WUWM has been serving the Milwaukee area for more than 60 years. At the core of that service is fact-based journalism provided by our team of award-winning journalists.
One of them is Maayan Silver, who has spent the last seven years here as a general assignment reporter. Her work has been featured in many local programs at the station and on national segments with NPR as well.
For this segment of our Get to Know WUWM series, we sat down with Maayan to learn more about her background, her passion for storytelling and her approach to telling those stories.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What was it about this opportunity that motivated you to come to WUWM — especially in your case, since you came from an entirely different field?
That's right. I was a criminal defense attorney and it was a stroke of luck. I loved audio as a medium, but I felt like I needed a change at this certain point in my career. And UWM had this class called News, Writing and Technology. I took that class, learned the ropes, got an internship at Lake Effect, and the rest is history.
What was it about journalism that was so alluring to you at that point in your career and that point in your life?
I was working out in Waukesha at a criminal defense firm and living in Milwaukee and I would commute and listen to, All Things Considered on the way home. And I was hearing all these stories from all over the world, you can go everywhere and it's such a nice way to stay connected and learn about the world.
Can you describe your approach and philosophy as a journalist — and what your mindset is as you present a story to the public?
So, I truly believe that everything can be a story and I feel like every person has something super interesting to share with the world. It's almost like I need to be reined in. And so, being on the news team where we're working on things that are newsworthy or have a specific news impacts, that narrows the focus a little bit sometimes.
What is it about your work — and everything you do — that keeps you here at WUWM, year after year?
I truly, truly love this job. I love everything about it. And the colleagues at WUWM and the people that work here. People who go into public radio are good people.
