The day has come - as of March 3, WTIU has been broadcasting for 50 years.
Over the past few months, we've been sharing with you some of our favorite parts of WTIU's history: the series, the stories, the cataclysmic weather events. But for our final #WTIU50 retrospective story, we wanted to do something different. We wanted to hear, from the people who saw WTIU grow firsthand, memories of the station and what it means to them.
We caught up with a few WTIU alumni from throughout the years: Brad Howard, who began working at WTIU in January of 1969 (Brad was actually the person who first turned on the station's transmitter 50 years ago) and retired as chief engineer and director of operations in 2012; Keith Klein, who as program manager for WTIU spent his time between 1977 and 1997 representing the station behind and in front of the camera; Holly Gregory, who acted as educational outreach coordinator and created The Friday Zone nearly 20 years ago, and who is now a freelance executive producer and creator for children's media in New York; Jim Bales, who worked from 1983 to 1989 as a production intern and who's now a national accounts manager for Sony Electronics, Inc.; Jay Fitzwater who worked from 1989 to 1991 and 1993 as a production associate and who now produces and edits for the NCAA; and Carolina Correa, who wore many hats between 2000 and 2001 as a Friday Zone associate producer, crew member, master control operator and delivery driver, and who now produces and edits for KPBS in San Diego.
From earthquake warnings to miscreant squirrels and...multipurpose pets, you can hear these alums share stories and how their former work has affected their careers in the video below.
And for more on WTIU's 50th anniversary, you can head to our companion site.
