 Our new media center is here! Visitors will be greetd by our digital welcome mat, and can see themselves on U•TV, an interactive exhibit where you can explore the art and science of television production. You can also take a peek inside our new studios. more... |
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Don G. Amrine (WOSU 820)
Host, Bluegrass Ramble
Don Amrine has been involved with Bluegrass Ramble since early 1982, and says his love for bluegrass music was mostly influenced by "Flatt & Scruggs" in the 1960s. In the 70s and '80s, Amrine's favorites included the "Country Gentlemen" (Jim and Jesse) and Doyle Lawson. I am still fascinated by the harmony singing and precision picking style of these groups," he says. Since 1990, Amrine has been singing and playing guitar/bass in a traditional bluegrass band. Presently, he works as a contract consulting engineer and owns Fairfield Specialty Co. in Lancaster, OH. When not in the WOSU studio or on the job, Amrine spends time with his wife Susan and children D. Michael and Bridget. His favorite pastimes include woodworking and fishing.
Fred Andrle (WOSU 820)
Host, Open Line with Fred Andrle
Fred Andrle is host and executive producer of WOSUAM’s daily public affairs talk program, Open Line. A Buffalo, New York, native, Fred is a graduate of Canisius College of Buffalo and he holds a master's degree in Communication from Stanford University. Fred began work for the WOSU stations on the TV side, where he produced and hosted a weekly talk show, Speakeasy. He journeyed to China to produce a documentary about Chinese artists and scholars, as well as a performance piece highlighting the Beijing Acrobatic Company which aired nationally on PBS.
Fred has hosted Open Line since 1988. The program features local, national and international guests in a call-in format that allows listeners to directly question journalists, social reformers, government officials, artists, and more.
Rich Baker (WOSU-AM)
Host, Bluegrass Ramble
Rich Baker has been a co-host of Bluegrass Ramble since October 1986. Born in Akron, OH, he received his bachelors degree in journalism from Ohio University. His radio experience includes a brief stay as a country DJ at WOUB in Athens (while in college), and a radio show on WFVF-FM in Columbus called the Bluegrass Hot Top Hits Countdown. "I like finding new bluegrass groups and vocalists with a sound firmly rooted in traditional bluegrass," he says. "Bands that bring a fresh approach and a modem sound but don't stray too far from traditional bluegrass." When he's not listening to bluegrass, Baker is the director of corporate communications for Metatec Corporation in Dublin.
Tom Borgerding (WOSU 820)
WOSU 820 Managing Editor, Reporter
Tom Borgerding has worked in both commercial and public radio newsrooms. He joined WOSU in August of 1985 and currently serves as managing editor and reporter. He has reported stories for regional and national networks. A native of St. Louis, he has strong Midwest tendencies. He lives in northeast Franklin County with his wife, Vicki.
Tim Eby
Radio Manager
Tim Eby has been the Radio Manager for WOSU since June 2004. Prior to his move to Columbus, Eby was Station Manager at WVPE Public Radio in South Bend, Indiana for more than 21 years. He has also served as the President of Public Radio In Mid-America (PRIMA), the country's largest public radio regional organization, for four years and has served on numerous task forces and panels sponsored by NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Eby has been a member of the Board of Directors of National Public Radio since November 2002 and currently serves as its Chairman. Throughout his career, Eby has worked on behalf of numerous arts, cultural, and non-profit groups in his local community, including a four-year stint as the volunteer chairman of the Elkhart Jazz Festival. He currently sits as a member of the board of directors for the Jazz Arts Group and the Thurber House in Columbus. Tim notes, however, that his greatest achievements are convincing his wife Kathi to marry him in 1988, and - with Kathi - raising three beautiful daughters: Kelci (born in 1992), McKenzie (born in 1995), and Lindsey (born in 1999). Tim and his family reside in Powell.
Beverley Ervine (WOSU 89.7)
Music Director
Music Director Beverley Ervine was born in Staunton, Virginia, in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley and came to WOSU in 1986. Ervine earned her Bachelors degree in Music Education from East Carolina University, her Masters in Music History and Literature at The Ohio State University, and her ABD for Ph.D. in Music History and Literature at OSU. In 1976 she was awarded a bassoon scholarship to study with Leonard Sharrow, who played under Arturo Toscanini. She left a teaching career (including elementary and high/school band/classroom music, private students and undergraduate music courses at OSU) before joining the WOSU Radio family.
In February of 1997, Beverley was elected President of the Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio (AMPPR), a national organization representing public radio stations that feature music as a regular part of their program schedule. During her tenure as President, a position she held for 5 of her 8 years on AMPPR's Board of Directors, she successfully initiated many new programs such as announcer training workshops and scholarships for first-time attendees to AMPPR's annual conference. Likewise, she increased visibility for the organization by launching AMPPR's web site and building relationships with other national and international radio organizations, to include a future international classical music symposium with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which had to be delayed due to the post-world events of September 11, 2001.
During her "free time," Beverley serves as a member on the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra Artistic Committee where she reports on current classical music trends, repertoire, and rising young artists and composers, and she enjoys spending as much home and travel time as possible with her husband Boyce Lancaster, whom she met and married at the WOSU Stations.
Chet DeLong (WOSU 820)
Host, Bluegrass Ramble
Born in mountain country Kentucky, Chet DeLong has lived in central Ohio for 43 years and been part of WOSU's Bluegrass Ramble since 1990. He grew up listening to Farm and Fun Time on WCYB in Bristol, VA, featuring the Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, and Bill Monroe. "I can't recall a time of not being in love with bluegrass music," he says. DeLong has promoted bluegrass shows since the 70s and has attended festivals in many parts of the country. A charter member of the Central Ohio Bluegrass Association, DeLong has performed in the "Plum Mountain Grass" band for many years. DeLong says he loves to play listener requests.
Sam Hendren (WOSU 820)
News Reporter
Reporter Sam Hendren brought more than two decades of experience to WOSU when he arrived in August of 2005. Born in Tennessee and raised in North Carolina, Hendren began his journalism career at the University of Alabama’s public radio station (also his alma mater). He’s reported extensively from across the Southern U.S., the inter-mountain West and the Great Plains states. His work has appeared on NPR, Marketplace, and the Voice of America. He served as executive producer of the environmental radio magazine High Plains News, based in Billings, MT, and was news director at public station KMUW, in Wichita, KS. Sam is the recipient of many national awards for journalistic excellence.
Boyce Lancaster (WOSU 89.7)
Host, Boyce Lancaster and the Classics, Saturday on the Stage with Boyce Lancaster, Saturday at the Pops with Boyce Lancaster
Boyce was born in Lubbock, TX and grew up in Tulsa, OK. With relatives in Houston and San Antonio, however, there are many opportunities for regular trips back into the Lone Star State. His daughter lives there today, having recently moved to Texas, offering yet another reason to head back to longhorn country. He’s lived in Ohio, with a few side trips during college and early in his radio career, for over 20 years. Like his home state, Boyce is a colorful individual, and his speech is peppered with humor. He says that he was “born at a very early age to two wonderful people who should have known better. I began music lessons in third grade, changing from piano to clarinet in the fourth grade. Over the course of the next eight years, I wound up playing oboe, alto and bass clarinet, alto and baritone sax, and made a short disastrous attempt at the sousaphone.
“My college major was broadcasting (surprise, huh?). After stints at several radio stations early in my career, (as they say, town to town, up and down the dial), I came to WOSU in 1984, moving into the morning position in the spring of 1986. Many things have changed over the years, but the listener's love of good music and my enjoyment of getting it on the air remains the same.”
Christina Morgan (WOSU 820)
Host, WOSU 820 All Things Considered
Christina is the local host and news anchor during WOSU 820's afternoon news magazine All Things Considered. Christina has been a part of the WOSU news team for more than two decades. She earned a BA in Journalism & English from Indiana University and an MA in Education from The Ohio State University.
Christopher Purdy (WOSU 89.7)
Host, Arts Unscripted, Music in MidOhio, Ohio Arts Alive with Christopher Purdy, Serenata with Christopher Purdy
Christopher was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the American Revolution (“Paul Revere rode by my house; I wasn’t home, but my mother was!”). He studied music at Boston University and a Master in Arts Administration from New York University. Christopher is hoping to turn his graduate credits into a DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) in Opera Production at The Ohio State University. He is a pre-concert speaker for all classical-series concerts for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (“if you don’t like me, don’t come early, because you can’t avoid me!”), the Vail Series at Denison University and Opera Columbus. In September, he will be doing a “Classical Music Workshop for Children” at Denison. Christopher designed and taught a class entitled “Listening to Voices” at OSU. (“I had a marvelous time, and two or three of those students have become like my children! Fortunately, I don’t have to pay their tuition!”) Purdy was a regular panelist for 20 years on the Chevron-Texaco Metropolitan Opera Quiz.
Purdy has Columbus ties: his father-in-law, Wayne Rittenhouse, was the football coach of Central and Northland High Schools in Columbus. He met his wife, Linda, while they were both working at a food kitchen in New York City. They married in 1989; their daughter was born in 1990, and the family moved to Columbus in 1991. They are still adjusting to the Midwestern lifestyle. A city boy, Purdy maintains that he would be happy to cement over his entire yard…“spare me the lawn mower and the weeds!” His favorite composers are Monteverdi and Bruchner. An accidental encounter with a beat-up recording of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the age of eight changed Purdy's direction from law school or the priesthood to one of classical music and public broadcasting. He was so captivated by the cover art, that he took the recording home, popped it on his battery-operated kiddy record player … and his life changed forever. He still has the recording.
John Rittmeyer (WOSU 89.7)
Host, John Rittmeyer with the Classics
John grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Columbus to attend OSU where he double majored in English and Photography. He went on to acquire a Masters degree; John’s thesis centered upon the Canadian writer, Robertson Davies. Rittmeyer was drawn to Davies because of his psychological and spiritual themes—interests that have carried through in his music career.
Learning to play the guitar in high school, John grew to love all kinds of music, rock ‘n roll first, and then classical music later. As a student, Rittmeyer would often turn on music while he was studying, and he found himself gravitating towards the music of particular eras he was studying. When he began to examine the nineteenth-century Romantic poets, for example, he would play Wagner and other musicians of the Romantic age. “Music has enhanced my experience of literature. The more you listen and the more you read, you begin to recognize the zeitgeist of the era—in different forms and media—and that’s fascinating. I've been getting paid to listen to classical music since 1987, and the experience of music has opened a whole new world of artistic expression to me.”
Marilyn Smith (WOSU 820)
Host, WOSU 820 Morning Edition
Marilyn Smith is the local host of WOSU 820's Morning Edition (5am-9am weekdays). She began her career in Broadcast Journalism at WOSU as a graduate intern. Through the years, she has worked as a reporter and producer. She was one of the early hosts of a local hour of Morning Edition. She’s also hosted call-in programs during her years of service at WOSU. Marilyn and her husband have two children.
Mandie Trimble (WOSU 820)
News Reporter
Mandie began working at WOSU in August, 2005. A 2004 graduate of the University of Alabama, Mandie also worked as a general assignment reporter for The Daily Mountain Eagle in Jasper, AL, as well as Alabama Public Radio.
Mandie came to really appreciate public radio as an undergraduate student studying television reporting. She began working as a student reporter and anchor for Alabama Public Radio just to gain some experience. But during her two years at APR, she decided public radio’s nonsensationalized style of reporting was the career choice for her. Mandie has won several national and state awards for her reporting.
Mike Thompson (WOSU 820)
Director, News and Public Affairs
Host, Columbus on the Record
Mike has worked for WOSU since 2001, gaining the position of news director in 2005.
A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, Mike earned a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from Syracuse University and a Masters in Business Administration from Ohio State University.
Mike has worked in radio and television in Massachusetts and Ohio earning numerous awards for enterprise and investigative reporting. Mike and his wife Mary have twins – Madeleine and William.
Anchoring the Flagships
Talking with Marilyn Smith and Christina Morgan
Marilyn Smith has been hosting Morning Edition, and Christina Morgan has hosted All Things Considered, for the past two and a half years. But both women started working at WOSU over two decades ago, as graduate students at Ohio State. Their WOSU careers since have included reporting, producing, hosting morning news and afternoon call-in talk shows, even serving as News Director. But, “I love anchoring,” says Marilyn, and Christina agrees. “You really feel like you’re connecting with the audience one-on-one.”
“Anchoring almost has a relaxing effect,” says Christina. “If I’m having a bad day it doesn’t matter, it’s not the audience’s problem. All they want is the information.” Marilyn adds, “It’s not about you. You are just the conduit. It helps you keep things in perspective.”
Both women admit that a challenge to hosting newsmagazines is the writing. It might sound like they’re talking off-the-cuff, but every news story is scripted. The trick is writing the script to sound like everyday conversation. And of course, not getting caught up in mistakes. “The joy of radio is that you can fall, recover, and move on,” says Marilyn. “You have to shake it off.” She remembers with laughter a time when Jo Ingles, now with the Statehouse News Bureau, used to work at WOSU. Marilyn handed off to Jo for the traffic report, “and all you heard was three breaths in, a huge sneeze, and then nothing. It sounded like Jo blew herself out of her seat!”
“It’s times like those that show the audience we’re human,” says Christina. And serving the audience is the hosts’ priority. “We wouldn’t be here without them,” Christina adds, “so we always keep the audience in mind, and always try to show respect for them. Our audience is so intelligent, it makes our work challenging – and fun.”
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