WUWM has been serving the Milwaukee area for over 60 years. And for over 50 of them we've been an NPR affiliated station, offering programs such as Morning Edition. For the last 10 years now, Rachel Owens has been the voice of Milwaukee's Morning Edition, keeping us all informed and ready to start the day the right way. And for this segment of our Get to Know WUWM series, we sat down with Rachel to learn more about her background in public media, her journey to WUWM, and why she is so passionate about live radio.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
You've had some experience in public radio prior to being here at WUWM. Can you lead us through that?
It was one of those households growing up where my parents would have the public radio on in the car. My mother even volunteered for New Hampshire Public Radio at one point, where I'm from — New Hampshire. So, it was always on in our house and I always loved it. Shortly after college, I moved to Madison, Wisconsin and started volunteering for the student radio station there. And then one of the other DJs there was talking about how she was a board operator with Wisconsin Public Radio. And she said that there were some openings and that I could apply. I started off as a weekend board operator at Wisconsin Public Radio. From there, I just tried to pick up every other job I could. Eventually, I was able to do a mostly full time, one year appointment. But after that expired, there was no other full time on-air positions and that was really my bread and butter. So, when this position for announcer opened at WUWM at the end of 2013, I was just such so excited about it. So, I had to go for it and it was so happy to get it.
Can you describe your approach and philosophy as a host and what that entails in your words?
If there's something that I think about as I'm starting my day or approaching the job in general, it's just trying to be that best friend that you can wake up to every day. Someone that can give you the news you need, but also maybe give you a little smile or make you not feel alone. Even though things feel like they're all overwhelming, that it's going to be OK and I just try to be that voice that I would like to hear or have when I turn on the radio, what radio has been to me. So, that's my philosophy and my guiding light. So, if I get everything else wrong, at least if I was a real human that people could connect with for just a few minutes out of their morning, and I somehow made their day just a little bit better than I consider that a job well done and I'm happy.
What is it about this work and your role that has kept you here for 11 years and keeps you so motivated to do the work that you do?
It's having the opportunity to start someone's day. We're really lucky to have these on-air positions because they're so few and far between. It's really rare and it's a privilege and it's something to be treasured that I still enjoy because I'm able to challenge myself every day, learn something every day, hopefully, get better every day and work with great people here. And then, of course, our listeners, the passion that our listeners give back to you. It's like when you hear musicians talk about how they get so much energy from a crowd and that feeds them. And I feel it's the same for me. Even though I may not be able to see you, I still feel that. And, hopefully, it goes both ways. There's something very special and very satisfying about just turning on the mic and having an opportunity to reach someone. That's something that I never tire of.
