Maureen McCollum joined the WUWM team at the vice president of content. Maureen has extensive experience in public radio in Wisconsin having served as a reporter, Morning Edition host, and host and executive producer of Wisconsin Life at Wisconsin Public Radio.
After just over a week in the role, Maureen sat down with President and General Manager David Lee to further introduce herself.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you come from, your history, your deep history with public radio, and your role here now with us as our vice president of content. Those are three questions in one.
That's all right. I have recently been hired as the vice president of content for WUWM, which is very, very exciting. It is a real honor to be here. I've been a fan of the station since high school, when my family moved here. So, to be a part of this team has been outstanding. My parents would listen to a lot of the public radio shows on the weekends. And so, a lot of those shows were just sort of playing in the background as my parents were making dinner, as my dad was baking bread, as we were cleaning up. So, public radio has always been a part of my life. Since I was a little kid, I wanted to be in radio. I'd make the little radio shows on the cassette tapes, play like SNL skits with my friends on a boombox. So yeah, radio has always been a part of my life.
What's the most exciting, or what's the thing that's surprised you the most about working here so far?
I think what has surprised me the most, actually in retrospect should not be surprising. So, as I said before, I've been a big fan of WUWM for a long time. I've listened to the stories. I've watched the social media content and I like how that has grown over the years. Before I came into this job, there were times that I felt a little jealous of what was going on here. I wished that I was a part of that. And now, I am a part of it, which is really exciting. I've been able to hear the quality as a fan and then I've had the chance to come here and get to know these people better and realize that these are really wonderful, intelligent, talented people. So, it all matches, it all lines up. Like I said, that should not be surprising, but it's delightful.
One of the things that excited us the most about your candidacy and one of the main reasons why you're here is that you have deep experience in each of the areas you're going to be overseeing. So, not only reporting, not only a cultural show, but also hosting. How does that experience inform your leadership in this current role?
I think it helps give me perspective because I know what it takes to get the job done. I know when a reporter is out covering a breaking story, I understand what they're going through. So, I think I know what they need in the field to feel like they're doing the best job possible, to make sure that they're feeling safe, to make sure that those of us who may be back in the studio are giving them the support that they need, and that everyone in studio who's trying to support them then has another extra layer of support. So, I think that perspective is really important.
