{"id":9051,"date":"2023-02-03T07:28:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T13:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=9051"},"modified":"2023-02-03T07:28:51","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T13:28:51","slug":"a-full-circle-moment-uw-oshkosh-rtf-grad-is-now-wprs-statewide-morning-edition-host","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/a-full-circle-moment-uw-oshkosh-rtf-grad-is-now-wprs-statewide-morning-edition-host\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A full-circle moment\u2019: UW Oshkosh RTF grad is now WPR\u2019s statewide \u2018Morning Edition\u2019 host"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

A broadcast journalist who got his start on the WRST-FM airwaves is now a daily fixture on Wisconsin Public Radio.<\/p>\n

Alex Crowe, a 2015 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh\u2019s radio TV film (RTF) program, recently became WPR\u2019s host of NPR\u2019s\u00a0Morning Edition<\/em>. The show runs from 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays, blending the national broadcast with stories and features from the WPR team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up listening to\u00a0Morning Edition<\/em>\u00a0on my way to school. It\u2019s a program I\u2019ve always loved,\u201d said the Racine native. \u201cAfter having the opportunity to run a public radio station, WRST, in college, I had always thought in the back of my head it would be fun to go back to public radio because that\u2019s where I fell in love with radio, that\u2019s where I decided this was what I wanted to do so it really just becomes a full-circle moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listening and learning<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After high school, Crowe chose UW Oshkosh not because of its acclaimed RTF program, but to continue his swimming career with the Titans. In fact when he first came to Oshkosh he wasn\u2019t sure what he\u2019d study. His aunt, Cheri Preston, is an award-winning radio news anchor and correspondent for ABC News, so he\u2019d thought about journalism. On his first day of classes, he stopped by the WRST table during Taste of Oshkosh\u2014the annual opening week event now known as Titan Fest\u2014and expressed interest in getting involved. This, a seasoned storyteller like Crowe would say, was an inciting incident\u2014one that would kick off a media career entering a second decade.<\/p>\n

He started with play-by-play for Titan athletics and as a program host. Through his RTF classes and at the station, he soaked up everything he could. By his junior year he\u2019d been selected as station manager, a big responsibility that includes training the newer employees and always being on call. For his senior year, he served as program director\u2014a step below his previous job, but still one that kept him in the mix with day-to-day operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was essentially running the station and helping to train other fellow students for about two years,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s when I decided this was something I wanted to do full time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He interned at WTMJ-AM his junior year and later worked evenings at WOSH-AM, piling up experience. By graduation, he\u2019d also piled up a number of awards, including several first-place honors from the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association and the Milwaukee Press Club.<\/p>\n

Crowe credited Randall Davidson, the now-retired senior lecturer and director of radio services, as a major reason he got involved in radio and continued to explore all aspects of it. \u201cI honestly would not be working where I am today with out him,\u201d Crowe said.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Alex Crowe was in the mix at WRST from fall 2011 through spring 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Set up for success<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After graduation, Crowe made a move familiar to those in journalism: He went to a place light on population but with an opportunity for more experience.<\/p>\n

The job was in Sisseton, South Dakota\u2014a gig first described to him as \u201ckind of middle of nowhere, but it\u2019s a job and it\u2019s full time and you get to run two radio stations by yourself\u201d\u2014working as the chief operator. That included creating and producing all on-air content, including a morning news show, and other managerial duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the hands-on experience, getting to run the radio station day-to-day, working so close with Randall Davidson that really prepared me for when I graduated to be able to move out to South Dakota and take the keys, quite literally, to these two radio stations,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to maintain their public files, I had to communicate with the FCC\u2014all these things that Randall had worked on with me very closely and things that I would not have known how to do if I were not at a school like Oshkosh and able to be as hands-on in a program like RTF.\u201d<\/p>\n

After about a year and a half he returned to Wisconsin to work as news director (and later program director) and on-air coordinator for WMDC-FM in Fond du Lac. He was again hosting the weekday morning show and in 2017 earned a Best Significant Community Impact award from the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. By 2021, he\u2019d returned to WTMJ, and worked there as a reporter, producer, creator and host of a weekly news magazine-style show until jumping to his new role in December.<\/p>\n

Straight from the source<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Crowe joins the WPR team that\u2019s long linked to UWO. Before coming to Oshkosh, Davidson spent 18 years there as a news producer and afternoon newscaster. At the top of the WPR org chart sits Tom Luljak, a 1973 RTF and speech education graduate, who was named interim director in October. And not long before Crowe came on, 2021 RTF grad Joe Schulz was introduced as a reporter covering northeast Wisconsin news and statewide business, labor and economic issues.<\/p>\n

With experience on the streets and in the studio, and both at the mic and running things behind the scenes, Crowe said he\u2019s happy where he is at\u00a0Morning Edition<\/em>\u2014feeding the day\u2019s news to Wisconsin, maybe with their breakfast and morning commute.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are always going to be looking for news when there is a major headline or something but I like being the person day in and day out that people can go to and can ask what\u2019s happening,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s something I take very personally and I really enjoy the opportunity to be able to play that role in people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more:<\/strong><\/p>\n