeting Wednesday with the staff. "It's a great set of properties."

Michigan Public Media includes Michigan Radio , an NPR news station broadcasting in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Flint, and Michigan Television , a PBS member station broadcasting in Flint.

Ironically, Schram is a proud Spartan, a 1975 graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in television and radio. He's held two of the most challenging jobs in Detroit radio, at the two top companies, CBS/Infinity and Clear Channel. From 2003-2005, he was senior vice president and director of sales for Infinity Broadcasting's (now CBS) six-station Detroit cluster.

From 1996-2002, he was vice president and general manager for Clear Channel's seven Detroit-area radio stations. Schram also worked for online giant AOL's Web properties group in between his Clear Channel and Infinity gigs.

Among the many in Detroit's CBS and Clear Channel pods who were hired by Schram is Dom Theodore, who was first hired by Schram to be program director of Clear Channel's WKQI-FM (95.5). Now Theodore is regional vice president and operations manager of Clear Channel Detroit.

"Steve is a fantastic choice for that job," Theodore said. "He's one of the most passionate broadcasters I know. I'm a huge fan, and very proud of him."

Schram joins Michigan Public Media just weeks before its spring pledge drive begins. U-M has moved quickly since Reynolds resigned from Michigan Public Media March 1, at the same time a criminal investigation of fundraising incentives at WUOM-FM (91.7) was launched by the U-M Department of Public Safety.

Reynolds told an Ann Arbor newspaper that he was the one who alerted U-M when he found some problems in the station's fundraising incentives to top performers. He resigned his post on March 1, telling the paper he felt responsible because the incidents had happened under his watch.